Ocean Pearl by J.C. Burke Page A

talking to. 'You're
kidding. You haven't had a surf? You've been here six
months.'
    'Ace kept promising to take me after your camp
ended but we just kind of never got around to it and
now it's winter.'
    'So?'
    'I don't have a wetsuit. I came here to play baseball,
Georgie.'
    'But you can't go back to Canada without having a
surf! You'll be arrested on arrival.'
    'I agree!'
    'You can use my wetsuit. It'll fit you.' Oh my God,
please tell me I didn't just say that. But I had because
Jules was smiling and going, 'Really?'
    'Yeah.' Please don't do your tomato face , my head was
screaming. 'It'll be a bit short on your legs.'
    'I can live with that.'
    'Okay.'
    'So what's that big book you've brought up here?
Is that what I've been summoned for?' he asked. 'I'm
impressed that you can rock climb with one hand. I
pretty much have to carry Ace up here.'
    'Lucky for you, you didn't have to carry me up,'
I joked.
    'Hah!' Jules grinned at me. 'I bet I could.'
    My tomato face threatened to appear again.
    I handed the album to Jules. 'Ace said to say, "It's a
book of memories for you." Something corny like that.
You know how she's been really busy lately. She
doesn't want you to forget her. Like, you know how
forgettable she is! She's mad, that girl!'
    Jules was flipping through the pages, scanning each
one a little faster than the page before. He was looking
for something. You could tell.
    'It's good, isn't it?' I said. I was waiting for the big
smile and 'Wow' so I could report it back to Ace. 'She's
so pretty, isn't she?'
    'They're all modelling shots?'
    Jules was already back at the beginning, this time
turning each page very slowly.
    'Sorry, I thought . . .' He shrugged. 'It doesn't
matter.'
    'Oh?'
    Jules closed it up.
    Silence.
    Never before had I had such an overwhelming urge
to climb down a rock at record speed. Even jump, if
that was the quickest way to safety. The longer I stayed
up here with Jules the more fiddling with the truth
I'd have to do. 'Yeah, Ace, he loved the album. You
should've seen his face when he opened the first page.
He almost looked like he was about to cry. He said it's
the best thing anyone's ever given him.'
    I stood up and stretched. That way I didn't have to
look at Jules's gloomy face staring out to sea. 'I better
get going.'
    'Okay.'
    No offer of a hand this time.
    'Well, see you, Jules.'
    I scaled down that rock like I was an abseiler in the
Olympics. Was it good to feel land under my feet! My
legs wanted to burst into a run so I could get the hell
away from there but my brain told them that'd look too
obvious. Instead, I started a casual stroll.
    'Geeeeoooorgie!'
    Jules was standing at the top waving his arms. 'You
promised you'd take me for a surf.'
    No, I didn't. I said you could wear my wetsuit . 'Okay,'
I called back.
    'I know where to find you!'
    I waved as my casual stroll picked up its pace.
    There were six missed calls, two messages and three
texts from Ace. But then I hadn't been up to the
bungalow for the last two and a half hours and that's
where my phone had been waiting.
    I'd been avoiding it, hanging down at the surf shed
with Jake, waxing my boards and chatting.
    Last night, when Carla asked if we had any questions,
my mind went blank. Now I had about a
hundred to ask. Mostly they were about when the
other girls arrived 'cause my head was in operation
mode – that being Operation Get Megan Out of Our
Bungalow Quick!
    It didn't look like happening anytime soon. I
should've read the training camp booklet. It'd been
next to my bed for the last three months.
    This week was just us four, or as Jake now referred
to us, 'group one'.
    'Just us four!' I screamed in his face before calming
down and adding, 'I thought there'd be eight girls
here?'
    But because three of the other four girls were from
Victoria, they'd had their first week here last month as
it fitted in better with their school holidays.
    Jake had explained it like it was the best idea ever. 'It
made sense to put the other girl from