CHAPTER NINETEEN
I was grumpy. Last night, after severe harassment from the others, I'd finally admitted that I'd kissed Shane. I hadn't meant to tell. It just slipped out of my mouth while I was defending myself from more serious accusations. By the time the others tired of analysing that piece of information, it was seriously late. Then Dad had insisted on waking us up at the crack of dawn.
My mood changed instantly when we arrived at the beach. Being near the ocean always seems to make me forget my problems. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in a landlocked city. Or maybe it's a feeling inherent inside all Australians. Whatever caused it, when I went to the beach, I felt liberated. I could almost forget that I had a murder to solve, that my friends knew too much about my love life, and that I had an insurmountable pile of homework waiting for me at home. Surf Beach was particularly beautiful today. The sun glistened on the blue-green water, and the waves broke neatly in foaming parallel lines across the beach. The expanse of water was framed on either side by two small, bushy headlands.
There was just one downside to going to the beach. I had to display my pasty, gangly, yet flabby-in-weird-places body to the world. I felt self-conscious enough about my pot belly and unspectacular chest on a normal day, without having to bare it all in a minuscule bikini. I noticed Megan, the heaviest-set of us all, had solved the problem by wearing a two-piece boob-and-stomach compressing singlet and board shorts set. Not that she needed to. Her weight was toned from walking to school, and she should have been proud to show off her generous chest. Brooke was staring at the water in concern, with her shoulders hunched and her arms crossed. Perhaps she had the same misgivings as I did. It was hard to imagine that it was possible though. There was not one ounce of fat on her, despite her all-chocolate, no-greens diet.
If Lara was having doubts about stripping down, she didn't show it. She bounded towards the water in excitement, and tested the temperature with her feet. The rest of our group followed Lara to the water's edge. The waves lapped at our feet invitingly…
….like a foot massage from the abominable snowman!
'It's freezing!' Brooke shrieked.
Simultaneously, a wind direct from Antarctica plastered our summer clothes to our skin, and caused every goose-bump on my body to respond in overdrive. A second later, the glistening ocean darkened as the sun went behind a cloud. The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. I felt a strange sense of foreboding pass over me, and my desire to swim disappeared instantly.
Megan and Jason instinctively huddled together for 'warmth'—any excuse to be close. I jumped between them in an attempt to chaperone their hanky-panky. Fortunately, this had the added benefit of giving me more wind protection. Brooke and Matt, following my lead, joined the huddle, shivering.
'Freezing!' I complained through chattering teeth. It felt like the wind was whipping straight through me. My feet felt like two ice-blocks. The sky darkened even further. There was no way I was swimming in these conditions.
It seemed that Lara was the only one who wasn't shivering. Her shadowed face eyeballed our huddle in disgust.
'I know what you're all thinking,' she said bossily. 'You're thinking that it's too cold to swim.'
'T-t-t-that's right!' Matt said, and huddled in closer.
Lara shook her head. 'Disgraceful. We didn't come all this way to sit in the sand. You'll all regret it when you're back in Canberra if you don't swim. Swimming is compulsory!' As she finished, she kicked her feet into the water and splashed us.
Heroically, Jason jumped in front of Megan and me, shielding us from the brunt of the icy shower. His sneaky relationship with Megan was at least turning him into a gentleman. It would have been attractive, if it weren't so misguided.
Brooke and Matt, unprotected from the numbing deluge, emitted high-pitched, panicked squeals. 'Lara!'
But Lara didn't stop. Laughing, she again splashed our huddle—which was now rapidly dispersing in panic. She was determined to get us wet, clothes and all.
Jason and Matt splashed Lara back, with an outraged, 'Oi!' She was drenched—which meant she had nothing to lose. She sat back in the water in her clothes and started kicking continuously, showering the rest of us with cold droplets. No wonder she was always age champion at the school swimming carnival; she had a powerful kick!
Regardless, I wasn't going to let her take me down like this. If I was going to get wet, I wanted it to be on my own terms. I dived into the water. Now I was soaked through—and I had nothing to lose either! I guess I needn't have been so worried about wearing my bikini. Today we were going swimming in our clothes.
Jason and Matt were vainly attempting to splash Lara back, but her tactical position in the water meant that they were having little success against her chopping kicks. While their attention was diverted, I glided quietly through the knee-deep water until I was behind them. In one ferocious move, I jumped up and pushed Jason's legs out from under him. He landed with a crash, on top of me!
Jason screamed in surprise and discomfort as the water soaked through his clothes. I'd always thought Jason was weedy, but as I scrambled out from under him, I realised he was surprisingly well built. It was amazing how much he'd filled out over summer. That could explain Megan's sudden interest in him. He was borderline hot these days, even with his long, curly hair. As I disentangled myself, I directed vigorous splashes towards his head, the only part of him that was still dry. It didn't count as betrayal since I'm sure Jason had been protecting Megan before, not me. Jason flailed away from me towards the deeper water in an attempt to escape the cold cascade of spray.
'You'll never catch me,' he taunted with a mischievous smile. I dived under water towards him, hoping to catch his legs again. Blindly fumbling, I managed to locate and grab them. Jason tried to wriggle free.
I gripped his legs, holding my breath under water. He wasn't going to escape. It wasn't easy. He was starting to get loose, and I was running out of breath. The icy water felt like it was tightening around my chest. I released Jason's legs and attempted to surface for a breath.
I couldn't move.
I started to panic. What was happening? I really needed to breathe.
My chest muscles tightened further. I was really struggling now. The weight in my chest was getting heavier.
I pushed my feet firmly into the sand and pushed to propel myself upwards to the surface. Still I couldn't move! The pain in my lungs was becoming unbearable. I clutched my ribs in pain, only to get the shock of a lifetime.
Something was holding onto me.
They were hands, squeezing me around the chest. Jason must be holding me down! This wasn't funny. My chest was going to explode.
Frantically, I grabbed at the hands gripping me and tried to pry them loose. I managed to get one free, but Jason quickly replaced his grip with a bear hug. I was effectively straitjacketed under water. I couldn't take it much more. My chest was heaving, willing me to take a breath in the icy water. I squirmed frantically against the bear hug whilst fighting the temptation to suck water into my lungs.
I couldn't continue to fight much longer. In a few seconds, I knew, I would be joining Ella on the other side. The arms around me were relentlessly tight.
All of a sudden, the pressure released and I was propelled to the surface.
I gulped air the instant my face broke the surface. Breathing had never tasted so sweet. Coughing, I continued to inhale greedily. I had no idea what had just happened but, despite my confusion and panic, a horrifying realisation hit me.
It wasn't Jason who had held me. It was a girl. Whoever had done this had breasts. I'd felt them pressing against my back in the bear hug.
Still coughing, I blearily looked around. Brooke, Megan and Lara were ten metres away from me, still splashing each other. Jason and Matt were at the water's edge, staring at me in confusion.
I didn't have to wait long for my answer.
Suddenly, two wet, matted female heads surfaced near me. The two girls were screaming at each other
, and clawing at each other's hair. They flailed around, locked in each other's scratching, clawing embrace. Despite their vicious movements, the water remained calm around them. That could mean only one thing. They were ghosts. And they were angry—too angry to maintain their opaque forms.
Unaware, Megan and Lara were still laughing, despite the ferocious cat fight taking place only fifteen metres away from them.
I was paralysed with fear. One or both of these screaming water banshees had just tried to kill me. Luckily, they seemed too engrossed with each other to take much notice of me. I wiped the salt water from my eyes and took another look at them. At that moment, their incomprehensible screeching turned into a loud argument. I recognised one of the voices instantly.
'Why did you try to drown my sister!' Ella screamed. She yanked at the ghost girl's hair.
Ouch. That's gotta hurt, even if you're dead.
I don't think I'd ever seen Ella so angry before. It was on my behalf! I couldn't believe it. I would have felt touched if I hadn't felt so numb from almost drowning.
'Stop it! Stop it! Get off me!' the ghost girl screeched back at Ella, managing to rip Ella's hands out of her hair.
'I'll stop when you explain yourself!' Ella swiped her nails towards the ghost girl's face again. The ghost girl managed to duck out of the way. 'How dare you hurt my sister!' Ella took another swing at the girl, this time managing to catch some of her matted hair. She gave a yank.
'Aaaaaa-oooooo-eeeeeee!' The ghost girl cried out in pain. 'Stop it! I'm sorry!' Suddenly, the ghost girl seemed to surrender the fight. Tears poured down her face. Ignoring Ella, who had been caught off guard by her victory and seemed unsure of what to do, the ghost girl turned her focus to me. 'I'm so sorry,' she sobbed. 'I'm s-s-so sorry,' she repeated, bawling.
The misery on the ghost girl's face was heart-wrenching. She looked completely consumed with remorse for what she had done—but it was more than just guilt. She looked hopeless, as if she had nowhere to turn, as if she was all alone in the world.
Despite the fact that I still felt bruised and battered from when she'd tried to drown me, I waded over to her forlorn figure and gave her a hug. Her helplessness reminded me distinctly of Alan.
'It's okay,' I said gently. 'I'm okay. Shhhhhhh,' I stroked her back and tried to hush her crying. It seemed to help. She continued crying, but her heaving sobs were becoming less frequent. Ella was still eyeballing her angrily.
'I'm not angry,' I said, 'but just tell me why you—'
My attempt to gently probe her for information was sabotaged by Ella.
'No! It's not okay, you evil freak! Why did you try to drown my sister?'
Thankfully, Ella seemed to have given up on punctuating her yelling with removing chunks of the ghost girl's hair. Although she may as well have been, because the ghost girl began her hysterics again. She broke away from me in distress.
'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' she heaved. She was crying so hard now that it was difficult to understand her. 'I just w-w-wanted him to tell my mother that I'm s-s-sorry. He said he'd help me if I d-d-drowned you. He wanted to test your ability to summon your sister … said he wanted to test your p-p-powers. It was the o-o-only w-w-way … to help my m-m-m-m-mother!'
My mind raced in confusion. Who was she talking about? Had another ghost set the ghost girl up to drown me? Or another human? But I was the only one who I knew who could see ghosts. What was going on?
Then, with a final ear-splitting wail, and before I could ask any more questions, she was gone, leaving me to explain to Jason and Matt why I appeared to be hugging the air and talking to myself.