I said I wasn't sure whether she had a thing with Liam Ford, and she laughed wearily, said she had to answer that question a lot. They were just friends, she said.
Now, the service finishes and the church's wooden floorboards croak as students stand up and leave the church in messy lines. I stand up and stretch my limbs above my head, then check the time. Twenty minutes until the end of the school day. Twenty minutes until the Easter holidays begin.
Usually, my school holidays would consist of volunteering at the shire, doing my homework, and occasionally travelling to Melbourne with my friends. But a week ago, Kennedy told me she was going to her family's beach house at Lonsdale Bay, a beach town in the south of Victoria. She was going with her two cousins and asked if I wanted to go.
Of course, I wanted to. Even though the water would be freezing at this time of year, it was still the beach, and more importantly, it would be two weeks of spending time with Kennedy. Away from our parents.
It surprised me that Kennedy offered for me to go in the first place because her parents are super protective and don't like the idea of her spending too much unsupervised time with me. I don't know why, because her parents and I seem to get along well. Despite that, they never let her sleep at mine, and if I stay at her's, I have to sleep in a spare bedroom.
Which is probably why Kennedy and I haven't had sex yet.
Several school buses are parked on the road in front of the church, and the three of us walk to the closest bus, joining the crowd of students waiting by the door. I slide a hand around Kennedy and hope that Liam will peel away to join his friends.
He doesn't.
"I'm so excited for tomorrow," I say.
Kennedy smiles. "Me too. Erin and Bonnie are arriving tonight, and remember, we'll come pick you up at ten."
"I haven't seen Erin and Bonnie in ages," Liam muses. He's tall enough to invade our conversation, even if he's standing behind us. "I can't wait to see them again."
"Liam and his parents are having dinner with us tonight," Kennedy explains.
Luckily, we enter the bus at that moment, so I don't have to respond. I follow Kennedy to the back of the bus, aware of Liam's presence behind me like a fire at my back. As soon as I sit down next to Kennedy, Liam slides into the seat behind us.
"Which cousin is older?" I ask.
"Erin," Kennedy says, moving so her back is to the window doing it so Liam can feel included in the conversation. I don't do the same. "She's twenty-one and in uni, studying science. Bonnie's our age, also in Year 12."
"Bonnie's my favourite," Liam says.
"You're only saying that because she once said that you were cute. Which was five years ago," says Kennedy.
"She didn't say I was cute, she said I was hot. Important difference."
I scoff and hastily turn it into a cough, though from the look on her and Liam's face, I wasn't very convincing. Kennedy's asked me an embarrassing number of times to be nicer to Liam, and I don't want to upset her so I try to keep my insults to myself. But it's not as if I hate Liam for no reason. I've explained to Kennedy over and over my problem with him, and she says the same thing every time. Anyway, if she should ask anyone to be nice, it should be Liam. He started this. Whatever this is. The hostility between us.
"I'm so happy your parents agreed," I say, to change the topic.
Kennedy glances at her lap and fiddles with her school dress. "Well, I told them I already offered and they hate to back out of promises."
That sounds like Kennedy — she's always been an ask now and beg for forgiveness later kind of person.
The bus, finally full of students, turns on and pulls onto the road. We pass trees with golden and ruby leaves.
"I thought they'd put up more resistance, though," I say.
"Oh, they did," Liam says.
"I also told them you have already changed your plans. And that we'd sleep in separate bedrooms there," Kennedy says.
I'm not sure whether the latter is an excuse or the truth. If we sleep in separate rooms, I suppose I could always sneak into hers.
"Also, I said that Erin would keep an eye on us," Kennedy adds.
"Will she actually?"
"Don't worry, she's cool."
