How to Get to Rio

by Julie Fison

  ‘It just can’t be serious at this stage,’ Persephone said as she chose a nail polish to go with her orange top. ‘And we made our date with the guys first, so basically, Kitty, some other girl is muscling in on your guy.’

  I looked in the mirror, applying lip gloss. ‘I guess so.’

  Rio’s girlfriend wasn’t my only concern about our plan. Our biggest problem was making it actually work. To make Rio jealous, George had to be interested in me. I didn’t think there was much hope of that, whether I was wearing silver hotpants or not.

  ‘You’ve got to think like an actress,’ Persephone coached. ‘Play the part. Don’t just talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ I asked, totally confused.

  Persephone shrugged. ‘Actually, I have no idea,’ she said. ‘It’s what Dad says when he wants me to put more effort into something.’

  Persephone paused to run her fingers through her perfect, glossy hair. ‘Look, I’m acting already – I’m being my father.’ She stood on her toes and stuck out her tummy and frowned. ‘Now, go to bed and don’t have any fun, ever,’ she said in a deep voice. ‘And you’re grounded for the rest of your life. With no allowance!’

  I gave her a clap. ‘Bravo!’

  Persephone took a bow. ‘Now, it’s your turn to act.’

  ‘Who should I be?’

  Persephone thought for a bit. ‘Try Tori. She normally gets her own way.’

  I thought for a bit. I had no idea how to act like Tori. If I had a choice, I’d play Persephone. She was cool and fun, and guys loved her. But I couldn’t say that – it would sound too weird. ‘Guess I’m Tori then,’ I said.

  As we finished getting ready, we went through the plan one more time. Persephone and I agreed that nothing could be left to chance. The whole night had to be scripted from the moment everyone arrived until the second the guys left. We had to know when to stand, when to sit, when to talk and when to listen. The whole night had to work.

  Persephone had even briefed her mother to let the guys and Izzy and Mia into the apartment and show them outside to the pool area, where we would be waiting with fruit-punch cocktails.

  The pool area was shared by all of the apartments in the block, but Persephone and her family were the only ones who ever used it. It was like an exclusive private party venue, overlooking the beach.

  ‘This is going to be the best night ever,’ Persephone said, dragging the last of the sun lounges into place and spreading frangipani flowers around them. She lit the candles and then lined up the fruit cocktail glasses and decorated them with tiny umbrellas.

  I would have helped her, but I was busy practising walking in Persephone’s wedges. They looked amazing, but they were hard to master.

  ‘No-one said this was going to easy,’ Persephone called as I wobbled across the terrace for a third time.

  In the end, Persephone gave the idea the thumbs down. She was sure I would fall into the pool, ruin my chances with Rio and ruin her wedges in the process.

  Once everything was ready, we practised reclining like movie stars on the sun lounges. It was harder than it looked. Persephone leant so far back that she tipped the sun lounge over. Then I did something wrong and the whole thing collapsed under me. I was still trying to get untangled when we heard the buzzer at the apartment.

  ‘No-one’s meant to be here for another three minutes!’ Persephone gasped, with a panicked look on her face. Quickly, she smoothed her hair and ran for her sun lounge. ‘I’m in this one, and you’re over there next to the cocktails.’

  I frowned. ‘Wasn’t I going to be next to you when the guys arrived and then move to the one next to the cocktails, so Jordan could be next to you?’

  Persephone’s eyes darted from one lounge to the other. ‘That’s right! Quick, into place!’

  She stretched out on a lounge and I raced to the one beside her. I got there just in time to see Persephone’s brother, George, come through the pool gate with a couple of guys, all in board shorts.

  That so wasn’t part of the plan! George had been told to wait until Rio and Jordan had arrived to come to the pool, and he wasn’t meant to bring friends!

  I glanced over at Persephone. She was no longer reclining like a movie star. She was sitting up, glaring at George, looking very much like an angry sister.

  ‘Hey, what are you guys doing here?’ she demanded. ‘You’re not supposed to be here now.’

  ‘Whadda ya think, Percy Pony?’ George said calmly, tossing his towel on the sun lounge that had been allocated to Rio. ‘We’re going for a swim.’

  Persephone jumped to her feet, swept George’s towel off the lounge and threw it on the one George was meant to be using. ‘But I told you –’

  George didn’t wait to hear any more. He did a massive dive-bomb and his friends followed. Seconds later the terrace was awash with drowning frangipani flowers and dead candles. I was soaked and Persephone was furious.

  ‘You’re so grounded!’ she yelled at her brother. Somehow Persephone had dropped the movie-star role and picked up the dad role. But the guys didn’t notice. They were too busy yelling and wrestling each other in the pool.

  It was too noisy to hear anything, which is why we didn’t notice Rio and Jordan arriving until they opened the pool gate.

  Persephone sighed as she watched them come in, a trickle of mascara running down her face. ‘What timing,’ she muttered.

  Our perfectly scripted romance was turning into a disaster movie.

  Persephone was still looking dazed as Jordan and Rio strolled across the terrace towards us. I couldn’t blame her. Everything we’d worked on all afternoon had been for nothing. The pool was trashed. We were both standing instead of lounging, my hair was a mess and Persephone looked less than perfect.

  The rest of the plan wasn’t working either. George hadn’t noticed me or my hotpants, and even though I was supposed to be ignoring Rio, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He looked even cuter than before in his purple T-shirt. As he came closer, I couldn’t help hoping that it wasn’t a girlfriend that had been getting in our way. Maybe Rio did just really hate cats.

  ‘Made it,’ Jordan said. He gave Persephone a kiss on the cheek. ‘Thanks for inviting us.’

  Persephone’s face lit up. ‘Oh, just a little poolside gathering. We haven’t gone to any trouble.’

  Rio smiled at Persephone and then turned to me. ‘Nice party.’

  ‘We’ve made fruit-punch cocktails!’ I said far too brightly. I handed everyone a drink, even though Persephone was supposed to be playing hostess. ‘Here’s to happy holidays!’ My god, what was I saying?

  I was just taking a sip when a ball sailed towards us. Rio stretched out his arm and caught it with one hand, then hurled it back into the pool. Just like on the bus, I thought, forlornly.

  ‘Hey, Rio!’ yelled one of the guys in the pool. ‘Come in. You too, Jordan.’

  Persephone frowned. ‘You know my brother and his friends?’

  Rio nodded. ‘They’re in my brother’s year at school.’

  Persephone groaned. ‘You should definitely have a game with them, then.’

  Rio didn’t need any encouragement. He stripped off his top. He was tanned and muscly, but not super muscly. Yep, Rio was definitely good-looking. I felt my cheeks get hot as he dive-bombed in.

  ‘I was actually being sarcastic,’ Persephone muttered, as she watched Jordan bomb in after Rio.

  ‘That could have gone better,’ I said, as we sat together on our wet sun lounges. I gulped down my drink in one mouthful. There just didn’t seem much point sipping it elegantly while keeping my toes pointed, like I’d practised.

  Persephone was watching the pool. ‘Don’t worry. We can get things back on track. We just need George to get out of the pool and sit next to you, Rio to move over there and Jordan …’ She glanced between the lounges. ‘Where were Izzy and Mia going to sit again?’

  ‘I’m not sure it really matters. Rio just isn’t
into me,’ I said sadly. ‘He hardly even looks at me. He’s definitely got a serious girlfriend. Just forget about it. You go have fun with Jordan. I’ll be okay.’

  ‘No way!’ Persephone said. ‘We’ve still got a good chance to get things going when we sit down to watch the movie. You’ll see.’

  I smiled at Persephone. She really was trying to help, but I knew Rio was a lost cause.

  Tonight, I’ll just hang out with Izzy and Mia, I decided. They had just arrived and were waving at us from the apartment balcony.

  ‘Come down!’ Persephone called.

  The girls soon appeared and raced across the terrace to give us a hug. ‘This is so cool,’ Mia said, beaming.

  I handed them each a punch.

  ‘Wow! Things are so sophisticated over here at Paradise Point!’ Izzy put on a posh voice and held her little finger out as she sipped her drink. ‘La dee da!’

  I shot a glance over to Persephone, and was glad to see she laughed it off.

  ‘Would you like to try our canapés? We made them specially. Chips à la mer.’ Persephone grinned as she passed around a bowl of sea salt chips.

  ‘Don’t mind if I do!’ Izzy said in her posh voice.

  Just as Izzy reached for the chips, one of the guys jumped in the pool, spraying us with water. Izzy looked down at her hand, which was now in a bowl of cold-chip soup. She glared at the pool. The guys had set up some shoes as goals at each end of the pool and were having a game of water polo.

  ‘This means war,’ Izzy said, flicking the sticky, wet chips from her fingers.

  She stripped down to her bikini and waited for us to do the same.

  Mia followed quickly. ‘Coming in?’ she asked me.

  ‘We actually need your help here,’ I said.

  Mia looked around. ‘You want me to get some more chips from upstairs?’

  ‘No,’ I whispered. The girls edged closer, so we were in a four-way huddle. ‘We need some help to get Rio to fall madly in love with me. We’ve got a plan and we need you to be part of it. You just need to do a bit of acting.’

  Izzy snorted. ‘Sounds fun. Not! But, don’t worry, I’ll be in the pool if you need me.’

  I watched her race off and jump into the pool.

  ‘I think she’s still mad that you lied about spraining your ankle,’ Mia explained. ‘But I’ll help. I can be an actor in the pool.’

  My heart sank as I watched Mia jump into the pool, too. What a pair of fish they were. If they saw a pool, they had to be in it.

  I turned to Persephone. She stood staring glumly at her cocktail. Somehow a frangipani had managed to find its way into her drink. It floated around with a soggy, mini umbrella.

  ‘What happened to our script?’ she moaned softly.

  I took the cocktail gently from her hand and flicked the flower and umbrella pieces out of her drink. ‘What are we doing wrong?’ I asked.

  She shrugged. ‘Everything.’

  I sat back on my sun lounge to assess the situation. Everyone in the pool was getting on just fine. At least that was a good start. Rio laughed as he tossed the ball past Izzy to one of George’s friends, Levi. He was a big athletic-looking guy, definitely Izzy’s type. Interesting. Mia was jumping on top of one of the other guys. Not scripted, but a nice touch.

  Then my eyes went back to Rio and, even though I tried, I couldn’t look away.

  I knew I was still hopelessly smitten. And I didn’t want to get over him. I really wanted to be laughing with him, sharing a joke, talking about important things, talking about stupid, nothing things.

  Persephone’s plan was my only hope of that ever happening. And if Rio was still in a good mood when he got out of the pool, maybe we had a shot at making it work.

  Beside me, Persephone sighed. ‘Let’s just bin the script and join everyone in the pool. It looks like more fun than we’re having.’

  But I just wasn’t sure that I wanted to give up yet. ‘Maybe we should give the plan a bit longer. We haven’t really given it a chance to work yet.’

  Persephone shrugged. ‘Up to you, but we’re missing out on a game of water polo.’

  I stared at Rio, trying to work out what was the best course of action. Should I trust the plan to win over Rio, or should I just abandon the script and have some fun in the pool?

  ‘Well, this is a surprise,’ I said, lifting my right foot off the ground to add credibility to my sprained-ankle story. ‘I thought you two were camping in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘We are,’ Izzy said, studying my ankle. ‘Over at The Lost World. There’s a campsite there.’

  ‘I’ve heard it’s really beautiful,’ Persephone said.

  ‘Yeah, if you like digging your own toilets and don’t mind leeches and snakes,’ I said with a laugh.

  Persephone glanced sideways at me, giving me a what on earth’s going on look. I had my hand resting on her shoulder to give the impression that she was supporting me. I hoped she’d work out what was happening before she blew my cover.

  ‘It’s not that bad, is it?’ Persephone asked Izzy. ‘I heard that The Lost World is really nice and has a pool. I didn’t know you had to dig your own toilets.’

  Izzy and Mia looked at each other for several moments and then turned to us. ‘You don’t,’ said Izzy.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I demanded, standing up straight before I remembered I was supposed to be injured. I slumped back on Persephone, almost knocking her off the rock we were sharing.

  ‘Looks like you’re really suffering with that ankle,’ Mia said.

  I nodded. ‘It’s not too bad, but I think I was a bit ambitious trying to climb around this headland.’

  Izzy rolled her eyes. ‘It’s insane,’ she said. ‘You should get it checked out and strapped up. You’ve probably made it worse trying to walk on it. It looks really puffy.’ Izzy bent down to inspect my ankle. ‘Mind you, the other one does, too. Probably because your ankles are a bit on the chunky side.’

  ‘Hey!’ I said. But I didn’t protest too much. Izzy was buying the sprained-ankle story, so I didn’t want to push it.

  ‘I feel bad now,’ Mia said, looking forlornly at my foot. ‘We actually thought you were lying about your ankle when we saw you sitting on the rocks. I mean who comes out here with a sprained ankle?’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘How dumb am I?’

  ‘Really dumb,’ Persephone said.

  I frowned, but I couldn’t say anything. I knew I’d put Persephone in a really awkward position, expecting her to go along with my lie. I had to be grateful she was doing that, and just put up with any insults that came with it.

  Persephone waved her finger at me. ‘I said it was a crazy idea. But you just wouldn’t listen.’

  ‘I feel bad about something else, too,’ Mia said, chewing her bottom lip. ‘We made up all those terrible camping stories. The Lost World is a really nice camping ground.’

  ‘Why would you do that?’ I said, hobbling after Persephone who seemed to be edging away from me.

  ‘We wanted to give you a nice surprise when you got there and saw how great it was,’ Mia explained. ‘You’d really like it over there.’

  ‘Really?’

  Mia nodded.

  I looked away, starting to feel guilty. I’d lied to my best friends to get out of a horror camping trip with them. But as it turned out, they had actually planned a nice surprise for me. I really couldn’t tell them the truth, because it would look like I changed my mind because I had a better offer. And I wasn’t going to improve things by sticking around chatting with Izzy and Mia. It was awkward, pretending to hobble and worrying what Persephone was going to say next. I just wanted to get away.

  ‘Shame about your ankle,’ Izzy said. ‘The Lost World is really cool. Anyway, looks like you’re going to have fun at the beach with … Per-se-phone.’

  I gritted my teeth. Sometimes my friends could be so uncool. Izzy had nearly mangled Persephone’s name right in front of her. I needed to escape before things got worse.
Izzy might decide to tell Persephone she was stuck-up or something.

  ‘Yeah, such a shame I couldn’t go camping,’ I said, trying to wrap things up. ‘But I’d be no fun with a sprained ankle anyway. I just wouldn’t be able to keep up with you two.’

  Persephone glared at me, but thankfully didn’t say anything.

  ‘So, anyway, nice to see you,’ I said. ‘Better get going. We’re meeting Rio and Jordan for an ice-cream on the beach. And it’s going to take me forever to get back.’

  Mia crossed her fingers. ‘Good luck with that, Kitty. Sounds really cool.’

  ‘Yeah, we better go, too,’ Izzy said. ‘We’ve got some boys to get back to as well. Sadly, they’re all under twelve and totally feral.’

  ‘And we’re related to them.’ Mia added.

  ‘How many brothers do you have?’ Persephone asked.

  ‘Seven between us,’ Izzy said.

  Persephone laughed and gave Izzy and Mia a fist bump. ‘Respect, girlfriends. I’ve only got one brother and he drives me mad.’

  I frowned at the impromptu bonding session. I should have been happy to see Izzy, Mia and Persephone laughing together. Instead I felt flat and suddenly wished I had a brother to complain about, too.

  ‘So, see you around,’ I said, hobbling off.

  Mia shrugged. ‘Well, I don’t have a phone with me and Izzy’s is dead, so I guess we’ll just see you back at school.’

  ‘Hey!’ Persephone said excitedly. ‘Why don’t we meet you tomorrow at Paradise Point?’

  Inside I was groaning. I loved to hang out with Mia and Izzy, but this was getting more awkward by the second. If we met them tomorrow I’d have to keep up the limping act. They were going to work it out eventually, and I’d look really bad.

  Before I could think of a reason why we couldn’t meet up with them, Persephone had it all worked out. She gave Izzy and Mia the details of where and when to meet and waved them off.