Crush

Twenty-Six

Tess lay in bed Saturday morning, listening to the activity going on outside in the Big Yard. She wasn't sure why Lizzie thought she wouldn't work out something was going on, but she'd keep her word to Will and pretend like she didn't know a thing. She was wondering when would be a good time to get out of bed to see her 'surprise' when she got a text from Will.

Heads up Pretend ur asleep Lizzie wants to wake u up for the surprise See u in 5

Tess lay back and pulled her pillow over her head. She smiled when she heard scuffling outside her bedroom and when the door opened, she resisted the urge to jump up and surprise them.

Instead of the violent shaking that had woken her the day before, Lizzie quietly called Tess's name and gently shook her shoulder. Tess groaned and pretended she was annoyed at being woken up. "What?" she grunted. She opened one eye and looked up at Lizzie who was sitting on the bed. Will was standing in the doorway, holding what looked like a large piece of paper.

"Wake up," Lizzie said. "We've got something to show you."

Tess decided to play it for all it was worth. She rolled over and said, "Go away."

Lizzie said, "Come on, Tess. We've got a surprise for you."

"I don't like surprises," Tess said. She hid her grin with her pillow.

Lizzie pulled the pillow off of Tess's face and said, "If you don't get up, I'm going to get a glass of water and wet you."

Tess rolled back over. "Really? You'd do that?"

Lizzie nodded. Tess realised Lizzie could actually be serious. She sighed. "What?"

"Look," Lizzie said, pointing to Will, who unfurled the paper he was holding. It was a poster.

Tess sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What is that?"

Lizzie jumped up and down on the bed. "It's a poster. For the new and improved Crush Festival. Well, the Crush Music Festival to be exact."

Tess motioned for Will to bring the poster closer so she could see it. 'Crush' was scrawled across the centre of the poster in graffiti type over a blurred picture of a stage with strobe lights flashing down from the top. Around 'Crush' were little graphics that said 'band name here' and in bigger type under the title it said 'featuring Major Band'. Right at the bottom it said 'details to be decided go here'.

"Obviously it's not finished because we don't know who's coming. But when we know for next year, we can fill in the blanks," Lizzie said. "What do you think?"

She was so excited that Tess found it hard not to be a little excited herself. "It sounds great," Tess said. "I'm not sure Pop will-"

"He's already said yes," Lizzie interrupted. "In fact," she said, looking over to Will. "Will and I have a confession to make."

"About what?" Tess asked.

Lizzie's knee bounced up and down and she said, "We kind of, sort of-"

"We asked Pop if we could do a trial this year," Will finished.

"This year, as in?"

"Today," Lizzie said. She looked at Tess expectantly. "The Crush Festival's going ahead, Tess. As a music festival."

"How did you organise it all at short notice?" Tess asked.

"We managed to talk to Pop before he cancelled the stages and equipment," Will said.

"And," Lizzie said, her eyes widening with excitement, "Will asked a heap of bands to come and play and most of them said yes."

"And we have a special guest coming," Will said.

Lizzie spun around and said, "Shh, don't tell her everything."

"What?" Will shrugged.

"So, what do you think?" Lizzie asked. "Ready to hit the newest music festival around?"

Tess considered just saying yes, but decided that giving Lizzie a hard time about it would get her back for being so secretive. She shrugged and said, "I was just thinking of going up to the dam today. Maybe into town, hang out at Piggies'. Music festivals aren't really my thing. You guys enjoy though."

Lizzie's face dropped. "We did this for you," she said.

"Well, you should've asked me instead of going behind my back."

Lizzie looked stricken. "We just wanted it to be a surprise," she said. "The festival's been the best part of living in Chesterfield since forever, and we couldn't just let it get cancelled."

Tess looked over to Will who was trying to hide a smile. He shook his head a little and Tess knew she should just put Lizzie out of her misery. "Fine," she said. "But you have to promise not to go behind my back again."

Lizzie nodded excitedly. "And," Tess said, "you have to let me help you next year."

"Deal," Lizzie said. She hugged Tess so tightly she could hardly breathe. When she let Tess go she said, "Right. Will and I need to go out and help with the bands."

"What do you want me to do?" Tess asked.

"Nothing," Lizzie said. "We've got it sorted. Have some breakfast and come out whenever you want."

"Okay," Tess said.

Lizzie jumped off the bed and pushed Will out the door. She turned and said, "Oh, just so you know, stay away from the main gate in the Big Yard."

"Why?" Tess asked.

"There are photographers and reporters everywhere asking about Maddie and the girl she was kissing," Lizzie said, air quoting 'girl she was kissing'.

Tess's heart sunk. "Oh."

"They don't know it's you," Lizzie said.

"Just stay away from them and you'll be fine," Will said. "See you outside."

Tess lay back on her bed. For just a moment, when Lizzie had been explaining about the festival, Tess hadn't thought about Maddie. But now that Lizzie had mentioned her, she was all she could think about. She checked her phone again, but there were no messages.

She decided to try Maddie one last time. She scrolled through to her number and pressed 'call'. She let it ring and ring and just as she was about to hang up, someone answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Tess." It definitely didn't sound like Maddie. The voice was too low. And what was that noise in the background? It sounded like they were on a race track.

"Who's this?" Tess asked.

"It's Jo."

"Oh. I, er, is Maddie there?"

"She can't talk right now," Jo said in her clipped voice.

"Right. Um, well, can you tell her I called? Please?"

Jo sighed. "I'll tell her."

Before Tess could say anything else, Jo had hung up. Tess had no idea whether Jo would deliver the message or not and she wasn't sure whether to feel sad or happy that she finally managed to get through. On the one hand, at least she knew Maddie hadn't lost her phone or broken it or something. On the other, Jo answering the phone meant that Maddie was ignoring her.

Tess put her phone on the bedside table and headed out to get some breakfast. At least one thing was certain, and that was that Will and Lizzie were the best friends anyone could ask for. She really hoped today was a success for them all.