Rev Girl (5 page)

Light. Arggh!

‘Turn it off!' Clover mumbled. ‘Jasmine!' She shouted and then regretted it.

No more noise. Head, pain. Sick. Stomach, sick.

Clover groaned and rolled over, putting a hand to her mouth. She fell and hit the floor with a smack. At this point, the pent up mass in her gut broke free and splattered against the wall. Sweaty and trembling, she raised herself to a shaky all fours and saw in front of her a red feature wall. Not her room. This was bad. Clover hadn't asked to stay out last night.

She swiped at her mouth.

‘What's that smell? Holy shit, Clover. What the hell?'

‘Don't yell!' Clover whispered.

‘Couldn't you have gotten to the bathroom? Man, it stinks!'

Clover blinked. ‘Sera?' Her skull threatened to crack.

‘Yes it's me! Get your ass up so you can clean my freakin' room! Oh great, and you're wearing my cheerleading skirt, too. Good one. Suppose I'll have to get it sanitized now.'

Clover tried to get her shaky legs to lift her weight, but the room spun as she got to her feet. ‘What happened last night?' she croaked, losing her balance to collapse once more on the bed.

Sera looked amused and pissed off at the same time. It was a look Clover had seen way too often and always found annoying. ‘Other than you being a cheap drunk and not being able to hold your liquor, not bloody much.'

Clover squeezed her eyes. A hazy image of strip dancing and truck beds was skirting around the edges of her mind.

‘Thank God for Dallas, hey, or we never would've got you home.'

‘Shit!' Clover said, trying to sit up.

Sera put her hands on her chest and gently pressed her back down on the bed. ‘Don't freak out. I messaged your dad off your phone and told him you were here, watching a movie with me.'

‘Wait you said, Dallas?'

‘Yep, you screwed him on the hood of his truck.'

Clover's skin froze to her bones.

But Sera was laughing. ‘Got-cha! Man, you should see your face. No, Dallas was a perfect gentleman, much to my surprise. He took us home.'

‘Sorry about that.' Clover sat up slowly and as she did, some dancers appeared through the haze of her memory, gyrating semi-naked in the back of a truck. ‘Did I, er, dance anywhere last night?'

‘Did you ever!' Sera said. ‘If Sydney and I hadn't jumped up there with you, it woulda' been a one-woman show, too. Crazy funny.'

Clover groaned. ‘Now I know why my parents have always said that getting wasted is B-A-D. I can't believe I did that. And for the love of God, close your bloody blinds!'

Clover crept into her house through the downstairs entry. Both her parents' vehicles were in the driveway. For once everyone was home. Shitty timing.

The smell of vomit still radiated off her, even after scrubbing hard in the shower and washing her hair. Sera had lent her some clean clothes, thank goodness.

She tiptoed down the hallway, heard voices out on the patio, and quickened her step.

‘Have fun at your sleep over, Clover?' Ernie's voice rang out. She heard the high-pitched trill of her sister's laugh, and bile rose up in her throat. There they were, the happy family, without her around.

‘Yep!' she replied.

‘What you up to?'

‘Gotta … um, head to the library!'

‘Be home by this afternoon. I want to talk to you about next season.'

Clover chucked the plastic bag that contained her dirty clothes and ruined sneakers into the bottom of her wardrobe. Another shower, her cleanest track pants, a glass of water and brushed teeth and Clover was feeling like an exhausted, but fairly normal, version of herself. She settled on her bed with her phone, ready to message Sydney and Sera about meeting up.

She stared with disbelief at her phone. THREE messages. All new. All for her. It had certainly been the best night of her life.

The first, from Sera:
How'd u go with rents, dude? Haha.

Second, from Sydney:
Hi buddy hope you're all good with your folks. Awesome to party with u. C u on mday xx

Her hand started to shake when she realised who the third message was from. Her mouth dropped open in surprise.

Dallas!
She read the message a second time, suddenly feeling very hot. How'd he get my number?

Hey girl, loved the dancing lol. Hope to c it again. Dallas Cash

She supposed, now, she needed to reply. She re-wrote her message three times before settling for her original version:

Hi Dallas, thanks ;) soooo embarrassing. Thank u for the message and getting me to Sera's, I owe you one … Clover

After sending the message, Clover stared at the screen, as if, by some amazing stroke of luck, a response would appear in five seconds flat, preferably reading:
Clover, you're the sexiest girl alive!
Please be my girlfriend.

It didn't.

The second Clover's eyes opened the next morning, she checked her phone. No reply from Dallas. Ten minutes passed and Clover almost convinced herself she should re-send the message, just to make sure he'd gotten it. Uncool, she realised, so instead, she forced herself out of bed, hid her phone under her pillow and went in search of clean clothes. Time to get out of the house.

Clover made her way across the yard towards the detached garage, hay shed and the horse paddock.

She pulled her sleeve over her hand, to protect her skin from sticking to the freezing metal door handle on the garage, but then she realised there was no need to go in. It was Sunday, her usual racing day. But not anymore. And as she stood, feeling the frozen door handle through the sleeve of her hoodie, the reality that she wouldn't be racing for at least four months hit her. The only way to keep riding was if you had special ice tyres.

Leslie had vetoed that, due to the cost.

Clover wondered if she even felt like riding. She sensed her beloved bike, her WR250F, waiting eagerly behind the door, and a pang of guilt for neglecting it squeezed her heart. Then she remembered how disappointed her father had been in her, and probably still was. Too much to bear.

Clover gritted her teeth and walked away from the garage, and her dirty bike.

She needed to hit another party. And see Dallas Cash again.

By third period Monday morning, Clover was hunched over a desk at the back of Math 20-3, scribbling hearts on the cover of her unopened textbook, tempted to test how
Clover Cash
would look. Instead, she focused on the image of Dallas's face. He still hadn't replied to her text.

I should really re-send the message,
Clover thought
. Just to make
sure he got it.
She reached into her pocket and slipped out her phone, keeping it hidden beneath the desk, and re-sent the text to Dallas. After watching each tick of the clock and feeling no movement from her phone, the bell finally went, and Clover followed Sera out of the room. ‘C'mon,' Sera said, grabbing her by the hand. ‘Sydney wants to meet us in the canteen.'

The girls settled at a table and Clover realised she hadn't worried about seeing Dee at all. She smiled as she looked across at her friends, and in that moment, a layer of her shell peeled away. Maybe she could be confident here. Comfortable. Maybe she could be good enough for Dallas Cash. Clover had never had a boyfriend; the closest she'd come was kissing a seventeen year old senior racing guy one afternoon after a race, when she was fourteen. He'd tried to force her to the ground, and she had to kick him in the chin, and run off. Somehow, Lasha had heard about it, and told everyone that Clover had slept with the guy, and that she was a dirty little slut.

It had been just as bad at school and before meeting Sera, Clover had hidden in the girls' locker room pretty much every lunchtime to avoid girls like Dee.

‘So, the big question is ' Sera glanced from Sydney to Clover ‘Where are we partying this weekend?'

Clover jumped, and spilt a bit of her drink. Her phone had vibrated.

‘Pull yourself together!' A wicked grin spread across Sera's face as she peeked a look at Clover's phone. ‘Oooh, this girl won't be partying. She's got a date!'

A jolt of shock hit Clover's skin as she stared at the text from Dallas an invitation for Friday night.

Clover's first date was proving to be a lot like her first race, making her crazy in the lead up with nervous excitement that got more intense and overwhelming every second of every day. She hoped this event was going to pan out differently to her first dirt bike one, however, as she'd crashed more times than she could count and nearly drowned in a flooded creek. Sydney and Sera decided to come home with her on Friday after Sydney had cut her hair, to help do her makeup and pick out clothes.

Clover stared at her reflection in the mirror of her closet door. She lifted the scooped neckline of her top, to show a little less cleavage, then spun around and turned back to the mirror, one hand on her ass. She was sure the dark, white-stitch skinny jeans, which Sera had suggested, were too tight. ‘You guys sure this looks okay?' she asked Sera and Sydney, who were sitting cross-legged on her bed. ‘It is just a movie.'

The girls smiled back, their eyes gleaming with appreciation.

‘You look awesome.' Sydney leapt off the bed, brushed past Clover and grabbed the black leather jacket she'd lent her. ‘Here, it's cold, and it'll look perfect with the boots.'

‘She won't be cold,' Sera said from the bed. ‘She'll be burnin' with desire and passion.'

‘Enough,' Clover said. ‘I'm nervous enough already.' Terrified more like it.

Sera hopped up from the bed. ‘Our little girl finally gets a proper date. How sweet.'

Clover looked at Sera and narrowed her eyes in warning.

‘That's enough out of you,' Sydney said, pushing Sera back onto the bed. ‘You deserve a bit of fun Sera said you've been that stressed about racing you've hardly cracked a smile.'

‘Until Camp Shitty, that was!' Sera said.

‘He's here!' Sera yelled.

Clover stole one last look in her mirror. Then hurried to the front entry.

Dallas didn't knock before swinging the door open. Clover was ready, standing on the mat, eyes glued to the bottom of the doorframe. Her hands clutched her handbag and jacket in a death grip. The intoxicating smell of cologne hit her at the same time as their eyes met. An arm wrapped around her waist and warm fingers touched her face.

‘Hey, girl,' he said, gently lifting her chin. ‘You look great.'

Her face burned, but she couldn't even register the compliment he'd just given her. All she could think was:
Whoa, he certainly doesn't waste any time getting intimate … eek!

Clover looked up to see a hunger in Dallas's eyes that made her quiver and shrink with nerves. He was so forward, like she imagined any ‘player' should be. But she was here now, and there was a part of her that was more excited than shit scared. She knew she should probably say something. This was getting weird. ‘Um, hi,' she said. ‘How … are you?'

Dallas smiled a slight smile. Then he let her go.

‘Your truck's pretty badass. Love the colour.' Clover said the first thing that popped into her mind. Dallas raised his eyebrows, and nodded. ‘Thanks. Should we go?'

The date really couldn't get any better than this. How could Clover possibly feel guilty for neglecting her bike when this was what she had to show for it? She couldn't really even ride her bike, not until next spring. And here she was with a guy she'd dreamed about for years. Finally going to a movie with a total babe, and a super popular one to boot.

She allowed her eyes to glance towards him, without turning her head, as Dallas accelerated down her driveway, the deep rumbling of his diesel truck exciting her nearly as much as the boy driving it.

Yep
, just as mesmerising as the day she'd first seen him, the day her obsession with him began …

Lunchtime: her fourth day at her new school. She heard some kids talking about the town's hockey team, which practiced on the rink beside the school. Clover had loved playing hockey when their pond in Canada iced over in winter, but had never seen a proper game, so she went along. The guys on the team had pulled Dallas, who was already turning heads on a Denver team, onto the ice. He was a year older than everyone in her grade, and Clover would later discover that he'd had to repeat Grade Two, after taking longer than normal to learn how to read. The fact his mom had left them for a real estate agent from Los Angeles the year before might have contributed to this, but nobody, especially Dallas himself, was letting on.

She sat by herself in the far corner, away from all the other girls, with her face hidden within her hood, doing her best not to be noticed. Clover instantly felt there was something special about the way the boy moved. It wasn't just that he was about a foot taller and bigger than any of the other guys on the ice. He was at one with his skates and his stick seemed drawn to the puck as if magnetised. It was obvious, as he strode across the rink hard pieces of ice flicking off his deadly blades that he was good.
Really
good. Clover had never been able to draw a comparison between her sport and hockey, until that day. But she could see a similarity between Dallas's effortless mastery of the ice and the way her idol, the Australian and current world champion, Ryder Black, piloted his big YZ450F through the trees, with consummate skill.