by Julie Fison
I picked up the pace. I was sure Persephone wouldn’t be so slow to nominate a kissing dare if she got another chance.
As I ran I realised I needed to decide who would go next for Truth or Dare. If I picked Rio and he chose truth, I could ask him anything! I could ask if he’d seen me watching him on the bus every afternoon. But I wouldn’t do that, because he’d think I was a total stalker.
I stopped to do star jumps and then ran on again, thinking of more truth questions. I could find out Rio’s favourite ice-cream flavour. That might be a wasted question, but it would be cute to know. I could even ask him if he liked me. I stopped to do a push-up and then decided I couldn’t ask that. If he said no, I’d be so embarrassed I’d have to leave the country.
I was almost at the headland, still running through some questions in my mind, when I heard a strange shuffling sound ahead of me. Something big and black was on the beach, digging in the sand. I stopped in my tracks. I was in trouble if it was a feral dog – but it was the wrong shape. After a minute I realised it was actually a turtle, digging a hole, and it was probably about to lay eggs. How cool!
I backed away slowly so I didn’t disturb it. Then I turned and ran back to the others. ‘A turtle! A turtle!’ I whispered excitedly.
Izzy was shining me with her torch. ‘You’re meant to be shouting “I love leeches”. And you didn’t do any star jumps or push-ups on the way back. Looks like you’ll be doing another dare.’
I waved her complaints away. ‘No, no,’ I said, out of breath. ‘It’s really a turtle. Down there on the beach.’
‘Is it alive?’ Mia asked.
I nodded. ‘I think it’s about to lay eggs.’
‘Wow!’ Persephone said, grabbing my hand. ‘Where?’
We all crept quietly along the beach until I found the turtle again. She’d finished digging and was now laying eggs in the hole.
‘Let’s stay and watch,’ TC said.
‘As long as we don’t go too close, I bet she won’t even notice we’re here,’ Mia said.
Mia directed us into position a few metres from the turtle, and said we should lie on our stomachs so we wouldn’t disturb her. As the turtle got on with her mothering duties, Mia filled us in on everything there was to know about turtles. She was quite the expert on them – our very own eco-guide.
It was pretty unreal, lying there on the beach in the dark, watching the turtle lay her eggs and listening to Mia. It also saved me from having to face another dare. On the other hand, my discovery prevented me from asking Rio any important questions. Then I realised that, as Rio was lying right next to me, I could just ask him anyway. I decided to start with an easy question.
‘I’d love a mango ice-cream right now,’ I whispered. ‘How about you?’
‘I’d kill for a Belgian chocolate.’
‘Really? I thought you’d be a forest fruit sort of guy.’
Rio laughed. ‘Is that because I remind you of a blueberry? Or am I more of a raspberry?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, smiling. ‘They’re both nice.’
I felt my face go red for the second time that night. I was basically telling Rio he was cute with my stupid fruit metaphors. Luckily I was saved by Persephone’s phone beeping with a text.
‘It’s my mum,’ she whispered loudly. ‘She’s at the camping ground waiting for me. And we’re taking the guys back to Paradise Point, too.’
I felt my heart sink. The night was about to come to an end and I hadn’t asked Rio anything important.
‘Shame we have to go,’ Persephone said, getting up. ‘We didn’t even get to finish Truth or Dare. I had some really good things planned.’ She gave me a sly smile.
I felt a shiver run down my spine at the thought of being dared to kiss Rio. I was glad Persephone hadn’t dared me to do it in front of everyone. But another time, when Rio and I were all alone, on the beach, under the stars … who knew what might happen? I got goosebumps just thinking about it.
‘We should have another round of Truth or Dare,’ Rio said, getting to his feet. ‘Next time, you can come to our beach.’
‘Sure!’ I said, way too quickly. I caught Persephone smiling at me again. She knew just what was going through my mind.
‘Shame you can’t stay a bit longer to watch the nature show,’ Mia said, not moving from her turtle-watching position. ‘When she finishes laying the eggs, she’ll bury them, then drag herself back into the water. She’ll be done in another hour or so.’
‘Yeah, it’s a shame,’ TC said.
I couldn’t tell if he was serious about the turtle or not, but he seemed reluctant to leave Mia. His friend QC was also slow to drag himself away from Izzy.
I stayed with Izzy, Mia and the turtle as Persephone and the guys disappeared into the darkness.
‘I feel like something beautiful is just about to begin,’ I said with a sigh.
‘I know, isn’t nature wonderful?’ Mia said, not taking her eyes off the turtle.
‘Yeah,’ Izzy added, getting nature-loving on me, too.
I smiled to myself. Izzy, Mia and I were talking about two completely different things. I was thinking of Rio, and my friends were obsessed with a turtle.
Izzy and Mia totally rocked, and maybe one day soon Persephone would join our group, too. We could be one big happy gang of four. And, who knew, before the holidays were out, we might all have boyfriends! Now, that would really complete the picture. Not even I could draw something as perfect as that!
Go back and choose all over again!
I had realised something obvious: the shooting star didn’t matter. If I wanted anything to happen with Rio, I had to make it happen. I had to contact him.
I raced back to the kitchen as fast as I could.
‘Where did you go?’ asked Mia.
‘I can plug in my phone!’ I called excitedly, heading for the kettle.
Izzy looked up briefly from the table, where she and Mia were sorting out lollies by torchlight. They didn’t seem that interested in my great discovery, but I was as amped up as the stars.
As I plugged in my phone charger I announced, ‘I’m back on the grid!’
I sat down at the table, watching Mia and Izzy pull out each lolly one by one and examine it. I wasn’t interested in lollies. In a few minutes I should have enough power to check my messages and contact Persephone. At least she’d know I was alive. And then I could think about my next move with Rio.
‘And that looks like it’s been sat on,’ Izzy was saying.
I watched as she inspected a green jelly bean. She added it to the largest pile of lollies on the table. Mia reviewed a mangled python and then threw it on another pile. ‘Gross! That one’s half eaten!’
‘What’s up?’ I asked, trying to work out their system.
‘We’re sorting the lollies into piles,’ Mia said. ‘Half eaten, sat on and okay.’
‘Which are the okay ones?’ I could see only two piles.
Izzy pointed to a bare patch on the table. ‘That one. Not looking good so far.’
Mia emptied her entire lolly bag onto the sat-on pile. ‘They’re all squashed.’
Izzy picked one up. ‘I guess they’ll still taste the same.’
We stared at our squished and mangled lolly loot in silence for a moment, and then cracked up laughing.
It must have been too loud, because right about then we heard rustling outside the door, and then everything happened really fast.
‘They’re in here!’ yelled BB. The kitchen lights flashed on, momentarily blinding us, and seven boys tore into the kitchen, shouting and snatching lollies. They disappeared again as fast as they’d come. By the time we’d realised what was happening, it was all over.
Mia blinked in the bright light. ‘Better than being pelted with jellyfish,’ she said with a shrug.
A moment later the lights snapped off. From outside the door, a voice called, ‘Incoming!’
‘What the –?’
Splat. Something landed, loud
and wet, on the floor right in front of our table.
‘Jellyfish!’ I screamed. We dived under the table, crouching.
‘You’re dead, you hear!’ Izzy yelled out. Then the room went silent as we waited for the next attack.
It was around then that I heard my phone beep. It sounded like a foghorn in that dark, quiet kitchen. I scrambled over to grab it. Thirty-four texts from Persephone, and one from an unknown number.
I scrolled through the messages from Persephone: Where are you?
Where are you?
Where are you? There were a lot of those.
Hope you’re OK.
Going home now.
CALL ME!
I texted an apology, briefly explaining that we’d got lost, my phone had died, I was sorry and she could text me if she wanted to meet up another time.
I didn’t expect to ever hear back from her, but my phone beeped straight away.
Poor you. See you tomorrow? Stay out of trouble!
I smiled at the message. Persephone was giving me another chance. She was even nicer than I’d thought.
I’d have to work out a plan with Izzy and Mia and then get back to Persephone. But that would all have to wait. Right now, I needed to find out who had sent me the other text message. Somehow I had a feeling it was Rio.
But what does the message say? I wondered. Is he annoyed that he waited at the milkshake shop and I never showed up? Or would he say he couldn’t stop thinking about me and was coming to The Lost World in ten minutes to see me? I knew that was unlikely, but it didn’t hurt to hope.
‘What are you doing?’ Izzy asked, shining her torch on me. ‘Who are all those messages from?’
I squinted at her. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. I couldn’t think straight. ‘I might have a text from Rio.’
‘And?’ Mia asked.
‘If it’s bad news, it’ll spoil everything,’ I said.
‘But what if it’s good news?’ Mia asked.
‘But what if it’s not?’ I moaned.
I was beginning to regret charging my phone. I should have left it in my bag and kept Rio as a perfect, if imaginary, boyfriend.
Izzy took a few steps towards me and snatched the phone. ‘Don’t be a rodent. Open the message.’
‘No!’ I squealed, grabbing her arm.
But she’d already opened the message and started reading it aloud. ‘Hi, Rio here. Hope you’re okay –’
‘Give it here!’ I said, snatching my phone back. I stared at the message.
Hi, Rio here. Hope you’re okay. Sorry we didn’t see you today. Went for a walk and found a strange picture on the rocks. Was it a message from you?
‘No!’ I squealed, pressing the phone to my chest. ‘Oh, no! What have I done? How did he know I drew that picture?’
Izzy grabbed my phone again, and she and Mia read the message. But this time I didn’t grab it back.
My head was spinning trying to remember the picture I drew. It could have been anyone in that drawing. It was just a boy and a girl sharing a milkshake. He couldn’t possibly know it was him and me. I didn’t write our names. Did I? No, all it said was ‘Love’. Love?! I cringed as it all came back to me. And then I remembered the dragon. That’s how he knew it was me. The dragon was just like the one I’d done in class. It was on the picture Rio had rescued from the bin.
‘Betrayed by a fire-breathing dragon,’ I muttered. ‘Typical!’
‘Or rescued,’ Mia said, raising an eyebrow. ‘I think you did that picture hoping he would find it.’
I gasped. ‘I did not! Izzy said it would be washed away by the tide.’
‘What are you going to tell Rio, then?’ Mia asked.
‘Nothing,’ I said glumly, grabbing my phone back from Izzy. ‘I can’t reply now because he already thinks I’m a weirdo. If I tell him I did the picture, he’ll know for sure I am!’
Mia smiled. ‘Or maybe he’ll think you’re a bit kooky, but really cool.’
I sighed. I wasn’t sure that being ‘kooky’ was far enough away from being weird. I saved Rio’s number to my contacts and considered my next move.
‘Maybe I could leave him another message on the rocks, this time saying “just friends”,’ I suggested. ‘And then we could go to the headland tomorrow afternoon and see if he’s drawn something for me?’ I was just thinking out loud.
Izzy snorted with laughter and then her face went serious. ‘Who are you? A cave girl?’ she said. ‘Kitty, you’ve got a phone in your hand. Just use it … or I will.’
‘You wouldn’t,’ I squealed, backing away.
Izzy took a step towards me.
Oh, man, I realised. Yes, she would.
‘It’s for your own good,’ Izzy said, snatching at the phone.
I quickly stuffed it into my bra and scurried behind the table.
‘Do you like him or not?’ Izzy asked, chasing me.
‘Of course I like him,’ I said, hiding behind Mia. ‘You know I like Rio. He’s the cutest guy on the 377 bus. Make that the cutest guy on earth, probably the whole solar system! But go away, Izzy! I’ll text him tomorrow … when I think of what to say.’
‘Just give me the phone, Kitty,’ she said, reaching around Mia, ‘and I’ll do it now. Trust me, you’re going to thank me tomorrow.’ Izzy lunged at me and I jumped away squealing.
Mia stopped laughing and held up her finger for silence. ‘Kitty, your bra is talking!’
Izzy and I froze. I looked down.
‘Kitty? Kitty, is that you?’ It was a guy’s voice.
I pulled out my phone, staring at it for a moment and then put it to my ear.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, Kitty. It’s Rio.’
‘Oh.’ My heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. ‘Oh, hi, Rio.’ I tried to sound normal. ‘Nice of you to call.’
For a second there was nothing.
‘Ah, I didn’t,’ Rio said. ‘You called me. Only, I think it was an accident, because all I could hear was screaming.’
I suddenly felt faint and reached at the table for support. Mia guided me into a seat as she and Izzy leant in, trying to hear the conversation.
‘Oh. So that’s all you heard? Just screaming?’ I said, trying to gulp down the lump in my throat.
‘And some other stuff, too,’ Rio said. ‘Something about the 377 bus, I think.’
Oh no! I screamed in my head. Rio heard everything!
‘Hey,’ Rio’s voice came through the phone again. ‘I loved that picture you did on the rocks. I knew it was yours. I’d know that dragon anywhere.’
Mia gave me the double thumbs up. Izzy was grinning madly.
‘Mmm,’ I muttered. ‘Me and my dragons, hey?’
There was a long pause, which I mentally filled with plans for my new life on Mars. I knew I would definitely have to move far away after this phone call disaster. I couldn’t think of anything to say.
‘So, I was thinking,’ Rio said eventually, ‘maybe we could meet at the beach sometime?’
I was so shocked and nervous I could hardly string a sentence together. ‘Are you, ah, sure? I mean, yes. I’d love to.’ I cringed, hearing myself say the word love. ‘I mean, I’d like that.’
‘Great,’ Rio replied. ‘Persephone said you’re at The Lost World. It’s a camping ground, right?’
I panicked for a moment. ‘Um,’ I said. ‘Um, yep. That’s it.’
‘Thought so. Persephone had this weird idea it was a luxury retreat,’ said Rio.
‘Nope, we’re camping,’ I said, knowing I’d have to come clean with Persephone later.
‘All right. Well, I might bring a couple of guys and come down there one day.’
‘Cool,’ I said, smiling at Izzy and Mia. They were grinning and punching the air with their fists. I think they were pretty happy to hear that Rio would bring some friends along.
‘Oh, yeah,’ I said. ‘And bring a ball and we could have a game of volleyball, if you like?’
‘Great, and maybe some beach soccer?’ Rio suggested. ‘So, I’ll text you when we’re coming?’
I ended the call feeling stunned that I might not have to move to Mars after all. Somehow, things seemed to be working out with Rio.
‘How cool was that?’ Mia cheered, interrupting my thoughts. ‘Go, Kitty!’
‘Rio and his friends are gonna come and hang out with us,’ I told them, excitedly.
‘We know … we heard. Woo hoo!’ Izzy shouted, putting her arm around my shoulders.
Mia bounced up and down. ‘Must be time for an epic handshake!’
We giggled like crazy as we tapped, slapped and bumped our way through our handshakes. Mia, Izzy and I were too wired to go back to the tent, let alone consider sleep, so we went to sit out under the stars.
As I lay on the grass with my best friends, I was feeling very lucky indeed.
It didn’t matter how it had happened, but it had. I was going to see Rio. This really was going to be the best holiday ever.
Go back and choose all over again!
I wandered slowly back to the kitchen without my phone. I imagined Rio was walking with me, this time holding my hand. I was glad of the darkness because the stars were impressive, and my fantasy was a lot more convincing without light, too. I stopped outside the kitchen and peered inside.
Mia and Izzy were at the table sorting out lollies in the torchlight. Mia inspected a mangled python and then threw it on one of the piles of lollies on the table. ‘Gross! That one’s half eaten!’
‘What’s up?’ I asked, trying to work out their system.
‘We’re sorting the lollies into piles,’ Mia said. ‘Half eaten, sat on and okay to eat.’
‘Which are the okay ones?’ I could see only two piles.
Izzy pointed to a bare patch on the table. ‘That one. Not looking good so far.’
Mia emptied her lolly bag into the sat-on pile. ‘They’re all squashed.’
Izzy picked one up. ‘I guess they’ll still taste the same.’
‘Forget the lollies and come outside,’ I said, pulling Mia to her feet. ‘The stars are amazing.’
Izzy grabbed a giant python from the sat-on pile. ‘Think this one’s okay,’ she said, feeding the snake into her mouth and following us outside.