‘No.’ Connor was adamant. Hailey was scared of the dark.

‘Wait.’ Hailey touched his arm to silence him. ‘So… I just reach the bottom and stay there?’ she asks Tyler. ‘I don’t need to go into the caves?’

‘Nope,’ Tyler said.

‘And you three will wait here?’

‘Yep.’

‘And if I want to come back up, you’ll fetch me out.’

‘You have my word.’ Tyler placed a palm across his heart.

‘It sounds pretty simple to me,’ Hailey said, but there was a touch of apprehension in her voice.

‘It is.’ Tyler grinned. ‘What could possibly go wrong?’

Tyler was more safety conscious than Connor had expected him to be. For all the talk of treating Hailey as one of the boys, he took extra care fastening the rope around a tree. Making sure Hailey had her harness on correctly. Still, Connor didn’t want Hailey to do it.

‘Where’s the helmet?’ he asked.

‘I couldn’t get one but she’s not going into the tunnels so there’ll be nothing for her to bang her head on.’

Connor wasn’t happy. They stood apart from Ryan and Tyler. ‘Listen.’ He placed his hands on her shoulders. Could feel the tremble in her body. ‘You have nothing to prove.’

‘Not to you maybe.’ She flashed a glance at the other boys.

‘Not to anyone.’

‘I want your friends to like me. I know you’re not spending as much time with them because of me and—’

‘They do like you, and even if they didn’t, I wouldn’t care. I. Like. You.’ Connor rubbed his nose against hers.

‘Just like?’

Connor hesitated. He felt the words, he felt them in his heart, but he’d never said them. ‘More than like. Look, Hailey. We’re not kids and this stupid dare stuff is just something we did when we were bored and now… I’d rather just be with you. Don’t feel pressured.’

Hailey’s face was pale, worried.

‘Decision time!’ Tyler said. Ryan’s eyes were fixed on her.

She turned to him. ‘I’m not sure I can do this,’ she whispered.

‘You can.’ He believed she could do anything. ‘But that doesn’t mean you should. Let’s just go—’

‘Fifteen minutes.’ She huffed out air. ‘Fifteen minutes and then we get the room. And then you—’ she touched his chest with her index finger ‘—get me.’

A slow smile crept over Connor’s face.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. Right, let’s get this done.’ She wrapped her arms around Connor’s neck and pressed the body she had promised him against his. ‘I love you,’ she whispered in his ear.