Chapter 9

 

The night of Joshua’s performance arrived. For the most part, the whole group was dressed normally. When the time came for Joshua to sing, the others left the stage. Joshua was dressed as an angel cat, complete with cat ears and a long furry tail.

 

Before he began his performance, he spoke to the audience. “My name is Joshua Hanson. Many of you would have known my adopted brother, Justin Andretti. Justin is not here tonight as he died a few months ago. He was not meant to live beyond his 14^th birthday. Had Justin still been alive, I’m guessing he would have been onstage with me. As he isn’t, I have to do it alone. I dedicate this performance of Memory to Justin Curtis Andretti, my best friend.”

 

Joshua began singing. Right up until the last verse, his performance was perfect. The entire audience was spellbound. Just as he began to sing the last verse, his voice started to shake. Nevertheless, he kept singing, and when the music had ended he jumped offstage and ran, crying hysterically, over to Karen. She took him into her arms and held him tight. He looked right at me and managed a faint smile.

 

“You did it, Josh,” I whispered. “Justin would have been so proud of you.”

 

“He was right next to me, Kat,” he told me, tears running down his face in rivers. “I could sense it. I could never have got through it without him.”

 

- x -

 

The rest of the year passed in a blur. My cheerleading team put on a display, and Hannah announced that we were easily the best team in years. All too soon, the school year was over. My uniforms were relegated to the back of my wardrobe, and they would not see the light of day for another six weeks.

 

I attended Zarah’s long-awaited Christmas party on Christmas Day. It was a blast, just as she said it would be. “Kat, when’s your penfriend getting here?” Zarah asked me.

 

“Tomorrow. He’ll ring me if he needs a lift. Besides, you’ll be meeting him at my party.”

 

“He’s American, right?”

 

“Full-blown, fair dinkum. Pretty damn hot, too.”

 

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

 

I left soon afterwards. When I got home, I went straight up to my room. Waiting by the window was Justin. “What are you doing here?” I asked, incredulous.

 

“Merry Christmas to you, too!” he said, smiling. “Man, I really missed you.”

 

“So did I, Justin.”

 

Justin moved over to my bed and sat down. “Katia, I have something to tell you. After Karen told me that I had been abandoned on her doorstep, she told me something else.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“That I wasn’t the only kid that my mother gave up.” He looked up at me. “Katia, I’m your brother. Your twin brother.”

 

I stood there, stunned. “You’re my brother?”

 

Justin nodded. “My mother and your adopting mother were sisters. They both married guys with the same last name, although totally unrelated. When my mother found out that she was having twins, she asked your mother if she’d take one of us. Your mother agreed to it, and when we were born you were given up, unnamed. She named me, but when she found out that I wouldn’t live past 14, she knew she wouldn’t be able to look after me. She took me and left me on Karen’s doorstep. Believe me, it’s the truth.”

 

We talked long into the night. When I looked at my watch, it was past midnight. “Justin, can you stay here tonight?” I asked.

 

“I guess so.”

 

- x -

 

I woke up early the next morning. When I was awake enough to be able to see straight, I saw that there was a parcel on my desk. When I had unwrapped it, I found a framed photograph of a family – my own family. Mama, Dad, Mikaylah, Jayden and, right in the middle, Justin and I. I read the note that came with it.

 

Katia,

 

I had to leave early, but I didn’t want to wake you. I thought that you’d want to see us all together as one family, so here it is. Merry Christmas, sis.

 

Love always,

 

Justin.

 

PS – I found out what your full name is. It’s Katia Ajana Andretti.

 

Katia Ajana Andretti. It had a nice ring to it. I looked at my watch and got out of bed, setting the photograph on my desk as I went past.

 

The Coolangatta Airport Express shuttle pulled in front of the house at midday, stopping long enough for one person to get off. I was practicing my flute at the time. “Katia, answer the door!” Mikaylah yelled when the doorbell rang.

 

I set my flute down and went to the front door. The doorbell was ringing ceaselessly. I pulled the door open to find Taylor standing on the front doorstep, his finger on the switch. “Do you mind?” I hissed as I let him in.

 

“Nope,” he answered cheekily. “Man, it’s hot out there.”

 

“That’s a Queensland summer for you. Go put your stuff away. It’s the room at the end of the upstairs hallway, past the bathroom.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

I went into the kitchen and started to pull food out of the cupboards. “Mikaylah, where’s the corn chips?” I yelled with my head in the pantry.

 

“Don’t you dare, Katia,” my sister yelled back. “I’m saving those for Christmas dinner!”

 

I gave up and pulled the fridge door open. In the end, I settled on a chicken and tomato sandwich. I checked the kitchen calendar as I ate. December 25 was marked as ‘Zarah’s party – 7:30’. Today, December 26, was marked as ‘Band practice – 2:30 @ Zarah’s’, ‘Taylor arrives’ and – in my sister’s miniscule handwriting – ’Complete report for boss – due January 2’.

 

I rang Zarah to make sure practice was still on. “Yeah, it’s still on,” she assured me.

 

“Good,” I said. “We need to decide what songs we’ll play at the concert. We should ask Josh to sing lead on Memory, right at the end. That’ll go down a treat.”

 

“Hey, is Taylor there yet?”

 

“Yeah, he got here half an hour ago.”

 

“Can you get him to come to practice with you? We should ask him to sing with us.”

 

“I’ll try. I’m not sure if he’s up to it, though.”

 

“Well, ask him anyway. It’ll be fun.”

 

“Yeah, okay. See you at 2:30.”

 

I hung up and finished my lunch. It was an hour before I had to leave for practice. I went upstairs and knocked on the door of the spare room. “You up to band practice with my band?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, why not?”

 

“Cool. I’ll meet you downstairs in about an hour.”

 

I went into my room and went through my music. I had an awful lot of it, but it came with the territory of being in a band. There came a knock on my door about five minutes later.

 

“Come in,” I said, totally engrossed in some music Zarah had written.

 

Taylor sat on my bed beside me. “You’ve got a lot of music,” he commented.

 

“I know.” I scribbled a few words under the title and replaced the sheets in my folder, then turned to some music Mikaylah had given me. It didn’t have a title, and I recognised the handwriting as my mother’s. “Can you play some of it for me?” Taylor asked me.

 

“I’ll get my flute. You pick the one you want to hear.”

 

I ran downstairs and got my flute. Taylor was studying two pieces when I got back to my room. “Picked one yet?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, I think so.” He handed one of the pieces to me. I realised the piece as the one my mother had written.

 

“Not this one,” I said. “I never play it. It reminds me of Mama too much. This was her flute. I inherited it.”

 

“Katia, I want to hear you play it.”

 

I sighed and played the song through, singing the words in my head as I played. “Happy?” I said, just a touch angry.

 

“I know it’s probably hard, Katia. Si told me what happened.”

 

“Well, don’t ask me about it.”

 

I packed my flute away in its case. Normally, I found it hard to get angry with my friends. I had never been able to get angry with Justin, but right now I was a bit sensitive. “Get a grip,” I muttered. “Band practice is in 45 minutes.”

 

I kicked Taylor out so I could get changed for band practice. After searching through my wardrobe, I came up with my Livid 96 T-shirt, my black knee-length bike shorts and my black sneakers. I made a mental note to get a new pair of sneakers the next day – I’d gained a shoe size, what with growing at least two inches during the past six months. After I was dressed, I ran my hairbrush through my hair and put my flute case, music folder, Josh’s guitar tuner and a spare flute reed in my backpack. I left my room, pulled my backpack on and knocked loudly on the door of the spare room. “Come on, Taylor!” I yelled. “We may as well leave now!”

 

“I’m coming!”

 

The door opened, and Taylor ducked out. “This should be exciting,” he said as we went downstairs. “I’m looking forward to it.”

 

“Well, Zarah says that you might want to perform with us on New Year’s Day. You reckon you’re up to it?”

 

“Yeah, why not? It might be fun.”

 

“Might be? Taylor, Broken Arrow is the biggest band in Currumbin. It’s always fun.”

 

I jotted down a note for Mikaylah and let us out of the house.

 

Zarah lived two streets over, on Fernhill Drive. When we got there, I rang the doorbell. Zarah let us in and shut the door behind us. “Joshua’s not coming,” she told me. “He broke his ankle yesterday and is resting until the concert.”

 

“He’ll still be able to perform with us, right?”

 

“Yeah, but he won’t be able to walk too good.”

 

“Okay, let’s get started.”

 

Just then, the doorbell rang. Zarah answered it. “Josh!” she exclaimed. “Come on, inside. We’re about to start.”

 

Joshua swung himself inside on his crutches. I gave him his guitar tuner once he was sitting down, and he began tuning his guitar. When everyone else had arrived, Zarah asked Joshua about her idea. “Josh, all of us except Taylor saw you perform at the concert. You did a great job of Memory, and we want you to sing it again.”

 

Joshua shook his head. “I can’t, Zarah. It was so painful to sing it at the concert. I can’t do it again.”

 

“Josh, please,” I said. “You sing it really well. I reckon that Justin would be proud of you if you had the courage to perform it twice.”

 

“Oh, all right. Just as long as I don’t have to dress up as a cat again.”

 

Zarah chose the song we’d warm up with. “Beds Are Burning to start off. You all know what to do.”

 

Tasha climbed up on the drum kit and went through a couple of drum solos. Cameron tuned his violin with Josh’s guitar tuner. Taren switched the keyboard on and went through some scales. Zarah went through the instrument cupboard and pulled out a battered tambourine. “Try this out,” she told Taylor, handing it to him. “All right, everyone, let’s roll!”

 

We went through it a few times, then discussed the upcoming concert. “Eight is going to be a tight fit,” Zarah said.

 

“Not if we plan it out,” Joshua disagreed. “Drums right at the back, percussion, violin and keyboard on the right, flute, tambourine and guitar on the left, and Zarah’s right in the middle.”

 

“So you know how the community hall’s set up?” Cameron asked.

 

“Yep,” Josh answered. “It’s air-conditioned, so it doesn’t matter what we wear.”

 

Sasha put an idea forward. “We should at least look good. Jeans for the guys and Tasha, and long skirts for the rest of us.”

 

“The concert starts at 5:30pm, right?” Tasha asked. “And sound check’s at 3?” Zarah nodded. “Well, we go to the hall in our street clothes and do the sound check, then we have dinner and change into our concert clothes.”

“Makes sense,” I agreed.

 

“Of course it makes sense.”

 

- x -

 

The days leading up to the concert passed in a blur. Mikaylah, Taylor and I celebrated Christmas on New Year’s Eve, having gone shopping for presents the previous day. From me, Mikaylah would be getting a fair bit of new jewellery. I was giving Taylor a Socceroos soccer shirt and a tin of watercolour pencils.

 

I could feel something being thrown at me as I woke up on New Year’s Eve – on closer inspection, I found that my bedspread was littered with popcorn. Standing in my doorway, fully dressed at six in the morning, was Taylor – and he was flinging popcorn at me with a cheeky grin on his face.

 

“You rat!” I yelled. “Mikaylah, Taylor’s bugging me!”

 

“Leave Katia alone, Taylor,” Mikaylah yelled.

 

I kicked Taylor out so I could get dressed, then I barrelled downstairs and threw myself down in front of the Christmas tree. We’d decorated it the night before, and Taylor had been the only one tall enough to stick the star on top without having to stand on the stepladder. We tore into the presents with the force of a hurricane. My presents were 72 Derwent pencils and a sketchbook, a pre-paid mobile phone, oil burner and four bottles of essential oils, Savage Garden’s self-titled debut album, a silver harmonica, the music score from Cats and a hard-cover journal. The majority of Taylor’s presents had something to do with Australia – a copy of Silverchair’s Freak Show album (Mikaylah), Quiksilver baseball cap (Joshua), a Wallabies football jumper (Damian), a book about Australia (Karen) and the Socceroos shirt I’d given him.

 

Just as I was going to take my presents upstairs, Mikaylah found another present. “I think this one’s yours, Katia,” she said, handing it to me. I ripped the paper open to find a framed photograph of a teenage boy and girl – Justin and I.

 

I spent the rest of the day in my room, painting. The one thing that was really bugging me was what my birthday actually was. I decided to find out once and for all – I rang all the hospitals in the area, because I knew that Karen had been living in the area around the time that Justin and I had been born. After a lot of ringing around, I got my answer. Gold Coast Hospital gave it to me. Only Justin’s birthday had been left unchanged – my real birthday was March 14, 1983.

 

- x -

 

I stayed up late that night. Not because it was New Year’s Eve, but because I needed to think. I’d written the first entry in my journal, and it was threaded with resent, anger and confusion. I didn’t know what to expect from the coming year, but what I did know was that Broken Arrow’s monster concert was the next day, and it was going to be the most fun any of us had had in ages.

 

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