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"What about David, who works on the school paper with you?" Grace asked. "I've seen him giving you puppy dog eyes."
I wrinkled my nose. "You mean the same David who walks around with his phone in his hand, taking photos of people doing embarrassing things?" He was a borderline stalker, which was saying something, given the reputation of Storm Valley.
"When you put it that way, he sounds like a creep." Grace grimaced. "I'll have to watch myself around him. I'd hate to have a repeat of the first day of high school."
I managed to hold back a laugh. Barely.
That was the day she and I met. We were walking over the quadrangle after lunch. A gust of wind caught her skirt, and whipped it up over her face. Between us, we managed to get it back down again before too many people saw her floral panties.If anyone took a photo, she'd never have gotten past it. The picture would have followed her through school.
We saw the humour in it now, but we wouldn't have laughed if someone like David was around that day. If he didn't stop being a creepy ass stalker, he'd either end up dead, arrested, or a shitty paparazzi, making a living out of humiliating famous people.
"That would be awful," I agreed. "He takes good photos, when he's concentrating on things he actually should be taking photos of."
That was the main reason he was on the paper in the first place. He was probably lurking at the locker rooms right now, waiting to snap photos of the players after the game. Especially photos of Conrad Florence. Which I totally wouldnotcut out of the paper and put on my wall like some crazed stalker. No matter how tempting that was, I'd, however, spend much more time staring at them than I should. They might even stick in my mind while I lay in bed at night, my hand slipping under my sleep shorts…
"Scratch him out of the running then," Grace said. "Honestly, I can't see you hooking up with some high school sweetheart. You're destined for bigger things."
I shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know about that." I dreamed of going to uni and becoming a big-time journalist for some national newspaper, or news website. Maybe someday I could break a story so big it made me famous. Or change the world in some way. Some good, meaningful way. I could see the world.
The only problem with that plan was that every time I saw Conrad in the corridors at school, my world seemed really small. Just me and him. In a bubble. Our breath mingling. Hearts beating in unison. Sweat dripping…
It was stupid, of course. A silly crush. In a week or two I will have forgotten about him.
Right now though, my eyes followed him across the field. Some of the players waved at friends in the bleachers, but all of his attention was on the field. According to whispers from people who knew a lot more about gridiron than I did, he was destined for the big-time. Pro-AGL, Australian Gridiron League. He seemed driven enough from what I could tell. That was another thing we had in common.
"I do," Grace said firmly. "We should hear back any day now about our uni applications. It's only a short step from there to changing the world."
My heart went from pounding with thoughts about Conrad, to fluttering with nerves over university. I desperately wanted to go to the uni of my choice, but competition was fierce. If I got the one I wanted, and so did Grace, we could go together. If we didn't…
I had no doubt we'd stay best friends forever and ever but I didn't want to think about being separated from her. University life would be much easier with my bestie by my side.
"You make it sound so easy," I said lightly.
"It will be for you," she said with all the confidence of a best friend. "You're going to have a pile of acceptances in your mailbox. You'll be able to choose. Any uni'd be lucky to have you."
"They'll be even luckier to have you," I said firmly. I leaned my shoulder against hers and smiled. "You are the best best friend a girl could have."
"No, you," she said. "Who else would think to bring donuts?"
I laughed softly. "I knew donuts were the way to your heart."
"I have simple tastes," she declared.
Now I laughed louder. "Are we talking about the same person?" She was very particular abouteverything,from theway she looked, to the make up she wore. She always had to have the right phone, the right school bag, the right shoes. Nothing about her was simple.
She elbowed me in the arm. "I feel so attacked right now." She laughed. "You know me too well."
"This isn't one of those, 'now you'll have to kill me,' things is it?" I joked.
"No. I know you would never share my deepest darkest secrets with anyone." She flashed me a smile.
"And you wouldn't share mine," I said. I'd told her all about my crush on Conrad, knowing she'd never tell anyone, especially him. I trusted her like I trusted no one else in my life. Wasn't that what best friends were for?
"No I wouldn't—he's got the ball again. The guy sure can run." Grace nodded toward the field.
"All the better to run away from me," I said with a sigh.
"Maybe you should go and talk to him," Grace said.
