Warren groaned. He cut a glance at Rhys, who nodded and reached for the radio on his belt.

‘Sunray red one, this is red three, over,’ Rhys said, fiddling with call buttons as he moved towards the women’s bathroom. Then Warren galloped off and I didn’t know what to do.

I had to tell someone about Jake, but I didn’t think Joe was the right person.

The boys around me were panting and speechless. Most were flat on their backs. ‘My knee,’ Flynn whined. ‘My knee hurts…’ Beside him, Zac licked the last drops of water out of a bottle.

‘Where’s Shaun?’ I asked.

It was Joe who answered. ‘Looking for Jake,’ he said, scanning the platoon. ‘More to the point, where’s Darren?’

I glanced around. No Aaron. I was about to ask where they’d been when I heard the distant sputter of an outboard.

Joe heard it too. We locked eyes. Connor sat up. Rhys turned. A few heads lifted.

Joe and I both moved towards the jetty.

‘Stay with them!’ Joe told Rhys. I was already in front, but Joe soon caught up. The motor on my tinny was still turning over, again and again.

‘It’s all right,’ I said. ‘There’s no fuel.’ To discourage joyriders, I only ever attached a fuel tank when I needed to go somewhere.

Joe had pulled ahead. He was closing in on Aaron, who was crouched in my boat, yanking at the starter cord.

‘Darren!’ Joe shouted. He hit the jetty, his footsteps sounding hollow on the wooden planks. Aaron tugged desperately at the cord—once, twice, three times.

‘There’s no fuel!’ I bellowed. He must have heard me because he started fumbling around for the oars. But then Joe reached him as I hit the surf.

I waded in, hoping to grab the boat and steady it.

‘Darren? Mate? Leave it alone,’ Joe said breathlessly, hanging off the jetty ladder. ‘It won’t work. You’ve got no petrol.’

Aaron was shaking. I knew he was scared; he looked wild. Frantic. He needed reassurance and it had to come from me.

‘Aaron?’ I grabbed the engine’s tiller handle and looked him straight in the eye. ‘I won’t say anything, okay? You don’t have to panic.’

He stared at me. Joe was babbling on about proper channels and dead ends, but I wasn’t listening. Neither was Aaron.

‘Joe?’ I said. ‘Can we have a minute, please?’

Joe shut up. There was a brief pause. ‘All right.’

I was still watching Aaron when I heard the clomp of Joe’s boots on the jetty. I waited until the hollow thuds were replaced by the crunch of dirt underfoot. Then I told Aaron, ‘You’re sixteen now. You can decide where you want to live. I’m not going to talk about this, so no one will get in trouble. Okay?’