Read Online Frankie and Joely by Nova Weetman - Free Book Online

doesn’t want Frankie to think she’s following her. And besides, she’s still cross with her for not understanding how easily she burns. So she walks back to her towel, hoping onlookers aren’t laughing at her. She wishes that Frankie would come out, so she didn’t feel like a concerned mother watching her child.
    A shadow crosses her face and she looks up. Mack is holding out a dripping ice-cream. Joely reaches to take it, expecting him to pull his hand away and laugh. But he doesn’t. Instead he waits until she’s taken it and then he licks the strawberry patches from his hand.
    â€˜Thanks, Mack.’
    â€˜Yeah.’
    He sits down on Frankie’s towel, his freckled legs caught up under him. He looks huge. Like a man from another time. Last summer Mack was still skinny. Now his voice is deep and he towers over her like she was a child. Joely remembered when they used to play chasey in the field. He was only a year and a half older, but he always won.
    â€˜You’re supposed to be helping your dad. What are you doing here?’
    â€˜Actually, Dad sent me to get some—’
    â€˜Ice-cream?’ Joely laughs.
    â€˜Nah. Nails and things.’ He sounds vague and Joely wonders if he followed them to check out Frankie in her bikini.
    â€˜Is Thommo with you?’
    Mack shakes his head. ‘Nah. Dad’s got him fixing the fence. Some of the cows got out again.’
    Joely wonders how Thommo copes working in this weather. His skin is just as freckly as hers, but he never seems to get burnt.
    â€˜Your friend got a boyfriend?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜She want one?’
    â€˜Why?’
    Mack doesn’t answer and Joely wonders if he’s asking for himself. Not that Joely would know anyway. Even though they talk about stuff and Frankie is the person that Joely trusts more than anyone else, they don’t really talk about boys. Not like the other girls at school. They’re always writing names of boys they like across their bags, but Frankie doesn’t mention anyone. She never says if she’s been with a boy or if she likes someone. They just don’t talk about it. Joely licks the strawberry ice-cream in circles, trying to lower it into the cone and stop the sticky melt running down her hand.
    â€˜Is she a bit crazy?’ Mack says.
    â€˜No. She just likes having fun. Why?’
    â€˜Dunno. I just saw her in the pool, going up and back underwater. She’s freaking people out.’
    Joely laughs. She’s used to these conversations. There’s always someone asking. She never tells them anything they can use. Not because she’s trying to put them off or because she’s jealous. It’s just that there isn’t anything to tell. Frankie’s not crazy. She’s just different and does her own thing. Joely puts it down to the fact that she’s been to twelve schools and is never in the same place for long. She’s used to being on her own. Joely hates thinking about that. Hates imagining that Frankie’s going to move towns, states even. Frankie keeps telling her it’s not going to happen, but Joely doesn’t know if Frankie’s just saying it to make her feel better. She’s nearly been in town for two years. That’s the longest her mum has stayed anywhere.
    â€˜How come you two are friends? You don’t seem much alike.’
    â€˜We just are. You don’t need to be alike to like someone.’
    â€˜Yeah, but …’
    Joely bites her cone. It’s soft from all the drips. She knows Mack wants to say something else. She knows, too, that the ice-cream isn’t just a gift, but a payment for information. She looks up and sees a boy looking at them from outside the pool. He has a cap on so it’s hard to see his face properly. Then Mack looks up and Joely thinks he must notice the boy too because he shifts slightly and then says loudly, ‘I’m not going back to