Maddie craned her neck to see over the sea of students as they filed into the hall. Levi had managed to evade her all morning. She’d caught glimpses of him here and there. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was trying to avoid her.
Maddie stationed herself beside the main doors, tucked out of sight, and waited. Eventually Levi walked in, looking around nervously like a rabbit scenting a fox. She pounced.
‘How did it go?’ Never one for subtleties—she found them boring—Maddie launched into the topic that interested her the most. Mr C and Sarah. Having binge-watched Getaway Bay for six hours on Sunday night, she had recharged her belief in destiny, specifically hers and Liam’s.
‘What?’ Levi hunched his shoulders up to his ears, hands shoved in his pockets.
‘Your dad,’ she hissed in his ear. He knew damn well what she was talking about. What had gotten into him lately?
‘Dunno.’ He shrugged as if the situation was of no concern to him whatsoever. He moved away from her, taken by the shuffling tide of students trying to find a seat.
Maddie sighed. Ms Forsyth expected her to be up on the stage with Sarah or she’d have followed Levi and made him tell her what had happened. Boys. Utterly useless.
She’d have to rely on her specially honed senses to gauge from Sarah how successful the date had been. Of course, the location had been her idea, carefully planted in Mr C’s consciousness. He’d taken the bait as she’d known he would. The tricky bit she worried about was whether or not too much had been revealed and the whole plan had come apart at the seams.
Levi’s attitude this morning had her worried. He was acting like the world had ended.
‘Maddie McRae.’ Ms Forsyth called her from near the stage. She stood with Sarah who looked every inch the sophisticated Sydney journalist in a pair of fitted cropped black pants, red suede ankle boots, and an asymmetrical blood-red top that set off her colouring like nothing else on earth.
Maddie sighed. Perfection.
She pushed through the crowd to where Sarah stood.
‘Are you ready?’ Ms Forsyth asked.
‘Sure am.’ Maddie had been born for this sort of thing. She had her speech notes clutched in one hand, not that she’d need them.
‘I can’t thank you enough for inviting me,’ said Sarah. ‘This trip has already been an eye-opener in many ways.’
‘You’re welcome,’ said Maddie. What did she mean by eye-opener? She seemed happy, so maybe the reference didn’t carry a negative connotation. She cocked her head to one side and surveyed Sarah. She looked fantastic. Glowing even.
If anyone were to ask her professional opinion as a matchmaker she’d say Sarah looked like a woman in love.
A ripple of triumphant joy ran through Maddie. She loved the high she got from making a good match. There was nothing like it, except falling in love.
Movement at the doorway caught her attention. Parents had begun filing in, moving towards the seats reserved for them at the back of the hall. She noted Mr C looking dapper this morning. Another good sign. How come Levi was all bent out of shape? Things looked to be going well. Unless he knew something she didn’t.
A cold wash of fear tumbled through her. Maybe she’d been exposed and they were waiting, rather cruelly, to confront her publicly. A sweat broke out on her brow as anxiety clutched at her heart.
She took a deep breath. Slow down. Her mother always told her she over-dramatised situations. Nothing was wrong. Everything would work out exactly as she planned. She hadn’t failed at this yet. Matchmaking was her destiny.
‘Are we ready to begin?’ asked Ms Forsyth.
Maddie plastered her most dazzling smile on her face. ‘I most certainly am.’
The event went without a hitch. Maddie had a seat of honour on the stage, being the person responsible for Sarah in the first place. She sat primly with her ankles crossed like she’d seen Kate Middleton do, her hands folded neatly on her lap. She’d worn her school jacket and braided her hair so she looked every inch the capable student.
From her place at the side of the stage she could see Wayne. He and his friends leered at her like the clowns they were until Mr Ozzie, the PE teacher, had words. Whatever he’d said shut them down immediately. She could see Mr C clearly. He had eyes only for Sarah, with a smile on his face and his body language nice and relaxed. It gave her a warm tingly feeling inside to see how happy he looked. She liked Mr C. He deserved to be happy after all the heartache he’d gone through.
She sat back in her seat and allowed herself to relax a little. Satisfied with her work, she counted her triumphs.
Sarah spoke with passion and she could see the other kids connected with stuff she said. Bringing her here might have served another purpose but the kudos from the talk was a total bonus. Ms Forsyth thought Maddie had initiative. No need to tell her Miss Kempton had nixed the project before she left.
Wayne had asked her to the year twelve formal. Given all the girls in the upper grades considered him a catch, this could be considered a coup, adding considerable weight to her social standing. Then there was the matter of the dress. She’d found the most divine gown online and it was winging its way to her right at this very moment.
Levi acting all weird constituted the only problem in her life.
She sought him out in the audience. He sat looking out the window, his arms crossed and slouching low in his seat as if he wanted to hide. What was his problem? A small crease formed between her brows. She tried not to frown, being too young for botox and everything, but sometimes a girl was driven to it.
He’d promised to help her organise some interviews for Sarah. They were supposed to work on the list this afternoon after school. As he wouldn’t return her text messages, she didn’t know if they were still on or not.
Levi turned his head and their eyes met. She smiled the warmest, most discreet smile she could. He gave her a look like a laser beam of ice, if laser beams could shoot ice. Maybe a ray of ice from an ice gun. Either way, she had no illusion his current mood had everything to do with her.
Maddie’s previous high evaporated as if it had never been. Sarah sounded like she was speaking underwater and everyone’s faces blurred together until they didn’t look like people anymore. Her stomach suddenly appeared to be lined in stone.
For the first time in her life, Maddie McRae didn’t know what to do. Her best friend of forever hated her, right in the middle of what had to be not only her most successful matchmaking scheme yet, but also her biggest social coup. What had she done to deserve this?
She racked her brains, combing over every interaction she’d had with Levi in the last week, looking for clues to her crime.
The only thing she could identify was the way he’d left suddenly after finding out about Veronica’s party. Okay, he hadn’t been invited. Big deal. Veronica had only invited the year eleven and twelve boys because she wanted to make out with an older man. Maddie hadn’t had any control over that, and it wasn’t like she could show up with Levi in tow. He would have been out of place. She didn’t tell him about the party to protect him from feeling bad. She’d been doing him a favour so he had no right to be angry at her.
She smoothed her skirt down over her knees. Now she’d found the issue she could relax a little. After the talk had finished she’d find Levi and explain everything. He’d understand. That was the one catch when your bestie was a boy: there were certain things she could only do with other girls so there was always a risk of Levi feeling left out. Once they’d talked it through they could go back to being besties again. Sorted.
Settling back, she listened to the rest of Sarah’s talk. Personally, she had no interest in journalism. Her job was to thank Sarah at the end of the speech. She had to start paying attention or she’d miss her cue.
She took a deep, happy breath. Things were going to work out fine, she could feel it in her bones.
The last thing he wanted was to get caught up with Maddie, so the minute Sarah Lewis finished her speech he’d slunk out on the pretext of needing the bathroom. The teachers didn’t stop him. The main show had finished anyway.
His dad sat transfixed. Levi could set himself on fire and he’d bet his dad wouldn’t notice. He rolled his eyes in disgust. He’d known the woman for three-point-two minutes and he acted like she was the love of his life or something.
Dad had come home from his date with her all buzzy in the most annoying way. Levi liked seeing him happy, and he didn’t mind Sarah at all. He hated the way he felt right now and nothing he did seemed to make it go away. Everywhere he went he either ran into Wayne or saw Maddie. They mocked him with their presence. Leaving Longreach sounded great about now. He could leave everyone behind and start fresh somewhere no one knew him. He might be able to convince his dad to send him to boarding school or something.
Anywhere was better than here.
He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and kept his eyes on the path in front of him. He’d go and get his school bag then wait in Dad’s ute until it was time to go. Or he could get on the bus and avoid them all. Food for thought.
He was chewing on this when someone shoulder charged him from the side. He stumbled from the force of the impact and nearly fell.
‘What the fuck?’ He regained his balance and turned to face his attacker.
Maddie stood with her arms crossed and feet apart. He knew that stance. Her take-no-prisoners mode.
‘I am not in the mood for your shit,’ he said as he walked away. Never in the history of their friendship had he walked away from her before. He’d always been the faithful type. Not this time. Those days were done.
‘Hey, I want to talk to you, Levi Costello.’ He didn’t bother to look around and she chased after him. Behind them, streams of students began to leave the hall, their chatter rolling over them like a wave.
‘Well, I don’t want to talk to you,’ he shot over his shoulder as he picked up the pace.
‘What is wrong with you?’ She grabbed his arm, bringing him to a stop.
He shrugged like nothing bothered him. ‘What do you mean?’ He wasn’t going to give her an inch.
‘You know exactly what I mean. You’re acting all moody and not returning my texts. What’s going on? Has something happened?’
Yeah, something had happened alright. He’d finally seen the light. Maddison and her crazy schemes had gone too far. Sure, things might be working out right now but he knew her luck couldn’t hold. None of this would last. And he’d end up paying for it with his dad. The price had already been too high.
‘Look, I’ve got to get going.’ He turned and began to walk away again. The less he had to do with her the better. Looking at her up close already made his chest hurt. He didn’t want to have a D&M with her too.
‘Levi! I thought we were going to hang out this afternoon.’
He shook his head without turning around. ‘No thanks.’
Suddenly she stood in front of him, blocking his way. ‘Not good enough. We’re in this together and we’re going to see our dreams through.’
He pulled back like she’d slapped him. ‘Our dreams?’
‘Yeah, all of this is part of the master plan.’ Maddie swept her arms wide.
‘Your master plan, not mine.’ He couldn’t believe he’d been so gullible to fall for her shit.
‘You want to go to Sydney too. You said so. You and me together in Bondi.’ She spoke to him like he’d had a sudden brain injury or something.
‘You want to go live in Bondi because you’ve got a stupid crush on an actor who is never going to look at you twice.’ He wanted to hurt her like she’d hurt him. Her eyes narrowed and her sharp intake of breath told him he’d hit his mark.
‘Our fate lies in Sydney, together, and you know it.’ She wasn’t going to give up without a fight. What else could he expect?
‘Your fate lies here with that wanker, Wayne. The two of you make a perfect couple. Now leave me alone.’ He stepped around her. He had to leave before she noticed how badly he was shaking.
‘What’s Wayne got to do with any of this?’ He didn’t need to see her to know she’d be standing there with her hands on her hips.
‘If you’ve got to ask, you don’t deserve to know.’
At least he’d had the last word, and it had been a good one.
As he walked away he swore everyone stared at him like they knew he’d been played for a fool the whole time. They probably did. They could stay in this loser town. He intended to follow his destiny. As soon as he could work out what it was.