Heart to Heart
“SAY IT ISN’T SO!”
The voice was so loud. Coral hoisted one eye up.
“I don’t even know what that colour is!”
“It’s called khaki.”
“They should call it KAK-i instead.”
“Oh dear.”
“And what’s that hanging over the roof?”
“It’s camouflage netting - my uncle’s ex-army,” This particular voice sounded weary.
Coral raised the other eyelid ever so slowly. The image of four older girls came into focus. They were standing in front of Headquarters with lipglossed lips and manicured fingers pinching their trim hips. They all wore variations of the same sort of thing: bikinis, knotted sarongs, oversized sunglasses, wide-brimmed sunhats, and enormous beach bags dangling from the crooks of their bent arms. They looked like a fashion shoot. Coral guessed they must be about eighteen years old. She kept her eyes half-mast and watched them carefully.
“We could spruce the place up a bit?” suggested the weary voice with forced cheeriness. “I’m sure my aunt and uncle won’t mind if we add our own pretty touches.”
So that was Saffron - Birdie and the Captain’s niece. Coral zoned in on her - with her sequined clothes, shimmering glass-bead accessories and glittery lipgloss, she was obviously a sparkly sort of girl.
“We’d have to do a lot to pretty this place up!” muttered a girl with long, dark red hair.
“Oh, Tallulah, don’t be such a bore,” ordered a girl with wavy blonde hair. “Do you remember our last makeover? Now did we transform that girl from drab to fab?”
Tallulah gave this some thought. And then she smiled. “You’re so right, Sienna, sweetie. We can make anything look beautiful!”
Coral was still watching carefully; she was keeping a tally too. So there was sparkly Saffron. And Tallulah the redhead and Sienna with wavy blonde hair. That just left a girl with short feathery hair who seemed preoccupied with her shoes. She pulled one leg and then tried to pull the other. But her feet were stuck fast. She seemed to think about this for a moment, then she slid her feet out of the shoes. Bending low and using both hands, she yanked the shoes from the sand. She’d worn high heels to the beach!
Saffron already had the double doors of Headquarters pulled wide open. She was surveying the interior of the hut with her enormous beach bag still dangling from her arm while she tapped a fingernail against her front teeth. She seemed to be thinking out loud.
“Some glittery dangly decorations… a crystal bead curtain, perhaps… flowers… a few scented tea candles…”
The other two girls - Tallulah and Sienna - had also taken an interest in the hut. Tallulah was testing the spring of the army cot bed with her bouncing bottom (except there was not much bouncing to be done). She looked less than impressed with the hard mattress. She muttered something about “So much for comfy afternoon naps,” while Sienna turned the Captain’s brass bugle this way and that in her hands. She then put the bugle to her eye and looked through it like a telescope. She seemed less than impressed too.
Saffron meanwhile was humming a tune while she busily dressed one of the beach hut’s windows in her (unsurprisingly) sparkly sarong. After a few minor adjustments to the sarong tassels she stepped back to admire her decorating. At last somebody looked pleased.
“Time to suntan!” squealed the girl who was now sensibly carrying the high heels in her hand. She had found a spot on the sand directly in front of Headquarters, and was dropping everything - a large pink towel, a glossy magazine, various bottles (suntan oil, sunblock, cooling mist face spray, mineral water) and her mobile phone. She then finally settled down on her towel with the magazine and began to read out loud.
“How do you know if you’re loved up?” she demanded.
Coral’s ears pricked up.
“You have to answer A, B or C,” the girl finished.
The other girls stopped what they were doing and nodded thoughtfully.
“Question one,” the girl went on. “It’s your first-year anniversary and your boyfriend: a) buys you flowers and choccies or b) makes you a card or c) gives you an extra special cuddle because it’s not about gifts anyway?”
The rest of the girls were silent. Tallulah was the first to speak. “Is there a D, Chanel?”
Ah, so that was the girl’s name, thought Coral.
“I told you there’s only A, B or C,” Chanel went on.
“Are they fancy florist flowers or flowers bought from the local petrol station?” asked Saffron.
Coral could barely stifle a snigger.
“I think a handmade card is very sweet. I’d say B,” decided Sienna.
“Cuddle - I’d choose an extra special cuddle,” replied Tallulah, who had obviously given up on the non-existent D option.
Chanel sat upright and grinned happily at her friends. “Isn’t it just brilliant that we all have boyfriends!”
Coral groaned inwardly. So no matchmaking to be had here then.
“Having a boyfriend just makes the world seem brighter,” Saffron agreed. “Even if I’m having a bad day I just have to think about Max and suddenly I feel better.” She hugged herself and smiled in a warm and cosy sort of way.
Chanel nodded. “That’s the power of love. Having a love life is just the best! But it’s good that we still have time for our girlfriends too.”
The other girls all nodded and started talking at once.
“Right on, sister!”
“Of course we miss the boys.”
“But they’ll still be there when we get back from our holiday!”
“Here’s to girl power!”
“And the power of love!”
Coral stared awestruck at her shiny and sophisticated new neighbours. You really didn’t get girls like these in Sunday Harbour. These big-city girls looked and behaved like film stars. And they seemed to love ‘love’ just as much as Coral and Nicks did!
Suddenly, a cool wind sprang up and goosebumps popped up on Coral’s skin. She needed to get dressed. But she didn’t want to draw attention to herself - not in her plain old boring school swimming costume anyway. It had been at the top of the laundry pile and had made for easy grabbing. She scowled at her laziness. Of course she couldn’t wait to meet her fabulous new neighbours, but she wanted to make the best first impression too. So there was nothing else for her to do but slowly leopard crawl backwards along the deck in the direction of the door to Coral Hut. Along the way she stubbed her toe on a deckchair and scraped a knee on the bare deckboards, but it was worth it. She made it inside the hut without being noticed.
Her purple and pink heart-shaped backpack was still on the daybed and she zipped it open. All she’d brought with her was a hooded top, a pair of board shorts printed with yellow smiling starfish and her Crocs. It was hardly an outfit torn from the pages of a magazine, but it was all she had. She sighed and put on everything except for the Crocs. She was now as ready as she could be for her grand entrance.
She tiptoed back to the doorway for one more inspection. Her timing had to be perfect. She carefully put her nose round the corner. She glanced right. The girls were reading magazines, filing their nails and nattering. She glanced left. SCARY GUY WAS ON THE DECK OF THE RED HUT AND STARING DIRECTLY AT HER!
Coral screamed.
The big-city girls over at Headquarters screamed too (Coral’s scream had just given them the biggest fright).
Scary Guy quickly disappeared through the door of the glossy red hut and snapped it shut behind him again.
Nobody else moved. Coral stood still, framed in the doorway, her breathing slowing again. The girls were all staring at her. She hoisted up her eyebrows in an innocent sort of way, then gave a small whistle before tucking her hands inside her pockets. Or she tried to, anyway. As it turned out this particular pair of board shorts didn’t have any pockets, so she had to cross her arms instead.
Sienna was fanning her face with a nail file while Tallulah pressed her magazine against her chest. Finally Saffron spoke.
“Is everything all right, little girl?”
Little girl? Coral glanced around before she realised that they must be referring to her.
She coughed. “Oh yes. Oh, sure,” she replied as she stumbled out on to the deck. OK, so it wasn’t quite the grand entrance she’d planned.
“Have you hurt yourself?” asked Chanel, who was now nervously clutching her sunhat.
Coral shook her head.
“Did something scare you then?” asked Sienna with a sad face, like Coral was five years old and the bogey man had suddenly appeared from under the bed.
“Scare me?” she spluttered. “Definitely not.” She hadn’t got a plan, or time to come up with one either. But the girls were all staring and waiting expectantly. So she suddenly let out another scream. And then she grinned and shrugged. “When I’m really happy I just sometimes give a good scream.” She smiled sweetly.
The girls seemed to be thinking about this for a moment before slowly starting to move about again. Sienna resumed nail filing and Chanel put her sunhat back on.
“So happy I could scream…” said Tallulah with her head tilted left then right. “Yes, I think I’ve heard that saying before.”
Sienna nodded while she filed. “It does sound very familiar.”
“Aaaah!” screamed Chanel.
Saffron echoed her scream and then so did the other two girls. They all grinned at each other. Coral grinned at the girls. They grinned back. There was a lot of crazy grinning. Coral could see she was going to like these girls a lot.
From the heart
The four girls had already disappeared off to explore the sights and sounds of Sunday Harbour when Nicks got back - pale and puckered - from her wave-jumping session. Coral didn’t mention the arrival of the fabulous, big-city girls next door. She simply locked Coral Hut and, with her best friend and her puppy on either side of her, smiled quietly before leaving for home. Not that there was any big hurry. The sun was still high in the sky and lunchtime was a safe distance away, so the two girls ambled along slowly and spoke even less.
Nicks’s cheeks had been painted pink by the sunshine; Coral’s glowed with happiness from her small sweet secret. Nicks was quiet because she was tired; whereas Coral was keeping silent as she wanted to savour the girls’ glitzy glamour (without interruption) for just a little while longer. She had a suspicion that Nicks might not be quite as impressed by the lipglossed, lovestruck ways of the four big-city girls as she was. Nicks was a much more sensible sort.
The trio were just strolling past the Seafood Shack when Romeo stopped. His black nose sniffed the air hungrily, but the girls kept on walking. They passed the bakery, but still the girls kept on walking. It was only when they came to the local charity shop that Coral slowed and came to a standstill.
“Come on, I’m bushed,” groaned Nicks, who was now a short distance ahead.
Coral’s nose was flattened against the shop’s window. “Oh, you have to see this!” She jabbed a finger at the glass and tapped it excitedly.
Nicks knew there was no point in resisting, so she trudged over to see what the fuss was about. Beyond the glass window pane were a pair of used ski boots and a set of four teacups with an uneven number of saucers. Neither of those could be what had got Coral so excited. And then Nicks noticed the mannequin with the missing arm that was half hidden by a bright pink feather boa. Now that was just Coral’s sort of thing.
“It’s pretty, but where would you even wear a pink feather boa?” she said.
“No, not the feather boa. Look!” Coral jabbed her finger at the glass a few more times.
And then Nicks noticed the square brown cardboard box with the words VALENTINE PARTY DECORATIONS (Going Cheap!) scrawled and underlined in thick blue marker pen across one side.
“Could we do this another time?” Nicks suggested half-heartedly.
But Coral had a determined grin on her face. “No way - it’ll be snapped up before we know it!”
“But we’re months away from Valentine’s Day,” Nicks groaned.
But Coral wasn’t listening. “A box full of romance!” she sighed blissfully. “C’mon, I have pocket money.” And then she disappeared through the charity shop’s door.
Nicks hesitated for a moment before scooping Romeo up in her arms and following her friend inside. She found Coral pointing at the box in the window, already discussing her potential purchase with the grey-haired lady behind the till.
“Oh, I remember the poor young dear who donated that box of Valentine decorations to the shop. I remember her well,” she was saying. “That girl sobbed her heart out right on the spot where you’re standing now. You see, she’d just lost her one great love.”
Nicks watched Coral. She was rooted to the spot and staring, silent and unmoving. Her lower lip looked ready to tremble.
“But how did she lose her one great love?” Coral cried out, her mind was reviewing all the possibilities. Was it an illness? An accident? Some natural disaster?
“He ran off with the blonde from Belarus,” replied the charity shop lady matter-of-factly.
Coral’s concentrated face of emotion dissolved instantly. “Oh right,” she said. It was hardly the epic love story she’d been hoping for.
“And the young girl said she never wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day ever again,” concluded the lady, like she had come to the unhappily-ever-after end of the story.
Coral thought about the dumped girl. If only they knew who she was. There was no doubt in Coral’s mind that the Cupid Company could help her to find love once again.
“So will you be buying the box of decorations in the window?” the lady asked.
Nicks already knew Coral’s answer. “I’ll fetch it,” she quickly answered. She really just wanted to get home.
She returned carrying the box, but Coral couldn’t wait for home. Already she was dipping both hands excitedly into the tangle of decorations dedicated to love. The air was instantly a flurry of red and pink and silver. There were padded fabric hearts that said FOREVER, BE MINE and LOVE BUG. There were dangling cupids, foil garlands of red and silver hearts, heart-shaped window stickers, balloons that spelled L FOR LOVE and a banner that said I LOVE YOU. There was even a tub of fake rose petals for scattering. Coral sighed noisily and stared, starry-eyed. She was in Coral Heaven. And then she thought about the girl whose boyfriend had run off with the blonde from Belarus. It was like holding a piece of history. She sighed again, but was soon drawn to the other items in the charity shop, which was like an Aladdin’s Cave of treasures. Her hands reached for the overflowing shelves, railings and baskets.
“Give the lady your money, Coral,” ordered Nicks.
But Coral had already found another treasure.
“Coral!” A tired Nicks was getting impatient.
Coral spun round with a giant pair of oversized tortoiseshell sunglasses on her nose.
“Ha ha, very funny,” said Nicks. “But I’m really in no mood for fooling about.” She gripped the wriggling Romeo even closer.
“Who’s fooling about?” grinned Coral as she flounced in the direction of a basket of discounted scarves. Dipping her hands inside, she let her fingers ripple through the soft and silky material. Of course she knew there wasn’t much time left ticking on her best friend’s meter, but she hardly needed any time at all. Quickly she found what she was looking for and held it up, smiling. The grey animal-print silk scarf with the sparkle stripe was very fashionable.
Nicks was huffing and puffing now and tapping her foot impatiently, but she clearly wasn’t quite ready to expire just yet. So Coral took one last dip into the basket and came up with a purple paisley bandanna. It would be perfect for Romeo. She gave a small joyful whoop and carried her final purchases over to the till where her box of Valentine decorations was still waiting. This had been her best shopping day ever!
The lady accepted Coral’s money with a gentle smile and was about to place the sunglasses, the scarf and the bandanna inside the box of decorations for easy carrying when Coral slipped the sunglasses from her grip and returned her smile.
“Thanks very much,” she said, “but I’ll be needing those.” She put the sunglasses on her nose and pushed them up as far as they would go. “C’mon, Nicks. C’mon, Romeo.” And then she swished out of the shop with the box of decorations hoisted under one arm like a very big trophy.
Nicks hurried after her, relieved to be leaving, but also a little confused by the sunglasses (although her best friend did have a strange sense of humour). Coral was outside and waiting on the pavement, still wearing the oversized glasses.
“Don’t you think you should take those things off now?” asked Nicks.
“Take them off? Whatever for?”
“Oh, please, stop being silly.”
“I am not being silly. All the celebs wear these. We’ll need to find you a pair too.”
Nicks groaned and made a choking sort of sound. “I don’t think so. They don’t even fit you properly.”
Coral tilted her head at a backwards angle and started walking, narrowly missing a large lamppost.
Nicks returned Romeo to the pavement and quickly caught up with her zigzagging friend. She was no longer feeling quite so tired.
“So how are the sunglasses working out for you then?” she asked with a smirk that was almost as big as her friend’s sunglasses.
“Great!” Coral looked awkward but determined. “They’re lovely,” she said, almost smacking straight into a postbox. She held on to the box of Valentine decorations even tighter. Nicks decided it was wiser not to even ask what she planned to do with those. It looked like her best friend just needed to focus all of her concentration on getting home safely!
heartland
Coral had got Nicks to promise she would be at her house at nine the next morning, and now Coral was counting on it — literally. There was a small clock on her bedside table that she was watching, its two heart-shaped hands edging forward.
“Coral, Nicks is here!” her mum called up from the kitchen.
“Send her to my bedroom, please!” Coral hollered back.
“Must you all shout to one another?” her father called from the study.
“Sorry!” both Coral and her mum cried in unison.
And then Nicks’s head appeared round the bedroom door. “Wowzers,” she breathed out loud.
“Isn’t it brilliant!” Coral grinned.
Nicks stepped inside the bedroom. There were pink padded hearts tied with ribbon to cupboard handles, lamps and the bed frame. The ceiling was alive with swirling hearts and dangling cupids. The banner across the wall above her bed spelled out: I LOVE YOU and strings of red and silver foiled hearts dipped from corner to corner. There were even bunches of balloons tied to the bedposts and red hearts stuck to the windows. The finishing touch was the fake rose petals scattered across the carpet. Nicks swished through them like autumn leaves, noticing Romeo’s face poking out from under the bed.
“It’s certainly very Valentiney,” Nicks commented. Even if it wasn’t that time of year. But she didn’t say the last bit out loud.
“It’s a room dedicated to love and romance,” said Coral excitedly. “Can you think of anything nicer!” It wasn’t a question, and Nicks knew better than to answer.
Nicks gazed around the room with her hands on her hips and grinned. “It is lovely!”
Coral reached for her heart-shaped backpack and pulled out the giant tortoiseshell sunglasses. “Shall we get going then? Romeo could do with a paddle in the sea. It’s going to be a hot one.”
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