Missing by Gabrielle Lord Page B

too much fun and I’d forgotten to limp enough.
Idiot
, I scolded myself.
    â€˜Seems to have gone quite a lot,’ she said, giving me an enquiring look. ‘And there’s something else. You seem—I don’t know …’
    â€˜Come on,’ I said, not liking the direction of the conversation. ‘Do you feel like a swim?’
    The rest of the time, I dutifully watched onwith my ‘sprained’ ankle as most kids went windsurfing or rock climbing. Damien had organised team sports with Dean, the counsellor who’d been so suspicious about me at the fence earlier. He seemed to be Damien’s second-in-command.
    At lunchtime, I’d managed to stash some food into my backpack for Ryan. Afterwards, I watched a game of soccer, resisting the temptation to join in. Sophie saw me on the sidelines and came over to me.
    â€˜Hey, Ryan! Wanna watch that movie you mentioned yesterday?’
    â€˜I–I forgot which one you mean,’ I said lamely.
    â€˜The one you were going to get out of the DVD library. You were raving about it!’
    â€˜I never told you what a bad memory I have, did I? I’m really sorry. Let’s go and choose something else. Your pick this time.’
    â€˜OK,’ she said slowly. ‘Come over to the library and we can watch it this afternoon.’
    â€˜Man, I’m sorry. I can’t do that. There’s something else I need to do.’
    â€˜Need to do? Like what? Collect seashells?’ she joked.
    â€˜It’s something personal,’ I said.
    Sophie gave me a puzzled look. ‘What is it with you? I thought we were going to be friends, but now I’m not so sure.’
    She walked away without a word, heading for the girls’ dormitory. I wanted to call out to her, but thought better of it. I needed to head to Ryan’s hide-out, deliver my food package to him, check his ankle and be back in time for evening rollcall. I glanced at my watch. It had been a really hot, tropical day, but now clouds were piling up and it looked like we might be in for a storm later in the evening.
    I felt bad about the conversation with Sophie and how I’d gotten off to a shaky start with her. Maybe Ryan could give me some tips about recent conversations so that I wouldn’t put my foot in it so much.
    I waited until Dean had turned the corner of the tall fence and disappeared before I walked off away from the resort compound, heading for the out-of-bounds flags.
    As I neared the flags, a voice yelled behind me. ‘Hey! You there! Where do you think you’re going?’
    Damn! I’d been spotted. And by Dean, of all people. Now what? I turned and looked as innocent as I could. ‘What’s the problem?’ I asked. ‘I’m just going for a walk.’
    â€˜With a backpack? Let’s have a look. What’s in there?’
    Oh no. Even though I had the satellite phoneand my mobile hidden under the false bottom, he would find the food I had packed for Ryan. I had to think fast.
    â€˜Just some of my stuff,’ I said, ‘and a bit of food.’
    He yanked my backpack open and peered into it, pulling out the food parcel that I’d wrapped up in paper serviettes, holding up the bananas. ‘A
bit
of food? What’s all this for? You’re taking food to those kids in the jungle!’
    â€˜No way, man. I get really hungry between meals. There’s no law against taking extra fruit and stuff from the dining room.’
    â€˜You were heading for the out-of-bounds area with a backpack full of food. Come with me and explain it to Damien.’
    He was pulling out his two-way handset when I heard another voice—Sophie. My heart sank. What if she said something about how different I was? I’d told her that I had something personal planned. Stealing food for the runaways, she’d think. My mind was working overtime, trying to find plausible excuses.
    Instead, to my complete surprise,