Where Are You Page 4

  Gia rolled over, returning to her back, laughing as she did. “We are not joining the Pirate Society.”

  “How about the Society for Gentlemanly Pursuits?” Erin suggested, stopping her finger somewhere down the list.

  “Oh right, can you imagine me sitting around a bunch of Cambridge toffs, drinking Scotch? That’s a recipe for disaster right there.” She snatched the paper from Erin’s hand. “You, girl, need something that involves lots of people. The more the better and something not so dull and boring.” She studied the paper for a while. “Harry Potter…No! Assassins Society…Oh my God. The Let’s Put Rocks in Size Order Society has your name stamped all over it though.”

  Erin snatched the paper back. “You are useless. Let me see. Ooh, how about the Tennis Club? I’ve always been pretty good playing against my brother.” Erin had spent most of her life playing tennis, in fact it was the one thing, other than studying she knew she excelled at. It had suited her well due to the solo nature of the sport and kept her in good shape at the same time.

  “Tennis, silly, is a solo sport and still in your comfort zone.”

  Erin pursed her lips together and continued scanning down the list. “There’s a Trampoline Club. I’ve always wanted to give that a try.”

  “Um hello…” Gia said pointing to her breasts. “Can you see me jumping up and down with these things? Now that is an accident waiting to happen. And besides, since when did the trampoline involve you being around a large group of rowdy students?”

  Erin sat up and folded the paper. “Well then, I guess I’m just not sure.”

  Gia turned her head as a large group of girls in black shorts and dark purple sleeveless club jerseys strode along the cloister. They certainly drew the eye. “Where are they going?”

  “Um, I don’t know. Some kind of a sports club.”

  “Just look at them, how happy they all look.”

  “You can get all that just from how they’re walking?”

  “Shush you and tell me what their jerseys say.” Gia squinted her eyes in the direction of the girls.

  Erin tried to read the black writing emblazoned upon purple, not a great combination. “No! Gia, no way.”

  “What does it say? Who are they and where are they going?” Gia rose to her feet, pulling Erin up with her, almost unable to contain herself. The bright sparkle in those eyes possessed strange powers when she smiled. “Damn my poor vision.” Even if they couldn’t see very well.

  Erin sighed. “C…U…B…C.”

  “Which means what exactly?”

  Erin could have told a white lie, a small fib but the girl would only hound her mercilessly until she had her pound of flesh. “Cambridge University Boat Club. Or in everyday speaking terms…Rowing.”

  Gia didn’t say anything, but simply took Erin’s hand and pulled her in the direction of the low arch the rowers were now exiting through.

  Erin resisted the pull, but knew it would ultimately prove futile. “No, Gia. It’s the bloody rowing club. It’s world famous. Are you trying to destroy me?”

  She turned to face Erin. “You need this and I want this.”

  “But, it’s rowing. It’ll be really competitive and I don’t want to end up in the bloody annual Boat Race…It’s televised.” Even as she spoke, Erin felt her resistance dissipating. After all, she couldn’t say no to Gia and those big brown, magical, hawk-like eyes that pleaded for compliance.

  “Trust me, you’ll thank me when you’re a glowing, confident woman who everybody looks up to as a model of just what’s possible when you try.”

  Erin laughed, immediately feeling her resistance crumble. “You are talking such garbage.” Her legs began to potter along the grass, almost as if she’d yielded all power over them to Gia. “You’d better look after me.”

  Gia stuck out her bottom lip. “Oh, how much you hurt me with your mistrust.”

  The one million pound, newly built Downing Boat House, stood unimpressively a few metres from the edge of the River Cam. Erin wondered just why the gathering of potential rowers was taking place outside the expensive new boat house. Perhaps there were just too many people who thought they’d try their hand at rowing and the facilities just couldn’t cope.

  “We’re famous for our dodgy foundations after the flooding during construction.” The President, Professor Geoffrey Grimmett said, perhaps explaining why the two hundred or so people who gathered around to listen were not admitted to the premises. “We really do live up to our name as a boat house.” Polite laughter purred amongst the gathering of Downing freshmen.

  He continued to talk about the history of rowing at the university, about their rivalry with the Oxford Boat Club and how, most importantly of all, when considering the annual Boat Race held on the River Thames each year, Cambridge was leading Oxford by seventy seven wins to seventy one for the men, or for the women, a very impressive thirty seven wins to twenty.

  There were sixteen boat houses along this section of the Cam which belonged to the colleges and throughout the year various competitive events between them would be held. The best crews would compete nationally with the best rowers from the entire university being chosen to race against Oxford in the annual Boat Race. “We must maintain our lead at all costs, so your training schedule will be brutal. They will also be early…six in the morning, three times a week.”

  On learning what being a member entailed, the brutal and early training sessions, a low murmur rose above the crowd. Several students rushed away as though their lives depended on it. It was obvious that most here had been attracted by the glamour and prestige of rowing at Cambridge and would not return for the first training session. The club President was likely dispensing the harsh truth, in the hope of weeding out the time wasters and less committed. After all, there were only so many places on a boat. Unfortunately for Erin, Gia was not one of the girls who’d protested, either verbally or by screwing up her face, as had many. She stood tiptoed with her chin tilted up, trying to gain a better view of the speaker between two giant male students. No – Gia would yet drag them both into a boat at six on a cold rainy morning, only to repeat the process ad nauseam.

  The next day, Erin woke to her phone vibrating against the wooden desk. She’d received several texts from Gia already, at a quarter past five.

  ‘You’d better be awake! x’

  ‘This is it, girl! x’

  ‘The new you starts today. x’

  ‘If you have cereal bars, bring them. Meet you at the river. xxx’

  That girl was insane, yet exhilarating at the same time – Kind of a lethal combination. But what could go wrong on a boat with a crazy Italian at six in the morning?

  “Is chocolate Nutrigrain ok?” Erin asked, approaching Gia with the bar in an outstretched hand.

  “Only one way to find out.” She tore off the wrapper, snapped off half and jammed it in her mouth.

  “Hey, you might want to go easy on that. There’s that thing called indigestion.”

  “When the English start eating real breakfasts in the morning accompanied by thick, dark espresso then I’ll take lessons from you.” She shivered in the late September morning chill. “Damn, I’m missing home already.”

  Erin smiled at her. “This was all your idea and it’s not too late to back out. You didn’t bank on the English weather at all did you?” Despite being stupid o’clock, it would have been a disappointment if Gia chose to back out now. Indeed, Erin wanted to spend some quality time with her new and exotic Italian friend. And although she wouldn’t give Gia a big head – She was right about this whole boat club thing.

  “I’ll never get used to this weather.”

  Several tangles of students, having braved the early morning chill, mingled and chatted amongst themselves. As usual, it was Erin and Gia by themselves and Erin couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt that maybe just maybe she was preventing Gia from making other friends. A girl like Gia would find natural habitat in being at the centre of one of the cooler groups �
� It was only a matter of time, Erin reminded herself. So don’t beat yourself up when it finally happens.

  Erin kicked a pebble into the Cam. “You can go speak to some of the others if you wish.”

  “What?” Gia asked, nearly gagging on her Nutrigrain. “What do you mean ‘I can go speak to some of the others’?”

  “I just meant that I’m not keeping you…I’d understand.” Erin looked down to the gravel, plenty more pebbles to kick should the need arise.

  “What the hell has got into you?” She snapped off a portion of her cereal bar and held it out to Erin. “Eat this. You’re gonna need it.”

  The gathering of students grew, but it soon became clear only a fraction of yesterday’s assembly would turn up. Who could blame them?

  A small group of students were kitting up further along the river outside what looked like Corpus Christi College Boat Club and even further down, another group pushed away from the bank with their oars and were even now gliding down the Cam. They would have to be second or third year students since they already looked like they were in the swing of things. But it was obvious how serious rowing was taken around here.

  Gia scrunched up her snack wrapper and thrust it in her bag. “You know what, you’re right…We really should be making friends with some of the others.” She motioned to Erin with her head to a knot of four girls closer to the boat house entrance. “That’s half the reason we’re here after all.”

  A shooting force from the pit of Erin’s stomach shot into her mouth – Panic. But Gia was already walking toward the girls. All Erin could do was follow after her.

  Gia found a small gap between two girls. “Morning, are you all here for the rowing?”

  “Obviously.” The taller of the women said with a slight sneer, her eyes seemed to narrow at hearing Gia’s southern Italian accent, the skin under her eyes creasing. Erin recognised the girl from her first physiotherapy lecture.

  “I’m Gianna and this is my friend Erin.” She gestured at the girl to her side.

  “Hi.” Two of the girls said together, while the shorter of the four stood unmoved. The taller glanced over Gia’s oversized winter jacket and snorted, blanking Erin entirely.

  “Oh, I’m sorry…Was that your pig impersonation?” Gia returned, taking a step closer. Two of the girls smiled at Gia’s retort.

  “It’s ok, Gia, let’s go.” Erin grabbed her elbow and dragged her away.

  “Fucking bitches!” Getting on the wrong side of Gia was something not worth contemplating. But to give her credit, she knew how to stand up for herself, that much was evident.

  “I agree with you, honey. Thanks for trying anyway, but I think we should stay away from them.”

  A lean woman in her thirties emerged from inside and led the gathering toward the entrance. Although Erin didn’t count them, she estimated the number to be at around forty. They were ushered into a large, plush ladies locker room and told to get changed. The woman gestured to several boxes along one of the benches. “Here are your uniforms. Purple with black shorts are the Downing colours. Make sure you collect a purple oar each on the way out.”

  Erin found a quiet area in the corner and keeping to herself she kicked off her jogging bottoms and threw off the hooded top. She sensed Gia’s presence somewhere to her side but was too preoccupied with maintaining a speedy changing tempo to gage her precise location. Erin would usually seek a cubicle when changing at the sports centre for her tennis matches, but these expensive new premises had no such facility. Changing in front of a large group of girls was one thing she’d only ever done at school and even then she used to arrive early to get it over with before most of the other girls appeared.

  She pulled up the shorts, way too short for her liking, exposing everything south of the top few inches of her legs. Then she slipped on the purple Downing College jersey, sleeveless to reveal yet more flesh – Just great.

  Erin turned round expecting half the room to be changed and ready. They weren’t. It was only normal that the entire room would turn to look at the first girl to be changed, to see how the uniform actually looked on a person. Erin’s knee quivered as the haze moved over her vision, half blocking out the many scrutinising eyes.

  “Whoohoo, just look at you.” Gia skipped over from along the bench in her shorts and only a sports bra above, holding the purple jersey against her side. The lush tanned complexion of her face was matched everywhere else. Her flat abdomen framed in a tiny waist, set between broad hips and large breasts, confined within the restrictive bra. She possessed that same impossible hourglass figure that was common to many southern European women. Gia, perhaps sensing Erin’s discomfort turned her away from the room and toward herself with a guiding hand on the arm.

  “I’d rather not.” Erin mumbled, daring not look at her friend. The proximity was hard enough and there was no doubting the lack of material in the uniform had something to do with her self-consciousness. The contrast between their two bodies could not have been greater; her pale skin next to Gia’s southern Italian tan.

  Gia had no such apprehensions, despite having her torso almost at full display, she stood uncomfortably close. She was a couple inches taller than Erin even without her trainers on. “Don’t be silly, you look great.” She said, looking Erin up and down, seemingly pausing on her legs, before taking a step back and slipping into her own jersey.

  On the way out they collected an oar each, the difference between the Downing oars and the rest being the purple blades. The oars came in two sections, the shorter handle end alone more than half Erin’s height. The cleaver end, so called because it truly resembled a meat cleaver, towered over her. When outside they were instructed to screw the ends together; the result – an oar almost four metres in length. It felt unwieldy, unnatural and heavy.

  As Erin stood amongst the group of girls, shivering in the morning cold, she knew she’d still be tucked up in bed without Gia’s influence. The girl was opening up a whole new world to her, even if right now it was hard to appreciate it.

  If Erin was now feeling the chill, Gia was suffering more so as she visibly shook, her arms crossed in front of her midriff. Tiny hairs stood up on her arms and Erin felt the sudden urge to rub her hands over her friend’s skin to generate some warmth. However, as soon as the idea entered her head, she dismissed it. Getting on a boat and finally doing some rowing would be welcome.

  Boats of differing shapes and sizes now slid up and down the Cam, propelled by their long slender oars in beautiful unison. The hardest part would surely be having eight boat members rowing at precisely the same force and stroke rate – Well apart from the early starts. Erin watched with a keen interest as eight women in a long boat from Jesus College effortlessly glided by at high speed.

  Five women, athletic and lean in appearance and all wearing Downing colours arrived and broke the group into five sets of eight; Two male groups, two female groups and a mixed group. Erin and Gia ensured they’d be chosen together by standing almost on top of each other. The prospect of being separated was not worth contemplating.

  Each of the women took a group, found a space and spent some time warming everybody up with a bunch of bodyweight exercises. Then they were briefed on health and safety and taken through the basics and mechanics of rowing on a novice women’s Janousek eight.

  “Just get us on a boat already, it’s fucking freezing.” The tall girl complained from behind.

  Gia turned round and scowled at her. “Shush.”

  “Don’t you shush me.” The girl said in retort, loud enough for the instructor to hear. Erin recognised the accent as one of those real posh Home Counties dialects, as if the girl had grown up on a royal estate somewhere, but she doubted Gia would recognise that. The fact she looked down on her, metaphorically as well as literally however wasn’t lost on Gia.

  “We’re trying to listen to the damn instructor...Be quiet!” Gia growled, not intimidated in the slightest.

  Erin threaded her hand inside Gia’s elbow and guide
d her attention back toward the instructor. Gia patted Erin’s forearm as if to show all was ok. The contrast of the warm hand on her chilled flesh did not go unnoticed.

  Finally, the instructor, who would also be acting as cox, effectively steering the boat from her seat at the stern, demonstrated entry technique and within a few minutes, the eight girls had taken positions within the boat and secured their oars into the locks.

  Erin and Gia sat at positions four and five respectively, meaning that Erin was rowing port side and Gia starboard.

  “Port side, use your oars to push off.” The cox instructed and Erin with the three other girls sat at even numbers pushed against the port with their oars. The boat edged away into the centre of the river as another boat sailed by on the starboard side.

  Erin had to suppress the overwhelming urge to throw up into the Cam. It was hard to believe the boat hadn’t tipped over. How much traction could such a long and narrow thing have on the water? Most of the girls in the boat were far taller than the average eighteen year old, which would only raise the centre of gravity further, decreasing the boat’s purchase on the surface and increasing the likelihood of nine women experiencing the cold water of the Cam. Paranoid thoughts – Erin knew, but she couldn’t help it.

  “And puuuulllllllll!” The cox yelled.

  Nothing much happened for the first few seconds as it dawned on the girls they were finally getting to do some rowing. Erin pulled the blade through the water, straightening her legs as the seat slid back on its track, the resistance like treacle. The boat hardly seemed to budge, the boat house and trees to their side remaining constant.

  To Erin’s front, Gia pulled the blade through the water, making audible groaning sounds as she did. Indeed, the boat was a strange combination of grunts, out of tune and timing as their strokes were almost entirely out of sync with each other. It was no wonder the water felt so heavy. Erin changed her rhythm to match that of Gia’s and within a few strokes the boat gained speed as she assumed the three girls behind were matching her own pattern. Erin couldn’t help but stare at the musculature in Gia’s back as she strained against driving the blade through the Cam. The Italian possessed the kind of lithe athletic figure that didn’t come naturally but only through time spent in hard training and Erin wondered just what sport back home had gifted Gia with that physique.