How to Convince a Boy to Kiss You

by Tara Eglington

  Johannes had virtually stepped in front of Sara on the track, forcing her to make eye contact with him. Unlike some of the boys, who looked and smelt like a bunch of sweaty pirates who hadn’t seen a port in weeks, Johannes resembled True Blood’s Eric after a fight with another vampire. The sweat, rather than seeming unappealing, made his T-shirt cling to every lean muscle of his chest and stomach. I watched Sara’s eyes widen as she looked from Johannes’s face to his body, before she shook her head and walked on.

  ‘Yes, I’m very sensible,’ she said. ‘In every way. Including when it comes to my no-dating policy.’

  I didn’t know if Sara’s meaning was lost in translation or Johannes was simply pleased to have got a response from her after twenty-four hours of trying, but he didn’t seem discouraged by her vow of singledom.

  ‘Wonderful. I check path is clear ahead for you,’ he said, and strode past us, kicking dead branches from the trail and looking back every so often to check Sara’s progress.

  I saw her eyes drift to his upper body again. It was obvious that if any guy was capable of wearing down her resistance to romance, it would be Johannes. As much as I supported Sara’s future career as an author, Johannes did seem like a sweetheart. For the remainder of the hike he held aside any overhanging branches so they didn’t scratch Sara, he tied her shoelaces for her when we stopped for a breather, and he even gave her the last of his water when hers ran out. He was obviously a gentleman. Sara could use a little more of that in her life.

  ‘The camp is within sight!’ Rudy called back to us as the track started levelling out.

  ‘Thank god,’ Jelena breathed. ‘I’m taking a power nap as soon as I reach those tents.’

  Jelena sank to her knees as she looked at the two tarpaulins, rope and stones in front of us. ‘I didn’t believe that our accommodation could get any worse, but how wrong I was. We have to construct our own tents?’

  ‘Find two trees and string the rope between them, making sure it’s secure,’ Rudy called out. ‘Building a tent may seem challenging, but it’s one of the best skills you can learn. It’ll be crucial for survival if you’re ever caught out in the bush with minimum equipment.’

  Sara had pushed her way to the front to watch Rudy’s demonstration.

  ‘So once you’ve got your rope secured and strung up at chest level, place your first tarp on the ground below,’ he continued, rolling out his tarp. ‘Then sling your second tarp over the rope so it’s exactly midway above the bottom tarp. This forms a tent shape. Secure the edges of your second tarp with large stones. They need to be big enough to stand up to strong winds or kicks from other campers.’

  ‘Let’s get this over with,’ Cassie said. She grabbed the rope, taking charge. ‘Lindsay, Aurora, you get the tarps.’

  ‘I am not heaving rocks,’ Jelena said, her arms folded over her chest.

  ‘Of course not, you’re injured,’ Cassie said. ‘Go get yourself some water and a biscuit from the supply cartons.’

  Sara made a face as Jelena walked away. ‘So she doesn’t have to help?’

  ‘This will be five times faster without her complaining the whole time,’ Cassie replied. ‘Okay, someone help me secure the rope to this tree.’

  Jelena made a face when she returned half an hour later and stuck her head inside the fully made tent. She looked like Louis XIV inspecting the progress of Versailles.

  ‘You guys couldn’t make it a bit more spacious?’

  ‘This was the longest tarp I could get, Jelena,’ Sara said, tearing open a chocolate protein bar. ‘I had to trade my battery-powered fan for it. Your mattress is a joke! There’s room for like one sleeping bag in here now.’

  ‘Perfect, that’s your spot.’ Jelena rolled out her mattress and pushed the inflate button. She looked longingly at Sara’s protein bar. ‘I’m feeling really weak with this whole eye thing. Can I please have a bite?’

  Sara shook her head. ‘It’s not my fault if you chose to bring dry shampoo over essential dehydrated food.’ She ate the last half of the bar in one bite.

  ‘You know, I was going to offer you a spot on the mattress, but that settles it,’ Jelena shot back, ‘you are NOT sharing with me. Lindsay, Cass, Aurora, you may enter mattress territory. Sara, no closer.’

  Jelena pushed Sara’s air sofa, which had been slightly touching her mattress, towards the entrance of the tent.

  ‘OMG. Why don’t you just draw up a treaty?’ Sara stalked out of the tent.

  ‘Let’s all get some lunch,’ I suggested. ‘I think hunger’s put everyone on edge.’

  ‘Canned corn isn’t going to make me forget Sara’s attitude,’ Jelena said, and flounced out of the tent.

  I barely had time to rest after lunch. Somehow, fate had assigned me to Ms DeForest’s evening cooking group and apparently we had to start preparing the food ASAP.

  ‘At twelve thirty in the afternoon?’ I asked as I followed her and the rest of our cooking group over to the kitchen area. ‘We aren’t scheduled to serve dinner till 6 pm.’

  Couldn’t we wait until it wasn’t so hot? My watch now read forty-one degrees. We’d probably be able to heat dinner up just by putting it in the sun.

  ‘We’re not using the barbecue.’ Ms DeForest made a face as she said the last word. ‘It’s a known carcinogenic. I want us to prepare a meal based upon the principles of slow food. I’ve brought beans and legumes for a soup.’

  ‘Is slow food really something that should be tested out on a school camp?’ someone whispered.

  ‘Where are the cans?’ I asked, looking through the crates containing the food supplies.

  Ms DeForest shook her head violently. ‘Nothing canned. Processing kills off the nutritional content of the food. We’re going to boil the beans from scratch, but at an extremely low temperature — basically applying the principles of raw food. That’s why we’ll need five or so hours’ preparation time.’

  I looked at the sacks of kidney, garbanzo and black beans she’d placed on the table, and pulled a bean out. It was rock-hard. There was no way simple simmering was going to soften it. I was willing to bet Ms DeForest’s time estimate was way off. Being a vegetarian, I had no qualms about eating beans, but there was a time and a place for certain dishes.

  ‘Come on!’ Jesse whined. ‘Five hours? That’s not kitchen duty, that’s enslavement.’

  ‘Now, I need someone to activate the almonds,’ Ms DeForest said, ignoring him. ‘We’re going to make an almond paste to go in the soup, as we’re keeping the recipe vegan and gluten-free. There’s also going to be a beetroot and carrot slaw.’ She pointed at a bulging bag of carrots.

  Ms DeForest was going to have a revolution on her hands come dinnertime. The most our classmates wanted to know about greens on a school camp was a bit of cos lettuce on their burger.

  ‘Man invented fire for a reason,’ said Travis.

  A very valid point. Maybe we could work with it a little.

  ‘Ms DeForest, do you think the meal will supply enough energy after a long day?’ I asked. ‘People will probably be in need of some carbs. I know there are pasta ingredients in the crates here somewhere.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ Ms DeForest said, pouring beans into a huge pot. ‘The Aztecs survived on legumes for centuries.’

  ‘Before they died out,’ Jesse added, looking despondently at the beans.

  ‘Enough! As your supervisor, I demand that you prepare this food in a positive way,’ Ms DeForest said crossly. ‘Food absorbs your energy. All this whining means you’re literally poisoning yourselves and others when it’s consumed.’

  Everyone shut up, but if Ms DeForest’s theory was true, I was betting we’d wind up with beetroots infused with bitterness and carrots chock-full of resentment after five hours of kitchen duty.

  Over the next hour and a half, we took turns keeping a constant vigil over the beans. Ms DeForest wanted them to be stirred frequently, and any time they started to boil we had to take them off the campfire to ensure they returned to
a simmer. In between stirring duties, we worked away at grating what seemed like a mountain of raw vegies while shooing hordes of flies away. I felt like I was developing RSI in my right wrist.

  Finally, when Mr Quinten told Ms DeForest we had to head off to the next high-ropes challenge, Ms DeForest released us grudgingly and said she’d keep an eye on the beans herself.

  ‘But I’ll be drawing up a roster for your return at five thirty,’ she said, ‘so that the next three hours after that, until we serve dinner, are covered.’

  I shook my wrist out as I headed over to grab my water bottle and sunscreen from the tent. Thank god I was only signed on for one meal duty this trip.

  ‘No way.’ Lindsay stared at the pole that stretched into the sky above us. ‘No. Never. Not for anything.’

  ‘This is an opportunity to stretch your limits,’ Rudy encouraged her.

  Lindsay was in line to make the Leap of Faith. This involved climbing a thirty-metre-high pole to a small platform, from which we leapt out to grab a trapeze bar several metres away. I was next after Lindsay and not exactly desperate for my turn either.

  ‘It’s an opportunity NOT to die,’ Lindsay said to Rudy, her arms folded firmly across her chest.

  ‘It’s your fear that’s creating the mental block here, Lindsay. You don’t want to be a person who’s afraid of life, do you?’

  ‘I’m not afraid of life, I’m afraid of heights,’ Lindsay retorted, looking totally insulted at being called a coward. ‘There’s a word for it. Acrophobia.’

  Rudy took no notice of Lindsay’s protest. ‘You have a choice in how you view this.’

  Lindsay glared at him. ‘If we’re talking about free will, I actually have a choice NOT to do this.’

  His ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ speech was obviously not doing the trick.

  ‘Lindsay, come on, this is getting embarrassing,’ Jelena said, moving over to us. ‘It’s not that bad. I just closed my eyes when I jumped.’

  ‘Let’s help Lindsay do this!’ Rudy called out, and punched the air enthusiastically. ‘Cheer her on, everyone.’

  ‘Go for it, Lindsay!’ our classmates shouted.

  ‘Don’t be a coward!’ someone added.

  People were obviously keen to wrap the exercise up and get back to camp. It was approaching five o’clock now. The Leap of Faith had scared a lot of people — usually once they reached the platform and took in the drop — so it hadn’t been a speedy undertaking.

  ‘Positive reinforcement only!’ Mr Quinten instructed.

  ‘Why don’t you just try climbing up there, no pressure to jump, and then see how you feel?’ Rudy said, trying to usher Lindsay closer to the pole. ‘Let’s climb a few rungs.’

  ‘No.’ I could tell Lindsay was mortified by having her fear of heights made obvious to all our schoolmates. She gave Rudy a look that made it clear that he was a deterrent rather than an encouragement.

  ‘Lindsay, don’t make me look bad,’ Jelena said. ‘I need you to show support for the activities.’

  ‘NO.’

  ‘I’ll go,’ I said quickly.

  Lindsay’s face was red and she looked like she wanted to cry. If she didn’t want to do the exercise, then she shouldn’t have to. She’d already braved the flying fox earlier, even though she’d told me she’d wanted to be sick the whole time. She wasn’t a coward, she just had an issue with having her feet off the ground.

  I started climbing the rungs up the pole in automaton mode. I just wanted to get back to the campsite, speak to Jeffrey and Chloe, and see how they were doing with their respective matches. I also needed to convince Sara that Johannes wasn’t an obstruction to her career goals. I’d only come on this excursion to focus on the Find a Prince/Princess Program™ and the athletic activities were making it very difficult to find the time to do that.

  I was at the top before I knew it. As I climbed onto the platform and slowly lifted myself from kneeling position to standing, I looked down for the first time. I wanted to be sick. Twenty metres was one thing; thirty was another. Every cell in my body commanded me to cling to the platform, not launch myself off it like a crazy person.

  ‘Fantastic, Aurora!’ Rudy shouted up. He looked tiny so far away from me. ‘Now all you need to do is approach the edge and jump for the trapeze.’

  I took a step and my heart twisted with fear. I tried to lift my other foot, but it was as if someone had superglued it to the platform.

  ‘Take your time,’ Mr Quinten called up.

  ‘I might need an hour or so,’ I called down, trying to keep things light.

  Maybe I could sit back down for a bit while I pulled myself together. I could use the time to do some strategising on my matchmakees’ behalf. Maybe by the time I’d finished brainstorming it would be time to return to camp and I could just climb back down the ladder. After all, Rudy couldn’t keep us here all night. Ms DeForest had my group on a strict stirring schedule.

  A chorus started up below. ‘Jump, jump, jump!’

  I pushed my foot slightly forward and eyed the edge again. I didn’t trust my knees to work. Nothing was ever a hundred per cent foolproof. Why tempt fate? After all, I hadn’t been all that lucky lately, what with the Lethal Lips thing and my failed attempt at subtly getting Hayden’s attention when he was grounded. They said disasters came in threes. I didn’t need the third one to be a faulty harness.

  ‘Come on!!’

  Everyone was getting impatient. I reluctantly inched closer to the edge. Why was that stupid trapeze bar so far away? I took another step. The drop off the platform took my breath away. I shut my eyes tight.

  ‘Don’t feed the bear that is your fear!’ Rudy shouted up to me.

  I now understood why Lindsay had given him that death stare.

  ‘Aurora!’ The NAD’s voice drifted up to me. ‘I know you have immense inner strength after so many years of being tested by the universe. Use it now.’

  There were shouts of laughter following his comment. I felt ashamed to give up, especially with the NAD’s unfailing belief in me, but I couldn’t do this. I just knew I couldn’t. I was going to have to climb down.

  ‘Princess!’

  Hayden’s shout made me open my eyes.

  ‘Look at me.’

  I dared to peep down. Hayden was standing way behind the crowd, level with where the trapeze seemed to be from my vantage point.

  He gave me a wave. ‘All you have to do is pretend you’re leaping out to me. It’s that simple.’

  I knew he had good intentions, but the jump didn’t seem as easy as he made it out to be. Nevertheless I took a tiny step.

  I saw Hayden smile, even as far away as he was. ‘You know I’d catch you. Take another step and show me that you trust me.’

  Oh man. Now what was I going to do? I inched myself to the very edge of the platform. My vision swam.

  ‘Don’t look down,’ Hayden called. ‘Look at me. I’m holding my arms out for you. I always will.’

  A lump appeared in my throat as I watched him lift his arms in the air, proving to me that he was ready and waiting.

  ‘It’s like Peter Pan teaching Wendy to fly. You just need to believe you can do it!’ Hayden shouted, his voice full of assurance. ‘Trust in yourself. Trust in me.’

  I wanted to believe. I wanted to show as much faith in him as he was showing in me. And so I leapt, keeping my eyes open, feeling my body launch through the air, towards Hayden, towards the bar, for what felt like forever. My heart, which had previously felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, seemed to stop.

  Somehow, miraculously, my hands caught the bar and suddenly I was swinging. Hayden still had his arms in the air. He grinned up at me.

  ‘You did it, Princess!’

  I started laughing with relief and exhilaration and about a dozen other emotions. I didn’t stop until they lowered me back down. The Leap of Faith had restored my faith and in more than my own athletic abilities. The support that Hayden had shown me during the exercise
had given me fresh hope. He couldn’t have said those things if he didn’t care a great deal for me, could he? All we needed now was some time alone together.

  CHAPTER 21

  As soon as I’d completed the Leap of Faith, Rudy bustled us back to camp, as the sun was due to set within the hour. I was hoping to have a moment with Hayden before I resumed kitchen duty, but Ms DeForest grabbed me the second we returned to the campsite.

  ‘Aurora, I need you to start chopping the onions.’ She pointed at three bags sitting on the table beside a wooden board and a knife.

  ‘Are they getting cooked?’

  I knew what the answer would be but still hoped I was wrong. Raw onion? Everyone’s breath was going to stink.

  ‘You children are really having trouble grasping the word “raw”, aren’t you?’ Ms DeForest sighed.

  She went off to greet the NAD, showing a level of enthusiasm comparable with Penelope welcoming Odysseus home after his twenty-year voyage. I rolled my eyes.

  As I began chopping the onions, hoping that my mascara would stand up to the task, Jeffrey came over and took a seat across from me.

  ‘Hey, Jeffrey, how are you doing?’

  ‘I’m feeling like the man! I’ve got two chicks making eyes at me. Two!’ Jeffrey’s own eyes were wide. ‘They both wanted to be my buddy today, but I had to say yes to Ruby because I was Jemima’s buddy yesterday. But then Jemima gave me a hug when I came down from the Leap of Faith. Aurora, she smells crazy good. Like strawberry and cream lollies. But then Ruby asked me to help her put on sunscreen, and when I lifted her hair up to do her back and shoulders she smelt like coconut jelly beans.’ He groaned and put his head down on the table, right beside the plate of chopped onion. ‘I’ve gone from staring through the lolly-shop window to frolicking around inside with the candy begging me to eat it.’

  ‘Don’t repeat the candy analogy to the girls, will you? They might find it kind of insulting.’

  I poked Jeffrey in the side of the head to get him to move. Ms DeForest was fussy enough about our negative energy contaminating the food. She’d have a fit if Jeffrey’s hair wound up in her raw dishes.