I own nothing, as usual- the names of Fly's sisters are taken from Shelly Birse's 'Blue Water High: The Novel'. Read and review, please!
Love Rhyleigh xoxox
Monopoly.
Tiny little tokens, scattered around the board at various points of play.
Fly Watson had played Monopoly before. It was a popular game in her house- they were a very family orientated family. She was the youngest of six girls, and she shared a room with three of her sisters. Jen, Liz and Nell.
It was a bit of a shock for the teenager, to come from a large, country family, to an even larger family in the city. She missed them.
Their family was busy. Everyone knew that. Fly would be up with the sun, helping her father on the farm, before school. She and her sisters would then rush to school, and rush back to help again with the farm and try to finish their homework. On Saturday mornings, two of them would have to be at their stall, while the others came and went in shifts.
But, on Saturday nights, as the TV played in the background, Fly and her five sisters would try to sit down for a board game. It sounded corny, but it was what Fly loved. Her parents would be the referees (it was only natural for the girls to argue), telling them who was and wasn't cheating, or who was and wasn't winning.
The Watson family had a stack of board games in their lounge room, by the fire. Cluedo, Pictionary, Guess Who, Scrabble, Trivia Pursuit... Fly's favourite was Monopoly.
They all had their tokens. Kate, the oldest Watson girl, was the boot. Josie, a tomboy, was the top hat. Jen was the canon, threatening to go off any moment. Liz, a girly girl who had thrashed everyone in home economics, had the thimble from the day she was born. Nell had the little Scottie dog, because it was very similar to the dog they had when the girls were really little.
And Fly? She was the horse and rider. A country girl at heart, she had learned to ride before she had learned to walk... and her mother had thrown a fit. Of course, Fly didn't remember this, but Kate, who had been seven at the time, told the story with great amusement.
When Fly was accepted into Solar Blue Surf Academy in Sydney, she had to leave her Margaret River farm, and her family, travelling three thousand, three hundred and fourteen kilometres, by bus, to the city. Quickly, she was accepted into the Solar Blue family. Simmo and Deb were their loving surrogate parents for the year, who were tough but friendly. Fly had gone from having no brothers to three- Edge, Matt and Heath. And, instead of having five sisters, she had three- and, much to her relief, only roomed with one. Anna, Bec and Perri treated her just like a sister- and a friend, at the same time.
But, it didn't matter how well she fitted in into the busy city lifestyle. She missed her loud, busy family and the farm. She was so homesick one night, after Matt had unintentionally called her 'little one' (Kate's nickname for her- Fly had been six weeks early at birth and had never quite caught up with anyone size-wise), she had contemplated packing her bags.
But it was then that Heath had dug out a Monopoly board, from a cupboard full of games in the pool room. Unlike other teenagers living around them, the Solar Blue students didn't have video games or cable TV. They had the basic, free to air channels, and board games.
So, they had made the most of it.
"I'm always the boot", Bec Sanderson said firmly, selecting her token. Bec was the fiery one, acting like a true big sister to Fly and the other girls. Heath had called her 'Mother Hen' once during the year, and it hadn't gone down well. In Fly's head, she was the Kate of her Solar Blue family.
"I'll be the thimble!" Perri Lawe had sung cheerfully. Perri was the girly girl, acing home economics- unlike the others, who had burnt the pancakes to the frypan and almost cut off their fingers with the sewing machine. Fly saw her as Liz.
"I guess I'll be the dog", Anna Peterson said, holding the small figure between her thumb and pointer finger. "I have a dog like this in Germany". She was Fly's Nell.
"Someone as charming as me should have the top hat", the ever-so-modest Heath Carroll had said dramatically, placing the small hat on the end of his pinky. "How do you do?"
Fly had burst into a fit of hysterical giggles, due to the fact she had seen her sister Josie do that millions upon millions of times.
"The race car is mine", Matt Leyland had announced, holding up the small figure in triumph.
"You should be the canon, Edge", Heath said cheekily, his heart warming smile visible on his face.
"That's not funny", Dean 'Edge' Edgely had said- but he had chose the canon. Edge reminded Fly of Jen- the ability to blow up at the drop of a hat. Which they had both done in Fly's eyes.
"What are you going to be, Fly?" Anna had asked curiously.
"The horse and rider". With that, Fly had reached for the remaining token that reminded her so much of home.
It was that first game of Monopoly that brought the seven teenagers together, from friends to good friends.
The year had passed way too quickly for Fly's liking. She had won the wildcard, securing a spot for her on the pro circuit. But, since she was born at the end of the year, she was so much younger than her six housemates, and hadn't considered herself old enough to make it. So, she had discussed it with her parents and her 'surrogate parents', and they had decided to put her in for another year at Solar Blue Academy.
But, in the summer holidays in between, Fly had gone back to Margaret River, the farm she had missed so much. Fly was welcomed back with open arms, her five sisters and parents meeting her at the bus stop. Fly had told them almost everything about the year, as they stayed up late listening.
But, as they talked, they had played Monopoly, working the small pieces around the board. It brought back memories from before she had left, and memories of the boarding house she had just left.
She knew that she would leave Margaret River in a little over six weeks, to go back to Sydney, leaving her sisters, parents and farm behind. She knew she wouldn't be sharing a house with the same six others, since they had moved on with their own things.
Life was one big game of Monopoly, she had learned.
And she was always the horse and rider.