Selfie by Allayne L. Webster

Author:Allayne L. Webster [Allayne L. Webster]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2023-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

#UnderTheInfluence

TV matchmaking shows talk about wedded bliss. I don’t know what the term for friendship bliss is, but the following week was exactly that.

Monday after school: Dene and I did our homework together in the library.

Tuesday lunchtime: we taught the latest TikTok dance craze to the whole of year eight.

Wednesday: we skipped PE, hid in the cleaner’s room and shared a can of Pringles.

Thursday: detention. (See Pringles.)

Friday: after begging Michelle and Kaz (see also Pringles/Detention), we went to the movies to make up for missing out on my birthday.

The movie had a foreign name I couldn’t pronounce and it was about something highly improbable featuring sharks, planes and oversized fang-toothed arachnids. We were too busy joking around to care anyway.

We sat at the back of the cinema, arms linked, feeding each other M&Ms and Doritos. We made a pact that only the other person could ‘feed and water’ you. It was hilarious. Half a packet of M&Ms went down my top and I wore most of my Fanta. Dene licked Doritos dust from my fingers. I accidentally missed her mouth with the straw and it went up her nose. She sneezed, like, ten times. People turned in their seats to scowl, but we didn’t care. We were having way too much fun.

That night, Dene slept over at my house. Despite Luke’s assertions Dene wasn’t any kind of influence on him, he acted like he was under the influence when he met her. He actually stuttered when he said Hello, and he wouldn’t stop staring at her.

Dene was cool about it. Afterwards she told me that Luke was kind of cute in an awkward loser sort of way.

I wasn’t sure whether to bank that as a compliment or an insult.

When everyone was in bed, we lay side-by-side in our sleeping bags on a mattress on the lounge-room floor. Michelle said we could watch TV if we kept our voices down.

The TV flickered, sound low. Dene twisted her body to face me. She was about to say something, but right when she opened her mouth my phone flashed. I checked the message.

Kira: You’d make a good disappearing act.

‘Who’s that?’ Dene asked, probably seeing me frown.

‘Kira.’

‘And?’

‘Nothing.’ I tucked my phone down the side of the mattress.

‘Doesn’t look like nothing.’

I shrugged it off. ‘I haven’t seen her much lately, that’s all. She’ll get over it.’

‘We should invite her to do something with us,’ Dene suggested kindly. ‘She’s a good friend of yours. I hardly know her.’

‘Maybe…’ I said, uncommitted. I didn’t particularly want to share Dene even if it would make Kira happy.

When I didn’t say anything else, Dene changed the subject. ‘Have your heard from your mum, Tully?’

Since I’d told Dene about Mum’s illness, I hadn’t thought about it. But the fact that Dene remembered made me feel good all over again.

Totally aware I was being a drama queen, I answered in a deliberately shaky voice, ‘No, I haven’t heard from her.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry…’ Dene said.

A year ago, Michelle took me to a day spa for some girly pampering.

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