How to Get to Rio

by Julie Fison

  We were free from annoying little brothers, free from boyfriend worries and the pressure to be cool. We could be as silly as we wanted.

  ‘Blackmore wears pointy bras!’ I shouted at the horizon.

  That got everyone laughing.

  ‘Mr Contra smells like cabbage soup!’ Izzy shouted.

  ‘Pickled eggs give me wind!’ That was what Mia came up with.

  ‘Then don’t eat them!’ I shouted back.

  ‘I hate lentil stew!’ Izzy screamed.

  Before long we were having a random shouting competition. It kept getting crazier, until we were doubled over laughing with tears streaming down our faces.

  I couldn’t help a thought creeping into my head: This is the best way ever to get over Rio. But with that one thought I was thinking of him again. His big brown eyes, his scruffy hair. The way he’d be waiting at the milkshake shop for me to turn up. Was he still there?

  As Izzy and Mia stood chatting, I jumped from rock to rock. I poked around and found a soft, yellowish stone in a crevice and used it to draw on a nice flat rock. Before I knew it, I’d drawn Rio with his scruffy hair, sucking on a straw. Then I drew a girl (a lot like me) sharing the milkshake – her big eyes wide with surprise at how yummy it was. I added a fire-breathing dragon, not for any particular reason, but just because I liked to draw them. Underneath, I wrote the word LOVE.

  Izzy and Mia both stared at the rock picture when it was finished.

  ‘So cool!’ Mia said. ‘You’re so good at drawing. You should be an artist.’

  I shrugged. ‘I’m not that good.’

  ‘Yeah, you really are,’ Izzy added. ‘It’s, like, totally your thing.’

  ‘Maybe.’ I’d never thought about it like that before.

  ‘When I think of you, Kitty,’ Mia said, ‘I always picture you with a pencil in your hand. You’re always drawing something.’ She looked at my picture on the rocks again. ‘And you really love drawing dragons, don’t you?’

  I laughed. ‘You noticed, did you?’

  ‘Shame the tide will come and wash it off,’ Izzy said. ‘You should have drawn it up there on the rocks at the top of the headland.’

  ‘I can always draw another one tomorrow,’ I told her. Then I turned to the ocean and shouted,‘Rio, I think you’re the cutest guy that ever rode the 377 bus!’

  ‘You’re such a dork, Kit,’ Izzy said with a chuckle. Then she turned to face the ocean and drew a deep breath. ‘I love you, cute camper, even though I don’t know if your name is Dan or Sam!’ Izzy screamed so loudly Dan or Sam probably heard.

  Then Mia put her face into the wind. ‘Tom Cuthbert is a god!’

  I was surprised. ‘Who’s Tom Cuthbert?’

  ‘He’s a swimmer,’ Izzy answered. ‘A really good swimmer. He trains at the pool where we play water polo.’ She turned to Mia. ‘Since when have you had a thing for him?’

  ‘I just decided,’ Mia said, shyly.

  ‘Well, c’mon, Mia,’ I said, rubbing my hands together. ‘Tell us everything.’

  As we walked back to the camping ground, Mia filled us in on her romantic interest in the hot swimming star, Tom Cuthbert. He’d had a girlfriend basically forever, but the word on the poolside was that she’d dumped him because he was too serious about training. Mia and Tom saw each other at the pool pretty much every afternoon, but Mia didn’t really rate her chances with him.

  ‘Just ask him out,’ I said. ‘What’ve you got to lose?’

  ‘Can you even hear yourself?’ Mia asked, raising her eyebrows.

  I shrugged.

  But Mia wasn’t going to let me off that easy. ‘Kitty,’ she said. ‘You just ran away from a guy you’re totally mad about because you’re wearing dirty shorts. Now you’re telling me to ask out a guy I have to train beside every week. How awkward will it be if he says no?’

  ‘Okay. I get it,’ I said. ‘I’m great at giving advice, but not so good taking it.’

  We finally left the rocks and made our way onto the beach. The cute campers and their girlfriends had a volleyball net set up and were tossing a ball to each other. I wondered if we’d ever be like those girls – having fun hanging out with a group of guys like that. I was kind of jealous, but I smiled as we walked past.

  ‘Wanna play?’ one of the girls called out to us. It was the tall one, in a white bikini. She was like an older version of Izzy – all arms and legs that went on forever.

  Mia and Izzy were already nodding. They never said no to sport. The tall girl allocated us to teams. Mia and Izzy were on one side. I was on the other. The tall girl then ran through the basics of Lost World volleyball. It was a cross between proper indoor volleyball and the beach variety, with a few allowances for newbies like Mia, Izzy and me. She interrupted her instructions regularly with ‘Are you cool with that?’ which was actually a pretty cool thing to say in itself. I felt like I was already hooked on the game and we hadn’t even started yet.

  Then the tall girl introduced everyone. ‘I’m Hot Dog and this is Red Star, Snoopy, Popeye, Blade …’ She reeled off a bunch of other names that just got wackier as she went along. Izzy, Mia and I just nodded, smiling.

  ‘And what do we call you?’ Hot Dog asked.

  ‘That’s Mickey Mouse,’ I said, pointing at Izzy. ‘And she’s Donald Duck.’ I motioned to Mia. ‘And I’m Goofy.’

  Mia and Izzy rolled their eyes at me, looking really embarrassed. I was keeping expectations low with nicknames like that. But the others cheered.

  ‘Way to go!’ Popeye (formerly known as Sam, Dan or Calvin) called out. Hot Dog gave me a low five.

  ‘Right back at you, girlfriend,’ I said, getting into the team vibe.

  As we took our places on either side of the net, I eyed off Mia and Izzy. I’d been given the job of ‘spiker babe’, which basically meant standing close to the net and blocking the ball if it came near me. There was something else about getting up high and aiming it straight into the ground on the other side, but I was hoping just to get the ball back over the net to start with.

  I took a few deep breaths to ready myself. If I’d been doing this at school I would have been nervous, but for some reason I wasn’t. I fully expected to be hopeless at volleyball, but it didn’t worry me because only Mia and Izzy would know if I played terribly. Well, them and a bunch of hot, but weird volleyball nerds. Bring it on! was what I thought.

  Hot Dog got the game underway with a colossal serve. She yelled, ‘Keep it real, people.’

  The ball bounced around between players on the other side of the net before it came back our way and then went over. I danced from one foot to the other, waiting for the ball to come to me. And then it did.

  It was a high shot from Popeye that was about to go straight over my head. I leaped in the air, got my hand over the top of the ball and spiked it. It went down like a bullet on the other side of the net. Red Dog dived to save it, but the ball slammed into the sand, just past his fingertips.

  Red Dog rolled over in the sand, stretching his arms out in defeat. ‘Oh, man!’ he moaned as my team erupted in cheers.

  My team jumped on me – high-fiving, low-fiving and doing funny handshakes. They were so excited you’d think I’d just won a gold medal at the Olympics.

  ‘Goofy the spiker babe is keepin’ it real!’ Hot Dog shouted. ‘Are they legs or steel springs you’re bouncing around on?’

  Hot Dog collected the ball and returned to the back of the court to serve again. I watched her compose herself and tried to do the same, but my head was exploding with energy. I knew I’d only done one lucky spike, but I felt like I could fly. I’d found a sport I was really good at. Who would have thought it would be beach volleyball!

  It was almost dark by the time we finally made it back to The Lost World. We were exhausted from our epic volleyball session. As it turned out, my thoughts about a promising career on the national volleyball team had been premature. My star had burned brightly for just a few minutes and then crashed – along with all the
balls that I’d spiked straight into the net. Still, I was hooked. I’d definitely be signing up for volleyball when I got back to school. Mia and Izzy agreed that I totally had potential.

  When we reached our tent, Mia’s and Izzy’s families had already started dinner. The boys were sitting at a camp table, their faces covered in tomato sauce and bits of burnt barbequed food. Usually, that sight would have put me off eating altogether, but I was starving. At that moment, a blackened sausage looked gourmet and it tasted even better. After stuffing ourselves, Izzy, Mia and I staggered off to our tent.

  I collapsed onto my sleeping bag, moaning, ‘I can’t move. My arms, my legs!’

  ‘My butt,’ Izzy whined. ‘How does sand do that?’

  That’s when I noticed how scratchy my sleeping bag felt. It was full of sand.

  ‘What the –?’ Mia began, shaking out her sleeping bag. ‘There’s sand everywhere. How could it get so sandy? We haven’t even been in here.’

  Izzy reached under her pillow and pulled out a lolly snake. ‘I think I know who’s been in here.’

  ‘The boys!’ we all shouted.

  ‘How come they get lollies and we don’t?’ Mia grumbled.

  ‘How about we fix that, right now?’ Izzy grabbed her torch and shone it under her face. It made her face creepy, dangerous even. ‘I think it’s time for a raid.’

  We slipped quietly out of our tent and crept on our hands and knees across the grass. From the amount of noise coming from the big tent, it sounded like the Rodent Tribe were in that one. And by the smell of it, they were having a farting competition. We sneaked past, holding our noses, and slipped into the boys’ smaller tent. Izzy flashed the torch inside. It was a total pigsty, but there was no sign of boys or lollies.

  ‘We need a diversion,’ Mia whispered as we crawled out of the tent.

  I knew exactly what to do. ‘I’ll get them out, you two get the loot and we’ll meet at the girls’ toilets.’

  The girls hovered behind the noisy tent while I went into action.

  ‘I’m up for catch and kiss!’ I shouted.

  Seven boys all screamed at once. They tumbled out of their tent, arms and legs going everywhere. Then they scattered into the darkness squealing ‘Girls’ germs!’

  I ran after them. ‘Oh, come back,’ I wailed. ‘I want to kiss you!’

  I gave chase for several minutes – long enough for Mia and Izzy to accomplish their mission. Then I tiptoed off to the shower block.

  Mia and Izzy were waiting there with huge smiles and two big bags full of lollies. They waved their loot at me. ‘We got everything,’ Mia said.

  ‘And nearly died of suffocation in that stink fog,’ Izzy said, coughing. She opened her bag and peered inside. ‘I can’t believe how many lollies are in here. I wasn’t allowed to have any lollies when I was their age.’

  ‘I’m still not allowed,’ Mia frowned, ‘because I’m in training.’ She pulled out a set of pink and white lolly teeth and wore them in her mouth like false teeth. Then she quickly stuffed a pineapple and teddy bear in, too. ‘These are so good!’ she garbled around a mouthful of lollies. ‘Oo on, ’ave some,’ she said, offering me the bag.

  I grabbed a handful and looked around. The shower block wasn’t the nicest place for a late-night lolly feast. ‘Should we go back to the tent to eat these?’

  ‘No way,’ Izzy said, shaking her head. ‘That’s the first place they’ll look for us.’

  We finally decided the safest place would be the camp kitchen. We scurried across the camping ground with our stash, like the sneaky little thieves that we were. We fumbled our way into the kitchen, which was in complete darkness, except for the blue glow of a mosquito zapper.

  ‘Don’t turn on the light,’ hissed Izzy. ‘You’ll give us away.’

  Izzy and Mia found a bench and sat at one end. I was just about to sit down when I noticed something.

  ‘Can you see what I see?’ I said.

  ‘Doubt it. I can’t see a thing,’ Izzy said, rummaging through her bag. ‘Including what’s in here. I’m not even sure they’re lollies.’

  ‘Over there on the wall,’ I said. ‘It’s a kettle.’

  ‘Oh, hurrah!’ Mia said in a posh voice. ‘Anyone for a nice cup of tea?’

  Without explaining, I dashed out of the kitchen. I was super excited about my discovery. A power point! Now I could charge my phone! Then I’d be able to text Persephone and, with any luck, see Rio.

  I was fumbling with the zip on our tent when a bat flapped overhead. I watched it pass and was suddenly struck by the night sky. The stars were so bright it was like the whole solar system had been amped up.

  Then, out of nowhere, a star shot across the sky. A shooting star! How lucky is that? I thought. I closed my eyes and wished. I wished for a kiss with Rio. I opened my eyes, hoping Rio would wander out of the darkness and whisper my name. But there was nothing.

  I sighed, a little disappointed that the shooting star hadn’t worked, and clambered into the tent to find my phone. While I rummaged through my bag, I imagined Rio peering over my shoulder watching me.

  ‘So, what do you think of The Lost World?’ I asked him.

  Then I did his voice. ‘Pretty cool. And I especially liked seeing you play volleyball on the beach before. You were smashing it!’

  I smiled coyly as I pulled out my charger. ‘Oh, you are too kind.’

  The imaginary Rio touched my shoulder. ‘Really, you totally rock! You’re great at everything. And pretty, too. Babe, you’ve got it all.’

  ‘Oh, Rio. I’m blushing!’ I replied.

  That was when I caught myself. I put my hand over my mouth to prevent any more instalments of the fantasy love scene.

  What if Mia’s and Izzy’s brothers are outside the tent listening? I thought, feeling my cheeks get hot. I would die of embarrassment.

  I poked my nose out of the tent to make sure there was no-one there. When I was sure I was alone, I flopped back onto my air mattress and stared at my dead mobile. Now I had a way to charge it, I could get Rio’s number and speak to him for real. But was I ready for that?

  The imaginary Rio was very easy to talk to, but how would it be if I were actually with him? What would I say? I didn’t even know if he liked me. In fact, it was very likely that he didn’t, especially after not meeting up with him today.

  I was having second thoughts about charging my phone. If I left it in my bag, Rio would remain in my imagination as the perfect boyfriend. If I charged my phone, something might happen with Rio. It might be good or it might be bad – there was just no way to tell. I felt sure that the shooting star had been a sign: a clue to what I should do. But what had it meant?

  Was I supposed to charge my phone or leave it in my bag?

  ‘What are you doing here?’ I said to Izzy to Mia, ‘I thought you were camping in the middle of nowhere.’

  Izzy just stared at me. ‘And I thought you’d done your ankle,’ she said flatly.

  Persephone glanced at me sideways and I shuffled uncomfortably. It was bad enough being caught out by Izzy and Mia, but it was total torture facing my friends in front of Persephone. When I told her I’d got out of going camping, I hadn’t told her that I’d lied to get out of it.

  ‘Well,’ I paused, not exactly sure where to start my explanation. ‘I don’t actually have a sprained ankle.’

  Mia studied my foot. ‘But I distinctly remember you telling me you did, and that’s why you couldn’t come camping.’

  I took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, and then everything tumbled out of my mouth in a rush. ‘I really wanted to go on holidays with you two. You’re my best friends in the world. But I made up the stuff about my ankle because I didn’t want to dig my own toilet or get attacked by leeches or worry about snakes in my sleeping bag. You know I’d be scared senseless on a camping trip like that. And then Persephone asked me to come to Paradise Point, and she said we could meet Rio, and you know I’ve had a thing for him, like, forever, and I didn
’t want to upset you guys so I made an excuse not to go camping.’ I stopped for a breath. ‘I’m sorry. Really sorry.’ I looked up at Izzy, Mia and Persephone. ‘I really am sorry.’

  Mia put a hand on my arm. ‘Yeah, we get it,’ she said. ‘You’re sorry.’

  I managed half a smile. ‘So you’re not mad?’

  Mia shrugged and smiled. ‘Well, I get why you didn’t want to go camping and –’

  ‘Of course we’re mad,’ Izzy interrupted. She glared at Persephone. ‘And we’re mad you decided to go on holidays with …’ she paused and, for a terrifying moment, I thought Izzy was going to mangle Persephone’s name and call her stuck-up right to her face, ‘… with Per-sephone. Instead of us.’

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  ‘Oh, I feel bad, now,’ Persephone said. ‘I didn’t know I was stealing Kitty away. Sorry, this must look really terrible.’

  I could see both Izzy and Mia relax when they heard that. I was stunned, though. It wasn’t Persephone’s fault that my friends were annoyed with me, but she’d put herself right in the middle of it and apologised. She was definitely a better friend than me.

  ‘You’re not to blame,’ Mia told her and then gave me a smile. ‘Kitty, we did kind of freak you out with all those camping stories. We might have gone a bit too far.’

  Izzy said nothing. She just glared at me. I knew she was still really mad.

  ‘So you’re camping at The Lost World?’ Persephone asked.

  ‘Yeah, just back over there behind those dunes,’ Izzy said stiffly.

  ‘So you have to dig your own toilets?’ Persephone asked with a frown. ‘I thought it was nice over there.’

  ‘Well, it is,’ Mia said, finding something on the rocks to look at. ‘Actually, it’s a really beautiful camping ground. There’s a pool and everything.’

  Now I was totally confused. ‘What about the leeches and snakes and roughing it?’ I asked.

  ‘We made all that up,’ Izzy said.