Haunting of Lily Frost (14 page)

I'm ready too. ‘Nice to meet you,' I say and start walking.

She doesn't bother to answer. She's already busy with her weeding. As we move away from her, Danny whispers, ‘She's a pain. Knows everything that's going on. She would have already known who you were. I hope Julia doesn't end up like her.'

The thought makes me laugh. ‘No chance.'

‘You never know in this town, Lil. It does weird things to the best people.'

As we walk across the oval, some kids are kicking a footy to their dad. I remember doing that. Max was crap at it, but I loved it. The feel of the leather Sherrin in my hands. Booting it off my foot and watching it fly. Sometimes Max wouldn't even come, so I'd have Dad all to myself for an hour, just kicking the footy back and forth, loving the rhythm, desperate for each kick to be better than the one before. And then Dad changed jobs and he wasn't around much for a while, so that came to an end.

One of the kids kicks the ball and it bounces along the ground and stops not far from us. I can't help it – when I scoop it up, it feels the same in my hands. I try to remember what to do. I drop it on my foot and boot it as far as I can, forgetting for a second that it's been a while. My shoe flies off, following the ball into the air and then down. ‘Oh, crap!'

I hear one of the kids laugh, but at least Danny doesn't. Instead, he runs off to grab my shoe. As he hands it to me, he smiles. ‘Did you forget to do up the laces?'

‘I know, crazy hey. It took nearly an hour to untie them and then one kick of the footy and it flies off.'

‘Next time, I'll make sure I have a footy by the front door so you can get them off in a hurry.'

Next time? I'm so embarrassed that I fiddle around with my shoe, pretending that it takes more effort than it does, so I don't have to look at him. But when I do finally look up, both sneakers back on, he's grinning at me. I can't think of anything witty to say, so I just start heading down to where the river is, and hoping the football doesn't get kicked in my direction again. This time I'll ignore it.

As we slide down behind the oval I get that prickly feeling like I did when I first went into the attic. Not fear exactly, just something that's making me wary. It's probably the cold air. The river's low down in the valley, so of course the air's colder. Danny walks forward, into the thickest part of the bush, and the branches scratch at my arms. And as we push through, we leave the picnic area behind and reach the track where the air's even colder.

‘This place –'

‘I know. I never used to come here on my own.'

‘It's too quiet.'

‘Not really. If you listen, you'll hear all sorts of sounds, but they're not human.'

He's right. The breeze is gently blowing through the trees, making all the leaves move.

As we round a bend to the river, my heart starts racing. Something's wrong. I'm not sure I should be here with Danny. There's a flash, a figure, something in the bushes and I spin round, frightened, trying to see what it is. Danny stops. ‘Lil?'

Staring into the bush, I wait for it to come back. My whole body's tense and ready to run from whatever it is. The feel of something on my arm makes me scream.

‘Lil. It's just me –'

I look down and see his fingers on my arm.

‘It's okay. There's nothing there.'

‘There was. Something.'

‘Probably a possum.' His fingers still grip my arm, but he smiles at me, trying to get me back from wherever I've gone.

‘It's okay,' he says softly.

‘I don't like this place.'

He starts leading me along the track, and I'm still shooting looks left and right to see whatever is watching me. My head hurts. I just don't feel right.

Danny slides down the dusty slope to the river. He turns back for me, looking up, I want to follow him, but I don't like this place. I can still see that face screaming under water.

‘Lil –' His voice drags me back and without thinking about it, I step off, my bum hits the ground and I slide down three metres, crashing into his legs and almost sending him sprawling backwards into the river. I grab his jeans and the two of us laugh, embarrassed at the
mess of arms and legs. I jump up first, brushing off
the dirt, and step away from him, wanting to take charge of where I am.

The river is moving slowly. I watch a stick ease its way into the edge of the current and then spin once and drift dreamily downstream. ‘Why can't you swim here?'

‘There are heaps of tree roots and rocks. It's dark water.'

Danny grabs for my hand again. It's soft and warm in mine. He leads me out onto the bridge; the rattly timber boards are loose at points, missing a nail or just old and fragile.

‘Where's the rest of the bridge?'

Danny shrugs. ‘It broke years ago in a huge storm. They were supposed to fix it, but –'

‘So how do you get across? Can you jump?'

‘You can. But you shouldn't.'

‘Have you tried?'

‘Once.'

‘Did you make it?'

With arms stretched ridiculously wide, he grins as if to say, “I'm here aren't I?”

‘So if I ran really fast along the bridge and leapt across, do you think I'd make it?'

‘Maybe. Maybe not.'

‘I bet kids do it all the time.'

Instead of answering, he leans against the wobbly railing, grins at me and then delivers a huge and crazy howl at the water. Then he looks over his shoulder.

As the breeze blows, there's a flash of colour from under the bridge and the ribbons are dancing, flying out in all their colours, like mysterious tails. Danny sees them too. He sees them and he sees my face, and he turns his back on that side of the bridge, on the ribbons, on me.

‘Have a seat.
'
He sits down on the edge of the bridge and pats the space beside him. I wriggle my legs under the low wooden railing, but make sure I'm not sitting too close to him. If I stretch, I can almost touch the water with my feet. I don't like looking down. The water's so dark that I can't see the bottom and I don't know what's down there. There's that pull I feel whenever I stare at water, like I'm going to be sucked under and swallowed up.

Danny breaks into my thoughts. ‘We used to float our lilos all the way downstream and have a race.'

‘So there are some good things about the country?'

‘Three: the river, the cows and –'

‘And?'

‘Okay, only two.'

He's funnier than I realised. ‘You forgot Julia and Mrs Jarvis.'

He raises an eyebrow. ‘How could I?'

‘You were born here?'

‘At home. Like a calf. Or a litter of puppies.'

‘Well Julia can be a bitch,' I say a bit nervously, but it's his turn to laugh.

Then he looks at me and sighs. ‘I'm glad you're here, Lil.'

‘Thanks.'

‘No, really. There's not much choice when it comes to friends, and Julia usually gets in first so I'm left with the dregs.'

‘Thanks, again.'

‘That's not what I meant.' He bumps against me then, the skin on his arm warm as it touches mine.

‘Lil –'

‘Mmm?'

‘Do you mind?'

I don't get to answer, because he's already leaning towards me, his eyes closing and his mouth finding mine. And then we're kissing, awkward, uncomfortably half turned to each other. Then there's a splash and cold water sprays up my legs, and it's so sharp that I pull away from him.

‘What was that?'

‘It's called a kiss.'

‘No, that splash.'

‘I didn't hear anything.'

‘Look at my legs.' I pull my legs out from under the
railing and they're wet. I peer over the edge into the water,
but it's just dark and totally still.

I frown. ‘There's nothing there,' I say.

‘Was it that bad?'

‘What?'

‘Me kissing you?'

‘No. Of course not –'

And he leans in again; maybe he wants to check whether I mean it. This time it's even better. I haven't really kissed that many boys and the ones that I have kissed are not boys I truly liked. They might have just been okay, so kissing Danny is quite different because I do like him. When we stop kissing, we both look at each other and then back at the river. It's all a bit much, seeing someone that close up.

‘I knew I wanted to do that when I first saw you,' he says.

‘Why?'

‘Dunno.'

‘Not the answer I was hoping for. I was thinking more along the lines of
because you were beautiful, amazing, hilarious, talented, creative, and funny
.'

‘Okay.'

‘Or do you just kiss all the new girls in town?'

‘Yeah.'

I can see half a smile on his face, but he doesn't look at me. My back pocket is buzzing and I have to decide between breaking the moment and checking who it is. It might be Mum. ‘I thought there'd be no reception out here.'

‘Oh no. One thing about the country is that we have pretty good reception. It's to make up for everything else.'

I pull my phone out and it is Mum. ‘If I answer it I'm
going to get in trouble for not telling her where I was going,
and if I don't answer it I'll get into even more trouble, but not straightaway.'

‘What about if I answer it?'

‘Not a good move.'

I answer it.

‘Lil? Where are you?'

‘At the river. With some friends.'

Danny pretends to look around wildly, searching for them and I try not to laugh.

‘It's after five.'

‘Sorry, Mum. I meant to call.'

‘Be home in half an hour, please.'

‘Okay.'

I flip the phone and put it back in my pocket. ‘I'd better go.'

Danny tries to grab my arm but I dodge, and jump up.

‘What's with those ribbons?' I ask.

When he turns to look at me, his face is tortured, like something's very wrong. His eyes aren't shining: they're dark and angry. ‘They're for Tilly.'

‘Why?'

‘She always used to wear ribbons in her hair. So after she left we tied them on the bridge.'

‘Where do you think she went?'

‘I don't know. No one does.'

‘Doesn't it freak you out a bit that I'm living in her house?'

‘No. I like it.'

I'm not paranoid, but the idea that Danny likes me living in his missing ex-girlfriend's house is a bit weird. ‘Why? Because you want her to come back?'

‘No,' he snaps. ‘It's not like that. Tilly was Julia's best friend. We'd all known each other since we were in kinder. We'd grown up together and we went out only because that's what you do here. But I liked her and I miss her.'

‘It feels like I'm just the new version.' I sound meaner than I intended.

‘That's a crap thing to say.' Danny shakes his head.

And he's right. I go to touch him, but he shrugs me off and walks away so fast the bridge rattles. I'm tempted to stay and not follow him home, but I don't want to be alone in this place.

He's gone. I can't see him. I scramble up the bank and there he is, dawdling, kicking at the dirt but he starts walking as soon as he sees me, and I can't quite keep up with him. I feel like I did when I was little and had to follow my mum after I'd done something wrong and she walked on ahead, fast.

‘Danny –'

He stops and I can finally catch up, bumping into him playfully to see how he'll react. I'm not usually so out there with boys, but I can't work this one out. He flips from distant to intimate with no apparent reason. I don't think I'm very good at reading Danny. I can't tell if he likes me or thinks I'm some annoying newbie he's trying to be friendly to as a charity case. I need Ruby around to tell me what's going on. I'm glad we're leaving the river behind, though. It feels like I'm being punished for being something, or maybe for not being something. Maybe he's held me up against his memories of Tilly and I'm just not her – or enough of her. So here I am, walking back home with someone not talking, as I slap madly at the mozzies. It could be so much more than this, but now it's silent, and uncomfortable.

Mum asked me nothing when I got home from the river. She and Dad were playing Monopoly. No kids – it was just the two of them, drinking red wine in these massive blue glasses I've never seen before, and desperately trying to bankrupt each other. Dad at least pointed to his stash of paper money, and made some comment about Mum being a dirty, corrupt banker, but Mum was too busy trying to get round the board without being caught out to even ask me how my day was. And if she'd asked, I might have told her it sucked, well not the kissing part but everything else.

Parents move you to the country, but they forget that they have each other to play Monopoly with if things go a bit wobbly for them on the social front. But I've got no one. Feeling recklessly sorry for myself, I slouch off, and up to my room, where I try to call Ruby to tell her all about this bizarre day, and maybe apologise for hanging up on her earlier. But of course she's not answering. I hate this town.

When I get to school the following day, it's agony. Danny barely looks at me and he's moved his desk further away again. I'm just pleased Mrs Jarvis doesn't bring it up. Julia ignores me. And at lunchtime I sit under a tree, alone, with pine needles sticking into my bum, and try to force down my inedible lunch. I can see Max practising on the courts with his new friends. Ruby texts me once to say she's walking home from school with Tom, and that Becka is now dating Jackson, which I take to mean
she
is still hanging with Tom and things are going along just fine, thank you very much. I'm a bit hurt that she texts me to tell me that, given that she knows how long I've liked Jackson for, but then she's obviously cross with me too.