“We still on for later?” Adam asked, sitting on the desk rocking the chair backward and forward with his feet.

Known to be one of the smarter students, he found study interesting but boring. Exams held no real challenge for him as he always passed with average or better results.

“All systems are a go,” came the reply from Chris, the burly front-row forward of the first-grade rugby side. He gathered up his books, looking at the covers, deciding which to take with him and which to leave. “Rick will have the car fuelled and ready to go by the time we get home, I hope,” he added. Chris was not the brightest student in the class and relied more on strength and cunning to get through exams.

“I’m hoping for one great weekend of surfing. Let’s hope the surf’s up,” Adam replied.

The two boys packed up and moved out of the classroom. They had been mates since primary school and had taken up most sports together, for companionship and competition. Both played in the school’s A-grade football team and were extremely popular with pupils and teachers alike. Both keen swimmers, they had taken up board-riding during the holidays two summers before, enhancing their well-built bodies and enjoying the physical aspects of their sports. It came naturally to them, as did their attraction to girls. The opposite sex was never far from their thoughts.

Chris, always the more confident of the two would find nothing wrong with dating two girls in the one evening if he felt that way inclined. He believed he was God’s gift, a regular Adonis—and was always out to prove the point. The girls loved him nearly as much as he did himself. He could be rough and yet gentle, rude and courteous, and the girls seemed attracted to him.

Adam didn’t share that same confidence and believed being courteous and respectful to the girls he dated was much better than the rough and ready approach Chris usually adopted.

Both were brought up in middle-class families, where their fathers owned and operated their own businesses. Adam’s father was in building just as his father had been, and it was quite clear that would be the path for Adam. The industry was changing, however, and Adam’s father was one who considered education a necessity and encouraged the lad to go through to his final year before starting his apprenticeship in the industry. He was an only child and allowed a reasonable amount of freedom but was kept in check by his loving parents, who did their best not to be too overbearing.

Chris, on the other hand, had an easy, laid-back attitude to most things. He had a brother, Rick, who was older by a year and a sister, Veronica, Ronnie for short, who was a year younger. His father owned a car sales business and also dabbled in real estate. The parents were too busy to worry about the kids and found that throwing an extra amount of pocket money their way was the best way of getting them out from underfoot.

As they made their way home from the school grounds, which were only about a mile down the road, the conversation between them turned in ever-changing directions, but ended where it usually did—about girls.

“Did you see Maureen as we were coming out of class?” Chris asked, with a grin on his face.

“Yeah, she seemed to be in a rush,” Adam replied. “She didn’t say anything to me, just kept going.”

“Probably didn’t want to say anything,” Chris smirked. “Story is she went down to the oval at lunch with a few of the boys and went down, in a big way!”

“You’re kidding! Maureen? Butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her mouth Maureen?” Adam was astonished and couldn’t believe it.

She was an A-grade student and daughter of one of the local bank managers. She only went out with the upper-class students and had never had a bad word said about her. She had always been friendly and jovial towards Adam, and he’d never thought of her in that way. “That can’t be right.”

“Got it on good advice, and it wasn’t butter she was melting in her mouth,” Chris continued, having a chuckle.

“What brought that on, then?”

“Apparently, she went out the other night with Shafty, and he put it on her, and she knocked him back flat. It ended up in a bit of a blue, and Shafty put it round that she did some remarkable feats with him, and it really pissed her off…big time. So, I assume, to get back and piss him off, she decided to start a few tongues wagging in the sweetest possible way. I’ll bet it’s got back to him by now, and he’ll be livid.” Chris laughed.

Adam knew Chris couldn’t stand Shafty at any time, even on the football field. “I’ll bet,” he agreed.

Sean Shaft was the son of a local doctor and always liked to get his own way, on and off the field, although academically and physically he couldn’t cut it, but none of the teachers would tell him for fear of upsetting his father, who occasionally gave donations to the school in the name of charity.

“We’ll hear more about that in the next week then. What’s happening for the weekend?” Adam asked, thinking ahead.

“Rick's picking up some wheels from the car-yard and bringing it home. We throw in the sleeping bags, tie on the boards, and we’re out of here,” Chris replied, swinging his carry case out in front of him.

They were nearly home when they heard the sound of a burbling exhaust coming closer. They turned to see a Hillman wagon steadily moving along the road, slowing down and pulling up alongside them. “Hop in and I’ll run you home,” Rick yelled out the open window.