She grinned.Didn’t mean to, but he was right, they were both drinking angrily.It wasn’t healthy.
She returned to her chair beside Stone’s, with its great view of Finley’s Pond through to the glass panels of the boys’ fancy pools.It was peaceful with the setting sun creating the perfect backdrop for sharing a conversation.
Only, this conversation wasn’t the easiest one to share.
But if she did, then maybe Stone would tell her what was wrong.So she inhaled heavily and began…
‘I used to produce movies all the time.As a kid, I always had a video camera in my hand, filming life, the family, the bus ride to school, the oval, lunchtime, all sorts.’
‘Is this where we get to the juicy part?’Stone crossed his ankles as if bored already.‘I’m guessing you filmed something you shouldn’t have?’
‘There was a team of us working on an exposé for our end-of-year film project.There was Suzy, who wanted to be a journalist—always checking herself out in the mirror as the ultimate camera hog’.She rolled her eyes, hoping to lighten the heavy mood created by this trip down memory lane.‘We had a director, Ian, who I had the biggest crush on, and would stupidly follow everywhere.’
She ignored Stone’s raised eyebrow, considering she’d been following him around everywhere, too.But she didn’t have a high-school crush on Stone.
Right?
‘And we had Nelson manning the microphones.Nelson was so incredibly talented with sound editing that he now works in the US for this company that makes video games.’
She hung her head low, staring into her wineglass.‘And then I ruined everything.’
‘How?’Stone sat higher in his seat.
‘I was filming B-roll for our latest exposé, about the school’s sports department.It was such a lame subject, now, but back then it was so big to us… You see, the school would spend all their funding on the school’s football team, giving them all the attention, awarding them with these dumb awards for just showing up to class, for handing in homework on time, or wearing uniforms so many days in a row.It was stupid.’
‘Were you jealous?’
She shrugged.‘Yeah, I’ll admit, at the time I was.You see, Nelson and I both got an internship to work on this movie being filmed on the Gold Coast, and the teachers said nothing.Even when I got accepted into film school, they never acknowledged it.And I wasn’t the only one, there were loads of other students who had all these amazing academic achievements that no one said anything.But they treated the football team like they were heroes, forgetting all about the other achievers in that school.Until we ripped the school apart.’
‘How?’Stone cranked his chair almost upright, coming level with hers.
She sipped on her wine, looking for Dutch courage.
‘Go on…’
‘I filmed their football coach giving steroids to his players,’ she said in one quick breath.
‘You what?’His eyebrows shot up in surprise.
‘Nelson was with me.He was skilled in using the parabolic microphone, that could capture ambient sounds.But the modifications he’d made allowed us to pick up conversations on the other side of a football field.It’s the same sound equipment I use today to hear the flutter of a butterfly’s wing, if I set the—’
Stone waved his beer at her.‘Back to the story, especially when it’s getting good.’
‘No.It was awful.’And she felt awful telling it, slumping back into her seat.
‘I’m guessing you dobbed the coach in?’
‘At first, we weren’t sure what to do, because it was so much bigger than us.So, we went to my parents, who told us to speak to the principal, even if we didn’t want to.’She remembered the amazing support her parents gave her during that tough time, especially when it truly mattered, along with lots of conversations about ethics and morals that really did shape who she was today.
‘Did you go and see the principal?’Stone asked.
Romy barely nodded.‘But while Nelson and I were talking to the school’s principal, Suzie and Ian stole the backup footage from my locker.’
‘I think I see where this is going.’
‘Suzie saw it as her shot at getting noticed by a television news crew by presenting the story.While Ian saw it as his chance to sell the footage for a quick buck.’
‘So, what was your plan?’
