By the time Bruno and Simon had helped the girls to carry their kit up to the tents, Alex was already standing on the highest outcrop, waiting. The pool seven or eight metres below him was dark and still, but the afternoon sun lit up the cliff and enveloped his tanned, muscular body in gold.

Bruno, Simon and the girls stayed where they were. None of them had ever jumped from the top, or even the next outcrop down, but they knew there was a protruding rock only a few centimetres beneath the surface directly below. Just like all the others who had ever swum in the quarry, they had heard and passed on tales of broken arms and legs thanks to jumps from the lower levels that had gone wrong. They knew that if you jumped from the very top, where Alex was standing now, the tiniest mistake carried with it the risk of death.

‘Go on – jump!’ Marie shouted. Alex didn’t move. It was obvious that he was intending to savour the moment for as long as possible.

‘Get a move on Alex – jump!’ Bruno yelled.

Carina demonstratively turned away, crouched down and started rummaging in her rucksack for cigarettes. However, she couldn’t help glancing up at Alex.

‘Jump, jump . . .’ Bruno, Simon and Marie started chanting, and eventually Carina stood up. She shaded her eyes with her hand, but said nothing.

That movement appeared to be what Alex had been waiting for. He took a deep breath and held it, stretched his arms straight out in front of him. Swayed briefly on tiptoe, then pushed off with all his strength and hurled himself into the air. At the apex of his trajectory he folded his body in half like a pocket knife. Straightened out the second before his fingers touched the water and broke the surface with hardly a splash. His entry was almost perfect; a series of rings slowly rippled all the way to the edges of the quarry.

The four friends stood motionless, their eyes fixed on the centre of those rings. There was no sign of Alex. The rings faded away. The water became still. Bruno felt a hard knot in his stomach.

‘Do you think he’s . . .?’ Marie didn’t finish the question. She exchanged an anxious glance with Simon, then Bruno. Carina took a hesitant step towards the edge of the rock, then another.

‘Alex!’ she called out. ‘Alex . . .’

A second later the surface broke and Alex’s head shot up. He took a noisy breath, then raised his arms and let out a roar of victory that ricocheted off the walls of the quarry.

Carina turned to Marie, jerking her head angrily in the direction of the water.

‘What did I tell you? An immature fucking idiot!’