‘I’m ready!’ Ellyse called. She crouched in the doorway of the laundry, waiting for Dad’s whistle.
Phweet! Go!
She ran through the kitchen, caught the football Dad threw from the lounge, scooted around the corner and down the hallway and passed back to Dad in the lounge again.
‘Excellent,’ Dad said. ‘Once more the other way and we’ll stop before Mum gets home.’
‘Okay.’
Ellyse caught the ball in the hallway, rounded the corner into the kitchen and threw it back to Dad off her other foot. Except this time the ball flew into the air. It hit the light with a sharp bang followed by the ominous tinkle of broken glass falling to the floor.
Ellyse stared at the shattered glass in horror. ‘Mum’s going to kill me!’
Dad shook his head. ‘I think you’ll have to wait in line. She’ll kill me first.’
‘Maybe if we sweep up the glass, you can replace it before she notices?’
‘Notice what?’ Mum said. Neither of them had heard her come through the front door. She took one look at the football and the glass and frowned. ‘No need to answer – I can see for myself.’
‘Sorry, Mum,’ Ellyse said. ‘It was my fault. I still haven’t got that pass off my left foot exactly right.’
‘I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact you shouldn’t be playing footy in the house in the first place,’ Mum said drily.
Ellyse flushed. ‘Well … yes … I mean no …’
‘It was my fault,’ Dad said. ‘It was raining and … We’ll clean it up right now and I’ll get the light shade fixed tomorrow, I promise.’
‘All right,’ Mum sighed.
As Ellyse helped Dad to clean up the glass, the rain continued to patter against the windows and a flash of lightning lit up the room. ‘Wow, it’s getting worse,’ she said. ‘Maybe they’ll cancel training tomorrow.’
‘Maybe,’ Dad said. Before he took the glass out to the bin, he whispered, ‘Go and help Mum. Get back in her good books.’
Ellyse did as he said and was soon unpacking the dishwasher and then setting the table while Mum cooked dinner. Damien arrived just as Mum was putting the plates of spaghetti on the table.
‘Good timing,’ he said with a grin.
‘You’re on clean-up,’ Ellyse said.
As they ate, she thought about her new touch footy team. She’d played in primary school and loved it. It was so fast and you ran all over the field. Touchdowns were the best! She vaguely heard Dad say, ‘Where would we put it?’
‘The garage?’ Mum suggested. ‘We’re always parking in the driveway. Might as well use the space.’
‘Put what in the garage?’ Ellyse asked.
Damien nudged her. ‘Daydreaming about being captain of the Matildas again?’
‘No teasing,’ Mum said.
‘A friend has offered us their ping-pong table,’ said Dad. ‘It’ll give you kids something to do when it’s wet instead of wrecking the house.’
‘Cool,’ Ellyse said. ‘Can I invite Jazz and Charlie over to play? Can we buy lots of bats?’
‘They’re called paddles, dummy,’ Damien said. ‘And I get to ask my friends over too, you know.’
Mum rolled her eyes. ‘Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.’
‘It’ll be fine,’ Dad said. ‘Ellyse can have Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Damien can have Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And then on Sunday it’ll be our turn.’
‘You old people can play ping-pong?’ Ellyse said, giggling.
‘Enough of the old, thank you,’ Mum said. ‘I bet Dad and I can thrash both of you.’
‘You’re on,’ Damien said.
‘But you know the rules,’ Dad added. ‘Homework first, then ping-pong.’
Ellyse nodded and finished her spaghetti, wishing she could lick the plate. I don’t know why I’m always so hungry. She grabbed an apple and headed to her room, where she pulled out her schoolbooks and spread them across her bed. Ugh, so depressing.
She had to do six pages of maths exercises, make a start on her geography project, read a whole book for English, and tomorrow there was a test on something but she couldn’t remember what and she hadn’t written it in her diary. Ellyse groaned and started on the maths, speeding through the pages before moving on to her geography research.
Three hours later, bleary-eyed, she turned out the light. The pattering on the roof had stopped, and she fell asleep hoping the sun would come out tomorrow and dry the soccer field.
In the morning Ellyse couldn’t wait to get to school to tell Charlie and Jazz about the ping-pong table. Maybe they’d be able to come over on Saturday and play.
Everything at Callinan gleamed after the rain, and the puddles in the drive were slowly drying out. Ellyse hated the heavy winter uniform and took off her blazer as soon as she could, pushing it into her locker.
‘Hey,’ Charlie said, doing the same four lockers along. ‘Have you seen Jazz?’
‘No,’ Ellyse said.
Sheridan called from her classroom doorway. ‘Someone said she was crying in the girls’ bathroom.’
Ellyse and Charlie looked at each other.
‘We’d better go and see what’s the matter,’ Charlie said.
They rushed down the stairs and into the bathroom but nobody was there. Except one door was closed, and from behind it came the sound of crying and someone blowing their nose.
Ellyse tapped on the door. ‘Jazzy? Are you in there?’
There was silence for a few seconds, then a little voice said, ‘Y-yes.’
‘What’s wrong?’ Charlie asked. ‘Can you open the door?’
After a much longer silence and a few sniffs, the lock slowly unsnicked and the door swung open to reveal Jazz’s tear-streaked face and red eyes.
Ellyse swallowed a lump in her throat. ‘Has … has someone died?’
‘Might as well have,’ Jazz said, and burst into tears again. Charlie and Ellyse gathered her into a big group hug, and when Jazz had calmed down a little, she managed to get the words out. ‘Mum and Dad … They … they’ve split up.’
‘Oh no, that’s awful,’ Charlie said.
‘Why?’ The question popped out of Ellyse’s mouth before she could stop it.
Jazz sniffed and rubbed her eyes. ‘They keep saying stuff like they’ve grown apart and they’re not happy, but I think Dad’s got a girlfriend. It’s not fair. I hate them both!’
They all jumped as the bell rang loudly right outside the door.
‘Come on, we’d better not be late,’ said Charlie. ‘I wish we were in the same class so we didn’t have to leave you.’ It had been their one gripe about Callinan – that the three of them were all in different classes.
Ellyse gave Jazz another hug. ‘We’ll see you at recess. Can you survive without us until then?’
‘I guess,’ Jazz said, but her mournful face said otherwise.
They separated in the corridor and went off to their classrooms. Ellyse made it into maths just as Mr Waugh was closing the door. She sank into her chair, still thinking about her friend. Poor Jazz, she’s totally crushed. Ellyse barely heard the teacher’s words until he placed a sheet of paper in front of her.
‘Of course, those who’ve been doing their homework won’t be at all worried about a little snap test,’ he said.
Thank goodness it rained last night and I did my homework. For once a snap test doesn’t make me feel like throwing up. Ellyse managed most of it without any trouble, and then sat quietly in English, hoping the teacher wouldn’t ask her any questions about the set book. Finally, recess came and she went to find Charlie and Jazz.
The story of how Jazz’s parents had sat her and her sister down last night and made the big announcement filled up the whole of recess.
‘Dad’s moving out today,’ Jazz added. ‘By the time I get home he’ll be gone. I don’t know when I’ll see him again.’ That brought on a fresh flood of tears and made them all late for third period, but strangely, none of their teachers told them off. Maybe everyone knew what had happened to Jazz.
Ellyse sat in her art class, doodling with a stick of charcoal, filling in more and more of her picture with black until all that was left were two huge white eyes staring out of the paper.
‘That’s really creepy,’ said the girl next to her. ‘It looks like something from a horror story.’
Ellyse shrugged and pushed the drawing away from her. Jazz is the one living in a horror story. I feel so bad for her. And there was nothing she could do to help, except try to be the best friend she could.
Suddenly, she realised she hadn’t told Charlie and Jazz about the new ping-pong table. But what was the point? Compared to Jazz’s news, ping-pong seemed like a total waste of time.