by Julie Fison
‘Cam-ping.’ I said the word like I’d just discovered new vocab. ‘What, like, in an actual tent?’
Izzy rolled her eyes. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘So, what do you say?’
‘It’ll be totally fun,’ Mia gushed.
I wasn’t so sure about that. ‘But wasn’t the last time you went camping the worst week of your lives?’ I asked them. ‘Didn’t you say it rained the whole time? And didn’t one of your brothers throw up all over your sleeping bags?’
‘Come on, Kitty,’ Izzy said, yanking her maths book out of her locker. ‘What else will you be doing?’
Nothing. That was the problem. It was the last week of school and come next week Mum and Dad would be working, so I’d be stuck at home all holidays. That would be fine if I had someone to hang out with. But all my friends were going away, which left me alone with my little sister and her gang of dweebs.
I shrugged. ‘Okay, I’ll come.’ I knew Mum and Dad would let me go. Izzy and Mia grinned and leaned in for a group hug. ‘That’s provided I survive first period. I haven’t done my geography assignment for Blackmore.’
‘I promise, we’ll have so much fun,’ Mia squealed.
‘Good luck with your assignment,’ said Izzy.
I watched them rush off to their homeroom class, their ponytails, wet from water-polo training that morning, dripping down their backs. Izzy and Mia looked like twins from behind. In fact, they looked pretty similar from the front as well. Their homeroom teacher called them both Mizzy because he couldn’t tell them apart.
I turned back to my locker, frowning. I loved Izzy and Mia to bits. I’d known them since prep, and they were definitely my best friends. So of course I wanted to spend the holidays with them. But camping?
The only tent I’d ever slept in was the fairy princess one that Mum bought when I was three. And that tent was pitched in my room, not in the actual bush.
Mia’s and Izzy’s families were outdoors addicts and had been camping together heaps of times. But sleeping on the ground was not my idea of fun. Not to mention the spiders, snakes and whatever else that would be trying to get into my sleeping bag with me. Add to that communal toilets and long hikes in the bush. Nope. ‘Fun’ was not the word that came to mind. But what choice did I have if I wanted to spend the holidays with my best friends?
I grabbed my geography books out of my locker and spun round, almost crashing straight into Persephone. I got a great big whiff of her perfume and a close-up view of her pearl earring.
I was pretty certain Persephone’s holiday plans wouldn’t include pitching a tent and fighting for a share of baked beans. It’d be a five-star break for her, no doubt.
‘Hey,’ I said, smiling.
‘Hi, Kitty.’ Persephone rattled her combination lock and banged open her locker. ‘Hold on a sec. I’ll walk with you.’
I waited, feeling slightly confused. Persephone and I weren’t exactly friends. We were in the same homeroom class, and sometimes sat together in geography and art, but we never hung out. Then I remembered how recently she’d saved me a seat a couple of times. But still, that wasn’t like hanging out. And she’d never walked with me to class before. She always walked with her own friends – the cool group.
I looked around for them. ‘You’re not waiting for –?’
‘Nah,’ Persephone said quickly.
As we headed to class, I was feeling a bit stunned to be walking with one of the coolest girls in our year.
Hello, it’s me, Kitty, I felt like saying. I’m not actually in your group. Your friends are the ones who go on amazing holidays, live in big houses and have proper boyfriends. My house is pretty small, I hardly go anywhere and I’ll probably never ever have a boyfriend.
I didn’t say any of that stuff, of course. Instead, I glanced back to check that Izzy and Mia weren’t watching me. They didn’t think much of the cool group.
I walked along beside Persephone, hoping some of her coolness would rub off on me. She was talking about the geography assignment that was due today that I still hadn’t finished. I probably should have been paying attention, but my mind was wandering. If I were just a fraction as cool as Persephone, I might have a chance with Rio.
Rio: gorgeous, adorable Rio Sanchez. Totally hot and completely out of my reach. I’d been dreaming about him for months, ever since I first saw him on the bus.
It had been a sticky afternoon and I was standing no more than a metre away from him at the back of the bus. I knew immediately from his uniform that he went to our brother school. I glanced sideways and saw his name on the side of his bag. By the time my eyes had reached his cute tanned face and scruffy dark hair, I was in a trance. Luckily he was too busy laughing with his friends to notice me drooling. Before I knew what was happening I had a vision of our future: walking hand in hand, laughing at each other’s jokes, our first kiss.
Then reality had kicked back in. The bus took a sharp corner and, because I was staring at Rio instead of hanging on, I lurched across the aisle. I panicked and grabbed the only thing available – Rio’s shirt. He looked down at me with sheer terror in his eyes. He must have thought I was a crazy person. It was so embarrassing. I mumbled an apology and fled the bus at the next stop, which happened to be about a hundred kilometres from my house.
Since then I’d kept a very safe distance from Rio, but I’d made it my mission to get to know him – without actually talking to him.
Every day when the bus reached his stop, I’d hold my breath, willing him to appear through the front doors. On the days he did, I watched him. He hung out with the sporty guys. They weren’t crazy like some of the other boys on the bus, who acted like a bunch of orangutans. Rio and his friends were always laughing. His brown eyes creased up when he smiled, and he looked so unbelievably cute.
Sometimes, I’d move close enough to hear their conversation. Most of it was about football teams I hadn’t ever heard of, and players who meant nothing to me. I didn’t mind, though. I just liked hearing Rio’s voice. He had a bit of an accent. I couldn’t place it, but it was totally adorable!
Then one time I saw another side to Rio. He’d got on by himself and sat down right in front of me. He had his headphones on and his head was leaning against the window. Out of nowhere a rogue ball came whizzing down the bus towards me. Before I even had a chance to get my hands up to protect myself, Rio snatched it from the air. He tossed it back to its owner and then turned to me.
‘You all right?’ he’d asked.
I was too tongue-tied to say anything, so I just nodded vigorously.
Rio smiled and got back to his music as if nothing had happened. But when I got off the bus three stops later I was buzzing. Rio Sanchez had smiled at me!
I raced home. Then I sat down with my sketch pad and drew Rio’s face. I tried to capture his expresssion. It had been strong, yet caring. And his smile – it was hot enough to melt a glacier. So gorgeous!
I was pretty happy with my sketches. If only talking to Rio were as easy as drawing him.
Pushing my daydreams aside, I remembered where I was – in the corridor walking to class with Persephone. I looked across at her, wondering whether it was makeup or some special face cream that made her skin glow like that. That’s when I realised that she was asking me something.
‘Kitty?’ Persephone said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Have you done it?’
I had no idea what she was talking about, but tried not to let on that I hadn’t been listening. ‘Ah …’
‘Have you done your geo assignment?’
I groaned. ‘No. I’m going to ask for an extension.’ I’d obviously spent way too much time daydreaming about Rio and not enough time on my homework.
Persephone smiled. ‘I’ve found loads of websites that
helped. I can send you the links, if you like.’
‘That would be amazing!’ I was genuinely grateful. ‘I can’t wait till the holidays. I’m so sick of school!’
‘Me too. It’s going to be fun. We’re going to Paradise Point,’ said Persephone. ‘Does your family go there?’
I shook my head. ‘Not much.’
Just once, actually. Paradise Point was too cool for my family. It was celebrity central. Everyone who was anyone had a place there. Perfect beach, perfect shops and perfect people. Not my family’s style at all.
‘We’ve got an apartment right on the beach,’ Persephone told me.
Of course you do, I thought.
‘You should come and stay with us sometime.’
I stopped and looked around. Was Persephone still talking to me? Maybe one of her friends had turned up. No. She was looking right at me.
‘Stay with you? At Paradise Point?’
Persephone looked like she was sorry she’d asked. ‘I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to.’
‘No, no. I mean, yes!’ I said. ‘I’d love to.’
‘Well, I don’t know when, but we should definitely organise it!’ Persephone cheered. ‘It’s so fun there. Long hot days at the beach, ice-creams to die for, loads of hot guys, and then hanging out late at night. We’ll have to organise it sometime.’
‘Totes.’ Now that sounded like my idea of fun.
‘Just one condition.’
I should have guessed there’d be one. Hanging out with the coolest girl at school in her beach apartment did seem a bit too good to be true.
Persephone looked serious. ‘You can’t ever, ever,’ she paused, ‘use my nickname.’
‘Oh, easy,’ I said, feeling relieved it wasn’t some kind of coolness test I had to pass. ‘I don’t even know your nickname.’
For a second Persephone looked shy. ‘My family calls me Percy Pony. My brother started it when he was three, and it stuck.’
I smiled. ‘It’s cute.’
‘Use it and you’re dead,’ she replied, half laughing.
I crossed my heart solemnly. ‘Promise I’ll never use it.’ I hesitated. ‘You know what my family nickname is?’
Persephone leant closer, smiling.
‘Kitty-cat.’
She giggled. ‘That’s really cute.’
I screwed up my face. ‘Maybe when I was six. But now it’s just embarrassing, especially when I’ve got friends over and Mum uses it.’ I shuddered just thinking about it. Then I had another thought. Perhaps I shouldn’t have just blurted that out to the coolest girl at school.
But Persephone just shook her head. ‘Parents are so annoying. I hope mine grow up one day!’
We both laughed. Persephone slipped her arm through mine and we walked into class together.
I was bubbling with excitement. Had I suddenly made a very cool new friend?
By the time the bell rang for lunch, I realised that something new and super exciting was going on in my life. It seemed too early to call Persephone a friend, but things were definitely changing between us. Little things like her saving me a seat and walking with me to class were small signs. But there were bigger signs, too. She’d invited me to stay with her and she’d even shared her secret nickname. She was breaking the ice between us. We weren’t proper friends yet and we were still in different groups. But I felt like now I had a chance to really get to know her, and I realised that she wanted to get to know me, too.
Maybe we could hang out one weekend during the holidays? Perhaps we could go shopping or to a movie? I’d only be camping for a week. After that Izzy and Mia would be back in the pool, training. I’d definitely have free time to hang out with Persephone.
It wasn’t like I wanted to trade in my besties, but I did like the idea of a new friend. Especially one who had time for fun. Persephone would probably be super busy over the break, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.
I waited for her outside the classroom. She finally came out with Tori, her best friend. Tori wasn’t as pretty as Persephone, but she stood out in the group because she had confidence, and bucketloads of it.
Tori was the one who started the whole braid trend at school. One day she wore a braid and the next day most of the girls in our year were wearing their hair like that. Except for the water-polo girls and me. We wore ponytails. Not that I played water polo. But I did my hair like them because that’s who I hung out with.
‘Hey there,’ Persephone said. But before I had a chance to ask her about the holidays, Tori led her away.
Persephone threw her arm in the air dramatically and arched her body backwards, like she was being dragged off to prison. She waved for me to follow. ‘Want to have lunch with us?’ she called out.
I grinned at the idea, but then shook my head. I always had lunch with Izzy and Mia. It wasn’t every day that I was invited to have lunch with the cool girls, but I knew it would be uncool to ditch my friends.
Mia and Izzy were at our usual bench. They smiled, but I could hardly meet their eyes. All of a sudden I felt a bit guilty for even considering having lunch with Persephone and the cool girls.
‘You okay?’ Izzy asked as I sat down. ‘How did you go with Blackmore?’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Got an extension. Until Thursday.’
‘How fun, doing assignments in the last week of school,’ Mia said, rolling her eyes.
‘I know,’ I said with a sigh, ‘but Persephone said she could give me a bit of help with some websites.’
Izzy’s face twisted into a grimace. She looked like she’d just sucked a lemon. ‘Persesame?’ Izzy intentionally mangled Persephone’s name. ‘Since when are you two besties?’
‘We’re not,’ I shot back. ‘We’re just in the same homeroom, so we sit together in class sometimes, that’s all.’ I hesitated. ‘And, you know, I hang out with her at the bus stop when you two have water-polo training after school. Anyway, she was just trying to help.’
Izzy stuffed a piece of nutritious-looking muffin into her mouth. She still had a sour-lemon look on her face when she finished. ‘I just don’t trust her.’
‘You don’t even know her!’
Izzy shrugged. ‘I know enough.’ Then she came up with a long list of reasons for not liking Persephone. Most of them were ridiculous. She didn’t like her name or the way she wore her hair or the way she talked. But Persephone’s main crime, according to Izzy, was being in Tori’s group. ‘They’re all stuck-up.’
I glared at my half-eaten muesli bar. Izzy didn’t know anything about Persephone. Maybe some of the girls in her group were stuck-up, but Persephone wasn’t. And besides, I didn’t need Izzy’s permission to be friends with Persephone, or anyone else.
‘Persephone’s actually really cool,’ I said. ‘And she loves The Lads, too.’
Mia and Izzy groaned. They couldn’t stand The Lads and always whinged when I played their songs.
‘I don’t know,’ Izzy said slowly. ‘There’s something not right about a girl that pretty.’
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. ‘So that’s why you don’t like her? Because she’s too pretty?’
Izzy shrugged.
‘Izzy, what’s that supposed to mean?’ Mia demanded. ‘So you like us because we’re not pretty?’
Izzy shook her head. ‘I didn’t say –’
Mia cut her off. ‘Kitty’s prettier than Persephone.’ ‘How come you like Kitty?’
Izzy shrugged again. ‘Kitty’s different. I’ve known her since forever. I knew her when she wasn’t so pretty.’
‘Hey,’ I protested.
‘Remember that time you came to a party in grade three as a cave girl,’ Izzy said, giggling, ‘and you were wearing some old skin thing out of a dog’s basket? And your face was covered in charcoal? And your hair was all stiff and covered in leaves, like you’d been sleeping in the backyard for a week?’ Izzy started choking on her laughter. ‘No, Kitty, you were definitely not a pretty sight. Your mum sure does have
a warped sense of humour.’
‘True,’ I said with a laugh. It was always hard to stay angry with Izzy, especially when she had so many embarrassing primary school stories up her sleeve. ‘What was Mum thinking?’
Mia smiled at both of us. She hated arguments and looked pleased we were friends again. ‘It’s so great we’re all going camping together.’
‘I know!’ I beamed, even though I was still nervous about it. ‘A whole week in a tent. Yeah! It’s going to be beyond amazing!’
Izzy and Mia exchanged glances. I could tell that I’d laid on the enthusiasm way too thick.
‘You’re gonna love it,’ Mia said. ‘Trust me.’
Izzy smiled cheekily. ‘But you know we’ll be roughing it?’
I shrugged. ‘I can manage without a hair straightener for a week. And I’m not scared of a cold shower.’
Izzy laughed. ‘There won’t be showers where we’re going. And we’ll have to dig our own toilet.’
I flinched at the thought of a do-it-yourself toilet – the humiliation of leaving the camp site with a shovel and a roll of toilet paper, not to mention the flies and the smell. Oh, the smell! And what if I accidentally dug up someone else’s toilet? Gross!
Mia looked worried. ‘You okay?’ she asked.
I really wanted to erase the bush toilet from my mind. ‘So, anything else I need to know about this camping trip?’
‘You’re okay with snakes, aren’t you?’ Izzy asked.
Izzy knew I was not okay with anything that wriggled. Even lizards gave me the creeps. I knew they had legs and didn’t actually wriggle, but they were still too close to snakes for my liking.
But I could see how excited my besties were that I was finally going on one of their camping trips. ‘I’m okay with snakes. As long as they stay outside the tent.’
‘And you don’t mind leeches? There’ll probably be a few around at this time of year,’ Mia said.
Just the idea of one of those slimy blood-sucking worms of evil attaching themselves to my leg made my skin crawl. I used my shoe to brush off an imaginary leech from my ankle.
Izzy giggled, and I laughed, making out it was all a joke. But I knew it wouldn’t be so funny when I was actually in the bush. I wasn’t sure I was tough enough to handle leeches and snakes. I wanted to spend a week with Izzy and Mia but I didn’t want to put up with leeches or go without a shower to do it, and I certainly didn’t want to dig my own toilet. I was starting to regret agreeing to go away with them.
