How to Get to Rio (20 page)

If Persephone was trying to build tension, it was definitely working. I could feel a drop of sweat on my forehead.

I nodded nervously. I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

Persephone opened her mouth when Izzy jumped up and elbowed her aside.

Izzy shined a torch in my face. ‘Tell us the truth. Do you always wear little girls’ knickers?’

How embarrassing!
I glared at Izzy, knowing the only way to play this was to roll with it.

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ I said. ‘Every day of the week. Monday is Snow White, Tuesday is Dora the Explorer, Wednesday’s Rapunzel, Thursday is … Minnie Mouse, Friday is Cinderella and on Saturdays I wear Barbie pants. On Sundays, I have the day off and wear saggy granny undies.’

The whole circle was laughing at me – not really the way I had hoped the game would go.

‘Okay, my turn to ask a question,’ I said, reaching for Izzy’s torch.

But Persephone got to it first. ‘Not so fast,’ she said, grabbing the torch. ‘That wasn’t a proper question and, Kitty, I don’t believe you told the truth.’

Mia stood up. ‘Yeah, that’s right! I’ve seen her in her Dad’s leopard-print undies on Sundays.’

Oh great!
I thought.
Suddenly everyone’s a comedian. I’m going to be in the spotlight all night!

TC really loved Mia’s joke. ‘Good one,’ he laughed and Mia looked totally pleased with herself.

‘We need a
proper
truth question for Kitty,’ Persephone insisted. She paced around the outside of the circle shining the torch on her own face. It was serious, like she was in court about to cross-examine a witness. She was really starting to freak me out. What was Persephone going to ask me that would require such a dramatic build-up?

Maybe she’d ask me about Tori – we had just been talking about her. I wondered if Persephone would ask if I liked her. That would be a totally awkward question to answer. Even though Persephone said I was more fun, Tori was still her friend. And I’d be lying if I said I liked her. Tori was cool and pretty, but she was too much of a princess and a bit on the mean side.

Or maybe Persephone would ask why I told her we were at a rural retreat when we were actually camping. That would make me look like a total liar. It would be bad in front of my friends and really awkward in front of Rio. In fact, any question would be embarrassing in front of Rio. Persephone could ask me something really personal.

I suddenly realised I’d made a big mistake choosing a truth question. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I’ll do a dare!’

Persephone looked at me calmly. ‘Afraid I can’t permit that,’ she said seriously. ‘I’ve already decided on my line of questioning.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Kitty MacLean,’ she commanded, ‘tell us the truth …’

‘Uh-huh.’ I shuffled uncomfortably, accidentally bumping Rio’s elbow. He glanced at me and gave me a little nod. Was he trying to reassure me that everything was going to be all right?

‘Do you like Rio?’

I gasped. I turned away from Rio to hide my face. For the second time that night, I’d gone bright red.

My mind whirled. No matter how I answered the question I was in trouble. I was either going to embarrass myself with a yes or lie by saying no. And once the answer was out there, I wouldn’t be able to bring it back.

I looked around the circle. Everyone had their eyes on me, waiting for a response. It felt like the whole world had stopped to listen.

I couldn’t look at Rio, but I felt him squirming beside me. He must have been mortified, too.

I stared up at Persephone. Did she want to screw things up between Rio and me? Was she punishing me for lying about camping at The Lost World? It was impossible to tell.

Her face became all soft and perfect again. She raised her eyebrows, waiting for a response.

Just as I opened my mouth, I snatched a sideways glance at Rio. He was staring right at me with those gorgeous eyes. In that fraction of a second I knew what my answer had to be.

With my eyes lowered, I replied slowly in a whisper. ‘Yes.’

My whole body tightened. The circle erupted into a ripple of
oh
-ing and
ah
-ing.

When everyone settled down, I felt Rio’s shoulder pressing very lightly against mine. I sneaked a peek to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. There he was, right beside me.

All of a sudden I understood what Persephone had been doing. She was kickstarting things between Rio and me. She really was very, very cool.

And I was feeling pretty happy with myself, too. I’d made the right decision. Now the truth was out there, I didn’t want to take it back.

I noted the time and the date. This was it. The start of my life.

Go back and choose all over again!

‘Dare,’ I said, hesitantly.

Persephone got to her feet and walked slowly around the outside of the circle, tapping her finger on her lip. Her face was serious, like she was a lawyer in a court or something. It didn’t do anything to ease my nerves. She was really putting some thought into my dare. I started to regret my decision.

What if she dares me to kiss Rio?
I thought. Of course I wanted to kiss him, but not in front of everyone.

I glanced sideways at Rio. His face looked tense, too. He was probably worried about the same thing. This dare was going to be a disaster!

‘I changed my mind. I want truth!’

Persephone looked at me and shook her head. ‘Afraid I can’t permit that. If I’m not mistaken, you called dare.’

‘Dare!’ QC called. Then everyone joined in. ‘Dare! Dare! Dare!’

I put my hands over my face. My friends had turned into the Rodent Tribe!

‘Okay, okay,’ Persephone said, putting her hand up for silence. Then she took a big deep breath and continued. ‘I need quiet so I can think.’

She started walking around the circle again. ‘Let me see. What would be an appropriate dare for Kitty?’ She made it sound like I was about to be sentenced for murder.

Izzy jumped to her feet and shone her torch in Persephone’s face. ‘Okay, time’s up.’ She nudged Persephone out of the way. ‘I’ve got one. I dare Kitty to run to the end of the beach shouting “I love leeches”. And every ten metres you have to do three star jumps and a push-up.’

I shot to my feet. I was thrilled that I’d been let off the hook with a classic Izzy dare – more of a training session than a dare. It would be embarrassing to run around shouting dumb things, but I was sure it was going to be easier than any dare Persephone would have come up with.

Izzy shone the torch in my face, shouting like a sports coach. ‘All the way to the end of the beach. And don’t forget the push-ups.’

Before I had a chance to go anywhere, Persephone stepped in front of me. ‘That’s not a proper dare,’ she said, putting her hands on her hips. ‘It doesn’t even have a kiss in it.’

I knew it was now or never. So I quickly ducked past Persephone, relieved that I’d dodged her dare. She really
had
been thinking of daring me to kiss Rio. What an escape!

‘I love leeches!’ I said. I then did a few half-hearted star jumps and a really pathetic push-up. I had always been bad at those.

‘Louder!’ Izzy called after me. ‘And you’re meant to be
running
. If you fail, you’ll have to do another dare!’

I picked up the pace. I was sure Persephone wouldn’t be so slow to nominate a kissing dare if she got another chance.

As I ran I realised I needed to decide who would go next for Truth or Dare. If I picked Rio and he chose truth, I could ask him anything! I could ask if he’d seen me watching him on the bus every afternoon. But I wouldn’t do that, because he’d think I was a total stalker.

I stopped to do star jumps and then ran on again, thinking of more truth questions. I could find out Rio’s favourite ice-cream flavour. That might be a wasted question, but it would be cute to know. I could even ask him if he liked me. I stopped to do a push-up and then decided I couldn’t ask that. If he said no, I’d be so embarrassed I’d have to leave the country.

I was almost at the headland, still running through some questions in my mind, when I heard a strange shuffling sound ahead of me. Something big and black was on the beach, digging in the sand. I stopped in my tracks. I was in trouble if it was a feral dog – but it was the wrong shape. After a minute I realised it was actually a turtle, digging a hole, and it was probably about to lay eggs. How cool!

I backed away slowly so I didn’t disturb it. Then I turned and ran back to the others. ‘A turtle! A turtle!’ I whispered excitedly.

Izzy was shining me with her torch. ‘You’re meant to be shouting “I love leeches”. And you didn’t do any star jumps or push-ups on the way back. Looks like you’ll be doing another dare.’

I waved her complaints away. ‘No, no,’ I said, out of breath. ‘It’s really a turtle. Down there on the beach.’

‘Is it alive?’ Mia asked.

I nodded. ‘I think it’s about to lay eggs.’

‘Wow!’ Persephone said, grabbing my hand. ‘Where?’

We all crept quietly along the beach until I found the turtle again. She’d finished digging and was now laying eggs in the hole.

‘Let’s stay and watch,’ TC said.

‘As long as we don’t go too close, I bet she won’t even notice we’re here,’ Mia said.

Mia directed us into position a few metres from the turtle, and said we should lie on our stomachs so we wouldn’t disturb her. As the turtle got on with her mothering duties, Mia filled us in on everything there was to know about turtles. She was quite the expert on them – our very own eco-guide.

It was pretty unreal, lying there on the beach in the dark, watching the turtle lay her eggs and listening to Mia. It also saved me from having to face another dare. On the other hand, my discovery prevented me from asking Rio any important questions. Then I realised that, as Rio was lying right next to me, I could just ask him anyway. I decided to start with an easy question.

‘I’d love a mango ice-cream right now,’ I whispered. ‘How about you?’

‘I’d kill for a Belgian chocolate.’

‘Really? I thought you’d be a forest fruit sort of guy.’

Rio laughed. ‘Is that because I remind you of a blueberry? Or am I more of a raspberry?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said, smiling. ‘They’re both nice.’

I felt my face go red for the second time that night. I was basically telling Rio he was cute with my stupid fruit metaphors. Luckily I was saved by Persephone’s phone beeping with a text.

‘It’s my mum,’ she whispered loudly. ‘She’s at the camping ground waiting for me. And we’re taking the guys back to Paradise Point, too.’

I felt my heart sink. The night was about to come to an end and I hadn’t asked Rio anything important.

‘Shame we have to go,’ Persephone said, getting up. ‘We didn’t even get to finish Truth or Dare. I had some really good things planned.’ She gave me a sly smile.

I felt a shiver run down my spine at the thought of being dared to kiss Rio. I was glad Persephone hadn’t dared me to do it in front of everyone. But another time, when Rio and I were all alone, on the beach, under the stars … who knew what might happen? I got goosebumps just thinking about it.

‘We should have another round of Truth or Dare,’ Rio said, getting to his feet. ‘Next time, you can come to our beach.’