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  Chapter 1

  Hanna Forrest threw her backpack under the circular table so it skidded into the centre pole. She plonked herself down as heavily as her compact fit frame would allow onto the bench seat opposite Andrea and Lauren, flattened her hands onto the table-top and sighed.

  "Today requires a copious amount of wine," she announced to her best friends, as if preparing the ammunition for the dissection of their week’s events.

  Andrea and Lauren looked at each other quickly, before paying attention to their blonde friend. "Uh oh. What happened?" Lauren volunteered. The waiter interrupted before Hanna could start, and she ordered a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, to match Lauren and Andrea’s.

  “Well." Hanna adjusted her seat position, taking the chance to tuck a pants-clad leg up under the other. "Today a colleague, albeit a substitute teaching colleague, referred to me as a vagina, and I don't think there's enough wine in this bar for me to forget that comparison."

  Lauren barked out a laugh, while Andrea's mouth fell open. "Someone called you the C-word at work?" she whispered, leaning forward, her dark hair creating a curtain around her face.

  Hanna shook her head and grimaced. "Nope. Very clearly the word vagina. As in anatomically correct word usage vagina."

  "Why? How?" gasped Lauren, who was already at the start of a giggle fit. She loved how her friend always seemed to get herself into these situations through absolutely no fault of her own. Lauren, with her dark hair undercut at the right and flicked up to the left, and her self-titled Dyke Uniform of jeans, shirt and boots couldn’t imagine giving up enough swagger to be that endearingly naïve like Hanna.

  "So, one of the faculty was away today and the agency sent Bianca to replace her. Bianca seemed pleasant enough this morning when I met her to go over the lesson plans and requirements. Everything was all good.” Hanna’s brown eyes scanned the bar. She was about to talk about work and her ethics radar pinged inside her head, telling her to be just a bit more cautious. Most of the booths were empty in their section as many of the patrons were sitting at high tables near the French doors, leading to the courtyard. “Anyway, at lunch, a few of the staff were standing around chatting about random kids. Bianca was doing that metaphorical orbiting the dialogue thing, you know, that people who are unsure of the conversation content do?" Hanna waved her hands in circles to illustrate. Lauren and Andrea nodded, so committed to Hanna's story that they didn't even notice the waiter delivering Hanna’s drink. "Anyway, one particular student's name came up and I stated that I was a bit too soft on her, and perhaps that's why she tried to push the envelope with other teachers. The other staff said that I wasn't too easy at all. I said that I was a teeny bit of a pushover as that student was working under such trying home conditions. Anyway, we agreed to disagree about my overall level of pushoverness." Hanna paused, and suddenly realised her wine had arrived and was steadily getting warm. "Oh. Hey, cheers!" she said, and clinked glasses with her friends. They each took a sip, and Hanna hummed in appreciation. While not really a wine connoisseur, Hanna liked a crisp white, and of course, her chosen profession of teaching almost guaranteed consumption of alcohol at some time. Usually most of the academic year. Hanna put her glass down again and ran her hands through her dark blonde hair; an unconscious habit, which made it stick up at various angles. Andrea, like Lauren, adored Hanna. They were their own family. They’d been friends for so long, and now that they were in their late twenties and established in their various careers, they seemed to only catch up once a week, perhaps not even that. So a story like today’s was going to be worth it. Andrea rolled an elegant hand as if to say 'get on with it’. "Right. So then Bianca piped up, and said that my niceness and care for the students was due to my feminine side showing so much, and that I had so much warmth and was so inviting to others. And then she said, "You're so warm and inviting, Hanna, just like a vagina”.” Andrea and Lauren had started vibrating with barely contained laughter just before the end of Hanna's story so by the time she finished, they were howling.

  "Oh my god!" exclaimed Andrea. "She sounds insane! Who says that?"

  Lauren was beyond words. She was wiping her eyes on the spare napkin from the table.

  "Oh, but it gets better," grimaced Hanna. She took another gulp of wine. "I thanked her."

  "What?" Lauren was able to get out, her low voice full of mirth.

  "Yeah. I thanked her. I said thank you, like she'd given me a compliment, because obviously that's what she intended. It wasn't meant to be rude at all."

  Lauren and Andrea alternated between fits of giggling and catching their breath as the waiter asked if they wanted to order food. Hanna smiled and declined for all of them. She glanced back at her chosen family; Lauren with her dark sharp-edged swagger and soulful eyes, and Andrea, her brilliant beautiful accountant friend. Her eyes crinkled in affection. "Anyway, that's my day. How were your days?"

  Andrea grinned. "Same old tax, offshore accounts, etc. Absolutely nothing like yours."

  "Nope. Not at all. We vets don’t do genital analogies." Lauren agreed, lounging back in the seat. Suddenly she sat forward, her dark eyes shining. "Hey Hanna, it's a good thing that you aren't a super uptight strict teacher.”

  Hanna paused, her glass halfway up to her lips. “Why?”

  “Well, clearly you'd be a penis."

  Andrea spluttered into her wine glass, as Hanna delivered a large amount of side-eye towards Lauren.

  “Ha ha.”

  Chapter 2

  “Would you please consider it, Jeff? That’s all I’m asking.” Hanna leaned forward in the chair, her hands braced on its arms. She’d gone into her Principal’s office on Monday morning, hoping to get a more positive response to her second request for the senior girls’ baseball program to be refinanced so it could run for another season and with new equipment. She could feel the tension headache starting already.

  “Look, Hanna. Even with your high profile as a national player, we just can’t justify it. Other sports need funding too.” Jeff smoothed his hands over his overly clean desk. Nothing like my desk. Representative of his work load, perhaps? “And I know you do the girls’ coaching above and beyond your normal course allocation in the English department. I thank you for that,” Jeff added, somewhat patronizingly. He pulled at the cuff of his left sleeve, twisting it in his fingers, and making his shirt taut across his large arms. Hanna sat back with a sigh, and looked at her boss. She could tell just from his body language that he wasn’t going to budge on this decision.

  “Fine,” Hanna smiled sweetly, knowing a losing battle when she saw one. “Thanks for making time to see me.” She pushed her compact athletic body off the seat and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her. Her brisk footsteps echoed on the corridor floor. Her neck felt tight, as did her hands.

  That is so sexist. I can’t believe this! Hanna raged internally.

  The fluorescent lights on the ceiling of the corridor did nothing to alleviate her headache. She knew she should stop at the staffroom for some Panadol or even just in the corridor to admire the student artwork. Anything to calm herself down. But she also needed to get back to her desk and prepare for her next lesson. Rounding the secretary’s desk like she was coming into third base, Hanna didn’t see the pile of sports equipment dumped under the foyer’s trophy cabinet. “Christ!” she blurted out through gritted teeth as she tripped over samples of baseball bats, softball gloves, cricket bags, mini hurdles and netball uniforms. She ended up on her hands and knees, blacks pants scuffing on the linoleum surface.

  “Oh my god! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” said a voice beside her left ear. Hanna scrambled up, highly embarrassed to again be immersed in another of her idiotic dork moments. She turned to look at who had created a minefield in the front office lobby. A woman, in her thirties Hanna estimated, dressed in delivery overalls and cap was standing in front of her. She was a full head taller than Hanna, with the physique of a soccer player; all strong shoulders and fast limbs. Hanna looked up to the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, and felt a slight frisson that made her blink.

  “I’m ok,” she said slowly, her eyes taking in more details, such as the curly brown hair under the cap, and the strong hands holding a clipboard. The work pants and denim shirt did an awful job of hiding the woman’s trim waist and shape of her breasts. Hanna swallowed.

  “You sure?” queried the woman with a quick, warm smile and a golden-smooth voice. Hanna registered a twinge of interest in her stomach. Oh my. That’s nice. Hanna felt her face turning into a wave of blush, as the woman slowly looked her up and down.

  “Ah. I’ve gotta…go teach…something. Over there,” she said, pointing vaguely at the English building, and rushed off, leaving the other woman surrounded by chaos.

  Chapter 3

  Jo stared at the retreating woman. Well, hello. That was rather pleasant. Cute blondie with the very nice arse had suddenly made Jo’s day. She bent down to collect the scattered gear and arranged it neatly away from the main thoroughfare. Jo sauntered up to the front counter and signed in at the visitor’s register.

  “Good morning Jo,” said a voice in front of her, and Jo looked up to the smiling face of Bev, the school secretary. Bev was very formal in her speech and her mannerisms, which Jo liked and respected but she always felt slightly intimidated whenever she saw her.

  “Hi Bev, how you doing today? I’ve just got new samples for Gary in Phys Ed to look at. Shall I go to him or does he want to come over here?” Jo leaned on the counter, taking her cap off to run her hands thro
ugh her messy brown curls. She caught Bev looking at her posture and ever so slowly pulled herself upright.

  “I’ll ring the gym and he can come over now, I think,” said Bev, picking up the phone and pressing a couple of buttons. Jo moved away from the counter to wait for Gary and let her mind drift to the unexpected and somewhat interesting moment with Hot Teacher from before. Cute. Adorable. Adorably cute. And dorky. So adorkable. And I need to stop. What on earth are you doing?

  “Jo.” A tall man in a polo shirt and shorts was standing next to her.

  “Gary. Hi. Hello. How you going? Yes, right. Okay. So I have this new gear that I think you could use with your units next semester,” Jo babbled slightly, before containing herself and launching into CEO mode, just like it said on her business card.

  ***

  Hanna felt jittery all day, and had taught most of her lessons on autopilot. Poor kids. She was annoyed at herself for doing such an injustice to them. After all, they needed her present and on top of things, especially coming up to exams soon. Trying to save the senior girls’ baseball program was a priority, particularly with womens’ participation in sport dropping after high school. It was so frustrating. Hanna couldn’t work out a way to keep the program without the school executive’s approval and that meant Jeff’s approval of the finances. She’d taken to the pitching mound herself lately at the girls’ practice just to let off some steam. Something she rarely did. And she couldn’t stop thinking about Hot Sport Equipment Woman, as she had started to label her in her mind. Hanna cringed at how she’d flailed around like an octopus on roller-skates in front of such a clearly together person. Her internal eye roll increased her headache.

  Yep. My love life. She focused on the final lesson of the day and the sea of questions from the students. ‘Poetry in Twitterverse’ was a unit in junior English classes that she was quite proud of, having written the curriculum and assessment for it, and delivering it to the entire English faculty. It deserved her attention, as did the kids taking it.

  Chapter 4

  Hey L. I can’t make it on Friday. Sorry. Staff meeting.

  No worries, H. Who the hell puts a staff meeting on a Friday night?

  IKR? My boss. We’ll catch up next week. You good?

  Yep. Two of my rescue kitties got adopted.

  YES! So good.

  And I saved a turtle from a sociopathic 12 year old.

  You are such a hero

  Animal Avenger! You got your funding yet?

  You’re kidding, right? Jeff’s all nooooo.

  FFS. It’s a great program.

  Yeah. You’re biased. Anyway, crappy meeting with him this morning. I’ll wait for another day. Crappy day actually.

  ???

  Oh, nothing. Just fell over a pile of sporting gear shit in front of a hot woman and, you know

  At work?

  Yes at work! Where else would I be throwing my body at hot women?

  LOL

  That didn’t read how I wanted it to read

  What’s her hotness scale?

  I DON’T KNOW…really hot?

  On the Hanna blush scale

  OMG. Ok. 9/10

  Woohoo! Super hot then. Find out her name, you dork. Luv ya.

  ***

  Jo signed the final document that Shannon, her PA, had placed in front of her an hour ago. She leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms above her shoulders. Various parts of her body cracked and popped and Jo nodded in both relief and resignation. How was she thirty-four years of age, yet feeling so much older? Running the premier sporting goods supplier in the city was difficult and most days she realised that it was time to delegate some of the role. Being CEO, manager and chief bottle washer was exhausting. That frantic Monday two weeks ago was a perfect example. With Jo having to run the delivery of samples to the high school making such a mess of her schedule, Shannon had just about gnawed her fingernails off in anxiety trying to make up the time. Although, having a gorgeous woman fall at her feet that morning had more than made up for the chaos of the rest of the day. It was Friday afternoon, and her office had absorbed the sunny and pleasant weather all day. Jo leaned over and cracked open the window. The neighbourhood was quiet, with the sun shining down on the leaves of the trees that lined the street leading to her business. She breathed deeply, loving the scent of impending autumn. Jo shook her head. Time to head upstairs to the apartment that she’d created on top of the three-storey warehouse whose bottom two floors held the store, and get changed for a run along the beachfront. She shut down her computer, went via the front doors to lock them and took the stairs to the third floor.

  Chapter 5

  Standing at the balcony at her friend’s apartment, Hanna breathed in the fresh salty air from off the beach. The greens and blues of the ocean and the sky wavered at the horizon and she enjoyed the dots of colour on the beach as the people walked along the foreshore.

  “I love your place,” she grinned at Andrea, as she turned from the view.

  “You say that every time you’re here, like you’ve come from miles, yet you only live 15 minutes away in the same suburb,” Andrea smiled at Hanna from the lounge chairs, where she and Lauren were sitting. Lauren had her left foot crossed over her right knee and was immersed in her phone, dark sunglasses covering her eyes.

  “I know. I know. It’s just something about…this!” Hanna waved her hand in the direction of the ocean.

  Lauren nodded slowly. “I agree. We should all move in here with Andrea,” she drawled lazily.

  Andrea ignored her. “Ok. Weekly review. How was your week, hon, considering that a couple of weeks ago you were a vagina?” she asked, looking directly at Hanna, a smile playing on her lips. Hanna rolled her eyes, and came to sit down on the footstool. She tucked her knees up under her chin, resting her heels on the edge.

  “Nothing exciting this week,” Hanna sighed, then caught Andrea’s look of disbelief. “Seriously!” Lauren pulled her sunglasses down to look over the top. “Really. I passed my Epipen training at work today so I can do student emergencies if necessary. That’s it.”

  “Okay.” Lauren suddenly caught the faint blush in Hanna’s cheeks. “Aaaaand?”

  Hanna paused and finished in a flurry of hand waving. “And I got to jab the training Epipen into the thigh of the rather lovely nurse and there was thigh holding and pretend soothing of pretend jab spot and I was all overcome so I blamed the central heating.”

  There was a moment’s pause before Andrea and Lauren cracked up. “Oh hon. You are awesome. You so need to get a girlfriend. Or get laid,” laughed Lauren.

  Hanna dropped her head onto her folded arms. “I am such a screw up, though. Idiotic things happen to me and who wants that in a girlfriend?”

  “You are not an idiot. You are adorable. And while neither I nor Andrea have a thing for you at all,” Lauren looked at Andrea for confirmation who nodded, “we regard you as an outstanding friend who is cute and sexy and any woman would be lucky to have you, because you are so freaking adorable.”

  Andrea grinned, and got up to pull Hanna to her feet. She put her arm around her friend and said, “Come on. Eventually you’ll see reason and get a car, but for now I’ll drive you two home.”

  ***

  Jo pulled her body up into its final sit up and leaned over her knees, panting. Her faded blue T-shirt stuck to taut muscles in her back and stomach as if slapped on like a wet towel. You’re pushing yourself again, kiddo. She hauled herself to her feet and stretched each leg in turn behind her. Coming down to the foreshore each afternoon was a great mental relaxation but it seemed to be more and more hard work physically. Perhaps she was pushing herself too much. Am I just running so I don’t have to think? Operating on autopilot throughout her adult life had held her in good stead so far. Ignoring the voice inside, Jo pushed off and began an easy jog along the concrete path that ran along the beach. Her mind cleared of all thoughts of business and control and barriers, and became empty, just as she liked it. The tall apartment buildings cast shadows along the path so the entire length looked like a giant’s pedestrian crossing. Jo squinted up at them. She doubted she’d ever want to give up her industrial warehouse wooden floorboards for cool marble tiles. After getting home, Jo dropped her clothing at the door of the bathroom and walked into her open rain shower. The water fell on her head and neck, soothing her skin, which was prickly with sea salt and sweat.