Chapter 23: Lisa's Big Surprise

Wednesday 20-June 2007

Chris had been amazed to discover that there had been a lot of trouble at the dance, some kids had brought drugs and alcohol along and had been caught. He sure hadn't seen anything — he must have had his head in the clouds. Not surprisingly, Peter was one of those caught. Chris realised with surprise that he hadn't spent any time at all with his mates Peter and Geno since sometime back in March.

When would he have had time? Wednesday was his only free afternoon. Monday was helping Shahia, Tuesday was First-Eleven practice, Thursday was soccer at school with Hassan, and Friday they had Shahia and the kids over. And the weekends filled themselves up, Sunday morning with his mum, which he was still doing, and he was gradually seeing more of Shahia in the weekend too now. In addition, he cooked for the whole family on Tuesdays, Thursdays and most Fridays, sometimes with Shahia's help. And with his mum's birthday in mind, he'd been trying out new dishes, spending a lot more time than he used to.

In practice, that meant that on Wednesday afternoon, he did homework. And the homework he had to do this afternoon was ... different. He sat at his desk, wondering what to make of it. It was for creative writing for Mr Hanson, some piece on the subject of "Australian Values". He was pretty sure that wasn't part of the official curriculum, but Mr Hanson called the shots.

Australian Values? It could be almost anything, really, there were so many diverse inputs, so many different influences that made up what passed for Australia. He'd just decided that whatever he was doing had to be about the words "fair dinkum" and "mates", when his mum interrupted him to tell him that Lisa wanted to talk to him.

Lisa wanted to talk to him?

His mum showed her in, and she sat on his bed. She seemed hesitant, perhaps even nervous. That didn't seem right to Chris; Lisa wasn't like that. He'd described her with a lot of different words this year, but all of them were strong words.

She seemed to be struggling for words. What was this about?

"So, you remember the kayak trip? Wasn't it fun?"

Chris looked at her in surprise. What was this about? He moved over to sit on the bed next to her.

"Yeah, it was good. What an awesome rain storm that was."

"You know, I never thanked you properly for what you did that day."

No. He'd screwed that up. But this was dangerous ground.

"Uhhh, no. But I didn't do that much."

Lisa sighed audibly. "But you did. And then I..." she tailed off.

"Anyway, Shahia and you, huh?"

"Shahia and me, what?"

"Have you noticed how she's opening up at school?"

Chris nodded, smiling. It was his victory.

"Did you know that she's only like that when you're around? That she's still the old Shahia when you're not?"

Chris looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

"I can't believe I called you scum, said that I didn't trust you. What you are doing for her — it's amazing."

Chris shrugged. "I do what I can." Where was she heading with this?

"And you're right. I'm not sure either."

"Uh?"

"You know what you said about her secret, that you weren't sure whether there were lives at stake. Well I agree that the answer's not obvious either."

Lisa continued, almost to herself. "I just don't get why you're doing this." She looked back at him. "You said she wasn't going to be your girlfriend. But my mum says that you obviously love her."

Chris nodded. There didn't seem to be a lot of point denying it. "Yeah, I do."

Lisa was crestfallen. "But you said ... you said she wouldn't be your girlfriend. So I thought ... You said."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh!?" Lisa perked up. "But ... you love her? How does that work?"

"You know what I said — she's got no space for having a boyfriend. Now you know why. But I've fallen in love with her anyway. So I just have to love her and be her friend."

"You've got it bad for her!"

Chris nodded. Real bad.

"But..."

Lisa looked devastated. Chris almost laughed. Surely not! Surely Lisa didn't want a relationship with him! Not after all that had happened this year?

"You're in love with Shahia, but she doesn't have space for a boyfriend. So, what happens next?"

"One day things will be sorted out, and she'll have space for love. And that day, I'll be right where I already am, at her side, hoping she gives me a thought."

Lisa looked at him. "That's so romantic!"

He shrugged.

"She will, you know."

"You think so?"

"Oh yes," Lisa was definite, and distinctly resigned.

She looked at him, thinking, and biting her lip.

"But you're a guy. You aren't getting any! And who knows how long it will be before Shahia's situation changes?"

Chris hadn't really thought about it much. He hadn't been getting any anyway. It wasn't like anything was changing. "So?"

"Well I ... maybe it might be too long. Maybe me ... maybe I could..." Lisa paused, looking doubtful. Then all of a sudden she continued in a rush, "I could give it to you, no strings attached. Just until she ... just until."

Chris looked at her, stunned. That was an extraordinary offer. In fact, Lisa herself looked like she couldn't believe she'd just made it.

Initially Chris wasn't sure what to say. He'd had the hots for Lisa so bad at the start of the year, then he'd completely written her off, and now ‑ this offer! He'd have to be mad to turn it down. Lisa was hot, and she'd made the offer — and "No strings attached"!

Not one other guy in the class would understand it if he turned her down. But...

Well, to start with, he was mad. Madly in love. And nothing ever came without any strings attached. Most especially not this. It had strings all over the place, great big ropes capable of holding ships down, with Lisa, and even more importantly, with Shahia. And he knew what would happen if he took her up on it — she'd end up turning on him, far more intensely than she had before. Even if none of that were true, he wouldn't do it, he realised; it just wasn't his style any more.

He was about to turn her down flat when he thought how big a risk she'd taken, in making that offer, how far out on a limb she'd gone. He needed to be real careful here.

He looked her in the eyes, and said, "Lisa, that's a remarkable offer." He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, and drew her in, kissing her gently on the corner of her mouth — an exact replica of the move Shahia had done to him in this room before.

"Lisa, I'm gobsmacked, and so honoured by your offer. At the beginning of the year, that was my dream. But ... it could never work. There's too much feeling between us, too much past, too much we share with Shahia, and we could never do anything like that without any strings attached. And I value you as a friend far too much to risk losing you like that."

He could see Lisa's face crumpling, and knew that she was going to cry.

"Lisa, you should save yourself for someone who'll truly value it, truly value you for the incredible person that you are."

Apparently this was the wrong thing to say, because Lisa completely broke down.