The Trouble Series

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

The sun bakes the roof of my trusty old Opel Corsa as it carries me along the coastal road towards Ballito on Tuesday morning. With no air conditioning, I’m forced to wind the window down to keep myself from melting. The air whips strands of hair across my face and fills the car with that distinctive smell of the sea. The ocean itself is startlingly beautiful. With barely a breath of wind to churn the crests of the waves into white horses, the water is a glistening stripe of deep blue, bleeding into almost-green as it reaches the shore.

I turn off the road and drive up to the imposing entrance of Zimbali Coastal Resort. As always, I feel completely awkward and out of place, as if I’m a lowly commoner trying to gain entrance to the royals’ palace. My little car is like a piece of tin compared to Ostentatious Oversized Vehicle Number One that just drove past me and Extravagant Expensive Vehicle Number Two that glides into the estate ahead of me beneath the residents’ boom.

I pull up beside the guardhouse and wind my window all the way down as the guard walks over. “Hi, uh, I’m here to visit someone. I’ve got a code.” I remove my phone from my handbag and find the message Livi sent me this morning. I show the screen to the guard, who leans down and squints at the numbers. He nods, then disappears back into the guard house where I see him speaking briefly on a phone. He returns and hands me a plastic access card.

“You know where to go?” he asks me.

“Yes. Thank you.”

He opens the boom for me, and I drive beneath it. I follow the perfectly paved road past the resort and hotel area and towards one of the residential areas. All the houses are at least four times the size of my parents’ house, but nestled amongst the trees and other expertly maintained vegetation, they somehow manage not to look so grandiose.

I make a few turns, drive beneath another boom—hence the access card I was given—slow down to allow a buck to leap across the road, and eventually arrive at Livi’s house. I head up the driveway and park in front of the garage next to a white Jetta I recognise as Adam’s mom’s car.

Excitement races through me as I reach around to grab a beach bag from the back seat. It’s only been a year since I saw my friends, but after having spent every day of high school with them, it’s felt more like an eternity.

There were four of us—Alivia, Adam, Logan and I—who gravitated towards each other at the beginning of high school and formed one of the nerd herds. It would have been nice to be popular, of course, but as long as I had a few good friends I wasn’t terrified of speaking to, I didn’t mind what label I had.

At the end of high school, I decided to study in Pietermaritzburg with Matt, Logan went off to the gigantic, popular University of Cape Town, Livi got herself an au pair job with some noble family in Germany, and Adam went to America to spend the year working and travelling. Logan obviously became too cool to stay in contact with his nerdy high school friends, but Livi, Adam and I exchanged emails throughout the year. They told me all about their exciting experiences while I studied hard like a good girl and wished I had been brave enough to take an overseas gap year like they did.

I slam my car door shut and skip up to the front door. I consider knocking, but Livi always seems to be too far inside the house to hear me. I twist the knob and step inside the palatial home Livi’s parents decided would be adequate for them and their only child. I leave my handbag and beach bag on the table in the entrance hall and head to the living area. It extends across the whole front of the house with nothing but floor-to-ceiling panes of glass separating the inside from the outside. Beyond the infinity pool in the garden, the golf course stretches out, blending into a line of blue sea at the horizon.

I hear laughter coming from the direction of the kitchen, and I follow the sound. I step through the doorway and find Livi sitting on a counter while Adam shows her something on his phone. She looks up as I walk in. “Sezziiieee!” she squeals.

“Liviiiiiii!”

“Eeeeeee!” Adam joins in the jumping up and down. “Let’s all do the high-pitched, girly squeal thing!”

Livi punches his arm, and he falls all over the counter pretending to be injured while she runs across the kitchen and almost knocks me over with the force of her hug. “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, don’t ever let me leave the country again for so long.”

I laugh and squeeze her tight. “Like I could ever stop you.”

“I give you permission to tie me up,” she says as Adam slings an arm around my shoulder and gives me a sideways hug.

“Ooh,” I say, running my hand over his upper arm. “Did someone do some working out recently?” Adam is probably the ONLY guy in the whole world I can say that to without my face lighting up like a red traffic light. Five years of high school bonding will do that for you.

“I know, he is looking so good, right?” Livi says as she steps back to admire him.

“Sorry, ladies, but I’m already spoken for.”

Livi laughs and puts her arm around me. “Don’t worry, we wouldn’t dream of stepping on Jenna’s territory.”

“Never,” I add. Adam may turn out to be hotter than we could ever have predicted at school, but there’s no way I can think of him as anything more than a friend or brother. “So, are we doing this pool thing?” I ask Livi. “I see you’re all ready for the sun.” Her naturally orange-red hair is scooped into a bun on top of her head, the tied ends of a bikini are sticking out at the back of her neck, and she smells like she used a whole bottle of sunscreen.

“Well, clearly I’ve got some catching up to do.” She holds my tanned arm up and compares it to her pale one.

“You’ll never be as brown as me,” I tease. She sticks her tongue out, then crosses to the fridge and takes out three bottles of water.

“Where are your parents?” Adam asks.

“Oh, they’re playing golf today, so we’ve got the house—and, more importantly, the pool—to ourselves.”

“I’m just going to change,” I call over my shoulder as I head out of the kitchen.

Several minutes later, I step outside and join Livi and Adam on the warm stone tiles beside the pool. I lay my towel out next to Livi’s. Adam is on his stomach facing the two of us, and between our three towels sit a number of bowls of sweets, chocolates, and chips.

“Wow, you were serious about the junk food,” I say, helping myself to a handful of M&M’s.

“I’m always serious about chocolate,” she says.

After a few minutes in which we all sample the contents from every bowl, Adam says, “So how was London, Sarah?”

“It was amazing,” I say around a mouthful of cheese curls. “But I don’t want to talk about London. I want to hear about Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and your epic road trip and the summer camp you worked at. And Livi, I want to hear about the family you stayed with and the brats you looked after and whether they’re actual, real-life royalty, and if you really did stay in an actual, real-life castle. And what about the BOY you mentioned?”

“Oh, total swoon!” Livi falls dramatically across her towel and dangles her hand in the pool. “You are going to love this story. Well, except for the ending. That part kinda sucked.”

Adam groans. “Can’t you keep the swooning-over-foreign-boys stories for a time when I’m not around?”

“Fine.” Livi raises herself back onto her elbows. “The spotlight’s on you then, Mr Anderson.” She grabs her water bottle and holds in front of Adam’s face like a microphone. “How is Miss Jenna Mackenzie?”

“Wait, I thought we weren’t doing girly talk,” Adam protests.

“Just answer the question, Mr Anderson,” Livi says in her best Agent-Smith-from-The-Matrix voice.

Adam sighs, but a goofy grin comes over his face the way it always does when he talks about his girlfriend. “Jenna’s awesome.”

“She just finished matric, right?” I ask.

“Nope, matric this coming year. One more year until she can join me in the real world.”

“You cradle-snatcher, you,” Livi teases.

“Hey, we’re only two years apart, okay.”

“Which is, like, a decade in teenage years.”

I throw a cheese curl at Livi, then turn back to Adam. “How did you guys handle having a whole year apart?”

“Well, you know, it was tough. Lots of Skype, mainly.”

“Wasn’t she crazy jealous about all the hot girls you were meeting over there?” Livi asks.

“Pff. What hot girls? You know nobody’s hotter than Jenna.”

“Ah, listen to him,” Livi says with the tone of a granny admiring her adorable grandchild. “Isn’t he just the cheesiest?” She picks up the cheese curl I threw at her and tosses it at Adam’s head. It bounces off, lands on one of the stone tiles, and he promptly picks it up and puts it in his mouth.

“Ew!” I say through my laughter.

“Five-second rule,” he tells me while crunching. “It’s perfectly uncontaminated.”

“And what about the twenty seconds it just spent next to Livi’s towel?”

He shrugs. “You know I’m not a germophobe like you.”

After some American stories from Adam and some German stories from Livi—and a dip in the pool to cool off before continuing our tanning efforts—Livi looks over to where Adam is lying on his back with a cap pulled over his eyes. “So, I’ve been thinking about next year, Adam, and I’ve decided that you and I can totally ditch our nerd image once we get to varsity. Clean slate. No more orchestra geek for me and no more skinny nerd for you.” She pokes his almost-there six-pack, causing him to yelp. “Just don’t make noises like that,” she adds. “It isn’t exactly macho.”

“Hey, leave me out of this,” Adam says. “I’m secure in my nerd status.”

“Come on,” Livi urges. “We can use Sarah as our example.”

What? The water I’m drinking finds its way down the wrong tube, and I end up choking for a few moments. “Excuse me?” I say when I can breathe again. “How exactly am I the example of shedding one’s nerd status and going on to become wildly popular?”

“Well, it wasn’t quite like that,” Livi says, “but you totally transitioned in matric after Mr Popularity asked you out.”

I start laughing, which sets off the choking reaction at the back of my throat again. “I did not ‘transition,’ okay,” I manage to gasp out between coughs. “It’s not like I spoke to anyone else from the popular crowd. I never even sat with them or anything.”

“Hey, you’re ruining the story,” Livi says. “Just accept that you went from nerd to cool, and we can do the same.”

“But without having to date Mr Popularity,” Adam pipes up from beneath his cap.

“Yes.” Livi nods.

“Hey, that’s my Mr Popularity you’re making fun of.” I squirt water at both of them, and Livi squeals while Adam does his non-macho yelp again. “Okay, truce, truce,” I yell as Livi pulls off the cap of her own bottle and squirts water at my head. We both lay down our weapons and return to tanning on our towels. “Speaking of Mr Popularity,” I say slowly, “why, uh, why do you think Matt still wants to be with me?”

Livi raises an eyebrow and Adam remains silent.

“Seriously. I’m not fishing for compliments here. I genuinely want to understand this. I mean, he’s good-looking and smart and confident. He could have anyone he wants, so why me?”

“Seriously, Sezzie?” Livi says. “I mean, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?”

“It is?”

“Yes.”

I stare at her, waiting for her to elaborate. “Well?”

“What, you want me to say it out loud?”

“Yes.”

She stares at me a moment, then sighs and looks out across the pool. “Matt wants someone he can control. Someone who won’t step out of line and embarrass him. And … well … you’re easy to control. You’re shy and quiet and you don’t challenge him on anything. You’re a whole lot of other things too, of course, like pretty and intelligent and kind, but mainly …”

“I’m easy to control,” I say quietly.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Livi hurries on. “I just mean that you have the kind of personality that someone like Matt could take advantage of.”

“Because I let him take advantage of me.”

“Sarah …”

Adam removes his cap and looks over at us, obviously sensing a shift in the mood.

“No, that’s what you’re trying to say, isn’t it?”

“Okay, fine,” Livi says. “Yes. You could stand up for yourself sometimes. You don’t have to do everything Matt tells you to do. You don’t have to follow him around like a puppy craving love because you think so little of yourself that you don’t believe anyone else could ever care for you like he does. You’re worth more than that, Sarah. There are guys out there who are ten times better than he is. Guys who might actually deserve you. I wish you’d realise that and stand up for yourself and stop living in his shadow.”

I stare at her, my mouth hanging open. Part of me realises she thinks she’s being helpful, but I’ve never felt so hurt by her before.

“I don’t have to listen to this,” I mutter, standing up and grabbing my towel.

“Sarah, wait, come on. Just talk to—”

“Goodbye,” I say without looking back.

“What? Are you leaving? You can’t leave yet.”

I step inside, grab my two bags, and hurry out to my car. Normally I’d change back into my clothes before leaving, but I don’t want to be here another minute. I don’t want to discuss what Livi said. I don’t even want to think about it. I throw my things onto the passenger seat and slam my door shut before turning the engine on and revving far more than necessary in my attempt to get away quickly. I turn out of Livi’s driveway, only glancing up at my rearview mirror at the last second. I see Livi standing at the open front door, Adam just behind her.

And then they’re gone.

The whole way home, I expect to hear my phone ringing. I expect to answer it and hear Livi apologising for the things she said. But when I sit in the driveway at home and check my phone, there isn’t even a message from her. There is one from Adam, though.

Adam: You shouldn’t be asking yourself why Matt still wants to be with you. You should be asking yourself why you still want to be with him.