Honey

Tap tap tap

Pencil on a wooden desk, eyes flicking to the white plastic clock balanced precariously on top of the white board.

3:07

She sighed, eight minutes left. The teacher’s voice was droning on from the front of the room. How they hadn’t realised that everybody was disinterested was beyond Hanna. Outside the portable, the hot Australian sun was beating down, enticing everyone within a five kilometre radius to announce that they were having barbecues and dips in their family’s pools. Eight minutes later and Hanna sped out of the portable, to her locker, eager to leave the heat. As she was packing her books into her bag, she was approached by a mischievous looking boy.

Lanky, like he didn’t quite know what to do with his limbs and with a messy, dark mop of hair, he shifted his weight to his left foot and leaned against the locker bay. His top button was undone and his tie hung loose, making his already skinny neck look smaller.

Hanna straightened up from tucking her books into her bag, closing her locker as she did so. “Jeremy,” she greeted him, “what’s up?” She snapped her padlock shut and started walking towards the school gates.

“Just seeing what you’re up to this fine arvo.” He fell into step beside her, adjusting the bag straps on his shoulders.

“I’m not really sure, and if you’re thinking of inviting me anywhere I have to ask my parents first.”

“That’s a good point.”

“And I’ll have to do my homework first.”

“Homework? It’s a Friday night!” Jeremy seemed shocked. He was the type of student to leave his weekend homework to a Sunday night, half an hour before a reasonable time to go to sleep.

Hanna shrugged. “I’d rather have it done now than later. Did you catch what maths homework we had?”

“Chapter seventeen. I’ve been invited to Rachel’s, are you coming? She has a pool.”

Hanna darted to the right to walk under the shade of a tree. “I’ve already told you I don’t know.”

“I don’t want to go alone.” Jeremy had continued to walk in the unfiltered sunlight, and he was squinting through the brightness at her.

“I’ll think about it.”



Two hours later, and Hanna was standing outside of Rachel’s house. Jeremy was already inside, and she could hear people diving and splashing in the water from the front of the house. Her dad was standing beside her, and she felt her cheeks get warm as Rachel opened the door.

“Oh, hi Mr Lee,” Rachel said, “do you want me to get my mum?”

“Please, I want to talk to her about when to pick Hanna up.” Hanna’s dad said, smiling politely at the young girl in front of him.

“Mum!” Rachel called into the house. “Come on,” she said to Hanna, standing aside and welcoming her in. After Rachel’s mum appeared and Rachel briefly explained who was standing at her door, she took Hanna by the hand and led her through the house. 

“Jeremy’s already here, and mum’s told him off twice for bombing into the pool.” Rachel said, a wide smile on her face. Her brown hair was dripping water onto the kitchen tile, a small puddle forming as Rachel stopped to open the sliding door leading outside.

“I’m not surprised,” replied Hanna, dropping a bag filled with a towel and a spare change of clothes next to a couple of other bags left around the outside table. She looked over towards the pool, where Jeremy and a few other people were milling about. Only one really caught her eye, however. Rachel opened the gate to the pool and closed it behind her and Hanna. Smiling, Hanna jumped into the pool and swam to where Jeremy was sitting on a pool float. She clambered up, almost sliding off a couple times, and settled down next to him.

“Did you notice —”

“Yeah, I did.”



At sunset, the weather had cooled down enough to warrant nobody wanting to get into the pool and muck about any more. Rachel’s parents had kindly ordered pizza, and the few slices that were left behind were sitting up on the outdoor table, while the seven young teenagers sat in a circle on the ground.

Hanna had wrapped her lower half in her towel, and tied her long, black hair up into a loose bun. Jeremy was at her left, cracking jokes and drinking a Sprite, his tan skin looking no different now than it had several hours ago. Hanna had already long assumed her fairer skin would be slightly burnt. She was picking at the grass, half listening to the silly boy. Rachel was sitting across from them, and eyed Jeremy’s now-empty Sprite bottle. She reached forward, to Jeremy’s disdain, a startled, “hey!”

“Shh, it’s nothing bad,” Rachel said, leaning back and looking at the small group, “just a game of spin the bottle.”

Hanna looked up in surprise, her heartbeat loud enough to be heard in her ears. “Wha—”

“Oh, Hanna, it’s fine. Nothing serious.”

“If we’re playing spin the bottle, I’m going first,” announced a girl on Rachel’s right. She had dark brown hair, slightly wavy from swimming with braids in and undoing them as her hair had dried while eating pizza. She took the bottle from Rachel and shuffled forward, placing the bottle on its side and giving it a generous spin. Hanna watched, half hoping and half dreading where it landed. As it slowed, she felt her breathing stop, and her eyes met Maeghan’s as the bottle pointed at her.

Maeghan flicked her hair over her shoulder and moved forward. “Alright then, Han, pucker up.”

Hanna hesitated, and she felt herself start to blush.

“Oh, come on, don’t you want to?”

Hanna felt her mouth go dry as she moved towards Maeghan. She had on denim shorts and a crop top, the sleeves slightly rolled up. She looked into her brown eyes and took a breath.

“That’s more like it!”

Jeremy had become almost suspiciously quiet, almost in shock watching his best friend.

Hanna leaned foward and pressed her lips against Maeghan’s, her arms rigid by her side. She felt Maeghan lean into her, and she relaxed slightly, moving back. She heard Rachel and the others start talking, but it was only the slightest buzz in her ears.

“That’s all?” Maeghan asked, opening her eyes for a split second. It was long enough for Hanna to catch the slight glimpse she took towards her lips. Hanna moved forward again, slipping her arm around Maeghan’s waist and pulling her closer.