Just in Time by James Rosalind

Author:James, Rosalind [James, Rosalind]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance
Published: 2015-06-30T07:00:00+00:00

close personal friends

At three o’clock that afternoon, sure enough, Faith was on a bicycle following Talia’s blue-cardiganed back. She was breathing cool outdoor air, too, however tinged with sulphur it was, instead of the Sweat Vapors of the Damned.

They rode through city streets, skirted the bowling green and the rose garden beside the flamboyant half-timbered expanse of the Rotorua Museum, then turned onto a paved path. The smell was stronger here, steam rising in plumes on either side. When they reached the lake, Talia hopped off her blue bicycle and began pushing it by the handlebars, and Faith followed suit. She followed the girl down a path edged with the ever-present ferns, the expanse of Lake Rotorua on one side, the green hills and the clouds overhead reflected in the water. Black swans floated, majestic and serene, in the shadow of weeping willows that draped their branches over the water’s edge, while mallard ducks paddled nearby.

“So pretty,” Faith said, feeling all the inadequacy of the word.

Talia didn’t answer that, because, Faith supposed, this was nothing but her back yard. “There they are,” she said instead, and Faith had to hurry to keep up as the girl rushed the last few yards, left the path, and dumped her bicycle on a rocky shore where a group of five or six young people were gathered, some sitting on a log, a couple standing.

A young man in a hoodie and jeans turned his head at their approach. The only one of the group not in school uniform, he looked a little older, too, with a faint mustache and beard decorating his lean face. He was Maori, Faith thought, at least partly so. Not as tall or as well-built as Will, but with the thin build in skinny jeans that would appeal to a teenage girl.

“You’re late today,” he told Talia.

“Sorry,” she said, sounding a little flustered. “I had to go home first and get my…Will’s partner. This is Faith, everybody. And this is Chaz,” she said, indicating the young man. She went around the group, naming the rest of them, and Faith did her best to smile and look young and fun, like somebody who wanted to kick back and share the moment.

Chaz pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shook one out and offered it to Talia. “I can’t,” she said, with another quick glance at Faith. “Will’s here.”

“Wouldn’t want to get big brother’s knickers in a twist,” Chaz said. “So, Faith. Escaping the house? Talia’s mum giving you a bit of a bad time, with Will in the naughty chair and all?”

The rest of the group laughed a little nervously, and Faith smiled coolly. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “I think mothers tend to be protective of their sons. Your mother’s probably exactly the same.”

“Yeh, Chazzer,” a boy named Tom said. “Think I hear your mum calling you right now. Better run home.”

“My mum knows better,” Chaz said. “But then, I only like the kind of girls she likes. Nice, pretty Maori girls.

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