Those eyes were watching her as they passed, as she knew they would be. She returned his smile. He bared his crooked teeth, his joy infectious, his happiness at seeing her so genuine. The problem wasn’t that he was dopier than a sheep, it was that she’d recently found out he’d done wrong by her dad. It didn’t matter that he was hot and authentic and treated her right – she was loyal to her dad first. She had to break up with him. The thought made her sad, but she liked the buzz of vengeance.

When the Fab Four sat down in home group there was excitement in the air. The mountain camp was part of the compulsory Outdoor Education curriculum of Year 10 PE, although these days they split up the boys and girls as it had been too difficult to keep them out of each other’s tents. The boys had gone last week, so now they were sitting on the girls’ desks and telling them about the strange noises they’d heard in the dark up there.

‘Like a demon. Low, rasping. It whispered things to me . . .’ Tyler Cabot flicked back his hair.

‘Oh, really?’ said Cierra, eyebrows disappearing up into her blue fringe. ‘And what did it tell you?’

‘It said, “Cierra thinks you’re hot, and she’s thinking of you right now . . . in her bed . . . her lights off . . .”’

‘Ah, I get it, you were dreaming,’ said Cierra. ‘Did you wake up with something sticky in your Spider-Man undies?’

The boys hooted like monkeys. Tyler grinned. ‘Why don’t you check?’ He pulled out the front of his shorts.

‘Ewwww,’ Cierra squealed. Georgia dry-retched, hiding her face in Madison’s shoulder.

‘Nah, I’ll tell you what I heard,’ said Jye Calloway, his school shirt unbuttoned to bare his singlet. ‘Coming from Mr Michaels’ tent . . . it was Miss Ellis’s voice.’ He thudded his palm against Jasmine’s desk and started groaning. ‘Oh, Jack! Oh . . . JACK!’

The boys fell about laughing again.

Jasmine didn’t think it was that funny.

It was lucky none of the teachers had heard. Mr North, the PE teacher, was sitting with the footy boys, chatting, and Miss Ellis was marking attendance on her computer at the front of the room. As well as Homegroup, she took Literacy and History, although a district school had to make do with what it had and she taught other things too when called upon. She wore her hair in a stylish ponytail with a red ribbon and large hoop earrings – which were not at all practical for a bushwalk, but she almost always wore them. She’d once given the Fab Four a little lesson on ‘Big Hoop Energy’, and after that Cierra had gone for months only wearing hoop earrings.