Hardwicke, Hardwicke high school

August 31, 2004

"Seriously Rose, what is actually annoying you about Sam working at the shelter? Is it that he's showing some interest in another girl or something else?" I could not believe that my mom had just suggested that I was jealous that Sam's attention was on someone else. For the past half hour now I had been speaking to her over the phone, she and my father had gone out of town the day after she had taken Sam and I down to the shelter. 

It was becoming more common for the both of them to be out of town and their stays out of town were becoming longer and longer. I guess that was what happened when you ran a business from the ground up, you nurtured it and watched it grow and when it was finally ready to run on it's own you were there when needed but not as much.

My parents weren't quite at that stage but if they put in the same amount of effort as they had in the past then I could see the company growing soon enough.

"Ew, gross mom! Sam and I are best friends, I'm more upset by the fact that he told me he had an allergy to cats when I asked if he wanted to volunteer but now! Now he's working in the cattery with Beth and the worst part is that he asked to work in there, he wasn't allocated that spot!" Maybe I was being a little harsh on my mom but the fact of the matter was that my best friend had lied to me about something so serious but sold himself out just to work with the girl he liked.

"Okay Rose, be rational here. If Sam asked you to do something you absolutely didn't want to do, would you have done it or made up an excuse as well? I'm do not accept lies but think about it, if roles were reversed would you do the same thing as Sam?" Groaning in annoyance I thought about it for a moment, I could hear my dad in the background talking to my mom while she waited for my answer.

"I guess you're right mom, if Sam asked me to sit in the library with him for a few hours each day I think I would lie and say I had an allergy to paper." It was a joke, on my mom thankfully understood and laughed. 

"That's my girl Rose, so just act normal around Sam? Maybe apologize to him just so he knows you're not angry with him? Whatever you do honey, you'll know if it is right or wrong. I have to go now, your father and I are going to a meeting soon. I'll see you in a few days, okay? Take care! And remember, no boys, booze or parties. Love you!" I didn't have time to even get a word out before the line went dead, when rushed my mom never really stuck around to hear what others had to say. It was an annoying trait of hers that I often wished she would change.

The dilemma with Sam seemed like it had an easy fix but swallowing my pride and admitting I overstepped the line was a hard pill to swallow.

Sighing I went to put the phone back in the receiver before going to the lounge window to look across the street to the Walker's home. This was something Sam and I did often, we would look out each others lounge windows to see if the other was looking, if they were than it was a clear sign that we needed to talk and generally we sorted things out.

My breath caught in my throat when I peeped through and saw Sam sitting on the sofa in his parents home, he was doing the exact same thing that I was doing. Almost as soon as we saw each other our faces broke out into a smile, mine was relief and I think Sam's was happiness.

Going out onto the front lawn I lay down in the grass, I knew Sam would be over sooner rather than later and smiled when I heard approaching footsteps. Pulling myself up a little so that I rested against my elbows I smiled, Sam smiled and then before either of us knew it we were laughing hysterically. I really don't think either of us knew why we were laughing, just because maybe? It felt good to laugh with Sam about stupid things again, I don't know what I would do without my best friend.

"I'm sorry I lied about the cat thing, it was really stupid. I just thought it would be super lame to volunteer at an animal shelter but now I'm kind of liking it." I lay back down, scoffing at what Sam said. I knew why he found it so appealing now and the thought still upset me more than I was willing to admit, was my mom right? Did I have a thing for Sam?

"No! I don't mean I like it because Beth is working there, I mean that's a bonus and all. But I didn't realize that if all you wanted to do was take the cats out and play with them then you could, or spend time with the dogs, or feed them and all that stuff. All I thought you did here was clean up poo and pee and that was it." It was then I realized that whenever I had spoken of the shelter and working there I hadn't sold it very well, most of the time I had complained more than anything. I mean, at the end of a shift all the cute and cuddly stuff was kind of forgotten if you had to help clean festering wounds or scrub floors with blood or vomit on it.

"I get it Sam, you're squeamish. I keep forgetting that." In a split second I felt Samuel tickling me and I shrieked, trying to roll away from the source of my torture. Tickling was something I did not deal with well, mostly I shrieked and screamed at Sam to stop...which I was currently doing.

"Okay! I take it back! Can you stop now!?" I managed to get out between gasps and shrieks, it was more me begging him to stop more than anything. Thankfully he let up and I could catch my breath, we hadn't done that in such a long time that I had almost forgotten and silently hoped that Sam had forgotten all about tickling me.

"Sorry Petal, a little too much?" I hated that nickname but no matter how many times I told, asked or begged Sam to change it he never did.

"Just a bit, want to go do something? My parents are out of town for a few more days," Sam knew the deal with my parents, mostly because whenever my parents were out of town I found myself sitting to eat dinner and usually lunch around their family table. His mom and dad never did mind, if they did they hid it really well.

"Yeah, want to go for a bike ride? We can go down the track or something, mom's been annoying me to come over and get you and I don't want to see that look on her face just yet. So a bike ride would be good." Whenever Sam suggested going bike riding it often meant going past Beth Ward's house so I reluctantly agreed, he went home to grab his bike and I went into the garage to grab mine.

Our bikes were nothing flash, old BMX bikes that we had thrashed together as kids and had never really taken care of. My dad looked after my bike, but just to ensure that the chain was oiled well enough and that the handle bars weren't going to fall off if I rode it again.

"Come on, I'll race you out to the track!" I yelled at Sam, he was taking his sweet time bringing his bike out but as soon as I laid the challenge I had little time to actually get going before he caught up. It was hopeless of me to think that I could out pace him but I tried at every turn.

The track wasn't too far away from our homes, a good ten minute bike ride and we were pulling up to the nearest fence to watch a few race cars practicing on the dirt road. During the peak of summer the track was closed down a lot because of all the dust the drivers kicked up while driving but recently the track had purchased a water tanker to sprinkle water over the dirt to keep the dust down.

"I'm going for Ronnie, who are you going for?" I picked the best driver first, Samuel groaned because the driver racing Ronnie today was Marcus...the lowest ranked driver in the local Darby. 

"I have no choice do I? We can't both go for Ronnie? What's the wager or dare?" I laughed, Sam knew well. I tried to think up the worst thing possible but the last time we had done this was when Sam still thought that all girls were gross cooties.

"Well the worst has already happened, you puked all over me in front of everyone at school so not only did that shame me but it shamed you as well. The only thing is you have a positive from that, I'm just 'pukey girl' now!" It was true, since the first day of school the most common question I had been asked was 'are you the girl that guy spewed on? Oh man, that was hilarious!'" I mocked every single air head that had asked that question, Sam went red in the cheeks.

"I'm really sorry about that, like really sorry. My mom thinks it was because of all the running and not having a good breakfast that set me off." Rolling my eyes I turned back to the race, the cars were still driving around the track but it was clear that Ronnie was ahead.

"Can I give one condition then? If Ronnie wins you ask Terrin Dawkins out." My eyes bugged out at that condition and I began shaking my head, that was the worst thing Sam could ever wager with me.

"Come on Rose, think about it! If you go out with Terrin then I can go out with Beth, you've had a crush on Terrin since forever and I've had a crush on Rose since she arrived here. It's a win for all of us." I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to let slip that this wager was a win for Sam and no one else. I hadn't liked Terrin in such a long time that I had stopped paying attention to him completely, sure he had said 'hi' here and there since school had begun but I wasn't attracted to him.

"Whatever." I turned back to watch the race continue, for a few moments I could feel Sam watching me. He was probably trying to decipher something but he was so clueless when it came to me sometimes that I was glad he didn't try this time and instead turned to watch the race.