Hannah sat on a rock and stared out to sea. She could see brightly coloured shapes dancing in the water – the coral, and she could hear the cries of sea birds above her. It was so nice… why did Jimmy have to go spoil everything? He had been acting like a show-off for the past hour. Hannah was bored of him already.
"You coming?" said Cartman, after clambering up the rock Hannah was sitting on.
"Yeah," said Hannah. She pulled herself to her feet and picked up Cartman, soon regretting it. She got ten metres up the beach and gave up, dropping him onto the sand.
"Ay!" he screamed, flapping his limbs.
"You weigh a lot for someone of your height…" she said. "Being a cartoon and all," she added, thoughtfully.
"What're trying to say?" he cried.
"Well… you are… a bit… fat."
"I'm NOT fat – I'm thick boned!"
"Just plain thick, if you ask me," Hannah concluded, kicking sand at him.
"Ay!" Cartman screwed his eyes up to avoid getting sand in them.

The boys began to jump into the back of the jeep, watching Hannah, who was standing a safe distance away.
"What's her problem?" Jimmy asked Patrick.
Patrick shrugged sympathetically.
"I've done something wrong, haven't I?"
"You're asking the wrong person, mate," Patrick replied regrettably. "I haven't a clue what's going on in Hannah's head." He gazed down the beach. Hannah was being ushered along by Jess and Cartman. "Or Jess', for that matter." He paused. "And definitely not Cartman's."

"Are we all ready to go, mates?" Bruce asked, as Jess handed Cartman up to Hannah, who placed him carefully in the jeep.
"Hang on!" Jess called, peering into the decidedly full back seat.
"Squish up, guys!" Hannah moaned, wriggling around impatiently. They all moved up, but there was still very little room.
"I can't fit in that!" Jess exclaimed, pointing at the ridiculous slither of seat.
"Well," said Hannah. "I can have Cartman on my lap."
"There still won't be space." Jimmy concluded pessimistically.
"Can't you just sit on someone's lap?" Bruce called impatiently from the front. Jess looked back at the back seat. Hannah had Cartman on her lap. Jimmy was clutching the now deflated dinghy. The only free lap was Patrick's.
"Erm… I don't suppose you have a roof-rack, do you?" she asked Mik desperately, going red.

"Snap!" screamed Jess for the fifth time in the past two minutes.
"Aw, nuts," said Hannah. "This really isn't fair – you've won twenty times now." Hannah sulked, withdrew and crossed her arms. "I'm not playing anymore." She looked out the window.
"Fine, sulk then." pouted Jess.
"Mmmwer!" said Jimmy.
Jess and Hannah looked around at Jimmy, who had been shoved into the back boot with Cartman and the dinghy.
"What's your problem?" asked Hannah.
"Nothing," said Jimmy.
"Ow!" screamed Hannah suddenly; jumping up so violently she hit her head on the roof of the jeep.
"What?!" Everyone turned around to stare at Hannah… with a little turtle sitting on her lap.
"Sweet Jesus! Where did that come from?!" Jess asked.
"The little b*gger bit me!" Hannah moaned.
"Where did you get it from, Hannah?" Patrick asked patiently, once again playing the voice of reason.
"Erm, well… I saw him on the beach and thought he'd make a cute pet." Hannah explained, stroking the turtle lovingly.
"They're protected. You'll have to let it go." Patrick said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, you can keep it well away from me," said Jess, who still wasn't over her sexual turtle encounter.
There was a silence.
After about five minutes Jimmy piped up: "Jess, I think you can get off Patrick's lap now. That's why Cartman and I moved into the boot."
Jess went very red and moved apologetically into the empty space between Hannah and Patrick. She had just done up her seatbelt when Bruce suddenly screamed:
"ARRGGH!" He put his foot down on the brake and everyone was flung forward for three seconds as the jeep ground to a halt with a screech.
The first person to speak was Jimmy, as soon as he pulled the dinghy off his head: "What the hell…?" he said, looking around. He soon realised he was now sitting at Patrick's feet, and he had somehow managed to fly over from the boot to the back seat. He scrambled up and peered back into the boot. The dinghy had inflated and Cartman was nowhere to be seen. Jimmy suddenly heard a groan and swivelled around to see him lying on the dashboard, a bit squashed.
The dingo that had been standing in the middle of the road trotted off into the bush at the side.
"Ow." Jess stated plainly, kicking Jimmy off her feet and further onto Patrick's. "I think I have whiplash."
"What was that?" asked Hannah, cradling her turtle in her arms.
"A dingo," Mik said, re-starting the car.
"I'm not going in that bloody boot again," Jimmy declared.
"Fine; I will," said Jess, climbing over Patrick and Hannah and leaping into the boot with Cartman.
Jimmy got off Patrick's feet and sat in Jess's place.
They drove on through the bush.

The heat had made Hannah sleepy. She was just nodding off, her head slowly sinking towards Jimmy's shoulder… but as soon as she touched it she sat up suddenly, awaking to a degree.
"I can hardly keep my eyes open," she moaned.
"Well, shut them," said Jimmy.
Bruce slowed down the jeep and pulled off the dusty track road and onto the verge. "I still don't get it—" he started.
"Well, don't mention it, then," interrupted Jimmy.
Everyone glared at him.
Hannah slipped down in her seat and pretended she wasn't there.
"I still don't get why a dingo was up here in northern Queensland." Bruce finished, unaffected.
"Are they rare around here, then?" Patrick inquired.
"They don't exist up here, apart from in zoos."
"How strange," Patrick mused.
"Yeah, whatever, can we just get out of here?" asked Jimmy impatiently.
"Couldn't we stop? I'm really cramped up in here," Jess said. "Just for a quarter of an hour? Please?" Mik and Bruce agreed reluctantly and unfastened their seatbelts.

Hannah gazed out into the bush. She wondered how far Newcastle was. How far Daniel was…
"Hans, shall I put the dinghy in the boot?" asked Jess, breaking Hannah's trail of thought.
She looked over to Jess, who was standing by the jeep. "Sure." Hannah watched Jess load the yellow plastic into the jeep. She also saw Jimmy talking to Mik and Bruce. She could tell, even from this distance, that he was boasting. She sighed. She had begun to tire of Jimmy. He wasn't the macho love interest he once been. She looked at Bruce. He was quite macho… in a socks-to-the-knees-greasy-hair type way… "Ugh, no! Stop! What am I thinking?!" she scolded out loud.

<< back to Book 1.2

� Jess and Hannah 2001