The bag of sunflower seeds came back around, and Abi snatched it from Cora without even looking at her. Then she stuffed it back into her rucksack.
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you,” she said, standing, “but I’m not staying out here without water. Without any way of contacting the outside world.”
Mason dropped his head between his knees, and gave a sort of sniff. Not a laugh, but not far off. Which, I have to admit, was getting a bit annoying. The way he refused to take anything seriously.
“What?” said Abi. “What’s so funny, Mason?”
Mason looked up. “The outside world,” he said. “Jesus, Abi. We’re not exactly in the middle of the Amazon. And you’ve only been awake an hour. You can’t be that thirsty.”
“Like, hello?” Abi said, and I have to say she was getting pretty annoying, too. But I guess the others would probably have said the same thing about me. It was like I was saying about Abi and Cora . . . We were all tired, and hungry, and, yes, thirsty, so I suppose it was only natural that we’d start getting on each other’s nerves. But, “Hello?” Abi said. “I haven’t had anything to drink for almost twelve hours. My pee just now was bright yellow.”
Mason scrunched up his face. “I thought pee was supposed to be yellow?”
Which made me laugh. Not because it was particularly funny. Just . . . just because, I guess.
“I think your pee’s supposed to be white, dude,” I said. “Not white, but . . . you know. Clear.”
“Seriously?” Mason said, and I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or not. Abi was standing there openmouthed.
“Dylan had purple pee once,” said Luke. “And not just a little bit purple. Purple like . . . like a lightsaber or something. Like Samuel L. Jackson in The Phantom Menace.”
“What the hell?” I said, not sure whether to smile or frown. Luke didn’t seem sure, either.
“This was like, two summers ago. He started crying the second he saw it, and he ran to find our mum and dad.” Now Luke’s face set in a scowl. “They totally ignored him,” he said. “They were heading out to one of Sadie’s shows. I mean, they weren’t even late. They had time. They could have . . .” Luke shook his head. “I don’t know. But they could have listened to him at least. Instead they just left, and told me to tell Dylan to stop making up stories.”
I shared a glance with Mason, and waited for Luke to go on.
“He burst into tears again the second they left. So I made him take me to the toilet to show me what he meant. And he wasn’t kidding. The water in the bowl was practically neon. So I . . . I took him to A&E. I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do. I was worried he might have kidney failure or something.”
“What did they say?” I asked. “The doctors, I mean.”
Luke sniffed, like what he was telling us should have been funny. “They asked Dylan what he’d been eating. Which, it turned out, included a Slush Puppie. Three of them, actually. Not actual Slush Puppies. The fake kind they sell at the end of the pier, which are basically made of nuclear waste. He’d stolen some money from my dad’s wallet and pretended when he bought them that they were for him and his friends.”
I gave a snort. I couldn’t help it. I noticed Mason grinning, too, and in the end even Luke cracked a smile.
“Man,” I said. “What I wouldn’t give for a Slush Puppie right now. Cherry flavor, with two fingers of strawberry at the top.”
“Raspberry,” said Mason. “All the way. But right now I’d settle for lemon-and-lime.”
“Or just a Sprite,” Cora suggested. “Squash, Ribena, anything. As long as it’s cold.”
There was a noise like someone being strangled, and we turned to see Abi making fists at her sides. “Will all of you please just stop?” she said. “It’s like you’re deliberately trying to make things worse!” She folded her arms and turned her back.
I caught something in Mason’s smile then. I mean, I guess I was smiling a bit, too, but something about Mason’s expression seemed . . . I don’t know. Different somehow. Cruel.
Cora got to her feet. “So?” she said. “What’s it to be?”
“Well,” I said, when nobody else spoke. “We obviously have to find something to drink. Except . . .” I glanced at the stream. “There isn’t anything to drink out here. So I don’t see that we really have any choice.” I looked at Luke, who dropped his head. He was thinking about Sadie, obviously. About leaving her out there. Not that we knew where she was, but there was no getting away from it: going home meant giving up.
“You’re kidding,” said Mason. “Right?”
The rest of us were already standing. Even Luke, after I’d offered him my hand.
“You’re turning tail already?” Mason went on, rising now, too. “Even though we’ve only just started?” He glared—at me in particular.
“It was always the plan to head back today anyway,” I said, giving him a lopsided shrug.
“I told you before, that wasn’t my plan,” said Mason. “That’s just what you and Cora cooked up between yourselves.”
“Cooked up?” said Cora. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We can’t stay out here forever, Mase,” I said, trying to be appeasing. “Apart from anything, our parents will have realized we’re missing. My mum will have, anyway.”
“I thought you told her you were staying over at mine?” said Mason.
“No, I did, but—”
“So there you go then. She won’t start worrying at least until this evening. And none of the rest of our parents are going
