Girl Saves Boy by Steph Bowe

Author:Steph Bowe
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781921799778
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2010-09-08T04:00:00+00:00

SACHA

Jewel reached out and grasped my hand as she climbed down, then turned to face me. We were standing too close, and we both took a step back at the same time.

‘You didn’t get your face painted,’ she said. In the lights from the fete and the moon, only half her face was visible.

‘What?’ I said, ‘Oh, nah. Spider Man was Al’s idea.’

‘I thought so,’ said Jewel. We walked back towards the centre of the fete—all the stalls and rides had been packed up and those who had stayed were hanging around the basketball court near a temporary stage, where a rockabilly band was now playing.

‘Should we get something to eat?’ I asked.

‘That’d be great,’ said Jewel. ‘Any longer up that tree and I would have died of starvation.’

I grinned. ‘I doubt that.’

‘It’s true.’

I glanced up. But no, it wasn’t True; she was just saying true the opposite of false.

‘Sorry if you didn’t enjoy yourself today,’ I said to Jewel. ‘I realise it’s probably a lot more fun if you know most of the people here.’

‘No, I had fun,’ she said. ‘Sorry if I was weird, disappearing and hiding in a tree.’

I shrugged. ‘Weird’s okay with me.’

‘Good, ’cause there’s going to be a lot more of it.’

I laughed.

We reached the basketball court. The band was set up at one end, and clusters of teachers, students, families and friends were in front of the stage. Some people had picnic blankets; others had folding tables. Around the perimeter of the court were small marquees selling wine and food.

We stood at the edge for a moment, until I spotted Al, standing on a chair and waving crazily at us. He was probably tall enough without the chair, and now he towered over everybody.

We made our way over to him. He was with a couple of his sisters, a brother, and his mum. The music was a loud cover of a song I recognised but didn’t know the name of. The band was pretty good, all dressed up in 1950s stuff.

‘Hey!’ Al yelled over the music. ‘I saved you seats.’

Jewel and I sat down, Jewel smiling uncomfortably and holding her satchel in front of her like a shield.

Al’s brother Mason leant towards us. ‘You kids hungry?’

Before we could reply, he’d got up. ‘I’ll grab you some sausages in bread. Anyone else? Miri?’

Al’s older sister was breastfeeding her baby. ‘Get me one, too,’ she said.

Our chairs were set up in a rough semi-circle around a picnic blanket. Maddie slept in her mother’s lap.

‘Mum,’ said Al. ‘This is Jewel. Jewel, this is my mum.’

‘Pleasure to meet you,’ murmured Jewel.

Sal smiled broadly. ‘Pleasure to meet you, love,’ she said. ‘Jewel’s a beautiful name.’ Then she turned to Al. ‘Is this the girl you were telling me about who saved Sacha’s life?’

Al nodded.

‘It’s no big deal,’ said Jewel.

‘It sure is,’ she said. ‘They give folks like you medals, Jewel. Don’t they, Al?’

‘Totally,’ agreed Al.

‘What’s the name of this band?’ asked Jewel, changing the subject.

‘Oh,’ said Al, ‘it changes every week.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.