On Saturday morning it is a blessing to be able to sleep in. An absolute blessing and I don't get up until ten o'clock. I lay in bed for a minute and then realise that I have only about four hours until I need to go to the train station to meet up with everyone.
“Morning mum,”I say when I see her in the kitchen. She's gone back to just toast or cereal for breakfast and so I pour myself a bowl of milk, and put two weet-bix in it.
“You always have put your milk in before your cereal you know?”She says to me with a smile. I don't think it's that weird, as she said I've always done it. I think it's weird that she puts her cereal in first before the milk. “What time are you planning on leaving?”She asks me. Jem and I are meeting at his house beforehand at one thirty so we can arrive at the train station together. We are stepbrothers afterall.
“I'm going to walk to Jeremy's house at twelve thirty so I'll get there at one and he's going to drive us to the train station.”Jeremy recently got his license and his parents have bought him an awesome car. I guess those are the advantages of being rich. Mum nods and tells me I should start getting ready then.
After I get out of the shower, I put on the clothes I'd chosen the night before – navy blue shorts with a short sleeved white shirt. I also have my Australian flag and tattoos. In my bag I have my wallet which has one hundred and fifty dollars in it, a towel and bathers in case we go for a swim in the river, my phone, my Ipod and an Ipod dock. By the time I'm all sorted it's time to go. On the walk to Jeremy's I have my Ipod playing and I'm listening to all the new music Scotty's given to me. It's good. Very different to what I'm used to but I like it and I find myself to be mouthing the words to most of the songs. I make it to Jem's house in a record breaking fifteen minutes. It must have been the beat of the music making me walk faster.
“Hey!”He says to me when he opens the door. He's wearing a sky blue short sleeved shirt and denim shorts with white vans. We look pretty good if I do say so myself.
“Hi, you ready to go?”I am so eager to get into the city with these guys to see what happens.
“Yeah, I've already said goodbyes to mum and dad so lets go.”The drive to the train station isn't too far and we see them all straight away. I check my watch to see if we're late. No, two o'clock on the dot pretty much.
“And we're all here,”Michael says excitedly. I thought it would just be Jeremy and I feeling super excited and nervous about this but everyone looks pretty anxious to just get there. “Lets get on the train!”We could hear it coming and we had to run down the escalators so we wouldn't miss it. We get in just in time before the doors close.
“So, what did everybody bring?”Asks Kirsty.
“A hundred bucks, a flag and some beer.”Says Scotty. Beer? I thought we were buying that from the city.
“Fifty bucks and some cans of coke.”Says Michael who gets some boos and probably some injuries from the looks of things.
“You're so boring!” Exclaims Naomi who from the sound of it has brought a whole party from the looks of her bag.
“A hundred bucks. All I brought.”Says Catalina. I don't think she thinks she'll be drinking tonight, but even though she wasn't doing anything that time at the park, I have a feeling that somewhere inside of her, she can get pretty wild. She just saves it for the right time. She'd have to, to be hanging around with this lot. Everybody else seems to have just brought a hundred dollars too and I give my fifty to Michael so we're all fair and even. It's all going towards all of us anyway. Soon enough the bell rings on the train and we're in the city.
The walk to the river is a long one and none of us are looking forward to walking back in the middle of the night. On the way, we find Woolworths and we all pile in and after giving our twenty bucks to Michael and Kirk, we separate to buy soft drink, chips, plastic cups, crackers and dip. Along with some Australia Day stuff for those who didn't bring any.
The trip to woolys takes longer than planned and after our long walk to the river, it is already six o'clock. The fireworks don't start until 8:30 so we have plenty of time to just chill. Michael and Kirk did a good job with the alcohol. A bottle of champagne and beer. We start on that straight away. The champagne creates bubbles in my mouth and down my throat. It's warm and bubbly and lovely. We open the crackers, dips and cheese and by the time we're halfway through that, we're all starting to get a bit rowdy and drunk. I've never been drunk before and it makes me feel light and happy. Michael tells me to slow down a bit and eat something before I have a third beer because I've never drank this much before. So I eat and it makes me feel a bit better as it absorbs the alcohol and before we knew it we'd finished all the alcohol. I felt a bit sick but my being light and happy drunk – I don't think that was being drunk. I think that was me being tipsy. I was drunk now and I was getting a bit aggressive and loud. People were looking at us with disapproval and it was bugging me. As I was about to shout something to them all, Catalina stopped me and told me it wasn't very attractive how I was being at the moment. That made me calm down a little.
It was eight o'clock, half an hour until the fireworks were going to start. Kirk had left an hour ago to get some more beer and he just sent me a text saying he was ten minutes away. Jem was definitely drunk. You could see it. He looks a bit stoned actually with his eyes closed but we haven't taken any drugs so he must just be really drunk. Last time I drank I remember being sober within twenty minutes but I guess I hadn't drank this much. I'd just had a bottle of beer. It doesn't sound like a lot but the first time you drink, you never know how much is going to make you a bit tipsy.
Kirk comes back and we all cheer for him. There are now ten minutes until the fireworks start and we're back on the alcohol. I wonder if I'll remember any of this or have I drank too much already. We open up the packets of chips we bought and the chipolata sausages. Catalina hasn't had a drink all night and for the briefest moment I felt ashamed to be like this in front of her. She had been drinking soft drink all night and we've all been actually drinking. She must be so embarrassed to be with us, although she's acting drunk too. Anything to fit in I guess. So I pour myself a soft drink, I'm going to stop now. I feel awful and I'm getting really aggressive.
“Catalina, will you go to prom with me?”That one soft drink has made me feel better already. I don't want her to think that I'm only asking her because I'm too cowardly to do it when I'm sober. But she blushes!
“Of course I will.”She says with a grin. And we toast with our lemonades. I'm still feeling the alcohol in my system and the aggression is creeping back in.
“Will you guys be a little more respectable please?”It's an old man and what he just said is enough to start me off. I stand up and walk towards him so we're very close.
“You wanna say that to my face?”I say, and before he can reply I am punching him. In a matter of time I'm kicking him too. Instead of helping me get this guy, Scotty is telling me to stop and the girls are begging me too. But I can't stop. The old man is bleeding which I know is a good sign to stop and that he's had enough. Soon enough I can see the police coming for me. When they grab me the fireworks start. I look up at them and for a second I stop fighting the cops. Two of them have me on each arm and I am kicking and shouting at them to leave me alone. And then I black out.
