Dirt Bomb by Fleur Beale

smell of peppermint take to evaporate?
    Time for a spot of cunning. I blocked off the nozzle for the passenger’s side with a smear of dirt. I held the empty drink bottle over the other nozzle, then fired up the engine.
    It’s a beautiful noise, the sound of a jet of water hitting the bottom of a metal bottle. I made sure there were no tell-tale drops of peppermint-flavoured red anywhere, screwed the cap tight on the bottle and took myself off. I would wash that bottle clean at the first water tap I found.
    Time to hit the beach. I rode there full of the joy of summer — which evaporated the second I caught sight of Robbie in a cosy huddle with whats- her-name . That girl seemed to have far too many breaks. Why couldn’t she keep her eyes on the sea?
    I dropped my gear beside them and sat down.
    ‘Hello Jake,’ she said, all happy and welcoming.
    ‘Hi,’ I said, not doing too good a job on sounding happy back. I tried again. ‘How’s the water today?’
    She smiled — she had a nice smile. ‘There was a slight rip earlier. It’s good now. Warm too.’
    Robbie said, ‘I’ll come in with you as soon as Jayna’s break’s over.’
    I grunted and stretched out on my towel. They went back into their huddle.
    I’d got nicely hot by the time Robbie had to stop the cosy chat session. ‘You coming in, bro?’ he asked.
    I got up and jogged after him down to the water, which is how I noticed he still had something in his pocket. ‘Robbie! Would that be your shiny new phone in your pocket by any chance?’
    He screeched to a stop, clapped a hand to his pocket and said, ‘Shit! Thanks, bro.’
    And that was the most exciting incident of the day.
    The next day was the same, except that Robbie looked after his phone without needing any reminders.
    Monday I told him I’d be at the beach late again. He thought I was going to job hunt. I thought about saying, Nah, it’s because you’re more boring than school , but I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to sound as sour as a green grape. Buzz couldn’t get back soon enough. It’d be so good to hit the paddock again.
    I said, ‘You going to do the beach or the car tomorrow, bro?’
    He didn’t even hear me — too busy staring at Jayna. She was down at the edge of the water with someother lifeguards. There must be a rip out there. Or a shark. That would be cool.
    I jabbed his arm and asked him again.
    ‘Tomorrow?’ he said, keeping his eyes glued on Jayna. ‘Yeah. I’ll be there. Going to leave early, though, so I can hang out with Jayna before I go to work.’
    He kept on looking at his girl. Did he expect me to say we wouldn’t drive after he left? Because he’d be waiting till sometime next century. Then I had a horrible thought. What if Buzz said, If you don’t drive we don’t drive? I’d be up the creek without a petrol can, that’s what.
    It all came back to bloody cash. If I could pay for gas myself, the others couldn’t bitch too much if I drove when they didn’t.
    I stood up, collected my gear and said, ‘See ya. I’m off.’
    He actually dragged his eyes away from his girl for a split mini-second. ‘You’re leaving? Already?’
    ‘The job hunt continues,’ I said.
    ‘Good luck,’ he said.
    Off I trotted all by my loser self. I rode around town. I even went into a couple of cafés to ask if they needed a kitchen hand. They weren’t interested when they heard I was still at school. Full time or nothing, they both said.
    I rode home so slowly the bike wobbled.
    Gramps was home and busting with good advice. Why didn’t I ask the neighbours if I could mow their lawns? Why didn’t I do babysitting? People would pay to get their windows cleaned. Or their cars.
    In the end I yelled, ‘Just give it a rest, will you?’
    He got all huffy. ‘No need to yell, lad. I’m only trying to help.’
    ‘Don’t bother. I’m going to milk cows,’ I said. When did I decide that? My brain must’ve got fried in the sun. I did not want to milk