Frankie and Joely Read Online Free Page A

punctuation of shops among dry paddocks and slow cattle. Frankie scans the street, trying to see what’s there. She can see an ice-cream shop. The word ‘shop’ is spelt with ‘pp’ and an ‘e’, ‘Shoppe’, like it’s trying to be old-fashioned or posh or both. Frankie guesses it’s neither. There’s a supermarket, a newsagency, a clothes shop, a chemist, a hamburger place, a coffee shop and something that looks like it says op shop, but Frankie can’t be sure from where she stands. She hopes it is. The country ones are always the best. There are also pubs at either end of the street, like they’re daring the locals to make a choice.
    â€˜We can walk this way to the bus stop,’ says Joely.
    They step into a line of shade, where dogs lie on the footpath panting, buckets of water beside them.
    â€˜Is there anything to do?’ says Frankie, crankier than she means to. She knows Joely will probably take it the wrong way, but she’s too hot to apologise.
    â€˜There’s a pool,’ says Joely in a terse voice.
    â€˜Can we go?’
    â€˜No. Not now.’
    â€˜But I’m hot,’ says Frankie.
    â€˜Told you,’ says Joely.
    â€˜Yeah. You did.’ Frankie rubs the sweat away from her face. She can feel her skirt riding up and she wonders if she’s flashing her undies. She catches a look from a group of teenagers staring at them. Girls mostly. Frankie knows they’re checking her out, the strangers from the city who they won’t say anything nice about. But Frankie doesn’t care. She didn’t come here to make friends. She certainly didn’t come here to be polite to the local girls, or to try to change their minds. She’s happy to be judged, and she’s even happier if they leave her alone.
    â€˜God, everyone is looking at us.’
    Joely smiles. ‘Cos your skirt’s too short.’
    â€˜No, it’s not.’ Frankie tugs at it again.
    â€˜Should have worn shorts. Told you.’
    â€˜Shut up, Joely.’
    â€˜Come on, there’s the bus.’
    Frankie and Joely rush past the Ice-cream Shoppe. Inside Rory is waiting for Anna to scoop ice-creams for a bunch of little kids so she can sneak off with him for a five-minute break around the back. He looks out the window and sees Joely walk past. He remembers her from last summer as Mack’s skinny cousin from the city who was always smiling at him whenever he looked up. Rory could never get close because Mack was always around. Not that he really wanted to. She’s not really his type: too freckly.
    Then Frankie runs past. Rory can’t see her eyes because she’s wearing big frame sunglasses, but he can see her hair, and her short skirt, and her laugh. He wonders if Mack’s already met her and what he thinks of his cousin’s friend. Rory smiles as he imagines the perfect way to mess even more with Mack and get him back for taking the job at the servo.
    â€˜Want a cone?’ says Anna, dragging Rory’s attention back from the window.
    He looks up at Mack’s ex-girlfriend with her dyed blonde hair and small teeth and shakes his head.
    â€˜Nah. I’ve gotta go.’
    â€˜But I thought—’ Anna starts in that voice that used to make Rory excited but now just bores him.
    â€˜Not today, Anna. In fact, probably not tomorrow either.’ He turns to walk out, thinking he’ll jump on the bus.
    â€˜You’re not dumping me?’ she calls. The kids look up from their ice-creams.
    â€˜Nah,’ he says, enjoying the fact that Mack’s ex-girlfriend is about to hate him even more than she hates Mack. He can see Anna start to relax, thinking she’s safe, and adds, ‘Cos we were never going out.’
    Rory swipes at the plastic strings hanging in the doorway and bashes his way through, just in time to see the bus pull out. Now what’s he going to do? Maybe he was a bit hasty