Merry Christmas lovely. Hope you like this monster :D - Teriza x
i.
Ever since they'd moved in, the street had been quiet. This was to be expected when you lived deep in the suburbs, but Melody had always pictured Australia to be a loud, smiling place.
She'd been here for less than a week, and Melody's six-year-old expectations had already been crushed.
She was used to the silence at this point, though, and it was for this reason that the shriek of laughter from outside startled her from where she was doodling on a piece of paper one sunny afternoon. Immediately, she ran to the window. Peering out, she saw a group of kids gathered on the street. Some were older than her, but there were a few that looked her age.
A lightly-tanned girl with dark hair curled into ringlets was holding a long bat. She stood in front of three upstanding plastic poles and tapped the bat on the floor, gazing intently straight ahead of her.
The object of her gaze was an older boy with dark skin. Melody watched as he ran forward and brought his arm around in a wide arc to throw the ball towards the girl with the bat. A bright smile lit up the girl's small face as she managed to hit the ball - not far - and she burst into a sprint, running directly towards a set of poles identical to the ones at her starting point. In the other direction, another girl ran towards where the first had come.
Melody couldn't help but stare at the scene before her. Kids! On her street! She ached to go out and play with them, but she didn't understand the game.
It was then that the curly haired girl cried, "No!" and threw her bat down angrily. Melody blinked and refocused her attention on the game - the first set of three poles was now lying on the floor, and the ball sitting not far from it. Another boy walked up to the girl and picked up the bat, rubbing her head affectionately as he took his stance in front of the poles.
It was at this moment that the curly haired girl glanced up and met Melody's gaze. She could do nothing but stare back.
A smile split the girl's face as she waved at Melody. Melody waved back. The girl gestured for her to come out, and Melody shook her head. A confused expression splayed across the girl's face as she gestured again. This time, Melody nodded. She met the girl at the curb directly outside her house.
"Hi!" She said brightly, her Australian accent obvious even in the one word.
"Hi," Melody replied shyly.
"Do you want to play with us?" The girl asked. Melody glanced once more at the game that continued around them before explaining, "I don't know how."
The girl's eyes widened, "You've never played cricket before?"
Cricket. That's what it's called. Melody shook her head, "No."
The girl cocked her head to the side, "Your voice is funny. Are you from Australia?"
Melody shook her head again, "I just moved here with my mom from America."
The girl nodded, as if this answer satisfied her. "You can still play with us if you want. We can teach you how to play."
Melody felt her mood lift, "Really?"
The girl nodded eagerly, "Yeah! Come on!" She started off but then stopped suddenly, "What's your name?"
"Melody," she replied, "What's yours?"
"Teriza. You have a really pretty name, Melody. Now let's play!"
ii.
"Are you nervous, sweetie?" Her mom tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
"No. Teriza says everyone's really nice at school!" Melody shouldered her backpack and smiled up at her mother, "Can we go now?"
Her mom chuckled, "Of course, honey. Get in the car."
They happened to pull out of the driveway at the same time the Teriza and her parent did, and the girls waved at each other through the back of the cars the whole ride to school.
Her mom dropped her off with a final, "I love you!" and then it was just the two girls.
Teriza grabbed Melody's hand, "Come on! We have to get the good handball court before somebody else does!"
Giggling, the girls ran off to the concrete playing area. A boy and a girl were smacking a small, bouncy ball back and forth inside a rectangle that had been painted onto the floor, while another girl stood on the rectangle's edge, watching. Teriza pulled Melody in their direction.
"Hey, guys!" She called when they got close, "This is Melody. This is her first day."
The girls and boy all said hello to her, and Melody offered them a wave. "Now we have enough to play a full game!" The boy exclaimed. As Teriza and the other two girls each stood inside one of the four boxes that divided the rectangle, the boy made his way over to her.
He had dark skin that matched his dark eyes and curly hair. "Do you know how to play handball?" He asked. Melody noted a faint American accent in his voice.
Melody shook her head in answer to his question. Teriza interjected from her place on the court, "She's from America, like you! But she only moved here last week." Teriza looked at Melody, "Leo's lived here for two years."
Melody looked back at Leo, "Where are you from?"
"Arizona. You?"
"Arkansas."
"Cool!"
Melody thought he would've said something more, but one of the girls on the court called out, "Can we play already?"
Leo smiled, "You can watch for the first game until to figure it out."
"It's really easy." Teriza reassured her, "You'll get it really quick."
Melody smiled, "Okay."
Leo walked onto the court and bounced the ball in Teriza's direction, who then hit it towards one of the girls and so on.
As Melody watched, the smile stayed on her face. She joined in when one of the girls missed the ball and switched places with her. By the time the bell rang for classes to start, Teriza said that she was better than lots of the kids at the school.
Melody felt warm, she could tell she would like it here.
iv.
Melody frowned as she opened the classroom door to go outside for lunch. She was blasted with a wave of hot, humid air, and did not like it one bit.
"Cheer up, Mel." Leo said, coming up beside her, "We get icy-poles, remember?"
"Can't they give them to us in the classroom?" She complained, as they made their way to the playground, "It's so hot I feel like my face is melting off."
Leo laughed as they rounded the corner to the playground and were greeted with the sight of Teriza coming towards them with three icy poles in hand.
Melody sprang forward and snatched one out of her hands, "You rock, Terzie."
Teriza laughed, "Come on," she handed an iceblock to Leo, "Let's go sit in the shade, yeah?"
"Sounds good." Said Leo, who spotted a nice, cool place and started towards it.
Just then, a group of second graders rushed past and knocked the iceblock from his hand. It landed on the concrete below them and began melting instantly.
"Noooooooo!" He cried as he looked at it mournfully.
Teriza patted his back, "It's alright, mate." She consoled, "You can have some of mine."
"Mine too." Melody said, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the shade.
The girls each broke off a bit of their ice block and handed it to him. He smiled at them both, "You guys are the best."
"Duh." Melody said, leaning against the wall and letting the cold icy-pole cool her down, "You'll never find better friends than us."
v.
Year 6 graduation was an emotional time for many. They got their class jerseys, they had their farewell Mass and party down at the beach, and prepared to say goodbye to all their friends that were changing schools.
Because, their school was special, it was only co-ed in the junior school. The high school was all-girls. Heart-breakingly, this meant that their last day of Year 6 was also the last day that they would ever be in the same class as Leo, who was moving to the boys school down the road.
Melody hugged him tight as she was preparing to leave the beach on the day of their final celebration, "I don't want you to go."
Leo hugged her back, "I don't want to go."
"It's okay," Teriza said from beside them, "We still live near each other. We can catch up after school and on the weekends, and we have the whole summer to hang out!"
Melody smiled, "That's true."
Leo said, "It'll be like I haven't even left."
Melody smiled, she knew it wasn't, but he was just trying to make her feel better, and that was one of the reasons she loved her best friend so much.
From behind them, Melody's mum honked twice on the car horn.
"I have to go. Text me!"
"I will!"
Melody and Teriza ran to where Melody's mum was waiting and hopped into the car.
vi.
It was the Christmas of eighth-grade when Melody figured that she had a crush on Leo Valdez.
As had happened every year since she'd moved to Australia, she and her mom were over at the Valdez's place for the afternoon and evening. Teriza was off celebrating the season with her huge family, but Leo and Melody both didn't have any other family living in Australia with them. As best friends, it made sense for them to spend the day together - they were as close to family as the other had.
While her mum chatted over coffee with Leo's parents in the living room, Melody and Leo were outside playing with the water guns that they had both gotten from Santa.
"I wish it was hot," Melody sighed as she refilled her gun. Gesturing at the overcast sky above she continued, "The last, like, three Christmases have all been cloudy."
"At least it's humid." Leo countered, spraying her with water. This alighted a shriek from her, "I wasn't ready! I'm still filling up my gun."
Leo gave her a crooked smile, "What are you gonna do about it?"
"Cheater," she glared, poking her tongue out at him, "Watch your back."
"Ooh, I'm so scared," he joked, raising his arms in fake terror. Melody seized her chance and soaked his front completely.
Leo blinked twice and glanced down, seemingly in shock. When he looked back up at her he had a wicked glint in his eye. Melody barely had time to brace herself before he pounced forward and tackled her to the ground. The rolled on the grass and she did her best to squirt him in the face with more water, but it was hard to aim a gun correctly when the weight of a fourteen-year-old boy was crushing you.
By the time Leo's parents called them in for dinner, both Melody and Leo were soaked and caked in mud. Leo's mother clicked her tongue and told them to go wash up before they sat down.
Both of them were stifling laughter all the way to Leo's room. He shut the door behind them - and Melody felt nervous.
Which was ridiculous. They had been alone together in his room, in her room, hell - even in Teriza's room countless times before. But when they'd been playing in the backyard, there had been a moment of silence in all the chaos. A moment when Leo was on top of her, his weight braced on his hands which had laid on either side of his head. She had stared up at him, at his brown eyes that twinkled with the light of the falling sun, and wondered if they'd always been that pretty. Then she'd been shocked that she'd thought that about Leo. Leo, her best friend since first-grade. She couldn't possibly like him...could she?
Leo chucked her a t-shirt of his to replace her dirty one, and left the room to go wipe the mud off of his skin, leaving her alone.
She quickly changed her top, and couldn't ignore how she loved the way the worn material felt, or how the faint scent of Leo smelt. Had she always had these feelings? She couldn't remember.
She was still thinking about it when Leo came back into the room, all evidence of their mud-fight gone save for the stains on his pants. "You right?" He asked, noticing her silence.
She quickly plastered a smile on her face, "Yeah, all good. I'll meet you at dinner." She hurried out of the room and to the bathroom to clean her skin, fighting the blush threatening to rise on her cheeks.
"Do you remember when it would snow in Christmas?" Melody asked Leo, as they sat beneath the Christmas tree in his living room.
He shook his head, "We moved here when I was really young...I don't have too many memories of life back in Mesa."
There was a beat of silence before he asked, "Do you? Remember, I mean."
Melody nodded, "A little. I remember a fire crackling in the fireplace, and mum making eggnog for me. I remember wearing those lame Christmas sweaters you see in all the movies, and huddling under a blanket as the snow fell outside." She smiled at the memory, and glanced up at Leo to see him watching her, an expression like fondness on his face.
"Sounds nice," he said.
She shrugged, "I think I like it better here." A moment of courage, "With you."
His smile widened, and Melody felt her heart skip a beat.
"One thing I remember from America that they don't have here is the mistletoe." He laughed lightly to himself, "I remember, every year, Mum would hang up a branch right above the kitchen door, so whenever Dad would come in to ask how the cooking was going, she'd walk right up to him and kiss him." There was a soft smile on his face and he goes on, "They'd also always sit together on this one couch whenever we were opening presents, and she started putting a branch above that spot as well…at the time, I obviously thought it was kinda gross. But now that it's not there, I miss it, I guess."
They fell into a comfortable silence, the faint and muffled voices of their parents' chatter floating in from the next room. Melody found herself thinking how she wouldn't mind feeling like this for a long time.
"I made you something." She said. Her words sounded loud in the quiet room.
Leo's eyes widened, "Mel...you didn't -"
"No, stop," She said, "It's nothing, really."
"But I didn't get you anything." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and she couldn't help smiling a bit.
"Don't worry about it." Reaching behind her, she grasped the rectangular gift and handed it to him, "I hope you like it."
He grinned at her, "I'd love anything you gave me."
She watched him unwrap the gift, anxiety gnawing at her insides. She'd spent a fair amount of time on the drawing, and could only hope he'd appreciate it.
The anxiety dissipated when she saw the expression on his face as he looked at the gift.
"Mel, I…" his eyes searched the drawing before sliding to meet her gaze, "It's beautiful."
Her heart lifted, "You really think so?"
He nodded, and nodded and just kept nodding. Glancing back at the painting, his smile grew wider and when he looked back at her, his eyes were shining. He carefully placed the frame down and shuffled over to where she was sitting, wrapping his arms around her and resting his face on her shoulder. "Thank you. So much. It's wonderful."
She smiled into the fabric of his shirt as her arms came around him as well, "I'm so happy you like it."
He pulled back and looked at her face, his gaze trained intently on hers, "How couldn't I?"
She smiled again, dropping her gaze.
"I love you, you know that, right?"
Melody's head snapped up sharply, and her heart thrummed against her chest. He couldn't mean...no, not like that. He was staring at her in earnest, but she knew he was just being friendly. A stab of disappointment shot through her, but she nodded.
Offerring him a small smile she said, "I love you too."
vii.
"'Sup, babe," Mel said, flinging open the door to Teriza's room and collapsing on the end of her bed. "How's the leg?"
Teriza slowly closed her book and eyed Melody, "Well, it's still broken."
Melody barked out a laugh and settled herself against the back headboard, "Does it hurt?"
"Nah, I can't really feel anything. The cast is a bitch, though."
Melody smiled just as Leo walked in, holding a big tub of Neapolitan ice cream.
Teriza gasped, "You are literally the greatest person in my life."
Melody slapped Teriza's leg, "Hey! I cooked you dinner last night!"
Teriza laughed, "Okay, okay, you're both the greatest people in my life."
Melody shuffled over to make room for Leo on the end of the bed and placed the box on top of Teriza's outstretched legs. She winced as the cold touched her skin. Melody was trying to calm her heart rate, because Teriza's bed was small, and Leo's arm was pressed flush against hers. She couldn't decide if she liked the contact or not.
Teriza was staring at the two of them from the other end of the bed with a wry grin on her face. Am I that obvious? Melody thought to herself.
"So," Teriza said as Leo cracked open the tub and handed them each a spoon, gesturing for them to dig in. "What have you guys been doing with your lives? Hopefully you've got more exciting news than lying in your room all day reading."
"Are you kidding? I'd take that over bloody Mr Jones torturing us in Math any day." Melody stated, spooning a large scoop of strawberry and swallowing it whole. She winced, "Ahh, brain freeze."
"Push your tongue to the roof of your mouth," Leo said, "Like this." He demonstrated and Melody copied. They heard the click of an iPhone camera going off and both of their heads snapped in Teriza's direction.
"Hey!"
She grinned wickedly, "I'm sorry that just looked so funny."
She passed them her phone to see and, Melody had to admit they looked kind of ridiculous. The three laughed and fell into easy conversation about life. It felt just like it always had been, the three of them against the world.
In that moment, eating ice cream out of the tub while sitting with her two best friends in the world, Melody felt a warm sense of happiness wash over her body. She smiled softly.
"What are you smiling about?" Leo asked, pointing his spoon at her.
She breathed a laugh, "Nothing. Just love you guys."
Leo grinned, and Teriza rolled her eyes, "Sap."
But she was smiling too.
viii.
2017. End of Year 12. End of HSC. End of classes, schools, teachers textbooks. End of everything. It was here. And the best night to celebrate? Grad Ball.
Leo had been Melody's date to the night - naturally. Teriza had taken one of her family friends, and the girls' tables were right next to each other.
As soon as dessert was finished, Melody and Teriza had all but sprinted to the dance floor, eager to lose themselves in the dancing and the lights and the fact that the next coming Monday was not one they'd have to worry about going to school on.
When their dates finally caught up to them, Melody was sporting a faint sheen of sweat already.
The four of them danced and danced and danced. Then the entire grade danced together in a big circle. They mingled with their friends, and the boys mingled with the other dates, and before they knew it, it was midnight and the last song of the night.
The first chords started playing and Melody eyed Teriza knowingly. "Dance routine?"
Teriza smiled, "Dance routine."
And so for the chorus, the girls ran to the front of the room and led their grade and all their dates in the choreography for We're All In This Together.
Needless to say, it was the best possible way to end their high school lives.
The best part of the night, though, was afterwards.
Someone had booked out a restaurant at Circular Quay for the grade, and most people headed there after the school had kicked them out.
The now, mostly legal, graduates sat under the stars drinking and laughing and revelling in the fact that they were done. The looming sight of the Harbour Bridge beside them, and the Opera House behind them, only seemed to add to the surreality of the moment.
At one point in the night, Teriza and her date had left to mingle with the rest of their grade. Leo and Melody decided to take a short walk down the harbourside.
They stood facing the Bridge and the body of water below it. Melody watched the waves gently lap against the wall, the ripple of the reflection of the city lights on the water. In the background, the excited murmur of a couple hundred new graduates floated over to her. Leo was by her side, and the stars lit up the sky above her. Everything was perfect.
"So back to the US to study?" Leo asked, breaking her reverie. She turned to look at him, finding him already staring at her.
She nodded, "I love Australia and all, but…"
Leo put a hand on her arm and smiled warmly, "I know." She smiled back.
He took back his hand, and his expression changed. His eyebrows furrowed and he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, then opened it again, "Melody, I…"
She tilted her head, "What's up?"
He exhaled through his nose, "I don't know how to...I mean, okay, you and I are doing different things next year. You're going back to the states for uni, and I'm doing my apprenticeship. And, I know we'll have schoolies and the rest of the holidays and stuff but I just, I need to tell you that I-"
Leo was interrupted by Melody reaching up to grab his face and smashing her lips to his. He seemed to sigh in relief as his arms slid around her waist and pulled her closer. She felt herself smiling into the kiss, and felt him do the same.
"Bloody hell," came a voice from behind them, "It's about fucking time."
Melody and Leo broke the kiss to see Teriza staring at them. Her arms were crossed and her body language said she was annoyed at them, but Melody could see the happiness in her eyes.
"Don't let me interrupt! God knows I've been waiting fucking long enough for you two to get your bloody shit together."
Melody laughed - Teriza only excessively swore on three occasions: when she was really tired, when she was really angry, or when she was ecstatically happy. From the sparkling in her eyes, Melody knew which of the three it was.
Leo pressed a kiss to Melody's temple and slung his arm around her shoulder. Teriza came up to Melody's other side and rested her arm around Melody's waist, leaning her head on her shoulder.
Melody let out a big breath, "It's over. We're done."
She felt Leo give her shoulder a little squeeze. Teriza didn't seem to be done being a sarcastic little shit, though, because she said, "Oh nah. Really?"
Melody hip checked her and Leo reached over to playfully smack the back of her head. Teriza's laugh rang out across the waves before fading into the night. Everything seemed quiet; even the chatter of their classmates seemed muted now.
"Is everything gonna change?" Teriza asked no one in particular.
"Nah," Leo said, "We're the BAMF trio. Change is a foreign concept." The girls smiled.
And they stood there, staring at the Harbour Bridge, lit up in all its glory. The three of them, with their arms around each other, the depthless ocean in front of them and the boundless sky above them. Melody felt her smile grow.
Screw what I said before, she thought, now, everything is perfect.
~FIN~
An Aussie Glossary
Junior School: Grades K-6
High School: Grades 7-12
Grad Ball: (I mean you could probably figure this out) but it's the dinner-dance hosted by the school after the completion of the HSC for the graduating class.
HSC: The NSW equivalent of the SATs
Circular Quay: A suburb in the CBD of Sydney. Situated on the harbour, overlooking the Harbour Bridge and housing the Opera House and Botanical Gardens.
Schoolies: Pretty much two-weeks of just partying for all the Year 12 graduates of that particular year. Usually in mid-late November.