How to Get to Rio (19 page)

‘You were in there a long time.’

‘Still.’ Persephone stared at the picture a while longer. ‘I think you’re falling for Rio, too.’

‘You think?’ I flipped through the pages of the sketch pad, revealing the many faces of Rio Sanchez.

‘Wow! Look at all those drawings of Rio!’

I nodded. ‘Guilty as charged.’

‘You should give him one. He’d really love that.’

I shook my head. ‘No way. Then I’d totally look like a weirdo stalker.’ I took my sketch pad, closed it and put it back under my pillow.

‘Your choice,’ Persephone said, resting back on her pillow.

‘Are you going to give Jordan that poem?’ I asked.

Persephone rolled over. ‘Are you joking? He’d think I was into myself and a total weirdo stalker.’ She laughed. ‘I get your point. Some things are best kept between besties.’

I felt my heart skip a beat at her calling us ‘besties’. My stupid sprained ankle lie could have ruined things between us, but she’d been really understanding.

I wondered how Mia and Izzy would have dealt with my ankle. I knew they would have been nice to me, but they would have struggled to sit still because I was injured.

‘You know,’ Persephone began, propping herself on her elbow. ‘We’ve been coming here for ten years and we’ve never rented a catamaran. What do you think about sailing tomorrow morning?’

‘A catamaran?’ I repeated, trying not to get anxious. I seemed to be having an unlucky streak. I sprained my ankle just walking across the rocks. I could only imagine how much trouble I’d get into on a boat.

‘Yeah,’ Persephone said enthusiastically. ‘Tori never wanted to go sailing, but I think it’d be really cool.’ She looked at me seriously. ‘You’d just have to sit on the boat and look pretty. Of course, if you think you’re not up to it …’

I didn’t know if Persephone threw in Tori’s name intentionally or whether it was just coincidental, but it went off like a mini bomb. If I said no to the sailing trip, I’d be just like Tori – no fun at all. And Tori was the last person I wanted to be like. I wanted to be lots of fun, even with a sprained ankle.

‘Sounds cool,’ I said, smiling.

‘Really?’ Persephone cried. ‘Even though you’ve got a sprained ankle, you still want to go?’

‘I’m very good at sitting.’

‘And looking pretty,’ Persephone added. ‘And it’ll be a lot easier than water-skiing or learning to stand up on a paddleboard.’

I laughed. ‘That’s true.’

We stayed up half of the night talking more about guys and love and everything in between. We wrote acrostic poems, and I drew a picture of Jordan in a blazing building and Persephone coming to save him on a water-spitting dragon. She tucked that under her pillow with her notebook.

I told Persephone all about Izzy and Mia – and the more I talked about them, the more I missed them and wished that we could all be holidaying together. Persephone couldn’t wait to meet them for lunch at the sushi train tomorrow. I was excited too, but I was also nervous. I had to explain my lie to them. I wished I had just told them the truth in the first place, then maybe I wouldn’t have a sprained ankle for real!

‘I like how they wanted to surprise you about The Lost World. Only besties would do that,’ Persephone said.

‘It was sweet of them,’ I agreed. ‘But I’m glad I got to hang out with you, too.’

By the time we finally fell asleep, I knew everything about Persephone and she knew all about me. We even had a secret handshake. And I knew I now had three besties.

I was the luckiest girl in the world.

There was a soft breeze blowing the next morning as we strapped ourselves into life vests at the catamaran rental place. I hobbled down to the water’s edge as Persephone, Jordan and Rio dragged the boat across the sand. I was a bit worried about going out with an injured ankle, but then I thought about how cool it was to be going sailing – on our own!

Once the boat was in the water, I climbed on board and waited while the rental guy went through all the instructions about sailing. I didn’t listen too carefully because Persephone knew what she was doing.

Captain Persephone had everything sorted, even the seating arrangements. ‘Rio, I need you on that side to start off with,’ she said, pointing to a space beside me. ‘I’m on the tiller, and Jordan, you can be on the headsail.’

‘The what?’ Jordan asked.

‘Sit next to me and I’ll explain as we go along,’ Persephone said, smiling.

When the catamaran rental guy gave us the all-clear, Persephone grabbed the tiller thing that steers the boat, and handed Jordan a rope and told him to pull. Seconds later, we were flying over the swells. The beach was fast disappearing behind us, and the cloudless horizon was up ahead. It was just the four of us on the wide blue ocean. It was so exhilarating I almost forgot my ankle completely. All I could think of was Rio, sitting just a metre away, the wind blowing his hair and the sun on his face.

‘This is the life!’ Persephone yelled.

I grinned at her and she smiled back. Even in a yellow life jacket, she managed to look cool and cute.

‘When did you learn to sail?’ I asked.

‘I did a two-day course last year,’ she explained. ‘I learnt all the basics. How to sail, what to do if you capsize and all that. But this is the first time I’ve actually been sailing since the course.’

I smiled. ‘You make it look easy.’

‘This part is easy. Here, you have a go. Take the tiller.’

I shook my head. ‘Oh, no. I can’t sail.’

‘Come on,’ Persephone urged.

The guys watched anxiously as I shuffled over beside Persephone and took control.

‘See that headland,’ she said. ‘Just aim for it. Pull left to go right and right to go left.’

I had a momentary panic working out my right and left. ‘What if I hit a reef, or a boat? Or a whale?’ I asked. I didn’t want to put everyone’s life in danger if I screwed up.

‘Don’t worry,’ Persephone said with a laugh. ‘Just relax.’

I scanned the bay anxiously. There were a few fishing boats, way out further, and a few guys on surf skis, closer to the beach, but we had clear water all the way to the headland.

‘Is it whale season?’ I asked.

‘Nope, that’s winter,’ Jordan answered.

‘What about reefs? Are there any out there?’

Rio shook his head. ‘We’d see waves if there were any reefs.’

‘Looks all right then.’ I took a breath and felt myself relax.

‘It really is quite easy,’ I said a little later when I still hadn’t hit anything, or ruined the boat. Maybe my luck was changing.

We all took turns steering the boat as we soared towards the headland. While Persephone ran though some of the finer points of sailing with Jordan, Rio and I lay at the front of the boat. We were on the ‘tramp’, as Persephone called it, which was exactly like a real trampoline, slung from one side of the catamaran to the other. It was perfect for lazing on. We lay side by side, our hands trailing in the water, ‘like shark bait’, according to Jordan.

‘You know, I was worried about falling overboard and drowning with my stupid sprained ankle,’ I told Rio. ‘I was really nervous about coming out today.’

For some reason I thought back to when I first saw The Lads on the beach. I’d been so excited, and they’d turned out to be such losers. Now I felt stupid for even thinking Pit was cute.

Rio was so completely different to those guys. And the way I felt about him was totally different, too. I didn’t want to give the feeling a name in case I spoiled it, but I just knew it was really special.

Rio looked at me, and I had to look away and stare at the sea for a moment. He was so cute that I couldn’t even look at him. Rio’s hand was trailing in the water and I had an overwhelming urge to be closer to him. I watched as my hand moved nearer to his. It was like seeing someone else’s hand move, until my fingertips touched his skin and an electric charge ran right through my body. I glanced up at Rio’s eyes. It looked like he felt it, too.

‘You have nice eyes,’ he said. ‘What colour would you say they are?’

‘Well, my little sister says they’re baby poo,’ I told him.

Rio’s mouth smiled, but his eyes seemed to stay serious. ‘I think they’re sea green.’ He smiled again and this time his whole face lit up.

And then I knew it. This was what it was like to be in love.

Go back and choose all over again!

‘Truth,’ I said loudly, trying to sound confident.

‘Truth, hey?’ Persephone said, stroking her chin. ‘Now let me see …’

I giggled nervously.

‘C’mon!’ Izzy coaxed. ‘You’re killing us here.’

Persephone took a big dramatic breath. ‘So, you’re ready to tell the truth, Kitty?’

I nodded, my heart thumping. I’d told enough white lies this holiday. Now I was ready to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I shot a glance at Rio. He smiled back at me.

‘We’ll know if you’re lying,’ Persephone warned me.

‘Okay,’ I said, wondering why I ever wanted to play Truth or Dare.

‘What’s … two plus two?’

Everyone laughed, except me. TC even fell over backwards he thought it was so funny.

‘Four?’

Persephone clapped. ‘Well done,’ she said. ‘That was just a practice round. Now for the real question. Are you ready?’