How to Get to Rio (5 page)

We had been left in charge of the boys while the parents went off to the camping ground office. The boys were supposed to be setting up their tents, but there was no way they were doing that. It sounded like they were having a war out there.

Izzy poked her nose out of the tent. ‘Stop mucking around, you lot! Before someone has an accident!’

She had barely got the last word out when there was a squeal, followed by the whack of something hitting the side of our tent. Then there was another scream and a loud thud as several boys landed on our tent. A moment later our tent collapsed on top of us.

‘You rodents!’ Izzy screamed as the three of us fought our way out.

By the time we got out, the boys were long gone. Mia spotted BB climbing a nearby tree. The other boys were scrambling after him.

Izzy gave chase. ‘You’re all
so dead
,’ she yelled from the bottom of the tree.

BB just laughed. ‘Can’t catch us, ya lazy old Izzy lizard.’ He fired a big seed pod, which just missed her.

‘
Dead
! You hear me?’ she screamed and looked up at the seven laughing boys in the branches above us. ‘I hate you boys. All boys! I hate you all!’

The three of us paced around the tree, shouting threats and curses until Mia stopped in her tracks.

Mia’s face was pale and her mouth dropped open. ‘That’s awkward,’ she mumbled. ‘I bet they saw the whole thing.’

At first, I thought she was talking about her parents. But when Izzy and I followed Mia’s gaze, we saw a group of guys leaning on the pool fence, staring at us.

Izzy ducked behind the tree trunk. ‘You think they heard me shouting?’

‘I’m pretty certain people on the other side of the country heard you,’ I said. ‘So, yeah, I’d say they did.’

Izzy poked her head out. ‘Geez, that’s a shame. How cute are they? Especially that one in the red shorts.’

Mia gave them a wave. One of them waved back half-heartedly. Then they all wandered off.

‘I love camping,’ Mia said dreamily.

‘Me too,’ Izzy sighed.

I was beginning to get why my best friends loved camping so much. It was all about the guys.

‘Izzy, you scared them off with all that “hating boys” stuff,’ Mia said bitterly as we sat on the beach watching the waves roll in.

‘Or maybe
you
freaked them out by waving,’ Izzy replied.

In the last hour, we’d done at least ten circuits of the camping ground, looking for the cute camping guys. We’d checked around the tents and the campervans. We’d been in and out of the pool three times and walked to the beach, but there was no sign of the guy in the red shorts or his friends. They’d disappeared completely.

‘Blame your brothers,’ I suggested.

‘I always do,’ Izzy said with a grin.

‘Yeah,’ Mia agreed. ‘If they hadn’t destroyed our tent, we wouldn’t have been putting it back up when we could have been talking with the guys. And we’d probably be hanging out with them right now, instead of watching seagulls.’

Izzy sighed. ‘The guy in the red shorts was definitely the cutest.’

Mia shook her head. ‘The one in the blue shirt was hotter.’ She sighed. ‘But we’re not going to find any of them here.’

It was starting to get dark, so we headed back to the camping ground. I dawdled behind to check my phone. I’d heard it beep with a text earlier, but didn’t want to check it in front of the girls. While Izzy and Mia kept debating about which of the missing guys was cuter, I opened a message from Persephone.

How’s the rural retreat?

I replied:
Pretty good
:)

Lucky you. Is it a beautiful villa? Have you got a pool?

I shot back:
Of course!

I knew that was at least half a lie, but before I had time to worry about it my phone beeped again.

So jealous
:)

At least my next text was totally true:
It’s amazing here! Wish you could see it for yourself.

The reply that came back made my heart jump.

You should be here. Just saw Rio at the beach. He looked sad when I said you weren’t coming to PP.

Really?
I texted back.

Really!

Even though I was having fun with Izzy and Mia, my heart sank a little. While we were scurrying around a camping ground after some random boys, Persephone was hanging out with Rio. I didn’t care about some guy in red shorts or any of the camping guys. They were nothing compared to Rio.

I looked up to see if I could send another text without Mia and Izzy seeing. They were a safe distance ahead.

Now I’m sad I’m here and not there.

Persephone replied:
Don’t be! Enjoy the villa. You can see Rio another time.

It was easy for Persephone to say. She was the kind of girl who could just stroll up to any guy she wanted and talk to him. It wasn’t that easy for me. But I wasn’t going to mention that.

Sure, I’ll see him when I get back. Loving the villa life!

My phone beeped again.

Where’s this amazing rural retreat? I’ll have to go there sometime.

I could answer that question truthfully. I figured Persephone would have no idea where this place was.

It’s called The Lost World.

Then came an unexpected reply.

OMG! That’s right near here. I can probably wave to you from our apartment! But I thought The Lost World was just a camping ground.

I felt sick in the stomach. Straining my eyes to see in the light of sunset, I looked at my surroundings. The beach, the mountains, the rocky headland. No wonder it all looked so familiar, because it was! My phone beeped again.

What’s the address of your villa? I’ll come visit!

I stared at the message and wished that I had never started texting Persephone. Now she was going to find out that I was a liar and staying at a camping ground. I wasn’t sure which was worse.

‘Kitty,’ Mia called down from the top of the sand dune, ‘do you have a boyfriend?’

I jumped at the sound of her voice. ‘No. Of course not.’ I quickly shoved my phone into my pocket and raced up the dune.

‘Let’s see your phone, then,’ Izzy said, sticking her hand out.

I shook my head. ‘Just needed to get a few things sorted out. Just boring stuff.’

‘
Sure
,’ Mia said with a sly smile. ‘Is that “boring stuff ” related to Rio, by any chance?’

‘I wish.’

Izzy and Mia were looking at me suspiciously, but they didn’t ask any more questions. I was grateful for that because I had enough problems to deal with. What was I going to do about Persephone? I couldn’t let her come to The Lost World. There was no poolside villa to see here.

Maybe I could organise to meet her at Paradise Point
, I thought. But that meant explaining the whole story about Persephone’s invitation to Izzy and Mia, which I didn’t really want to do.

‘How far is it to Paradise Point?’ I asked when we were almost back at the tent.

‘It’s on the far side of the bay,’ Izzy said, pointing. ‘You can’t see it from here, but it’s just around the headland. Why?’

‘Just wondering.’

‘Wondering why?’ asked Mia.

‘Just wondering why you didn’t tell me that before,’ I said, grumpily.

Izzy stared at me hard. ‘Well, because you didn’t ask,’ she said.

I supposed that was true. I hadn’t asked. But now I knew that Rio was staying on the other side of the bay, I couldn’t get him out of my mind. I had to see him. I just needed a bit of time to work out a plan.

‘Guess what?’ Izzy whispered, crawling into the tent. ‘I saw the guys!’

‘Did you talk to them?’ Mia asked eagerly, propping herself up on her elbows.

Izzy looked down at her clothes. ‘Yeah, I really had a great conversation while I was in my pyjamas!’

I laughed. ‘You look totally cute. You should have.’

‘Nice of you to say so, but no, I didn’t talk to them. I did get some intel, though.’ Izzy paused as she zipped up the tent door. ‘They were talking about the waterfall. You remember the one, Mia – at the top of the Valley of the Beeches?’

Mia frowned. ‘Valley of the Leeches more like.’

Izzy flopped down on her mattress. ‘Yeah, well, that’s where they’re going in the morning. We should go, too.’

‘Could work,’ Mia said, thoughtfully. ‘Sounds like a plan to me.’

‘Let’s go early to be there when they arrive. That way we don’t look like we’re stalking them,’ Izzy said, turning to me. ‘What do you think, Kit? A walk through Valley of the Leeches – I mean Beeches – and a swim at the waterfall?’

‘Ha, ha. You’re funny,’ I said, smiling. ‘You’re trying to get me all stressed about leeches and then you’ll take me on a hike through a valley full of butterflies or something. Well, you’re not getting me this time with that old trick.’

Izzy shook her head. ‘Okay, that does sound like the sort of thing I’d do, but we’re not mucking around. The valley is actually full of leeches. But those guys are actually even cuter close up, so it’ll be worth it.’

My smile dropped. ‘But you know how much I hate leeches.’

Izzy nodded. ‘I’m scared of leeches, too,’ she said. ‘Everyone is.’

I knew she was just saying that to make me feel better, but it didn’t. I put my hands over my face. ‘I can’t.’

Mia gently pulled my hands from my face. ‘C’mon, Kitty. You’re the only one who hasn’t done something silly in front of those guys. We
need
you.’

‘C’mon, Kit,’ Izzy said. ‘All for one and one for all. We’d do the same for you.’

I studied my friends’ faces in the torchlight. They were so excited about hanging out at the waterfall with a bunch of cute guys. But if I had to walk through leech territory to help them out, maybe they could do me a favour.

‘Okay, here’s the deal,’ I told them. ‘I will come to the waterfall, if you come to Paradise Point with me.’

‘But why Paradise Point?’ Mia said, looking confused.

‘To see Persephone.’

‘No way!’ Izzy said, looking fierce. ‘I’m not spending my holiday hanging out with
Persesame
.’

This was just the reaction I expected.

‘Please,’ I begged. ‘She knows where Rio’s staying. I need her help to find him.’

Izzy’s face brightened. ‘So this is all about Rio, then? Why didn’t you say so?’