Her head continued to dip under the water and resurface. I kept her in my line of sight as I swam towards her. I finally reached her and gasped, ‘Are you okay?’
‘Cramp!’ she spluttered.
‘Turn onto your back,’ I instructed, as I trod water beside her.
Ashley turned and floated on her back. I hooked my arms under her armpits and began to tow her back towards the jetty. I felt every muscle in my body screaming.
Just a little further.
I breathed hard with each kick, being sure I was keeping Ashley’s face out of the water.
Just a little further.
The distance to the side of the lake was shorter than the distance back to the jetty, so I swam with Ashley to the sandy banks. I dragged her body out of the lake and we collapsed on the shore, gasping for air.
For a while, neither of us said a thing. We both panted and winced, sucking the cool air into our lungs.
Finally, Ashley sat halfway up and turned to me. ‘Thank you, Delphie. Thank you.’
I nodded, still catching my breath. ‘What happened out there?’
‘Leg cramp. I just couldn’t kick anymore. I thought I was going to drown when I saw you and Annabel running off.’
‘Luckily, I looked back,’ I said.
We sat there in silence, still too exhausted to stand.
‘We’ve missed the whistle,’ I said flatly.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll cover for you. We’ll tell them I had a fall and you were helping me,’ Ashley said. ‘I told Annabel this was a stupid idea. But she always has these grand plans that I seem to get swept along with.’
‘I seem to sweep myself along with stupid, grand plans,’ I said remorsefully.
‘By the way, I don’t think you’re going to be doing kitchen duties.’ Ashley laughed. ‘I mean, you just saved my life. I think I owe you now!’
I smiled. ‘Do you like being a twin?’
‘I do,’ Ashley said slowly. ‘Having a best friend by your side all the time is amazing. But sometimes it can be hard being the … the quieter twin. Annabel does tend to dominate and sometimes I feel a little … a little lost.’
‘Like you don’t have a say?’
‘Yeah, that’s it. It’s always Annabel’s plans and never mine. And I’m not brave enough to say what I think, you know?’
I laughed. ‘Actually, I don’t know that feeling! I reckon I’m more like your sister – act now, think later. It’s not the best characteristic.’
Ashley laughed.
‘Let’s get back,’ I said, standing up and dusting the dirty sand from my legs.
Ashley began to stand, but I could tell her legs were weak. I supported her arm as she staggered to her feet.
‘Thanks – still a little wobbly,’ she said, embarrassed.
‘Hey, you’ve got a birthmark just like mine!’ I said, lightening the mood. I pointed to Ashley’s upper thigh where a dark brown shape peeked out from the side of her swimsuit. I turned sideways and pointed to my birthmark, which was remarkably like Ashley’s.
‘Mine’s in the shape of a heart,’ she said, outlining the heart shape with her finger.
I giggled. ‘Mine’s just a blob.’
I linked my arm through Ashley’s to support her a bit better. She walked slowly along the side of the lake with me as we headed back to the jetty to get our gear.
‘Delphie?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Thank you. I mean really, thank you.’
I nodded and smiled. ‘No sweat.’
We walked down the path, which was lit up by little lights, snaking along the edge of the grass. The winter night air was cool and crisp and the stars sparkled brightly in the dark sky. I pulled my hood up over my head, the warm fleece brushing against my ears.
As we entered the hall, we were met with the buzzing sound of excited chatter. We had been told to dress warm and bring our torches with us.
‘Maybe it’s a “Host a Murder” night!’ Ava said excitedly.
‘Hide-and-seek in the dark?’ Melissa asked.
‘Maybe an outdoor dance party!’ Bec exclaimed.
Everyone had been training really hard for the first half of camp and the coaches said we could be rewarded with a surprise fun night. We’d been speculating all afternoon about what awaited us.
‘Okay, everyone, quiet!’ a voice boomed from the front. It was Coach Matt. ‘I’m sure you’re all very anxious to hear what it is we are doing tonight …’
The noise in the room rose as everyone began guessing again.
Coach Matt held his hands up for silence. ‘So, here it is. On behalf of the coaching staff, welcome to …’
All the girls drummed the floor with their hands, creating a deafening drum roll.
‘… the Scavenger Hunt!’
I looked at my friends, puzzled. What on earth was a Scavenger Hunt?
Coach Vanessa stepped up. ‘We’ve designed a whole set of clues, and in groups you have to follow the clues to the different points around the camp site and collect an item from each point. Once you have solved the clues and gathered each and every item on the list, return to the hall with your group. First team back with a completed list will win …’
Coach Vanessa walked to the table behind her. Sitting on the table was an object that was covered in a white sheet. She lifted the sheet dramatically and revealed a massive jar filled with colourful jelly beans. Everyone cheered.
‘Do we get to pick our own teams?’ I yelled out hopefully.
‘Thanks for raising your hand, Delphie,’ Coach Stuart said sarcastically. My cheeks reddened in embarrassment. ‘The answer to that is no, actually. We’ve mixed you up so that you are working with people from the other swim clubs. It’ll be a fun way to get to know one another a bit better outside of the pool.’
‘So here are the teams,’ Coach Matt said, as he lifted up a piece of paper. He read through the first few teams then got to team number five. ‘Team Five is Ashley Ogilvy, Madeleine Roberts, Alice Chua and Delphie Attkinson.’
I swivelled around and saw the twins sitting behind me. Hearing that we were on the same team, the one who was obviously Ashley winked at me and smiled.
‘Okay, find your teammates and get moving!’ Coach Stuart boomed. Immediately, the girls all leapt to their feet and chaos ensued as everyone tried to remember who was in each group.
I leapt on top of a chair, stood tall and yelled, ‘My group, over here!’ Sure, it was completely over the top but it worked! My group gathered quickly and we opened the paper which revealed four clues. ‘Right,’ I said, smoothing out the piece of paper on the floor. The others sat down around me as we decided which clue to tackle first.
‘I reckon we start in the middle,’ Ashley said thoughtfully. ‘I bet most other groups will be starting at the top or bottom.’
I smiled. ‘Good plan!’
‘So, what’s clue number three?’ Alice asked.
Maddie, another girl in our group, picked up the paper and read aloud.
‘The prize is high, way up above;
In the place where nobody wants love.’
We all frowned. It was tricky.
‘In the place where nobody wants love?’ I blurted. ‘What the heck does that mean?’
‘Well, it’s got to be something to do with sport. I mean, all the places here are sport-related,’ Ashley said. I could see her mind ticking over.
‘But we all love our sports,’ Alice said, frowning.
‘But it says you don’t want love,’ Maddie added.
‘Then it’s got to be hockey!’ I laughed. ‘I don’t love hockey!’
‘Love …’ Ashley mused. ‘Which sport has … I got it!’ she yelled. The group stared at her expectantly. ‘It’s tennis! Love in tennis means you have no score – you know, like, 30–Love. It means zero! You don’t want love in tennis!’
‘Genius!’ I squealed. ‘To the tennis courts!’
The four in our group leapt to our feet and turned on o
ur torches. We followed the path down past the dining hall and over to the indoor and outdoor tennis courts. The indoor courts were locked, so it had to be on one of the outdoor courts. Ashley’s idea to start in the middle had definitely paid off. There were no other groups on the tennis courts and we were able to hunt around freely.
‘It said “high up above”,’ said Alice, scanning the court. ‘There!’ she said, pointing to the tall umpire’s chair.
I scaled the umpire’s chair, and there, sitting on the top of the seat, was a basket filled with the items the groups needed to collect to return to the hall. In this case, it was a tennis ball. I threw the ball down to Maddie and she put it into her backpack, which we’d brought along with us.
‘Done! Right, what’s next?’ Maddie asked, sitting down on the court.
We huddled around Alice, who was holding all the clues. ‘How about we try number four, now?’ Alice suggested. We nodded in agreement. ‘Here it is,’ she said, clearing her voice.
‘Catch the ball, but be sure to stop!
Score a goal and your prize will drop.’
‘Let’s think about this. Which sports use balls?’ Alice asked, folding the piece of paper into her pocket.
‘Soccer, softball, netball, basketball, hockey – we’ll be running all over the campus if we don’t narrow it down!’ Maddie moaned.
‘It says you need to score a goal, so that rules out softball,’ I said.
‘Okay, let me think,’ Ashley said slowly. I could see her mind whirring away as she recited the clue to herself. In the light of the torch, I noticed her face was narrow as she mouthed the words. She definitely had a slimmer face than her sister, which I’d never realised before. ‘You have to stop. The only sport where you can’t move when you have the ball is … is … netball!’ she said, looking up with bright eyes.
‘Gold!’ I yelled, giving her a quick hug. ‘To the netball courts!’
We bolted back through the campus and over to the netball courts. The courts were inside, the doors were unlocked and the lights on. There were several netball hoops set up for shooting practice. We scanned the gym and began running around, looking in the stalls and on the ground.
‘Hey, up there!’ Alice yelled.
We all looked and there, in the hoop she was pointing to, was a package wrapped in brown paper. It was wedged into the netball ring. There were also similar packages wedged into other hoops.
‘How on earth are we going to get that down?’ Alice panted.
‘Maybe there’s a stick or a cleaner’s mop,’ I said, searching around the room.
‘Wait, get the clue out again,’ Ashley said.
Alice pulled the clue out and read it again.
‘Catch the ball, but be sure to stop!
Score a goal and your prize will drop.’
‘Score a goal – we have to use the ball to knock it out of the goal!’ Ashley exclaimed. She pointed to a big box sitting on the sidelines of the court. Sure enough, the box was filled with netballs.
‘I’ll have a go!’ I yelled excitedly, as I grabbed a ball. The others followed me and we formed a line in front of the hoop. We each had a turn at shooting, all of us missing hopelessly.
Maddie laughed. ‘Swimmers might not have the most awesome hand-eye coordination.’
We each took another shot and finally Alice got lucky with her ball skittering into the hoop. As her ball pushed through, the brown package was dislodged and it fell to the ground lightly. It clearly wasn’t a heavy item. We ran over to where the package had landed. I picked it up and unwrapped several layers of paper until I revealed a netball bib, which was neatly folded into a square.
‘Right, done,’ I said, throwing Maddie the bib to put in her bag. ‘We are smashing this!’
Another group entered the hall and began looking around the gym, trying to solve the clue we had just completed. I noticed immediately that one of the people in the group was Annabel.
‘How many have you got?’ Ashley yelled out to her sister.
‘Sorry, classified information!’ Annabel said, raising her eyebrows. Ashley poked her tongue out at her sister and they smiled at each other.
‘Hey, you’ve got a dimple in your cheek!’ I said to Ashley. ‘And Annabel doesn’t! I’d never noticed it before.’
Annabel glared at me, irritated.
‘Yep, we’re not completely identical,’ Ashley laughed. But Annabel shot her an angry glance and shook her head aggressively. Ashley’s smile disappeared. She looked down and said, ‘Let’s get to the next clue.’
‘What’s your sister’s problem?’ I whispered.
Ashley shrugged her shoulders and gestured to Alice to get out the clue sheet again.
Alice read clue number one:
‘Chalk it up, go for a swing;
Perfect scores will help you win.’
‘Swing. Is there a park somewhere on the camp site?’ I asked.
‘But there’s chalk,’ Maddie pointed out. ‘Weightlifting? They use chalk.’
‘No, it’s gymnastics,’ Ashley said simply. ‘You swing on the bar and use chalk on your hands. And they are aiming for perfect scores to win.’
We stared down at the page. It seemed so obvious now!
‘Ashley, were you some kind of FBI agent in a former life?’ Alice joked.
Ashley smiled as we ran out of the netball courts and down to the gymnasium where the gymnastics equipment was set up. We entered the gym and it was huge.
‘This is like looking for a needle in a haystack!’ Maddie yelled. ‘Look at that foam pit. What if it’s in there?’
We looked towards the sea of foam cubes sitting under a high metal bar.
‘Well, the clue did say to “chalk it up”, so I reckon we start at the bars,’ Alice said.
We all nodded and headed over to the sets of bars. We hunted around the mats and on top of the bars but couldn’t see anything.
‘What about in the chalk?’ Maddie asked. ‘It said “chalk it up”, maybe it’s in the bucket.’
Along the wall, there were several different buckets of chalk. I walked over to one and slid my hands into the soft, powdery chalk. As I felt about, light puffs of chalk rose into the air. I coughed and spluttered a little. After a few seconds, my fingers felt something – it was soft and long. I pulled out a thin, blue ribbon. ‘This is it! Only one more to go!’ I yelled triumphantly. I could almost taste those jelly beans. I dusted off the ribbon and put it in Maddie’s bag.
Alice passed the paper to Maddie, who read the next clue.
‘Stretch out long, go out, not up;
Buried treasure in a sandy lot.’
We all immediately turned to Ashley. She had been our Sherlock Holmes so far and we needed her to get this final clue.
‘Stretch out, not up,’ she said slowly. ‘Well, every sport requires stretching. Help me out here!’ She laughed.
‘Maybe the prize is in sand. It does say “sandy lot”,’ Alice said.
‘Beach volleyball?’ Maddie asked.
‘I don’t think there is a beach volleyball court here,’ Alice replied.
‘Where else is there sand?’ I asked.
‘I got it!’ Ashley yelled. Detective Ashley strikes again. ‘Go out, not up. Go long, not high. It’s long jump. Long jump into a sandy pit!’
We bolted along the path, the light of our torches bouncing along in front of us. The track and field area was all the way down the other side of the camp and we knew we had to get there fast if we were going to win this thing.
We arrived at the long jump pit and saw there were several holes already dug into the sand.
‘Okay, some of the other teams have found their prizes. We need to dig fast to find ours,’ Alice said.
We launched ourselves into the pit, digging frantically. Sand tossed about in the air, raining down into my hair.
‘The other holes are quite deep. I reckon ours will be deep too,’ Ashley said logically.
We continued to dig around like p
uppies on the beach, searching in a desperate frenzy. Suddenly, my fingers scraped against something hard.
‘I think I’ve got it!’
The others raced over to help me. It was a small wooden box. We lifted it onto my lap and I gently opened the latch. Inside was a glistening gold medal. We all smiled. As athletes, there was one thing each of us understood. And that was the rush that came with holding a cold, shining medal between our fingers.
With our items safely packed in Maddie’s bag, we ran back to the hall as quickly as we could. But as we approached the hall, we saw Annabel’s group also running towards the entrance. They must have finished the hunt too.
‘Quick!’ Annabel yelled. ‘It’s another group! Let’s GO!’ She ran ahead of her team with a look of fierce determination in her eyes.
We turned on the pace, desperate to beat them. As we approached the door, Annabel began to sprint. She ran past my group, pulled Ashley back out of the doorway and pushed in front of her.
‘Hey!’ Ashley shouted.
‘I win!’ Annabel yelled, as she slapped her hand on the coach’s table.
Our group ran in behind her and gathered around the coaches. The rest of Annabel’s team ran in after us.
‘Sorry, Annabel,’ Coach Vanessa said, shaking her head. ‘I specifically said it was the first team to get back, not the first person. Delphie’s is the first to get back together, so we’ll check their items off first.’
Annabel huffed angrily and sat down on the floor.
Coach Stuart checked each of our items. ‘Tennis ball, bib, ribbon and medal. You got it, girls!’
My team jumped up and down as we hugged each other. Coach Matt blew a loud whistle, signalling to the remaining teams that the game was over and they needed to come back.
As all the teams gathered in the hall, Coach Vanessa presented our team with the jar of jelly beans. ‘Well done, you guys!’ she said, as everyone applauded.
‘Couldn’t have done it without our very own Sherlock Holmes!’ I said, handing the jar to Ashley. She looked slightly taken aback. But then she smiled and lifted the jelly beans high into the air with everybody cheering around her.
In Too Deep Page 4