Race Girl by Leigh Hutton

over our farm!’
    â€˜OMIGOD,’ Tam said, , leaning in with excitement, ignoring the decades of family conflict and focusing on the romance of it all. ‘You totally do like him! Oh, Chance is going to be so disappointed.’
    â€˜ Chance?! He doesn’t even like me.’
    â€˜You’ve always been clueless of your effect on guys.’
    â€˜Oh, yeah—’ Tully scoffed, rolling her eyes. ‘They’re just lining up to mack on chicks with knobbly knees, pointy elbows and no chest at all.’
    Tam snorted. ‘Dude, you’re wispy and gorgeous! I’d kill for a bod like yours. And I know you know it, so stop talking smack.’
    â€˜Totally not. And, whatever—’ Tully smiled warmly at Tam— ‘You’re hot as.’
    Tam shook her head. ‘Hey—’ she said. ‘Let’s poke him on Facebook.’
    â€˜How tragic would that be?!’
    â€˜I’m already friends with him, Brandon’s friends with all the girls.’
    â€˜I bet he is . . .’ Tully said. It wasn’t hard to imagine Brandon Weston being quite the player. ‘But, Tam— aren’t you friends with like every hot guy in a two hundred kilometre radius?’ Tully grinned.
    â€˜Ouch.’
    â€˜It’s only an insult if it isn’t true.’
    â€˜Fair point,’ Tam said. ‘Can we comment on his Instagram, at least?’
    Tully narrowed her eyes.
    â€˜Wow,’ Tam said, beaming with excitement. ‘I can’t believe you like Brandon Weston . Your old man’s gonna have a coronary.’
    â€˜He’ll never know anything about this!’ Tully gave her another death stare.
    â€˜Fine, fine,’ Tam said, raising her hands in surrender. She smiled and shook her head. ‘Here I was, thinking you still thought boys had cooties. This is so exciting.’
    â€˜Can we not talk about it anymore, please?’ Tully’s cheeks lit from intense embarrassment as she hid her face in a pillow.
    â€˜It’s okay!’ Tam said, shoving her on the shoulder. ‘I won’t tell anyone. And don’t worry, I’ve brought home plenty of dudes my dad’s tried to shush out with the broom. Hasn’t killed him.’
    â€˜ As if anything will ever happen with Brandon!’
    â€˜ We’ll see . . .’ Tam said, wringing her hands together.
    â€˜You’d better not do anything stupid, Tamara!’ Tully jumped up, whacked Tam hard with her pillow.
    â€˜Oi!’ Tam grabbed Tully around the waist, easily tackling her down. Both girls squealed and laughed as they wrestled off the bed, hit the floor with a jolt. When they’d managed to catch their breath, they leant back against the bed, still chucking the odd sneaky punch at one another.
    Tully chewed her bottom lip and hugged her pillow. Her mind had been flitting to Brandon more every day and suddenly her whole body was buzzing with giddiness and nerves.
    â€˜Quick—’ Tam grabbed her iPhone off her night side table and flipped the camera in reverse to check her hair, then slung an arm around Tully, pulling her close—‘Let’s take a selfie.’
    Tully cringed and struggled away. She loved her bestie to bits, but was never comfortable with Tam posting pics of them together. Tam was always getting into online catfights with girls from school and she was friends with a lot of older guys Tully didn’t know. Tully only had a private Instagram account and mainly followed other horsey girls. She only posted pics of Avalon, Greg, Frangi and the other horses – certainly not a pic in her too-small pajamas next to the ever-glam Tam, still in her full face of makeup and fluffed up hair.
    â€˜C’ mon , Tulls,’ Tam begged. ‘It’s been ages since you posted anything, and we definitely need to mark this monumentous occasion.’
    â€˜ Tam! ’ Tully cried. ‘You’re not gonna tell anybody