‘Look at those ubbheads, having the time of their life!’ Tucker crouched behind some reeds and peered out onto the dark sands of Pone Rd Beach. Waves crashed onto the rocky shores and the sun shone brilliantly overhead. The small crowd of teenagers on the beach seemed to be having the time of their lives. There was a large table set out laden with goodies. The delectable aroma of steaks and sausages wafted over towards Tucker, making his stomach rumble violently.
Luke Shirley crouched next to him with an evil gleam in his eye. ‘Everybody’s here, except Biggles Cassidy.’
‘Yeah, he’s often away weekends.’
‘Shepherd, Ullman, Cook… and all the girls. This is great.’
‘The girls…’ Tucker’s attention was momentarily taken away from the food to look at the gorgeous girls laughing and chatting, all dressed in swimsuits. Not one of them was out of shape; they all looked fantastic. It made Tucker envious to think that Rex and his other male friends had such babes to hang out with.
Then there was the goddess.
If there was any doubt about her status as a heavenly being, there was no doubt about it now. She wore a two-piece bikini and she looked incredible. Full sized breasts and a butt Tucker just couldn’t get his eyes off. She was magnificent.
Even Surly seemed mesmerised by her. ‘I can’t believe what you told me about Vanessa. How could any guy reject her? That Cassidy is one A-grade moron. We need to get her on her own.’
‘Why?’ Tucker asked.
‘There’s something I want to do.’
Tucker peered at him with concern. ‘You’re not going to hurt her, are you?’
‘Of course not! But I need her to take care of part two of the plan.’
‘Part two? What do you mean, part two? I thought we were just…’
‘We are! But after what you told me this morning, I’ve had a new idea that’s gonna make this even better.’
‘What?’
‘Never you mind. All you have to do is take care of your side of things. For now, anyway. I may need you later, but we’ll see.’
Tucker was intrigued, as well as a little worried. He didn’t like being left out of the loop. He considered himself an equal partner is this scheme and as such deserved to know what Surly had in mind, but he decided not to push the issue. He didn’t have Ash and Hew around to stick up for him if Surly got nasty.
They continued to observe the partiers a little longer. A portable stereo had been brought out and switched on. Some dance music began to play. A volleyball net was being erected. Tucker continued to gaze at Vanessa who stood with Laura, Sheep and another good friend of theirs’ Ginge. He was an athletic type, a nice guy, but Tucker didn’t care for him due to his friendship with Rex. Ginge would suffer the consequences just like all the others there at the party.
Vanessa often cast a glance at Rex who was busy chatting with Jacqui, Chelsea and Pete. Every time she did, her eyes appeared pained, but then one of the others would make some comment and she’d look back and be all smiles again.
‘We need to get things rolling.’ Surly rummaged in his bag. ‘I got the stuff.’
Tucker turned to see Surly pull out some hipflasks of alcohol. There was a bottle of vodka, rum and bourbon. Tucker had no idea how Surly got a hold of it, but he wasn’t concerned. What did concern him though, was that the time had come to do his part in their little scheme.
Suddenly he became very nervous.
‘Tucker, you can’t let them see this stuff. If you do, then it’s gonna be a waste of time. Put it in your bag. You have to sneak this stuff into their gear without them seeing.’
‘They have a cask of punch or something there. Shall I pour some vodka in?’
‘No, you moron! As soon as someone drinks the stuff, they’ll know it’s spiked. For this to work, they have to be totally oblivious to the fact it’s there. When I call the cops in, I want them to find the stuff there.’ He held up his cell phone as he spoke.
‘I don’t see why we can’t just go with my idea about ringing up Mandy’s parents and have them come over here.’
‘What good would that do? Mandy would most likely get in trouble, but no one else. Now if the cops get involved it will be ten times worse for them. Her parents will still get involved. All their parents will.’
‘Are you sure the cops will do anything? I’m sure Cassidy is getting it on with Constable Gloria Melrose.’ He scowled at the thought.
‘Getting it on with a cop? Whatever. Of course, they’ll do something. They have to. They’re all too young to be drinking alcohol. They’ll all get in the shit and it will be Cassidy who suffers the brunt of the trouble, because he organised the party. You’ve gotta make sure you plant one of those bottles in his gear.’
Tucker turned his eyes to a pile of bags and gear near the table. He wasn’t so sure he could get near them without being noticed. ‘But what if they tell me to get lost? They don’t want me around.’
‘So, you hang around and make a nuisance of yourself like you usually do. That can’t be difficult.’
‘But what if they gang up on me? What if they threaten to beat me up?’
‘Look at it this way, Pyles... so you get beaten up, big deal, at least you’ll get to pay them back big time and anyway, if you don’t do it, I’ll beat you up, so you’ll be no better off. I don’t think they will. Rex is such a gullible idiot, he’ll probably let you hang around like he did that time you went on that rafting trip with them and even if they did beat you up, you could just crawl over and collapse by all the bags and pretend you’re unconscious. That’ll give you the golden opportunity to plant the bottles there.’
Tucker didn’t know if he liked that plan, but it was too late to back out now. Besides, he desperately wanted to teach Rex and his friends a lesson. He worried about Vanessa though. He didn’t want her getting in trouble, but then again, maybe if she did, she might realise Rex was a loser after all and forget about him. That would leave the door open for Tucker to move on in… unless of course Surly got there first.
Tucker had to hold out a little longer just to psyche himself up a bit more. ‘I wanna know what you’re second plan is. Otherwise I’m not going.’
Surly steamed. ‘Why the hell do you have to know for?’
‘Because we’re partners remember?’
‘Since when? I’m running this show, Pyles.’
‘Well then I’m out.’
‘You want to teach these guys a lesson, don’t you?’ Surly’s eyes narrowed and he trembled.
‘Of course, I do, but I don’t want Vanessa getting caught up in it.’
‘Geeze, you’re an idiot! You want to pull out of this because of her?’
‘No, I just want to make sure you’re not gonna do something stupid.’
‘All right, all right, I’ll tell you what I have in mind. I’m gonna use her to lure Rex out on his own.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t just want him to get done for underage drinking. I want to teach him a lesson he’ll never forget.’
Tucker wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that. It was one thing to humiliate Rex and even have him arrested, but he didn’t want it to go further than that. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Never you mind! That’s my business. Now quit stalling and get out there. Let me worry about Rex.’
Tucker reluctantly made his move. He wandered out onto the beach, making out he had just arrived. He got the response he expected from the partygoers.
‘Fats! What the hell are you doing here?’ Sheep greeted him with a contemptuous glare.
‘Oh no, what’s he doing here?’ Jacqui groaned. ‘Rex, please don’t tell me you invited this dork.’
‘No, I didn’t. What brings you over here, Tucker?’
‘Shouldn’t you be at work?’ Holly looked unimpressed.
Tucker wanted to scowl at her, but refrained. She’d hit a real sore spot when it came to his job. His parents had no idea he had been fired and thought he was at th
e gym as usual. He wasn’t sure how he would tell them, especially his mother, as she’d come down really hard on him when he was fired from his previous job at the Green Dame Café.
That morning when he’d got up, he had decided he’d leave the house as usual, so as to give himself some more time to figure out a way of telling them. He’d have to come up with something quick, because when he didn’t bring in a pay packet his mother would know he had been fired.
‘I decided to take the day off. When you’re an indispensable employee like me, you get to dictate your hours.’
‘Whatever.’ Holly rolled her eyes. ‘I bet you’ve been fired.’
‘I was not!’
‘So why come here?’ questioned Pete. ‘Since when did you go to the beach? You hate beaches.’
‘I just decided to come today.’
‘You heard about our party, didn’t you?’ Mandy asked.
‘No.’
‘Well you’re not welcome, you fat moron,’ Sheep snarled. ‘So why don’t you just sod off, you spaz?’
‘Hey, this is a free beach, I can hang out here if I like. I don’t need your permission.’
‘Leave him alone,’ Rex said. ‘As long as he doesn’t bother us, there shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Come on Rex, you know he’s here just to try to sponge a free feed out of us,’ Sheep growled.
‘Let him have some. We’ve got heaps.’
Sheep didn’t argue. Tucker figured it most likely that Rex had paid for the spread anyway. It turned out Luke was right about the likelihood of Rex letting him stay. It almost made Tucker feel guilty about what he was going to do, but he pushed those feelings aside to take advantage of the hospitality. ‘UBBA! Have you got donuts?’
‘Yeah, there’s heaps. Just leave some for everybody else.’
‘UUUBBAA!’ Tucker cried out again with joy. He headed towards the food table. He was so eager to get there, that he nearly forgot about the task at hand. He stepped by the pile of bags and hesitated.
Food had to come first.
He dropped his bag there in the pile. He’d return there after a brief feed, once everyone had gotten used to the fact he was there. Once they were all talking again, he could comfortably return and retrieve the hipflasks of alcohol. No one would think twice about him crouching over his own bag, rummaging through it.
Tucker piled food onto a paper plate. Five sausages, three lamb chops, two generous sized steaks and a small helping of salads on top. He had to take care not to lose it all as it piled high on the plate precariously.
He wanted to go talk to Vanessa, but knew he would be distracted from the task at hand. He’d focus on eating for the moment and filling that expanse in his gut. He’d talk to her after he’d planted the alcohol, but not for too long, as he had to get back and report to Luke, so he could ring the cops.
It didn’t take long before the other partygoers were back into their conversations, completely ignoring Tucker. After downing a couple of plates of goodies, he decided the time had come to execute the final part of his plan. He wandered over to his bag and crouched down so that he was in between the bags and the other partiers. His generous frame easily blocked off any view the others would have if they cast a glance over his way.
He knew Rex’s bag. It always stood out from a crowd, due to the fact it had little love heart stickers all over it, plastered there by lovesick teenaged girls. For some silly reason, Rex left them on, at least until they started to peel off. He always told everyone it was because they were like badges of honour and it would be disrespectful and heartless of him to remove them, but Tucker preferred to think that Rex was a big sissy, who just loved to have coloured hearts plastered all over his things.
Tucker unzipped his bag and pulled out one of the hip flasks. With a devious smile, he tucked it into the side pocket of Rex’s bag…
CHAPTER 21:
Bad Karma