Ocean Pearl Read Online Free PDF Page B

covered
every square millimetre of it.
    Grinning back at me were the best three weeks of
my life. There we were, the Starfish Sisters lying on the
beds in the bungalow, exercising in the gym, eating
meals, wrestling in the pool, waxing our boards – and
in every single one of them it was Miss Micki staring
back at me.
    At last those tiny details were captured forever. It
didn't matter how tired or down I felt, all I had to do
now was look at this card. But I wouldn't be in my
room. I wouldn't be at my house. Dad was going to be
alone and –
    Kia squeezed my hand. 'Micki, you're shaking.'
    It wasn't just my hands. It was my whole body, from
the very top to the very bottom and everything in
between.
    Ace elbowed in and pointed to a photo of her
blowing a kiss to the audience. 'This is the best one of
the fashion parade. I blew that up for the album I'm
giving to Jules. Or rather, you're giving to Jules from
me, that is.'
    'Ace?' Georgie frowned. 'What has that got to do
with anything?'
    'The photo album.' Ace answered back like Georgie
was a total moron, but their voices seemed a million
miles away. 'You know, the one you're taking up to
Jules for me.'
    'Yes, I know that, Ace! But if you haven't noticed,'
Georgie said in a lecturing kind of voice, 'we were in
the middle of giving Micki her present. Not talking
about you and loverboy.'
    'You're just jealous,' Ace teased.
    Standing there in the coolest shop ever, knee-deep
in a pile of skinny-leg jeans with Georgie and Ace
arguing about the benefits of having a boyfriend and
Kia watching them go back and forth like she was at a
tennis match, I burst out laughing. I don't know where
it came from. But I laughed really hard and really, really
loud. It was the sort of thing Miss Micki would do. Not
the other Micki, who in the last twenty-four hours had
cried one and a half times, breaking her world record.
    This morning when I said goodbye to Dad there
were only a few tears. That's why it was only a half. In
fact, they weren't even in front of Dad so maybe they
didn't count at all.
    I didn't let the tears get hold of me because I was too
scared. Saying goodbye to Dad was tough. But not
tough in the way I was used to, like was he going to eat,
would he wake up in time for the clinic, would he
remember to turn off the stove so that the fire brigade
wouldn't have to smash down the front door like they
did when I was in fifth class.
    I was used to that stuff. That was just simple
'everyday' tough.
    This morning, saying goodbye to Dad, was 'serious'
tough.
    It was last night, even before I'd reread my diary,
that I first got to meet this other sort of tough.
    Dad and I were watching television when he
muttered, 'It's the right thing.'
    At first I thought he was talking to the TV but then
he put his hand on top of mine and said it again, this
time nodding his head, 'It's the right thing.'
    'What are you talking about, Dad?'
    He was scaring me because there was suddenly
something different about the way he looked. Or was it
the way he was looking at me? Dad's eyes were focused
on mine, which in itself was strange. But it wasn't that.
It was like he could see through me or past me. Not at
something else in the room – something else in me.
    'Dad?' I whispered. 'Dad? What? What is it?'
    He smiled. His yellow tobacco-stained teeth sat all
crooked in his jaw but he could smile so softly. 'Reg and
I've been talkin' a bit.'
    'Yeah?'
    'We're thinkin' maybe it'd be better if ya moved
down there with his family. He tells me you and his girl
Kia are close. I thought that was real nice when I heard
that. And the high school's good so you can keep on
with ya schoolin' and gettin' yer good marks.'
    'Wh-when?' I stumbled. 'When did you and Reg
start talking about this?'
    'Oh, Micki, my love. This ain't no way for a young
girl to be livin'. Especially a girl that's gonna be a
famous surfer one day.'
    Heat bubbled up through the soles of my feet, into
my legs and raced through my tummy. It invaded