Georgia

Dear Diary…

Actually, you know what? I hate writing about myself to a diary. So, stuff whatever that crazy counsellor lady said. I'm not doing a diary any more.

I decided not to let Connor ruin my sports day, so after I told Bri what had happened I pushed it out of my mind and threw myself into getting house points (even if they were just participation points). It worked too, the only time I even registered Connor was when he handed me the baton during the 7th form house relay, which we won, putting Stratford in the lead.

I used the same tactic the next few weeks, burying myself in work, school, hanging out with my friends, and singing. It worked for the most part; Connor only crossed my mind when I saw him. I was getting over him. Ok, that’s a lie. I was trying to get over him.

Friday lunchtime of week 3 I was sitting in the music room practicing my audition song for the school musical. This year we were doing The Phantom of the Opera, and I was dying to be in it. I’ve been in every Ridgefield musical since year nine, and I wasn’t about to give up that streak.

Musical is one of my favourite things at Ridgefield. I knew I would get a lead role as usual, but I still wanted my audition to go well as there was going to be a lot of people watching me. I had decided to sing ‘Shadowfeet” by Brooke Fraser, because I knew I had a similar voice to her.

“When the world has fallen out from under me, I'll be found in you, still standing, when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees, when time and space are through, I'll be found in you…”

I heard whooping and clapping behind me and I turned to see Declan and Rich standing in the doorway.

“Awesome!” Rich exclaimed, giving me a high-five. I smiled.

“You better be practising too!”

“I am, I am. No way is anybody gonna beat you out for that role, your voice is even better than last year!”

“Oh thanks Richie! So, what are you guys doing in here?”

“We’re looking for my Fender.” Dec said.

“You lost it again?” I said incredulously.

“Well…”

“Yeah, he did.” Rich said when he trailed off.

“Dec, how many times is that now? You think that with it being the most important thing in the world to you, you’d keep better track of it!”

“I’ve only lost it four times! And I’ve always found it again. Hey! There it is!” Sure enough, his red fender telecaster guitar was leaning up against the wall behind the piano.

“Mint. Now we can go get smoothies.” Rich said.

“Mmm, smoothie sounds good.” I replied.

“You wanna come?” Dec asked.

“Nah, got drama next period. Can’t miss drama!”

“Maybe you can’t. I hate drama.”

“Which is why you don’t take it.”

“Fair point. Well we’re going to come back up for last, you want us to bring you back one?”

“Yeah, thanks. Where are you going to get it?”

“ReLoad.”

“Yum, get me a banana and strawberry. There's money in my bag over there.”

“Nah, my shout. I’ll see you last period.”

“Bye!” they left and I turned back to the lyrics.

“Walking, stumbling, on these shadowfeet, toward home, a land that I've never seen, I am changing, less and l–”

For the second time in two minutes I was interrupted by clapping.

“Guys, you already did that! Go get me a damn smoothie already!” I turned to see not Declan and Richard as I thought, but guy I had never seen before.

This guy was f-i-n-e. He had messy black hair and big, silvery blue eyes. He had big, full lips and a light olive-y complexion. He looked just over 6 foot and I could tell just by looking at him that he had a nice bod. He was wearing a black Nirvana t-shirt and black jeans and had a sort of grungy type look going on.

“Oh. Sorry, I thought you were my friends.” He shrugged.

“Okay. Nice singing.”

“Thank you.” We surveyed each other in silence for a few seconds. I shifted a little bit and pulled the bottom of my school skirt down a few inches. Unconsciously I began chewing the inside of my bottom lip, until I noticed and stopped.

The guy was leaning against the doorframe, and I was getting really uncomfortable with the silence.

“So…” I tried.

“Yeah.” He replied.

“Not to be rude or anything, but what do you want? I'm kinda busy.”

“Ooh, I should have known you were one of those girls.”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, those girls. The ones who think they’re above everybody else.”

“Who said I think that?”

“No-one had to.”

“Who the hell do you think you are, judging me?”

“So I'm wrong?”

“Yes, you are!”

“So, you aren’t one of the girls who all the guys want, and all the girls wish they were?”

“Well…”

“See? Vain.”

“God. Piss off.”

“Ooh, language.”

“Leave me alone. I don’t like you.”

“I knew you had an attitude.”

“I don’t have an attitude; I just don’t like you very much.”

“Well, the feelings mutual.”

“Why’d you come in here anyway?”

“I heard singing; I wanted to see if the chick was actually hot or if she just sounded it.”

“And…?”

“That’s for me to know. Don’t wanna boost your already massive ego.” I swear to god, I was about to punch this guy in the face.

“For crying out loud, just leave me the hell alone.”

“Sure. Catch you later, your highness.”

“Good riddance!” I called after him. Jackass.

When I got home that day there was a surprise waiting at the dining table, in the form of my big brother Dominic.

“Dom!” I exclaimed, dropping my bag and keys at my feet and giving him a big hug.

“Hey Georgie, how are you?”

“I'm fab! What are you doing here?”

“Just paying the old man a visit.”

“Oi, watch it on the old.” Dad said from the fridge, where he was getting out a Heineken for Dom and a Canterbury Draught for himself (so predictable).

“Can I have a drink please?” I asked.

“Yeah ok. Apparently your brother has some good news for us.”

“Oh really?” I asked as I pulled the Smirnoff vodka out of the alcohol cupboard and mixed a shot and a half of it with a can of red bull.

“Yeah, actually, I have good news and some kind of bad news, so I’ll tell you the good first.” Dom started jiggling his knee around, his own nervous habit. “The first bit… Lucy’s pregnant.” I set my glass down.

“Oh my god.”

“And I asked her to marry me.” He continued. Dad and I shared an open mouthed glance, and then I squealed and ran around the table to hug him again.

“Congrats bro! That’s awesome.”

“Thanks, Gee. Dad?” Dom looked to Dad, who hadn’t said a word.

“Oh, Dominic…” Dad started, and trailed off. I could tell by his tone he wasn’t thrilled, but I didn’t want Dom on a downer, especially when this was such good news, so I interrupted.

“How many weeks is she?”

“Just over 18.”

“That’s fantastic, I'm stoked!”

“Me too.”

“What’s the bad news?” Dad asked. Dom bit his lip and pulled a newspaper clipping out of his jacket pocket. He silently slid it across the table to Dad, who read it without a word and looked at Dom.

“Have you seen her?” Dom hesitated, and then nodded.

“Siobhan, Luce, Aaron and I did, on Wednesday. It was bad timing or whatever, but she happened to be in the same area we were having dinner.”

“Shit!” Dad swore. My curiosity got the best of me and I grabbed the little piece of paper. The headline boasted “Engaged Actress Back In N.Z for Family Wedding” and it was a short article, which I skim-read. Only a few sentences caught my attention – “Christchurch-born Nadia Evans and her Los Angeles-born fiancée Drew McNeill…” “Living in Wellington…” “Wants her children at the wedding… Dominic (22), Siobhan, Georgina and Mackenzie (all 17)” and when I finished I set the piece of paper back down and looked straight at Dad.

“Fucking bitch.”

“Georgia, watch your language.”

“And they got my name wrong, since when was I Georgina?”

“I know Georgie.”

“And if she thinks I’ll be at her wedding, she’s got another thing coming. You don’t abandon your family and expect them to still love you. It’s not right.”

“I know Hon.”

“Fuck her. Did she say anything to you?” I asked Dom, who nodded.

“She gave us both a big hug and was like ‘lovely to see you, I missed you!” and her dickhead fiancée was with her, along with some cameras and stuff.”

“What did you do?” Dom pulled out another newspaper clipping, this one headed “Evans publicly rejected by son and daughter” and the story went on to explain how Dom refused to hug her back and Siobhan told her to fuck off, before both of them walked away. I have to admit, I was impressed with Siobhan. In her entire 17 years I’ve never known her to stand up for herself. I looked at Dad.

“So what do we do now?”

“We leave it and hope it goes away.”

“Dad, you know that’s not going to work.” Dom said.

“I don’t care. She walked out of all of our lives, and I for one don’t want her anywhere near us.”

“I don’t either. You don’t abandon your kids.” I said.

“Well, I agree, but ignoring her isn’t going to make her change her mind.”

“She can’t force us into anything. She can fuck off back to America as far as I'm concerned.”

“Language, Georgia.”

“Sorry.”

“Can we talk about this later? I better go check on Lucy and ring Mac.”

“Lucy’s here too?” I asked.

“Yeah, she was a bit tired so she went to lie down, I told her I could spread the good news on my own.”

“Fair enough.” Dad and I sat in silence for a few minutes when Dom left, and after a few minutes I picked up my drink and when into the office to use Dad’s line to call Briony and share the latest.

Bri basically dragged me out. She had her eye on some guy or another and had found out he was going to be at Ember tonight.

She also wanted to cheer me up. She could tell I was still messed up about Connor, and that the return of my mother had thrown me off.

I think she forgot Connor works at Ember, if her reaction when we arrived was anything to go by.

“Shit!” she exclaimed, causing several people to turn around and look at us.

“Bri, it’s okay.”

“But I brought you here to forget about Connor! How are you gonna do that with him here?”

“Bri, if I wasn’t okay with it I wouldn’t have come. I'm a big girl, I can handle it.”

“But -”

“Relax its fine!”

“If you’re sure…”

“I'm sure. Now, buy me a drink.”

“What do you want?”

“Raspberry and coke.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you upstairs?”

“Sure.”

I headed upstairs, enjoying the looks I was attracting on the way up. I was wearing Mac’s white dress again. I love that dress, it made me feel like Marilyn Monroe.

I looked around for anyone I knew. It took awhile, but finally I spotted Gemma, Tai and Sean sitting at a corner table and Kirsten, Declan, Sarah and Paddy out on the dance floor. I went to make my way over to them, but there was a tall guy blocking my way, and he fully wouldn’t move.

“Oi!!” I yelled over the music. He ignored me. “OI!” I yelled as loud as I could, hitting him on the shoulder. He turned and I felt the breath catch in my throat. Those silvery blue eyes were so piercing.

“Oh. It’s you.” He said, giving me a dirty look.

“Yeah it is. Can you get out of my way now?”

“Sure thing, your highness.” He took a step to the side and I pushed past him. God he was an ass!

“Yo.” I said, sinking into a seat next to Gemma.

“Hey Gee, what up?”

“Not much, yourself?”

“Yeah not a lot. Who’s the hottie I saw you talking to just now?”

“I dunno. Some prick.” Gem raised her eyebrows.

“I guess you don’t like him very much then.”

“Nah, he’s an asshole.”

“Doesn’t it annoy you how all the hot ones are?”

“Are what?” Tai asked, joining our conversation.

“Assholes.” She answered.

“Ouch.” He said, pushing out his bottom lip.

“Ok, maybe not all the hot ones.” She said, kissing him on the lips. Ugh. I was sooo over couples. The opening of ‘The way I are’ by Timberland played and I decided to join the people on the dance floor.

I had only taken a few steps when I was intercepted.

“God, you just can’t get enough of me, can you?” he smirked. God he was hot. It was just a shame he was such an arrogant prick.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I mumbled, trying to get past him.

“Well Georgia, I'm going to give you one dance.”

“Don’t put yourself out or anything. Wait, how do you know my name?”

“I did my research. Georgia Rose Aames, 17 years old, birthday September 3rd, Virgo. One brother called Dominic, two sisters called Siobhan and Mackenzie. Dominic and Siobhan live in Wellington, Mackenzie in Dunedin. Your Dad is a lawyer and your Mum’s whereabouts is unknown.”

“You fucking stalker.”

“No need for bad language now, Miss Aames. Come on. One dance.”

“Why?”

“Coz you’re hot. I'm hot. We’ll be the best looking couple in here. Imagine the children!”

“Thanks, but I'm all good.” I said, giving him a sarcastic smile and trying to push past him again. He grabbed my elbow and pulled me around to face him. Our faces were so close, I could feel the heat coming off him. His eyes were locked on my own, and suddenly it was harder to say no.

“One dance.” He said quietly.

“One dance.” I repeated, and we began to move together. Although he was an arrogant jerk, he was a good dancer and his touch sent electricity all through me. At the end of the song, he bent down and kissed me.

I pushed him off.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“I thought…”

“Yeah, well you thought wrong!” Connor appeared from nowhere, punching him square in the face. I screamed as the guy punched him back. The two boys hit every square inch they could get at each other, until Declan and Sean pulled them apart.

The tray of drinks Connor had been holding got knocked over in the scrap, and ended up all over me and Mac’s white dress. I ran for the bathroom and tried in vain to get the many different coloured stains out. It was no use, I wan gonna have to use something stronger.

I stormed back into the club and over to Bri.

“Keys.” I demanded. She handed me over my bag, and I keep storming all the way downstairs, out of Ember and into my Blue VW Beetle. I stripped off when I got home and threw the dress into the washing machine with a ton of Napisan stain remover. I was just hoping it would work.

No such luck. When I pulled the dress out of the washing machine an hour later, not only did it still have the stains, it had a big tear right down the front.

“HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN!?” I screamed out to the empty house. I was so, so dead. Mac was going to absolutely kill me, first for wearing the dress and second for ruining it.

I sank down onto the cold linoleum of the laundry room. Could life get any worse?