How to Get to Rio

by Julie Fison

  ‘Yeah, I think I can see them,’ I whispered. ‘Out past the break.’

  Persephone frowned and shook her head. ‘I think I can see a fin,’ she continued, loud enough for Kes and Pit to hear. Then she gave me a wink.

  It took me a moment to catch on. Oh, right.

  ‘I think I saw it, too!’ I cried, a bit louder than I had intended. ‘A fin, a fin!’

  If Persephone’s plan worked, Kes and Pit would be on their feet, scanning the waves for a shark. With any luck they’d rush to the water’s edge and ask us what was going on. I sneaked a peek over my shoulder to find out.

  Kes and Pit weren’t rushing to do anything. They were lying on their towels with their headphones and sunglasses on. They hadn’t even noticed us!

  A small girl with a bucket wandered over and stood beside Persephone. ‘Is it a shark?’ she asked.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Persephone told her. ‘It’s nothing.’

  ‘Shark!’ the girl screamed. ‘It’s a shark!’

  ‘No, no,’ Persephone said, trying to calm her. ‘It’s just the waves.’

  But the girl ran back to her family, squealing.

  Persephone gave them a wave. ‘False alarm,’ she called out.

  I glanced over at Kes and Pit. They still hadn’t noticed us.

  ‘New plan,’ Persephone whispered. ‘Follow me.’

  She took a deep breath, fluffed up her hair, adjusted her bikini and marched straight towards Kes and Pit. I tried to do the same, but I was basically hyperventilating and all I managed to do was get my sunglasses caught in my hair. So I put them on top of my head, hoping to untangle them from my hair later.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Persephone when she was almost standing on top of Kes. Still there was no reaction. ‘Excuse me, please,’ she shouted, leaning right over his face.

  Kes sat bolt upright. ‘What? What?’ He pulled out his headphones.

  Persephone smiled. ‘I was just wondering –’

  ‘Sorry, babes,’ Pit interrupted. He sat up and pulled his headphones from his ears. ‘We’re trying to have a holiday here.’

  I almost started choking as he said the words. Pit was talking to me. I didn’t care what he was actually saying. I was hopelessly star-struck.

  Persephone cleared her throat. ‘Sorry, not trying to spoil your holiday. Just wondering if you know the way to The Lost World.’

  ‘Oh,’ Pit said, lying back on his towel. ‘I thought you wanted an autograph.’

  Persephone laughed. ‘Why?’ she said, lifting her sunglasses. ‘Are you famous?’

  My heart skipped a beat. What was Persephone saying? This was Pit and Kes she was talking to, not some schoolboys on the beach. These guys were in a world-famous band.

  Pit and Kes looked at each other and scoffed. Kes pushed his sunglasses into his hair. Pit did the same.

  ‘Still don’t know who we are?’ Kes asked, smirking.

  Following Persephone’s lead I leant in close, took a good look at Pit and shook my head. ‘You look a bit like my cousin Mikey,’ I said.

  Kes laughed and pointed at Pit. ‘Hey, cousin Mikey.’

  Pit gave Kes a shove and then turned to me. ‘You really have no idea who we are?’

  I shook my head. ‘Not trying to be rude,’ I said, ‘but I just can’t place you.’

  Pit frowned. ‘Maybe this will help.’

  He looked directly at me and started singing the chorus from their smash hit. ‘Crazy girl, you make me crazy, girl. Girl-crazy, crazy girl. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Woah!’

  Pit hadn’t even got to the third word when I felt my knees buckling. I dropped on the sand in front of him, my lips mouthing the lyrics. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone that Pit had sung me a song!

  ‘I guess you worked out who we are, then?’ Pit said, smiling.

  I nodded. There was no playing innocent now.

  ‘You had me there for a second, babes,’ Kes said, looking from me to Persephone. ‘You know, you’re actually pretty cool, for insane stalker schoolgirls.’

  I couldn’t help smiling. It looked like Persephone’s coolness was rubbing off on me and we’d only been at Paradise Point for a couple of hours. Maybe by the end of the week I’d be as cool as her.

  ‘Hey, what about a photo?’ I said, pulling out my phone. I waited until Persephone shuffled between Pit and Kes. ‘Beautiful.’ But just as I took the photo, Kes crossed his eyes. I frowned. ‘One more, a nice one, this time.’

  Again, Kes was all smiles until the last moment, when he screwed up his face and pretended he had buck teeth. Then Pit got in on the act and started doing bunny ears behind Persephone. It might have been funny the first time, but by the time I’d taken twelve silly photos, I was getting a bit annoyed.

  I deleted the pictures and handed my phone to Kes. ‘Can you take a nice photo?’ I asked. I thought if I split the guys up, things might work out better.

  Pit stood between Persephone and me, while Kes snapped away. But when I looked back at the pics, they were just shots of the sand, aside from one picture of us – a terrible one of half of Pit and me. Persephone wasn’t even in it.

  Kes laughed. ‘Here, let me have another go.’

  Persephone handed over her phone this time, and we posed again. Kes set it all up perfectly. For a moment it looked like we were going to get a cool photo, but then he shoved Persephone’s phone under his arm and took a picture of his armpit.

  ‘Hey!’ Persephone shouted, reaching for her phone.

  Kes jumped to his feet and danced away from her, taking more random shots as he went. Then he took a video of Pit picking his nose.

  ‘That’s one for the family-movie night!’ Pit laughed.

  ‘Really?’ Persephone said, scowling. She held out her hand for the phone and Kes dropped it in the sand. Then he and Pit grabbed their towels.

  ‘Hey, great meeting you two,’ Pit said. ‘We should do this again.’ They both laughed and then Pit winked at us. ‘Catch ya.’

  We watched them take off across the sand and disappear into a luxury beachfront apartment block.

  ‘Well, that was … interesting,’ Persephone said, picking up her phone from the sand and shaking it. ‘Oh, no! My phone’s, like, totally full of sand!’

  ‘But what about the photos?’ I said.

  ‘They’re mostly of Kes’s armpit.’ Persephone groaned, as we looked through them.

  Just thinking about how much I’d worshipped The Lads made me feel sick. ‘That’s why they’re going straight on Instagram,’ I said, fiercely, ‘and we’ll upload the nose-picking video to YouTube – so everyone can see how arrogant they are.’

  We wandered off up the beach, talking through our revenge plan.

  ‘Oh, look, we’re nearly at The Lost World,’ Persephone said, pointing to the far end of the headland. ‘I didn’t realise we’d walked so far.’

  It certainly felt like we’d walked a long way. I sat down on a boulder to take a break. My legs were killing me from jumping over crevices, but we’d been so busy talking I hadn’t noticed the pain until now. ‘I’m dying.’

  Persephone slumped down beside me. ‘Me, too. All that scheming sure takes it out of a girl.’

  I smiled. We’d been hatching our revenge plot since Kes and Pit left us on the beach. We’d posted the details of their holiday apartment on one of their fan pages. Pretty soon there’d be a swarm of screaming girls descending on them. No chance of a quiet holiday, then!

  We’d also come up with a shortlist of fun things to do with Rio and Jordan over the holidays. We decided on a stand-up paddleboard lesson, water-skiing on the lake, trying out the new sushi-train restaurant and visiting every ice-cream shop on the beachfront. There were seven to get through – one for every day of our holiday!

  ‘I’m so glad you came,’ Persephone said. ‘It’s only the first day, and already it’s the best holiday ever. Well, aside from Kes throwing my phone in the sand.’

  ‘But it was Kes! From The Lads!’ I said. ‘That’s sti
ll pretty amazing.’

  ‘Kitty, did you see the photos of his armpit? Trust me, those guys are total douchebags.’

  She was totally right. I was still acting like a groupie. Famous or not, Kes and Pit had acted like complete idiots. But it didn’t stop me feeling disappointed that they had turned out to be so lame.

  ‘Losers,’ I hissed angrily.

  ‘Totes. Major losers. But I’m glad we got to find that out,’ Persephone said, laughing. ‘It’s cool hanging out with you. When I come to Paradise Point with Tori we hardly leave the apartment. You think I take ages to get ready. She takes forever.’

  I felt uneasy hearing this. Persephone would probably feel guilty later about dissing her best friend.

  ‘With Tori, it’s practically lunchtime by the time we get to the beach,’ she continued, ‘if we even get to the beach at all.’

  ‘Tori doesn’t like the beach?’

  Persephone shrugged. ‘She used to. She used to be a laugh, as well. She’s witty. And she’s really clever. But, now, she just takes everything so seriously. The way she looks, the way other people look. And if she likes a guy, wow, that’s like a military operation for her. She is all about planning, detail and precision.’

  I made a face. ‘Sounds scary.’

  ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Persephone added quickly, ‘she’s seriously cool. Her mum’s some big company boss. Tori’s been everywhere and done everything. But, man, she knows how to play the popularity game – favours, put-downs, even lies.’

  I didn’t really know what to say to all this. ‘So, where is she now?’ I asked.

  Persephone studied her hands. ‘At home.’

  ‘She didn’t want to come to Paradise Point?’

  ‘I didn’t ask her,’ Persephone said.

  ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Because she’d be bored?’

  Persephone was silent for a moment. ‘This is probably going to sound really bad, but I’m just a bit sick of her. I’m tired of stressing about what I’m wearing all the time. And Tori’s got a major crush on my brother. I try to laugh it off, but it gets annoying after a while.’ Persephone paused and looked at me. ‘I just wanted to spend time with someone fun for a change. Does that make me selfish?’

  I laughed. ‘No. It makes you normal.’

  I watched the sea for a bit, processing the idea that Persephone preferred to hang out with me rather than Tori. Tori was so glossy and perfect. I was just average and not perfect at all, but Persephone thought that made me fun. I’d never thought of myself like that before.

  It seemed like the right time for my own confession. ‘I was meant to go camping with Mia and Izzy, but I decided to come here with you because I’d prefer eating ice-cream and swimming at the beach to eating burnt sausages and digging my own toilet. Does that make me selfish?’

  Persephone smiled. ‘No. It actually sounds pretty normal to me.’

  ‘I really like Izzy and Mia. They’re amazing and really great friends. But sometimes I feel …’ I paused, searching for the right words, ‘a bit out of place. They’re so similar to each other, and that makes me feel different.’

  Persephone nodded. ‘I totally get that. Everyone in my group just wants to be like Tori. I seem to be the only one who wants to be a whole separate person. I’m actually a bit sick of all of them. It’s much more fun hanging out with you.’ Persephone looked at me, expectantly, like she was waiting for me to say something meaningful.

  But I wasn’t quite sure what to tell her. Surely she doesn’t want to know that other people think her friends are stuck-up? And then something came to me.

  ‘Why don’t you forget about Tori, and hang out with us?’

  I could tell by the way Persephone’s face lit up that I’d said the right thing. ‘Really? You think I could?’ Then her face dropped. ‘But I don’t play water polo.’

  ‘That’ll make two of us,’ I said, grinning.

  Persephone’s face brightened into a big relieved smile. ‘Do you think Izzy and Mia will like me?’

  I gave her a hug. ‘Of course they will.’

  It was settled. Persephone would join our group when we got back to school. I’d just need a bit of time to work on Izzy and Mia to change their minds about her being stuck-up. Once Izzy had an idea in her head she was very determined to stick to it. Her determination made her great at sport, but it also meant she was a bit on the inflexible side. I was confident, though. When they got to know Persephone, they’d see she wasn’t like Tori and the rest of her group. Persephone was very cool, but she was also really fun.

  ‘Thanks, Kitty,’ Persephone said. ‘You’re a real friend.’

  I got to my feet and pulled Persephone up. ‘Should we head back?’

  She nodded. Then something behind me caught her eye. I turned to see two girls coming towards us. For a moment, I thought it was Mia and Izzy. But, of course, it couldn’t be. They were camping in some fly-blown, remote corner of the country, digging their own toilets and fighting off snakes and leeches.

  Then the two girls waved. My heart sank. It was Mia and Izzy!

  My brain started spinning. I was trying to remember exactly what I’d told them, searching for my excuse for not going camping. Oh, man! I told them I’d sprained my ankle.

  ‘Hey. What a surprise seeing you two here,’ Izzy said, stopping in front of us. Izzy was not smiling.

  I knew I was in big trouble.

  ‘How’s that sprained ankle, Kitty?’ she asked. ‘I’m surprised you made it over all those rocks with an injury like that.’

  Mia, Izzy and Persephone all stared at me. I knew everyone was waiting for my answer. I had about five seconds to work out what to say.

  Should I just tell the truth? Or should I try to get away with the lie about my ankle?

  ‘Hey! I’m glad you made it!’ said Persephone, getting up to meet me, Izzy and Mia. She reached out to give me a hug and then seemed to change her mind, and gave my hand a squeeze instead.

  ‘Sorry, my phone died and we got a bit lost getting here,’ I said, smiling. ‘Guess that’s why they call it The Lost World.’

  I could hear Izzy groaning at my dumb joke, but Persephone laughed. ‘Did you see who I found?’ she whispered in my ear.

  I nodded, glancing at Rio, who was standing outside the cafe with Jordan. Rio had his eyes on me, but he looked more shocked than excited about my arrival. I gave him and Jordan a smile, and introduced them to Izzy and Mia. Then we all stood outside Shake Shifter looking at each other in awkward silence.

  ‘All right,’ Persephone said finally. ‘Who’s up for a milkshake?’

  ‘Me!’ I said, way too enthusiastically.

  I felt around for my purse and then remembered I didn’t even have pockets, let alone a purse or money. I had been planning to change my shorts and get my purse after our hike. But, of course, that hadn’t happened. I had come to Paradise Point with nothing at all. I looked at Izzy and Mia, hoping they had some cash on them.

  ‘Got any money?’ I mouthed as discreetly as possible. Izzy shook her head and Mia rummaged around in her pockets but came up with nothing.

  Persephone, Rio and Jordan had obviously noticed. Persephone pulled some notes from her purse. ‘My treat!’

  ‘I’m going to have another swim,’ said Jordan.

  ‘Me too,’ said Rio. ‘Gotta work off the last shake before having another.’

  I looked questioningly at Izzy and Mia. They shrugged.

  ‘What are you having, Kitty?’ Persephone called, heading inside.

  We followed Persephone into Shake Shifter. It seemed better to let her buy us a milkshake than pretend we’d suddenly lost our thirst. And to be honest, I was dying for a drink.

  We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and the rainforest walk and the climb over the rocks at the headland had left me totally dehydrated.

  ‘Thanks, Persephone,’ I slurped down my mango smoothie as we sat on the beach watching the guys in the surf. ‘I really needed this.’

  ‘Least
I can do for dragging you away from your rural retreat,’ she said. ‘It sounds amazing!’

  Mia just smirked. But Izzy laughed – way too loudly. ‘Quite unreal,’ she said.

  Persephone looked confused. I had hoped to avoid the whole accommodation topic, but it looked like I was going to have to explain sooner rather than later.

  ‘Actually, I was just joking about –’ I began.

  ‘Great,’ came a voice from behind us. ‘I love a joke.’

  I turned to see Tori, a shopping bag in each hand, looking as perfect as ever. She clearly hadn’t been for a swim because her hair was all shiny and straight. And her dress was definitely designer. She looked like she was on her way to a fashion shoot, not on holiday.

  ‘Hi,’ I said, wondering what she was doing here. ‘What a coincidence, you being at Paradise Point. Small world.’

  ‘I’m staying with Persephone,’ Tori replied flatly. ‘So, what’s the joke?’

  My mind raced. Why was Tori staying with Persephone? Was she a second choice after I let Persephone down? But that seemed impossible. Surely I would be a second choice, not the other way around.

  I searched around desperately for a joke I could tell Tori. I certainly wasn’t going to explain the whole camping thing to her.

  ‘Er … I was joking with Mia and Izzy that –’

  ‘What’s the joke?’ Rio asked, picking up his towel and rubbing himself down. He and Jordan sat down and looked at me expectantly. Oh great, I thought, now I have an entire audience for my camping confession.

  ‘It’s not that funny, actually,’ I said quickly. ‘It was more of a private joke.’

  ‘Did it have something to do with a food fight?’ asked Tori. ‘Because it looks like you’ve got jelly in your hair.’ She leant in over me. I pulled away, but I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. Even Rio was staring at my hair like I had nits. It was the Snow White knickers incident all over again!

  ‘We had a jellyfish fight with my brothers on the way here,’ Izzy explained. ‘Up there on the headland. They’re like ninjas, that lot. Fast and merciless.’

  ‘Gross!’ Tori cried.

  The others all laughed, but I was practically dying of embarrassment. I really wanted to impress Rio and Izzy was totally humiliating me. Sometimes she was so clueless.