Chapter 1: The New Girl

Cleo Sertori had every reason to be happy. She lived in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, where she could and did spend every spare moment catching the sun's rays on the golden beaches of Queensland. She had two best friends who enriched her life. She had two loving parents and a (somewhat) loving sister. But she couldn't help but feel, on this day, two weeks before her seventeenth birthday, that there was something missing.

Cleo walked along the marina on her way to the beach, where she was going to meet Emma for a casual picnic. She had managed to persuade Emma to tear herself away from swim practice for a little while and she wasn't going to mope her way through one of the rare times that she got Emma all to herself. Most of the time, it was Emma, Cleo and Lewis, as it had been for the last five years. But sometimes a girl just needed time with her best girl friend. Especially now that Cleo needed some particular advice.

With these thoughts swirling in her head, Cleo barely heard a voice calling out to her. The voice repeated her name and came into focus.

Oh no, she thought, recognising the all-too-familiar sneer in Zane's tone whenever he was speaking to her.

'Earth to Cleooooo,' he called out, making one of the friends that always hung around him chortle.

'What do you want, Zane?' she answered, after debating whether to ignore him and just keep walking or whether to bow to her natural inclination to be polite and engage. Politeness won. It always won.

'Want to come fix my boat for me?' Zane asked, mockery dripping from every syllable. 'You should be an expert, you've watched your dad do it all your life.'

Cleo gave a sidelong glance to the inflatable zodiac Zane was standing in.

'I'll pass,' she said, trying to put dignity into her response and failing miserably. She was prepared for further commentary from Zane, but suddenly, someone new jumped into the conversation.

'I'll have a go at it.'

The speaker was a girl that Cleo vaguely recognised from school. She was about the same height as Cleo, with platinum blonde curls, vibrant blue eyes and a very pretty smile. Whether it was that pretty smile or just the arrival of a new person on the scene, Zane seemed to flounder in his mockery for a moment and just stared at the girl.

'Do I know you?' he asked coolly, after shaking his head lightly.

'Just moved here,' the girl replied. 'My name's Rikki and I know what's wrong with that engine.'

'Really,' Zane said drily.

'Really,' she replied. 'So, did you want help or not?'

Cleo watched Zane cast a swift glance at his friend, who was watching the exchange with interest.

'Tell you what,' Zane said. 'As far as I'm concerned, it's busted. But you're welcome to have it if you think you can do anything with it. I've been meaning to get a new one, anyway.'

Rikki's eyebrows shot up.

'Do you mean that?' she asked.

'Sure,' Zane replied casually, as if he gave away a multi-thousand-dollar boat every week.

'Well, ok, then,' she answered, stepping cautiously down towards the boat as Zane stepped out of it. 'You're my witness,' she added, to Cleo.

Cleo smiled nervously at the girl. She didn't want to be a witness, she didn't want to be here. But she nodded all the same. She then started walking away as quickly as she could, hoping that Zane wouldn't catch up to her and carry on with his bullying. The last she saw, though, as she cast a quick glance backwards, was that Rikki had started to fiddle with the engine and Zane was watching her while pretending to have a conversation with his friend.

She had practically run to the beach where Emma was waiting for her, so it didn't take very long at all.

'Hey,' she panted, out of breath, coming to sit down on the blanket that Emma had laid out.

'Hey yourself,' Emma replied, moving over to make room. 'Did you run here?'

'Kind of,' Cleo muttered, before launching into a description of what had just happened.

Emma grinned at the story.

'God, Zane can be such a drongo sometimes,' she said, shaking her head. 'I swear, he wasn't like this when we were kids.'

'I wish he'd stop picking on me,' Cleo said, exasperated. 'What did I do to him?'

'Well, you might get your wish,' Emma said. 'Sounds like this new girl might be exactly what he needs to take his attention off of you.'

'What do you mean?' Cleo asked, suddenly stiffening. Did Emma know what she wanted to talk to her about?

'I mean,' Emma said, rolling her eyes, 'It's obvious that Zane acts out because he's easily bored. He picks on you because you let him. This girl sounds like she might give as good as she gets, so she'll keep him busy at least.'

'I wish you'd stop reading psychology textbooks,' was all Cleo would say to this.

They sat in silence for a little while, the brunette and the blonde, as the sounds of a packed March beach filled the air. Finally, Cleo took in a breath and decided she was going to go for it.

'I needed your advice about something,' she said, steeling herself.

'Is it about Lewis?' Emma asked and Cleo just gaped like a fish for a moment, mouth opening and closing, her eyes wide.

'Because if you want to talk about whether I think the two of you should get together, then the answer is yes, just get together and get it over with already.'

'How did you…?' Cleo didn't finish the sentence, because Emma, ever the know-it-all, was plowing ahead.

'The way the two of you look at each other, the fact that you've both been more awkward than normal, even for him.' Emma paused as she ticked the items off on her fingers. 'Oh, and he asked me if it would be weird for me if you two started dating.'

Emma grinned again at this last, and her sunny disposition almost made Cleo furious. Almost.

'Why didn't you say anything?!' she finally exclaimed.

Emma shrugged.

'It was kind of funny watching you two stumbling around. And he asked me not to say anything.'

Cleo felt her eyes stinging slightly. Yes, Emma was her best friend, but to know that her feelings had been this transparent to everybody except herself was unwelcome news.

'Hey,' Emma said, her voice suddenly gentle and reaching out to take Cleo's hand. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do the Emma Thing to you.'

Cleo didn't even have to ask what the Emma Thing was. It was a well-known trait that Emma had, always needing to be the smartest in the room, the most informed, and always having the last word.

'The truth is, it makes me a little nervous,' Emma confessed. 'For so long, it's been the three of us.'

'And it will be still!' Cleo exclaimed. 'And anyway, I don't even know if he's going to ask me out–'

'I'll stop you right there, he will,' Emma said firmly. 'As soon as he works up the nerve. But what I mean is - it'll be different. It'll be you two and me. Anyway, it's not important. I hope it all goes well.'

Emma smiled and Cleo knew she meant what she said. While it still frustrated her to know that her interest in Lewis (and, for that matter, Lewis' interest in her) was no secret, she was at least pleased to learn that he was interested in her. The afternoon seemed a little bit sunnier already.