“Josh,” I called from the doorway of the change room, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the gloom (and my nose to adjust to the stench of sweaty schoolboys and their rancid socks). “Are you in here?”
“Al?” Josh stood and peered over the partition that separated the showers from the changing area. “Geez, am I glad to see you. I thought I was going to have to amuse myself till the game finished.”
He moved to my side of the partition and patted the space next to him. A week ago I would’ve been by his side faster than you could say “IthinkIloveyou”. Now I had to force myself to sit on the same piece of furniture as him. I crossed my legs and folded my hands primly in my lap. No way was I going to succumb to his charm smarm. But my ice-maiden body language was wasted on Josh, who was ranting about the referee’s tripping call.
“I barely even touched that guy when he went down. Westside are a bunch of girly fags who can’t take the heat of competing against a real team.”
“Is that what you said when you got carded? No wonder Coach Hardy sent you out here.”
“Nah, Hardy agreed with me, he was only angry because I said it to the ref. He told me to come in here and practise my sad face so that Westside wuss accepts my apology. Trouble is, it’s hard for me to think sad thoughts when you’re around.”
I pressed my lips together to kill an involuntary smile. Resist the smarm, my brain reminded my heart, you’ve got some serious confronting to do. I figured it’d be much easier if we were in a public place, so I suggested that, since he wasn’t going back on the field, we could head for churros early.
“Aw, I don’t feel like going all the way to Parkville today. Why don’t we go somewhere in Kingston? That cafe near the cheese shop’s pretty good.”
That was all I needed to hear to remind me of my mission.
“I suppose heading to Kingston’d be pretty convenient, wouldn’t it? That way you could visit your favourite payphone on the way home. Perhaps send a few malicious text messages to make yourself feel better about being carded. Would that make you feel like a big man, Josh? Or should I say, Camille?”
Josh’s face went from shocked to scared to angry in the space of a few seconds. In all my thinking about what I’d say to him, I had always pictured him admitting what he’d done and apologising profusely. Him getting angry with me hadn’t been an option. And now I was alone with him in a small hut and no one knew I was there. I put my hand in my pocket and held my phone, ready to use it if I needed to.
“I know it was you, Josh. I was there yesterday when you sent Larrie the message about YouTube. Simon and I saw you.”
“Since when do you care what happens to your sister? I didn’t realise you were such a hypocrite, Al.”
“So you admit it?”
“Between you, me and the walls of this change room, yes. But I bet you can’t prove anything, so this is as far as it goes.”
“I’m here for answers, Josh, not an Agatha Christie special. Why did you do it?”
“For the same reason that you thought about doing it yourself: Larrie needed someone to bring her down a notch.”
“But what did she ever do to you? Aside from telling me you were a sleaze – which, by the way, is true – she’s never even mentioned your name.”
“She called me a sleaze?” Josh’s eyes flashed with rage. “She’s the biggest tease in the whole school! She’s all flirty and sweet to get you to like her, and then when you try to make a move, she turns into the Ice Queen.”
It was all starting to make sense. “So that’s what this is about? You put the moves on Larrie and she turned you down.”
“She led me on at Mitch’s party,” he said bitterly. “She led me on and then she got me chucked out. Even called me ‘a little boy with a little package’ – in front of everyone. Bitch.”
I smirked.
“Yeah, it’s hilarious, isn’t it? Mitch and his mates thought so too,” he spat. “I was climbing the fence to get back in and show Mitch I could take him on any day when I spotted Larrie and that Beth girl.”
“And it was too good a photo opportunity to miss?”
Josh nodded. “I sent the photo to Larrie, figuring it’d be payback if she freaked and bombed out in her exams. But your big sister’s tougher than I thought. When she didn’t react, I had to take things up a notch.”
“So you invented Camille on Facebook?”
“Exactly, and once people saw the photo, they started doing my work for me. That shaving cream prank was inspired.”
“You mean you weren’t the one who attacked Beth’s car?”
Josh shook his head. “I’m not the only person at Whitlam not waving the rainbow flag, you know.”
“What about the video – you’re not really going to put it on YouTube, are you?”
Josh sniggered. “So Larrie’s stressing out about that, is she? I thought she would. I don’t even have a video, I figured the idea that one existed would be enough to make her really panic.” He was so pleased with himself that I wanted to slap him.
“And me, Josh? Were you even interested in me or were you just using me to get back at Larrie?”
“Honestly? To start with it was part of my plan to find out what Larrie’s weaknesses were and use them against her, but I liked hanging out with you, Al. If it hadn’t been for your clutzy friend interrupting us the other night, we could have had a really good time together.”
In the few seconds it took me to realise what Josh meant, any feelings I thought I may still have for him vanished.
“Thank God Simon stopped us before I did something I’d have regretted,” I said, heading for the door. “You’re a pig, Josh Turner. And Larrie was right about your little package.” I turned and tapped the side of my head to show him exactly which package I was referring to.
His shocked expression was more satisfying than the rest of our revenge plan put together. I wished Maz had been there to see me in action, she would’ve been so proud.
I managed to suppress my gotcha grin until I was a few steps outside the change rooms.
“I take it you won.” Simon was leaning against the side of the building, at the corner nearest the door.
“What are you doing here?”
“I decided to come to the game after all. When I saw you going after Josh I thought I’d wait nearby … in case you needed backup.”
Ordinarily, that would’ve been my cue to accuse Simon of stalking me, but remembering Josh’s anger when I’d confronted him, I found the thought oddly comforting.
The siren parrrrped to signal full-time, followed by an eruption of cheers.
“Come on,” said Simon. “If you’re finished with Sir Sucksalot, we’d better find out whether your blog post’s going to be about Whitlam’s gloating winners or sulking losers.”
“Knock, knock,” I said from Larrie’s open doorway. “I know you’re studying but I wanted to check whether you’ve received any messages today. You know … from Camille?”
Larrie checked her phone.
“Nope. Nothing since yesterday morning’s effort. Is it too soon to hope she’s given up?”
“I don’t think you’ll hear from Camille again.”
I told her what had been going on.
“Josh Turner?” Larrie sounded like she didn’t believe me. “That party was the only time we’d ever spoken to each other. We had a five-minute conversation while Beth was in the loo. He was completely shocked when I told him I wasn’t interested in him – he wouldn’t let up.”
“So you had him thrown out?”
“He wasn’t invited in the first place. Mitch only let him in because he brought beer. He was so agro, no one wanted him around any more. We figured he’d gone home embarrassed.”
“He couldn’t have been anywhere near as embarrassed as he was today,” I told her. “And I have a feeling that tomorrow morning you and Beth won’t be the main topic of conversation at Whitlam.”
Larrie smiled and for a second I caught a glimpse of the girl I once knew so well. “Thank you, Al. For avenging my tormentor, but mainly for making him stop. I’m sorry if I’ve taken out my stress on you.”
“And I’m sorry that I didn’t listen when you told me Josh Turner was a sleazebag.”
Larrie’s face fell. “Oh, Al, I wish I hadn’t been right about that. Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head, knowing that if I tried to speak about Josh, I’d be a bawling mess. It was stupid to still be upset about it after he’d made perfectly clear how he felt (or, rather, didn’t feel) about me. But it hurt to know how calculating he’d been, and I was ashamed that I’d been so flattered by the lines he’d fed me about me being smarter and more talented than Larrie.
“It’s like Ms Shields says: you can’t choose who you fall in love with, but you can choose who you let break your heart.”
I blew my nose. “Patchouli’s wise … but she makes the world’s worst chai.”
“It’s pretty foul, isn’t it? Hey, I was about to take a study break. Want to come for a walk?”
“Thanks, but I’m on deadline for something. Another time?”
Larrie grinned and nodded.
Simon_says: Ready to go?
Al-oha: Just doing a final spellcheck.
Simon_says: Okay, let me know when you’re done.
Al-oha: You sure you’re okay with this?
Simon_says: Are YOU sure? All I’m doing is overriding a few security settings – it’s your own neck you’re putting on the block.
Al-oha: I’m sure
Al Miller will make the right choice this time.