Ocean Pearl Read Free

me, he said' – Ace's voice turned sharp
and stinging – '"Heard you weren't selected for the
training team." But it was the way he looked at me.'
Her whispering tremble was back. 'He looked at me
like . . . like . . .'
    'Like what, Ace?'
    'Like I was some kind of loser.'
    Silence.
    'And it's true. It's –'
    'Ace, who cares what Tim thinks! He's out of your
life now,' I said, banging the bed with my fist. 'You are
not a loser. You're –'
    'Georgie, I am. I totally, totally stuffed up. You know
it too.'
    'Ace?'
    'Last Sunday I stayed out in the surf till my lips were
blue and my fingers and toes looked like shrivelled-up
sultanas, 'cause I kept thinking how Jake said that the
reserve had to prepare mentally and physically in case
they were called up.' Ace made a noise. It was something
between a moan and a squeak. 'But who am I
kidding? Huh? It's not going to happen. I'm not going
to be called up suddenly to join the team. I blew it and
you guys tried to tell me.'
    'Oh Ace, I'm sorry. I wish it wasn't like this.'
    'Do you have any idea how bad I felt that day? Do
you know what it was like to have everyone watching
you because you weren't selected? It's like they were
waiting for me to have some tantrum so they could run
off and ring all their friends.' The sharp sting returned,
this time louder. 'Oooh, guess what, Courtney McFarlane
didn't get picked for the Australian Training Team!'
    'It wasn't like that, Ace.'
    But I may as well have said nothing. 'You don't
know what it's like, Georgie,' she spat. 'People
watching you, rubbing their hands together waiting for
you to fall.'
    'Well, they're the losers if that's the way they think.'
    'They don't see it like that.'
    'Well, who cares what they think?'
    'I do!' Ace shouted.
    Silence.
    'And yet I hate myself for caring about it 'cause the
worst thing about not making the training team isn't
people talking about me. The worst thing – and this is
God's honest truth, Georgie – is not being with you
guys. I'll never forgive myself for letting you all down.
Never.'
    Her tears started. It was like weeks worth of choking
anger and spluttering regret suddenly burst through
the phone in one big whoosh.
    'Ace,' I soothed, 'hey, don't cry. It's okay.'
    I couldn't hug her. I couldn't push tissues through
the phone so she could blow her nose. I had to sit there
and listen to sobbing that screamed louder than any
words ever could. It was horrible. Really, really
horrible. Ace was the girl who had everything – looks,
the best figure, a boyfriend, a surfing sponsor. It wasn't
meant to be like this.
    'And Georgie, there's, there's something else I have
to tell you. My hair,' she whispered, 'my hair has
started falling out.'
    It sounds dumb, but at first I didn't get what she was
talking about. 'Your hair's what?'
    'My hair is falling out, like handfuls of it.'
    I got it now. 'You're not – sick, are you?'
    'No.' The tremble in Ace's voice was back. 'I told my
mum and we went and saw the doctor. She said it was
probably stress and that it should settle down.'
    But it hadn't. Ace'd told me that it was already so
bad she'd started wearing a hat whenever she could. I
could tell from her voice that she wasn't exaggerating
either.
    'Lucky I'm tall.' She'd bravely attemped a joke.
'Andy Wallace was at the OP promo party too. I'm sure
you've heard of him, he's the OP regional manager.'
    'Uh-huh.' Everyone had heard of Andy Wallace but
they couldn't just throw his name into a conversation
like Ace could.
    'The whole time I was with Andy I was saying to
myself, "It's okay, it's okay, he's shorter than me, he's
shorter than me, he can't see my bald patch.'' Georgie,
my OP contract runs out at the end of the year and I'm
getting paranoid. He didn't give Mum and me the
impression he was going to dump me but – '
    'As if!'
    'But Georgie, if he knew my hair was falling out it
would be one more black mark against my name on top
of not making the training camp and I cannot afford
that.' Then Ace had