How to Get to Rio

by Julie Fison

  I felt a wave of panic at the thought of meeting Rio on the beach. I’d have to go through the whole story of Pit and Kes, and then explain our stupid plan to use George to make him jealous. It was going to be so painful! And there was no guarantee that Rio wouldn’t just walk off. And Jordan might walk off too, because Persephone had been nearly as terrible as I had.

  ‘I better start planning what to say,’ I said, then I caught myself (right after Izzy and Mia hit me over the head with their pillows). They were right. A plan was the last thing I needed.

  ‘Actually, maybe I’ll just be myself.’

  Persephone smiled. ‘I think that’s a really cool plan.’

  Go back and choose all over again!

  ‘Come on,’ I said to Persephone, stripping off to my bikini. ‘Let’s show those guys how to dive-bomb!’

  ‘Double-decker!’ we yelled, hitting our target. We landed right in the middle of the pool with the world’s biggest splash.

  Izzy paddled over. ‘I hope you’re better at water polo than dive-bombs!’ she said, throwing a ball at Persephone, who fired it on to me. I passed back it to Izzy, who shot it to Mia on the other side of the pool.

  ‘Girls against boys!’ Mia shouted, firing the ball past George who was in front of the makeshift goals. The ball flew past him. Izzy, Mia, Persephone and I all cheered.

  It was on. Water-polo war. Sure, we were completely out-numbered by the guys, but we had secret weapons: Izzy and Mia. And they were merciless. They pulled the guys under, tossed the ball over their heads and smashed it into the goals. Persephone was pretty good and I did my best, but Izzy and Mia were the queens of the pool.

  It was awesome beating the boys, but best of all was hanging out with Rio. I tried not to stare, but it was hard to keep my eyes off him. I loved watching his serious expression when he was chasing down the ball, and then seeing him roar when the guys scored a goal. He was too cute. Why did he have to have a girlfriend?

  My heart sank when the pizzas arrived and I knew our water-polo game would have to end. It had been so fun being in the pool with Rio.

  But then, George came up with a new idea. ‘Let’s see what you’re like at soccer,’ he shouted at Izzy.

  We all grabbed a piece of pizza and ran onto the beach, ready for a rematch.

  Good one, George, I smiled to myself. I liked his plans a lot better than our movie script!

  As it turned out, the guys totally outclassed us at soccer. I scored the girls’ only goal, but it was only because Rio made an intentional miss. I knew he didn’t mean anything by it, but the way he smiled at me as the ball went straight past him made me melt. We could have lost a hundred to one and I would have been happy, because I was having a great time with Rio.

  After another swim, there was a final dive-bombing challenge. Finally Rio and Jordan collected their stuff from the sun lounges. It had been such a fun night, and I hated watching Rio getting ready to go.

  Who is this girl who was getting in the way of Rio and me? I wondered. Surely I deserved one chance with him. It just wasn’t fair! I wanted to ask him what was going on, but as Rio and Jordan headed off down the beach, all I could manage was a wave.

  Persephone sighed as we watched them go. ‘Jordan is so cute! And he wants to go paddleboarding tomorrow. You up for it? How are things with Rio – any progress?’

  I shrugged. ‘Don’t think so.’

  Just as I said that, Jordan and Rio stopped walking away. Rio turned and from where I was sitting …

  ‘He blew you a kiss?’ said Persephone.

  Had I been blown two kisses in one day – one from Pit and now one from Rio? It was too weird.

  I felt goosebumps spring up all over my arms. ‘I guess that’s a yes to paddleboarding, then!’ I turned and gave Persephone a hug. ‘He likes me. He likes me!’ I sang.

  I raced to find Izzy and Mia. They were back in the pool throwing a ball to each other.

  ‘Rio likes me!’ I shouted.

  Mia swam to the edge of the pool. ‘What happened?’

  ‘When Rio was walking off he turned and blew me a kiss.’ I was so excited! After a day of wondering whether he had a girlfriend or not, I felt like Rio had presented me with a bunch of roses and a love note.

  ‘How weird,’ Izzy said. ‘What guy blows kisses?’

  I frowned, annoyed at Izzy spoiling the moment. I figured she was still mad at me for lying about my ankle.

  Persephone, Mia, Izzy and I cleared up the remains of the cold pizza and empty glasses and went up to the apartment. While Persephone talked with her parents, Izzy, Mia and I made ourselves at home in her bedroom. Two extra mattresses had been set up on the floor.

  Izzy flopped onto one. ‘Luxury!’

  Mia flopped down on the other mattress. ‘I can see why you wanted to come here for the holidays.’

  I smiled sheepishly. I still felt bad for lying to my friends about my ankle, but I was glad to be spending the holiday with Persephone. Rio wouldn’t have blown a kiss at me if I’d gone camping. But I was so glad that Mia and Izzy were here with me. ‘Thanks for coming tonight. I knew you’d have fun.’

  Mia smiled. ‘We weren’t really sure what to expect. But it was actually fun. Did we do a good job of acting?’

  I snorted. ‘A perfect job of acting like yourselves. Persephone and I had other things planned: fruit cocktails by the pool, sitting in the sun lounges, lots of talking, not so much splashing, definitely no ball games and not so much of George and his friends.’

  ‘Nah!’ Izzy laughed. ‘The games were the best bit, and George was all right, too. Pretty good actually.’

  I threw a pillow at Izzy. ‘Don’t let Persephone hear that. She already thinks people only like her for her brother.’

  Izzy shrugged. ‘Is that such a bad reason?’ Then she smiled. ‘Just kidding. She’s nice. And much more fun than I thought she’d be.’

  ‘So, Kitty,’ said Mia. ‘Are you going to try for the water-polo team? You’re really good.’

  ‘No way,’ I said. ‘You two just make me look good.’

  Izzy sat up on her bed. ‘You and Persephone should both join. She’s got a great right arm.’

  ‘And if she’s in the team, she’ll have to join our group,’ Mia added.

  I loved that Mia came up with the idea by herself.

  ‘She should join our group whether she’s in the team or not,’ Izzy said. ‘She’s way too good for Tori’s group. I think I’ll suggest it.’

  ‘You should,’ I said, smiling.

  At that moment, Persephone walked in, frowning. ‘I was just thinking that Izzy’s right. It was weird for Rio to blow you a kiss. Pit would do that, but not Rio.’

  ‘Pit did do that, remember?’ I said. ‘So arrogant.’

  Persephone nodded. ‘And remember who was right behind us when you blew the kiss back?’

  I groaned. Everything was suddenly making sense. ‘Rio saw me blowing Pit a kiss!’ I gasped. ‘He wasn’t blowing me a real kiss, was he? Rio was mocking me.’

  Persephone shrugged. ‘I don’t know if he was mocking you, but he might think you’re with Pit. Guess Rio doesn’t know he’s in The Lads and is a total idiot.’

  I moaned. ‘Blowing a kiss at Pit, in front of Rio. I’m the idiot!’ I said. Then I remembered something worse. ‘And Rio saw a picture of Pit and me on the beach, too.’

  Mia frowned. ‘Why did you show him that? Were you trying to make him mad?’

  I shook my head. ‘I was trying to show him a photo of Sid, but I flicked past other pictures first. He must have seen the photo of Pit and me.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’ Mia asked, wide-eyed.

  I jumped to my feet, suddenly sure what I should have been doing all along. ‘I’ve got to talk to him.’

  I raced out of the bedroom, with my three friends right behind me. Mia was asking a million questions and Izzy was giving me a hard time for blowing kisses at losers and lying about my ankle. She really wasn’t going to give that one
up.

  ‘Back soon!’ Persephone shouted to her parents as we raced out of the apartment.

  We ran down the beach in the direction Jordan and Rio had gone. They were probably long gone by now, but I had to try to find them. I had to explain – not by text, not tomorrow, but right now. Face to face. We hadn’t gone far when a crowd blocked our way. It looked like a party had spilled out onto the beach.

  ‘They’re playing your favourite band,’ Persephone said to me as we stopped to see what was going on.

  Sure enough, I heard the familiar strains of one of The Lads’ songs, just over the noise of screaming girls.

  ‘I think Pit and Kes are in the middle of that crowd,’ I said, peering. I could just make out a couple of guys standing on a mini stage, surrounded by a flimsy barrier and bodyguards. It must have been an impromptu gig. I wondered if we were responsible for that. It wasn’t really what we planned with our fan-page post.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Persephone said. ‘I’m over those guys.’

  ‘No, I want to see how bad they are,’ Mia said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Izzy said. ‘Me, too.’

  ‘But I have to find Rio.’ I’d hardly got the words out when I saw him. Just up ahead, peering to get a glimpse of the two idiots from The Lads, was Rio.

  Persephone spotted Rio, too. ‘Good luck!’

  I walked quickly towards him, my heart brimming with everything I needed to say. I tapped him on the shoulder. Here goes, I thought. I just hoped I was right about the mix-up.

  ‘A big fan of The Lads, are you?’ I was almost shouting to get over the singing and screaming.

  Rio shrugged. ‘Actually they’re better than I thought they’d be. I guess it’s the beach atmosphere.’

  ‘Did you know The Lads are staying in that block, right there?’ I said, pointing at the apartment block.

  ‘Yeah, I heard. We must have walked right past them. That’s the ice-cream place right over –’ Rio stopped mid-sentence. I was sure he had made the connection that I hoped he would. ‘Are you a big fan of The Lads?’

  I nodded slowly. ‘I was, but then I found out what losers they are. They were throwing water bombs at their fans this afternoon.’

  ‘But, I thought … Didn’t I see you blowing one of those Lads guys a kiss?’

  ‘Ah, yeah, that would be my bad attempt at sarcasm,’ I said. ‘We met Pit and Kes on the beach and took some dumb photos with them. They’re total morons.’

  Rio shook his head. ‘I thought you were … But the photos … You and him …’ Rio’s voice trailed off.

  ‘You thought I liked Pit?’ I asked.

  ‘Dumb, huh?’

  I groaned. ‘And I thought you had a girlfriend.’

  Rio’s face broke into a huge smile and he laughed. ‘Now that’s really dumb, Kitty.’

  For a few moments we just looked at each other. Rio’s face was so serious and cute that I just had to tell him what I was thinking – what I’d been thinking all night and pretty much every other night, for ages.

  I was just building up the nerve to tell him I thought we’d make a cute couple when some Lads fans shoved their way past. They were singing and getting right in the way of my important declaration. Then one of them grabbed my arm. I spun around, glaring. It was Izzy! She was singing at the top of her voice, holding on to Mia, who held Persephone, who was clutching Jordan. My friends had joined a conga line and were sweeping around the beach, collecting more bodies.

  ‘Come on,’ Izzy screamed at me. ‘It’s The Lads!’

  Before I had a chance to remind her she hated The Lads, Rio grabbed my waist and we swung off to the sound of ‘Crazy Girl’.

  Pit and Kes might have been idiots, but they sure did know how to get a party going. Even Rio was singing ‘Crazy Girl’.

  Was he singing it for me, or about me? I wondered.

  But really I was having too much fun to care, because Rio’s arms were around me. We were together at last!

  Go back and choose all over again!

  How To Get To Rio

  published in 2014 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  This ebook is also available as a print edition in all good bookstores.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.

  9781743581933

  Text copyright © Julie Fison

  Illustration and design copyright © Hardie Grant Egmont

  Illustration and design by Steph Spartels

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