Riding on Air by Maggie Gilbert

caught Jinx and put him away and how he’d been there to help me on the wash bay. Tash’s eyes were open wide again by the time I came to a stuttering conclusion with meeting them at dinner last night and Eleni’s grin had been replaced with an open-mouthed fascination I wasn’t sure was exactly flattering.
    Tash smacked me again, hard.
    â€œOw,” I complained, resisting the urge to grab at my wounded arm.
    â€œTash, careful,” Eleni said anxiously.
    â€œStuff that,” Tash said and to me added, “You totally deserve that for holding out on us. Are we or are we not your best friends?”
    â€œI dunno if you’re going to keep hitting me like that,” I muttered.
    â€œDon’t be such a baby,” Tash said, feigning disgust. She folded her arms beneath her enviable boobs and gave me a pouty look and a toss of her pony tail.
    â€œLook who’s talking,” Eleni said, practically taking the words out of my mouth as I said exactly the same thing half a beat behind her. “The name Jack Patterson mean anything?” We all laughed and it was alright again.
    Not that Tash was really angry at me for not telling her, just as I wasn’t really offended that she’d hit me. I actually didn’t mind it at all when she gave me one of those friendly smacks, like she did her other friends. Her forgetting to treat me like glass allowed me to forget too. Even if it was just for a moment.
    I wouldn’t want her to think, though, that I’d planned to keep her in the dark. It would hurt my feelings if she ever did something like that to me.
    â€œI would have told you guys as soon as I knew there was something to tell,” I said.
    â€œWhat, going out with William wasn’t something?” Eleni said.
    â€œI can’t believe you’re actually going out with a guy,” said Tash. “When you finally break loose from your horse you do it in style. Movies and dinner, what next?”
    â€œWhat, did you expect her to go out with a girl?” Eleni snorted and Tash giggled.
    I made a kissy face at Eleni. “Jealous, much?” I asked and Eleni laughed and shook her head, but a shadow of something else flitted across her face and I wished I could take it back. I hadn’t meant it as anything but a joke, but Eleni was notoriously unlucky when it came to boyfriends. She was so pretty with her latte skin and masses of dark curls and so funny and smart, but somehow she always seemed to hook up with guys that treated her like crap. Since we’d all hit high school I had passed unnoticed by the eligibles and while that could (and did, believe me) sometimes hurt my feelings, to have been used and dumped surely had to be a lot worse. It could wound more than just your pride.
    â€œIf I was into girls I’d totally go for you, Eleni,” I said.
    â€œHey, what about me?”
    â€œNot into blondes,” I said and arched my body away from Tash as she threatened to hit me again.
    â€œWell, duh,” Eleni said and her smile was back to her usual 100-watt brilliance, “that’s obvious considering you’re into William.”
    â€œHe is a catch,” Tash said approvingly and a herd of emotions stampeded through my chest, leaving me dangling between a warm glow that Tash thought William was hot and a treacherous ice-water fear that she might yet be the one to catch him. Tash was utterly 100 per cent ridiculously loyal to her friends and it wasn’t that I worried she’d steal my boyf—, er, William, it was just that I was afraid he’d realise he should be chasing after her instead of me. If it could happen to someone as pretty as Eleni, who was infinitely higher on the babe-o-meter than I’d ever be, it could definitely happen to me. That Tash would have nothing to do with them had never stopped guys trying to use Eleni as a stepladder to her before.
    The ice-deluge abruptly swamped any warmth with an