Chapter Three.

As Kayla sat there looking at her, Tracey thought hard about how to break the awkward silence. She decided she should get up and leave but before she could move the girl was smiling at her.

‘Those dick heads used to keep to themselves.’ She told Tracey.

‘Really? What happened…? They suddenly grow a set of brass balls?’ Tracey couldn’t believe she had just said that.

‘Their names are Bradley and Kane Beasing and their side kicks are Aaron Stoick and Joseph MacCray. They used to keep to themselves until Bradley and Kane’s father bought them a new car for their 18th birthdays when they both passed the tests for their licenses on the same day. Ever since then they have been going around in their green shit heap of a car picking on unsuspecting girls; usually the ones that aren’t from around here.’ Kayla explained.

At that moment Tracey became aware that there was someone standing behind her. Kayla smiled at the person and Tracey turned her head to see who it was. She almost died of embarrassment when she realised that cute boy was standing behind her, slugging out of a cold bottle of coke he was holding in one hand and leaning on the back of her chair with the other hand.

    ‘Tracey, Richard… Richard, Tracey.’ Kayla’s introduction was so brief but now Tracey had a name to go with that cute face. A face that looked even more attractive closer up.

    ‘Hi Tracey.’ Richard smiled.

    ‘Umm… Hi.’ Tracey could tell he was looking at her face and noticing that she was blushing so much she probably matched the colour of the red label on the bottle he was holding.

    ‘Nice to meet you.’ He just kept smiling as he grabbed a chair on the side of the table between the two girls and took a seat.

    ‘Yeah you too.’ Tracey was still blushing. She couldn’t help it.

    ‘Well this is awkward!’ Kayla stated with a huge ear to ear grin. ‘It’s ok guys. You both need to loosen up. Richard, why are you so awkward around girls?’

Richard glared at her, clearly not happy she had blurted that out in front of Tracey.

    ‘I’m not awkward around girls,’ he retorted, ‘you’re a girl aren’t you? Since when have I been awkward around you?’

Kayla laughed, ‘Point taken dude. But just remember how long you have known me for. We’re almost like family.’

Tracey sat and observed this little back and forth between these two people she’d only just met, and realised that she felt like she had known them both for a long time. She pondered that thought. Where do I know them both from? She thought as the pair of them giggled and kept chatting.

    ‘So… Tracey, have you moved here or are you staying somewhere local?’ Asked Kayla.

    ‘I’m staying at the resort with my folks and my pest of a little brother.’ Tracey frowned and Kayla giggled at the sight of her frown.

    ‘I don’t have one of those thankfully,’ Kayla said, ‘only child.’ She used her thumbs to point at her chest.

    ‘Which resort are you staying at?’ Richard asked, his big unusually pretty hazel eyes looking right into her own eyes.

    ‘The one on the Murray Valley Highway.’ She responded, not blushing anymore.

    ‘How long are you in town for?’ Kayla asked.

    ‘Two weeks… Boring!’ Tracey rolled her eyes and they all giggled.

    ‘Not so boring if you hang around with us.’ Kayla grinned.

    ‘That’d be nice. I’d at least have someone other than Mum, Dad and a clueless 15 year old toe rag for a brother to talk to!’ Tracey sighed.

Richard was smiling at Tracey. His smile was gorgeous and there was something inviting and mysterious about it.

Kayla’s eyes shot back and forth between the two of them and Tracey couldn’t help but notice. She broke her eyes away from Richard to look at Kayla and smiled at her.

    ‘It’s a shame those boys that were in here before aren’t locked up behind bars. The way they were driving earlier, I almost thought they were going to run me over!’ Tracey began to explain.

    ‘Oh… wow.’ Richard stuttered. ‘Are you ok?’

The look in his eyes was one of genuine concern.

    ‘I didn’t know they had harassed you before they came in here.’ Kayla told her.

    ‘I saw them come in here before,’ Richard told Tracey, ‘I didn’t know they were giving you a hard time until I heard Kayla tell them to leave.’

Kayla took a breath, ‘I saw them come in here from half way down the street. I was on my way in here anyway. But yeah, when I saw them they were being real arseholes to you. I wasn’t going to stand by and watch them do it again!’

Tracey felt her body prickle with fear, ‘How do you mean again?’
 

    ‘Well I watched them grab a girl in here a few months back and when she managed to get up to leave they followed her. I was waiting for my coffee to be made so I didn’t go after them. When I got outside the girl was trying to fight back at them and that made them angry…’ Kayla was interrupted by Richard.

    ‘She basically watched those creeps bash that girl to within inches of her life. She ended up in the hospital,’ he said, ‘The only witnesses to the incident apart from Kayla told the police that the girl had started the fight. They said the boys fought back in self defence and because she had some limited martial arts training the boys got a good behaviour bond and some community service.’

Tracey could not believe what she was hearing. How close had she come to being their next victim? The thought terrified her.

    ‘Thank you Kayla,’ she said, with a complete look of sincerity in her eyes, ‘I could have been next in line for a dose of that.’

    ‘It’s all good,’ Kayla smiled, ‘I wasn’t about to let them do that to you. We should perhaps tell the police what they were doing though. They get away with harassing people far too much around here.’

Richard agreed with Kayla and Tracey couldn’t see any harm in going to the police if it might stop someone else from being seriously injured by a bunch of bullies.

    ‘I don’t know where the police station is,’ Tracey told them, ‘Could you guys maybe take me there?’

Richard smiled and stood up, ‘Sure, right this way.’ He said with and ear to ear grin.

Kayla and Tracey followed Richard out of the café and down the street. Richard owned a burgundy coloured Ford Falcon with chrome rims on the wheels and a shiny spoiler on the boot.

As they approached the car, Richard pushed the remote button on his keychain and the lights flashed to indicate that the car was now unlocked.

    ‘I bought this baby from the savings I had been putting aside since I was fifteen.’ He grinned, with a look of pride on his face.

    ‘Nice car,’ Tracey remarked with a raised eyebrow.

    ‘Thanks.’ He beamed as he opened the rear passenger side door for her to hop in.

    ‘Oi! You never open doors for me Rich!’ Kayla Scowled.

Richard just smiled and shook his head as he went around to the drivers side and got in leaving Kayla standing on the curb, hands balled into fists at her waist and a freaky joking frown on her face.

She got into the car and slapped him on the shoulder.

    ‘Ow!’ he snapped, retaliating with a flick to her shoulder and then they both giggled.

Tracey was almost certain she had met them before now. But she could not place where she knew either of them from. It was like an odd feeling of déjà vu.

    ‘I get the distinct feeling I have met you both before,’ she suddenly found herself saying, ‘but I can’t for the life of me think where I would have or could have met you.’

Richard started the engine. It was a loud engine that almost purred like a tiger.

    ‘Yeah, you know I get that feeling about you too trac.’ He said, looking at her reflection in the rearview mirror before checking both ways and safely pulling out of the parking space.

    ‘Me three,’ Kayla giggled, ‘dunno where from, but I have definitely met you before somewhere.’

After that, there was an awkward silence as Richard navigated a right hand turn at the round about into Piper Street and then another right hand turn into Tom Street and a left into Irvine Parade. The police station was on Irvine Parade and Richard pulled into a free parking space.

The three of them went inside and Constable Tim Stanton took a statement from Tracey and witness statements from both Richard and Kayla.

After about two hours they had finished there and Tracey suddenly remembered, shit I was meant to buy bread for mum!

Kayla must have seen the horrified look on her face as that moment of realisation came over her.

    ‘What’s the matter Trace?’ She analysed Tracey’s face with a look of concern.

    ‘I just remembered that I was supposed to buy bread and take it back to the unit for Mum and Dad to use for lunch. It’s way past lunch time now. I’m going to be in so much trouble!’ She was almost crying. Her eyes were stinging with the shallow wells of tears that were forming in them.

    ‘Don’t worry Trace,’ Richard said kindly, ‘I’m sure if we come back with you we can show your mother our copy of the police reports and she will understand you had a very good reason for not keeping your word.’

    ‘You just don’t understand,’ Tracey whimpered, unable to hold back her tears, ‘my parent’s are not that understanding. It’s always my fault no matter what it is.’

Kayla put her arms around Tracey and rubbed her on the back. For the first time in Tracey’s life she felt comfortable in another person’s embrace. She could feel Richard standing behind her, and then his hand was on her shoulder as Kayla backed away a little bit.

    ‘Come on Trac, we can take you back there and you let us do the talking, ok?’ Richard’s words were soft and calm. Tracey actually felt like he cared about her even though they had really only just met. Perhaps it was something to do with this feeling they all had thinking that they had met before? Tracey didn’t know, but she let the two of them walk her back to the car and they drove her the five minutes back to the resort.

When they pulled into the parking space behind the units Tracey felt a sinking feeling in her belly. She just knew she was going to cop a lecture from her mother and then her brother would join in with his usual arrogant remarks. She just wasn’t in the mood for it.

Kayla comforted Tracey all the way to the unit. Richard walked behind them and when they arrived at the unit Tracey’s family were staying in, Tracey reached forward and slid the door open.

Her mother greeted her at the door with an unpleasant tone.

‘I WAS BEGINNING TO WONDER IF YOU WERE ACTUALLY COMING HOME SOMETIME THIS CENTURY!’

Tracey’s eyes welled up all over again and she began blubbering uncontrollably. She couldn’t find any words that were prepared to come out and she was over feeling this way.

Kayla introduced herself to Mrs Pierce and Richard and she tried to explain what had transpired. Tracey was right though; Mrs Pierce wasn’t very warm and caring at all.

    ‘Tracey has a mobile phone. She could have called to let me know she was going to be late.’ She barked in a quarrelsome tone.

Richard tried to calm her down but it was useless. Mrs Pierce had made up her mind that Tracey had done the wrong thing yet again.

Tracey finally found her voice, ‘I’M FREAKIN' EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD MUM! I’M TIRED OF YOU TREATING ME LIKE SOME NAUGHTY LITTLE CHILD!’ she shouted it so loudly it made her mother back up a few paces.

Mum’s face looked gob smacked. She nearly didn’t have a come back for that. It wasn’t at all like Tracey to shout at her parents.

    ‘I WON’T BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT TRACEY.’ Mum was almost beetroot red in the face and she looked like she was on the verge of a coronary!

    ‘FINE, MUM… I’M LEAVING. I’M NOT STAYING HERE TO PUT UP WITH YOUR CONSTANT ORDERS AND PUT DOWN’S ANYMORE. I’M GONE! I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS A LONG TIME AGO. GOODBYE!’

And with that, Tracey grabbed her suitcase, her duffle bag, her tote bag and she stormed out of the unit with Richard and Kayla right behind her.

    ‘Way to go Trace!’ Kayla cheered as they walked at a quick pace towards Richards car.

    ‘I’m sorry you had to see that guys,’ Tracey told them, ‘I’m just over it; I really am. Is there a bus station or anything around here that I can get a lift to? I wanna go home to Morwell and pack my things. I’m sick of being pushed around. I turned eighteen two months ago and still Mum thinks she can treat me like a little…’ she ran out of breath before she could finish the rant.

Kayla put her arms over Tracey’s shoulders again.

‘It’s ok sweety. Richard and I can look after you. Maybe you can just crash at my house tonight and we could drive you back to Morwell tomorrow. There is a V-line coach stop on Belmore Street but at least think it over?’

Tracey nodded and the three of them got into the car. Richard seemed pretty quiet. He put the key into the ignition and started the engine, glancing at Tracey’s reflection in the rearview mirror with a kind gentle smile before backing out of the parking space and heading towards the road.

    ‘So girls,’ he finally said, ‘wanna come for a drive to Mulwala with me? I got something I wanted to show K. But I don’t mind showing you as well Trace.’

Kayla looked at him, ‘Sure,’ she said, ‘it’s gotta be better than just bumming around Yarrawonga.’

It was agreed upon and they sat in silence as the car moved along the road and crossed the weir bridge into New South Wales and Mulwala.

Richard had some music playing quietly. Tracey recognised a song by Paramore that she liked but she wasn’t really focused on the music. She was feeling pretty glum really. She decided to try and make conversation.

    ‘So how old are you guys?’ she asked them.

Richard glanced into the rearview again, ‘I’m nineteen,’ Richard told her with a smile. Even in his reflection she felt like she was melting inside when ever he looked at her. She smiled back, but his eyes had focused back onto the road and he missed seeing it by a fraction of a second.

    ‘I’m nearly nineteen,’ Kayla added, ‘just a couple of months off it… You said you were eighteen?’

Tracey swallowed and swiped the last of the tears from her face, ‘yeah, only just though,’ she said, ‘my birthday was two months ago.’

    ‘That’s right,’ Kayla said slapping the base of her palm gently onto her forehead, ‘you said that before, yeah?’

Tracey nodded, ‘Yeah, I think so.’