Five Parts Dead by Tim Pegler

own waves.’
    Her face softens. Reaching down, she brushes the grass flat with one hand and sits, smoothing her skirt across her knees.
    â€˜I’ll take that as a compliment…I think. I mean, it might look like I just do my own thing but it’s not that simple, you know. Before Dad got sick there were times when I hated school. I didn’t have many friends, never got invited to parties and stuff, always got picked last at sport...’
    I smile to urge her on, pleased she’s talking about herself and the focus is off me.
    â€˜In Year 7 camp,’ her voice is low, ‘I was put in a bunkroom with five of those girls. When we arrived they were going through their bags and comparing the clothes they’d brought for the camp disco. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to bring anything other than trakky dacks and T-shirts, let alone make-up. And one of them, Taylah, looks at me and says, and I realise now she was talking to the rest of them, not me, “That is so uncool.” They ignored me for the rest of camp. Treated me like I had a disease. It totally wrecked camp and made me miserable for ages. I really hated Taylah back then.’
    I grimace, surprised that Pip could ever have been vulnerable to those air-heads. She always seems so self-assured to me.
    â€˜Then you guys shifted to school in Year 8. I became friends with Mel…and Taylah and her crew accepted, slowly, that I wasn’t going to just fade away.’
    I shake my head.
    â€˜But when Dad was sick I stopped caring about them. I figured that whatever they thought about me was so… irrelevant, compared to what was happening to him. As for Mel, she doesn’t care whether I’m a dag or not.’
    â€˜You’re not a dag.’
    â€˜I am. I know it. But Mel and I have heaps in common. Sure, she can be a bit of a Queen Bee, and…hell will freeze over before I do a triathlon, but we work brilliantly together in the debating team. It’s like we both know how the other will tackle a problem. You know, we build on each other’s strengths. She’s gutsy, too.’
    I groan. Pip raises her eyebrows in warning, silencing me. I hang my head as she continues.
    â€˜Mel might move with a crowd but she’s not afraid to stand up to them. Believe me, she’s had to be tough, what with the stuff Bianca’s been saying…about the accident.’
    â€˜What? What’s Bianca saying?’
    â€˜She…she’s been saying you’re as much to blame for the accident as Aaron.’
    My heart starts pounding.
    â€˜How? Why’s she…blaming me?’
    I need the answer as much as I dread it.
    â€˜I dunno. Because she misses her brother? Because Aaron’s gone and you’re not, I guess. She’s come out with some real crap lately. That’s why Mel told her to pull her head in. Your sister really…cares about you, you know?’
    Okay. Not the answer I feared. It’s a get-out-of-jail-free card, for now. And I owe Mel. Big time.
    â€˜You sure you’re okay, Dan? You were really out of it before.’
    I lift my head from my knees and peer at her. ‘It’s a nightmare, Pip. One that won’t go away. It sort of hollows me out, again and again. And I…I can’t forget it but I don’t know if I’m strong enough to talk about it. I just…don’t know. It totally freaked me out that you knew I lied. How did you know?’
    Pip flops back into the long grass. ‘I knew you’d forgotten. I was on the verandah at the party. We were talking and then I went to get food. I was coming back out the front door and I saw what they did to you. I know you didn’t want to go. They forced you. They could have killed you. I completely understand why it haunts you.’
    I feel like I’ve been dropped in a scalding hot spa.
    â€˜When did you…I thought there was no one out the front then. What exactly did you