by Julie Fison
‘See what I mean?’ I said, pointing to the stars. ‘Do you guys know any of the constellations?’
But then a voice came from behind the trees. ‘They’re over here!’ It sounded like BB.
Suddenly seven boys were upon us. Two of them tackled me to the ground. ‘Get off!’ I screamed, looking around for Mia and Izzy.
They had been tackled too. Izzy was thrashing to get away, but she couldn’t move. Her brothers were on top of her.
BB sat on her chest, shining a torch on her face. ‘Where are the lollies? We know you took them.’
‘Get lost, you rodent!’ she screamed.
BB spun round and stuck his butt in her face. ‘You want me to fire a fart missile? That’ll loosen your tongue.’
‘Do it! Do it!’ chanted the other boys.
‘Mum!’ Izzy screamed. But there was no sign of anyone’s mum.
‘The lollies are in the kitchen!’ I shouted, saving Izzy from the missile.
‘To the kitchen!’ one of the boys screamed. A moment later, I was released. Mia, Izzy and I lay on the ground, stunned. We saw lights in the kitchen come on and watched the Rodent Tribe tear inside and then run off into the dark with their lolly loot. It was all over in seconds.
I slowly got to my feet, still a little shocked by what had just happened. ‘You have really disgusting brothers.’
Mia laughed.
‘What are you laughing at?’ Izzy cried.
‘Incoming!’ called a voice in the darkness.
‘What the –?’
Splat. Something landed, loud and wet, on the ground in front of Izzy.
‘Jellyfish!’ I screamed, ducking behind a tree.
‘You’re dead, you hear!’ Izzy shouted into the darkness.
But by then the boys had run off, probably to go find more jellyfish.
When we were sure the boys weren’t coming back, we came out from behind the trees.
Mia looked up to the sky. ‘Now, what were we talking about before those stupid boys interrupted?’
I sneaked a quick look around the bushes and then finally relaxed. My eyes drifted up and across the sky. ‘We were looking for constellations. And I can see one. It’s the Cat.’
Izzy laughed. ‘There isn’t a constellation called the Cat. You’re just making that up.’
‘No, really,’ I said, pointing to a group of stars. ‘There are its ears, and there’s a tail.’
‘And I can see the Tree!’ Mia shouted excitedly. ‘Look, all those stars are like branches, full of beautiful parrots.’
Izzy laughed. ‘I can see Mr Contra eating a bowl of cabbage soup.’
I lay down on the grass to get a better view of the stars. I couldn’t see Mr Contra, but I could pick out someone else’s face. ‘I can see Rio Sanchez.’
‘Aw,’ Mia said. ‘That’s so cute. Is Tom up there, too?’
She lay down beside me. ‘Yes, I can see him. Hello, Tom Cuthbert! Look, he’s swimming across the sky to see me.’
I looked at Izzy, who was still standing, gazing at the stars. ‘Can you see someone up there, apart from stinky Mr Contra?’
She flopped down beside me. ‘Uh-huh.’
‘Is it one of the cute campers?’
‘Yeah, it’s Popeye,’ she said.
I laughed. ‘You mean Dan, or Sam?’
‘Or Calvin?’ giggled Mia.
‘Yes,’ Izzy said. ‘There he is.’ She tried to point him out. ‘It doesn’t matter what his name is. I’ve seen him in the stars!’ she said, grinning.
Mia snorted. ‘Well, it must be destiny then. You’ll definitely end up with him.’
We all laughed at that. I stared up, looking to see if I could find Rio again, but a cloud had drifted across the night sky. ‘I think I’ve lost Rio.’
Mia sighed. ‘Tom’s gone, too.’
‘I can only see Popeye’s ear,’ Izzy sighed. ‘Ah, well. Easy come, easy go. That’s what boyfriends are like.’
I smiled. Izzy was hardly an expert on boyfriends. She’d definitely had a lot of love interests, but had never actually dated anyone. She did have a point, though.
‘Let’s make a pact,’ I said, lying back down between Mia and Izzy. I took their hands. ‘Boys might come and go, but besties are forever.’
Just as I said that something raced across the sky.
‘Shooting star!’ we all shouted at once.
None of us were certain that it really was a shooting star – it might have been another flying jellyfish, or maybe even a jet-propelled set of lolly teeth, or just a plane or a satellite – but I think we all wanted it to be special.
‘Make a wish!’ I said, clutching my friends’ hands and squeezing my eyes shut. This time I didn’t wish for a kiss with Rio – I was thinking about Izzy and Mia.
Best friends forever.
One day I might be ready for a real boyfriend. And who knew, maybe it would be Rio. But right now I had everyone I needed.
What more could I wish for?
Go back and choose all over again!
‘I’d like to propose a toast,’ I said, raising my glass to Persephone’s. ‘To new friends.’ We clinked glasses.
Izzy and Mia were still busy in the pool taking on the guys at water polo. They weren’t helping the Rio situation at all, while Persephone was really looking out for me. She was doing everything she could to make things work between Rio and me.
Persephone and I ran through the whole script again. With George’s friends in the pool we had three extra people to manage. But we couldn’t make them leave because George might leave with them, and that would make it impossible for the jealousy element to work.
Persephone fiddled with the umbrella in her glass. ‘You need to do something else to get George’s attention. There’s too much going on in the pool. He’s not going to notice you sitting on your sun lounge.’
‘What about if I were more like this?’ I stood up, flicked my hair and giggled loudly about nothing. Then I pulled my phone out and took a few selfies.
‘Wow, that’s scarily good,’ Persephone said, laughing. ‘You’re totally killing it. I almost mistook you for Tori.’
I giggled, too loudly again. I was getting into this acting thing. ‘Is anyone noticing me?’
‘Oh, yes!’ Persephone whispered excitedly. ‘Here comes George.’
I glanced over the top of my phone and saw George and Levi striding towards me. It gave me such a fright I dropped my mobile. I scrambled under my sun lounge to pick it up.
‘Now’s our chance,’ Persephone said, jumping to her feet. She smiled at George’s friend. ‘Levi, can I get you a drink?’ Then she turned to George. ‘Why don’t you and Kitty sit down?’
I let my eyes drift from my phone to George, who was now standing right beside me. ‘Hey, Kitty,’ he said, and then put his arms around me. Before I knew what was happening, he scooped me off the ground. I quickly realised where we were headed.
‘No!’ I screamed as I was thrown, fully dressed, into the pool.
I resurfaced with my phone still in my hand. A moment later, Persephone landed beside me. Levi had tossed her in.
I clambered out of the pool, dripping wet and mad as hell. I’d saved for a whole year for that phone and now it was as useless as a wet brick.
George was a complete idiot. And I’d seen one too many of them today. That’s probably why I walked straight up to him and shouted. ‘You moron! You owe me a new phone!’
‘Oh, sorry. Promise I’ll buy you a new one.’ George said, suddenly looked embarrassed. ‘Suppose you’re mad at me for ruining your best shorts, too.’
‘No, George! They’re my best shorts!’ Persephone shouted, getting out of the pool. She marched over to George. She looked so angry that I thought she was going to punch him, but instead she tripped over the leg of a sun lounge.
‘Ow!’ Persephone moaned, collapsing on the ground. ‘I think I’ve broken my toe.’
Levi rushed to help her. ‘Let me have a look at it,’ he
said. He picked her up and put her on a sun lounge to inspect her injury.
George laughed. ‘He does one first-aid course and thinks he’s a doctor. But it does seem to impress the girls.’
Persephone didn’t look very impressed. I glanced towards the pool to see what everyone else was making of the scene. The water-polo game had pretty much been abandoned. George’s other friends had got out of the pool and were drying off. Mia and Izzy were throwing the ball to each other. Jordan was leaning on the side of the pool watching Persephone and Levi, while Rio floated in the pool ignoring everyone. He dived underwater and I caught him glancing at me when he surfaced, but he seemed more interested in George than me. He probably felt sorry for him. After the way I’d shouted at George, Rio was probably very glad to be well away from me.
Persephone’s father wandered across the terrace with an arm full of boxes. ‘Pizzas are here,’ he yelled, piling them on the table beside Persephone and Levi. ‘Everything okay, Percy Pony?’
‘Da-ad,’ she growled. ‘Don’t call me that.’
‘Sorry. Everything okay, dear, darling, number-one daughter?’
‘That’s even worse.’ She glared at her father, but he was already walking off, grinning.
‘Anyone for pizza?’ George said, opening one of the boxes. A glorious smell of pepperoni, melted cheese and garlic drifted into the air.
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ I said, pulling off a piece and stuffing it into my mouth.
The plan had gone so far off-course that I figured it didn’t really matter what I did now.
After ignoring me all night, Rio chose that exact moment to talk to me. I nearly choked trying to get the pizza down. Then I worked out he had only come over to say goodbye.
‘We have to go now. So, see you round.’ Rio wasn’t actually talking directly to me. He was speaking generally to anyone near the pizza table.
‘Yeah, thanks for inviting us,’ Jordan added. He looked at Persephone, who was still sitting down. Levi was helping her to a piece of pizza. ‘Thanks for inviting us, Persephone.’
‘I’ll show you out,’ Persephone said, quickly getting to her feet. She’d made a miraculous recovery from her toe injury.
‘No need,’ Jordan said.
He and Rio crossed the terrace and disappeared out the gate.
‘Okay, that was weird,’ Persephone whispered to me. ‘I think Jordan’s got Rio’s disease.’
I nodded. ‘Super weird.’
Izzy, Mia, Persephone and I decided to get away from the boys for a while. We took the cocktail glasses and other stuff upstairs.
‘You and Levi look cute together,’ Mia said to Persephone, as we loaded the glasses into the dishwasher.
Persephone’s head spun round. ‘Levi?’
‘She’s into Jordan,’ I explained.
Mia shrugged. ‘I thought you must have changed your mind. It looked like you were with Levi.’
‘You think that’s why Jordan looked so annoyed when he left?’ Persephone asked.
Izzy nodded. ‘Pretty likely.’
Persephone sighed, and then went over the whole evening in fine detail. ‘You really think Jordan left because Levi was looking at my toe?’
The three of us nodded at her.
‘Oh my god. How did I miss that?’ said Persephone.
We wandered off to her bedroom, where mattresses had been made up for Izzy and Mia.
I looked at Izzy. ‘You haven’t quite finished your pizza, Izzy. There’s still some on your cheek.’
‘Thanks.’ She found a mirror, wiped her face, and then turned to me. ‘So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?’
‘What do you mean?’ I said flopping onto my bed.
‘I thought you were into Rio and then you’re all over George.’
‘George?’ I said, shocked. ‘I’m so not into George. He threw me in the pool so I shouted at him.’
Izzy shrugged. ‘It looked a lot like you were into George. And George is definitely into you. I saw him looking at you earlier.’
I gasped. ‘Our plan did work!’ I turned to Persephone and we bumped knuckles. ‘Way to go, girlfriend.’
‘It’s all about careful planning,’ she said with a grin.
Mia frowned. ‘I thought you were crazy about Rio.’
‘Yeah, I am. That’s why I pretended I was into George, so Rio would get jealous and –’
‘And go home really early with Jordan. Wow! Great plan!’ Mia said flatly.
Mia was right. I turned to Persephone. ‘Didn’t really work out so well, did it?’
She shook her head. ‘Maybe not so much.’
Izzy flopped down onto her mattress. ‘Rio actually seems pretty nice. We spoke a bit in the pool. Shame you screwed things up with him.’
‘Did he say anything about me?’ I asked desperately.
Izzy shook her head.
‘Did he say anything about a girlfriend?’
She shook her head again.
‘What about cats?’ I asked.
‘What is this? Twenty questions or something?’ Izzy sounded annoyed. ‘Why didn’t you talk to him yourself, instead of blowing kisses at George?’
‘I was not!’ I protested.
‘Wait. One. Minute.’ Persephone held a finger in the air. ‘You didn’t blow kisses at George, but you were blowing kisses at Pit on the beach, right before we met up with Rio and Jordan.’
‘What?’ I said. ‘But it was one kiss, and I was being sarcastic, remember?’
‘I bet Rio didn’t notice that.’
I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow. So that’s why Rio had been acting so weird all day. He didn’t have a girlfriend, or hate cats, chocolate or mint ice-cream. He must have seen me blowing a kiss to Pit and thought I was serious. He obviously had no idea who Pit was. I was hardly going to be dating a singer from The Lads! And then I remembered the picture of Pit and me. While I was flicking through my photos to find Sid, he probably saw that photo, too. I groaned. ‘I think he saw a picture of Pit and me on the beach.’
Mia frowned. ‘You showed Rio that to make him jealous?’
‘No, of course not,’ I said. ‘It was an accident. I was trying to show him a picture of Sid.’ I lay back on the bed to think. But I didn’t get very far because Izzy attacked me with a pillow.
‘Hey!’ I shouted in surprise. ‘Izzy, I really don’t need that right now, I’m trying to think.’
‘That’s for blowing kisses at Pit.’ Then she hit me again. ‘And that’s for having a really dumb plan to make Rio jealous.’
Persephone piped up. ‘Actually, it was my dumb plan.’
Izzy stared at Persephone and then hit me again with her pillow.
‘Hey!’
‘And that’s for lying about spraining your ankle,’ Izzy said, whacking me again.
‘Okay. I deserve that one.’
Izzy turned to Persephone, who was on her phone, texting. Izzy squeezed her pillow and raised it over her head.
‘That was a really dumb “script” you came up with,’ Izzy told Persephone.
Persephone glanced up from her phone and stared at Izzy, shocked.
Izzy didn’t back down, though. She hit Persephone over the head with the pillow. ‘You really need to chill out more.’
Persephone squealed, grabbed her pillow and smacked Izzy over the back.
‘Argh!’ Izzy cried, like a steel pole, instead of a bundle of feathers, had smashed her.
‘You need to grow up,’ Persephone sneered at Izzy, hitting her again.
Izzy’s wail was so dramatic that Persephone’s mum came bursting in. ‘What’s going on in here?’
The girls both dropped their pillows and froze.
‘Nothing, nothing at all,’ Persephone said, smiling innocently.
‘I don’t mind you having fun,’ her mum said. ‘Just keep the noise down.’ She backed out of the room and closed the door behind her.
Persephone glared at Izzy, then looked from Mia
to me, a grin spreading across her face. ‘Pillow fight!’
It was on. And everyone got into it. There was jumping, screaming and whacking. Finally, my arms were too sore to hold up my pillow anymore. I fell back onto my bed, laughing as feathers floated over my head. Izzy and Persephone were still going at each other like it was a fight to the death. Now I knew for sure that they’d get along just fine.
As they kept hitting each other, I was thinking about Rio. I really had to get a message to him. I also had to clear things up with George, straighten out matters with Levi and mend fences with Jordan. What a mess. Our plan had been a total disaster!
‘Sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow a phone. I have to apologise to Rio.’
Persephone gave Izzy one more whack and then turned to me. ‘Already sent a text.’
‘What?’
She tossed me her phone. ‘See if there’s a reply.’ While she was distracted, Izzy got her again. ‘That’s cheating!’ She held up her hand. ‘A truce.’
Izzy dropped her pillow and collapsed on the bed. That gave Mia a chance to move in on Izzy. She really pounded her. Then Persephone got stuck in, too. ‘The password’s one, two, two, one,’ she said between blows.
I quickly punched in the password while the pillow fight went on, and saw the message Persephone had sent Jordan.
Hey Jordan. Think there’s been a really big mix up. Can we meet tomorrow to explain? Kitty also wants to talk to Rio. P xxx (Kitty’s mobile drowned.)
And then there was a reply from Jordan.
OK. We’ll see you at the beach tomorrow. We’ll be near the flags around eleven. Jordan
I sat on my bed staring at the message. In just a few words, Persephone had really sorted things. She must have done it while Izzy was hitting me with a pillow. Persephone sure knew how to handle stuff. Well, sometimes, anyway.
When the pillow fight ended, we all sat on our beds and I handed Persephone her phone. ‘Wow, you did it.’
‘What, what?’ Mia asked.
‘Persephone’s fixed things with Rio and Jordan. We’re meeting them tomorrow.’
Persephone took her phone and read the message from Jordan. ‘No, I haven’t done anything. You’ve still got to sort things out tomorrow with Rio and I have some explaining to do to Jordan.’