Tony makes a dog-woofing noise and points at me. “Hey! Daniel the spaniel thinks he’s the big man now! Deke, tell him who’s the real boss!”

Deke ignores him. He wipes the rain off his dripping nose and strides to the path. Like if he’s first in line, that makes him the leader. Which means he has to deal with the bristly bushes, and be the first to duck under snagging tree branches, and trip on roots hidden beneath damp leaves. At one point, he has a look like What have I got myself into? but he keeps on going. Mia second, then me and Imani, and Tony bringing up the rear. He doesn’t look happy, probably because Deke has been as snarky with him as he has been to the rest of us.

“How long is this going to take?” Tony wants to know, his voice almost breaking.

“As long as it takes!” Deke barks out from the front.

Mia shakes her head, but keeps her mouth shut. You can tell she’s thinking, calculating the best way to handle the situation. If any of us are born leaders, it’s her. Not because she’s bossy—she’s not—but because she thinks things through.

I wish Deke would see it her way, but that’s never going to happen. It’s all about him, and not about us, that’s the difference.

Hard to know what time of day it is, with the clouds blocking out the sun, but Tony has a strap-on Disney wristwatch, so when he announces that it’s noon, I believe him. “Twelve p.m. Lunchtime! I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.”

Mia ignores him, and keeps trudging along.

“Did you hear me? Time to stop for lunch. I’m hungry enough to eat a bowl of freeze-dried boogers!”

Everybody laughs, including Deke. It may be gross, but it’s also funny. Especially if you’ve seen the ingredients before the boiled water gets poured over them.

“Sorry,” Mia says. “Only ten meals left. We can’t have three meals a day. One meal, that’s it.”

Deke stops striding and turns to face her. “You know what I heard? Girls have an extra layer of fat, so they can survive longer without food. So, it’s only fair that the boys get more.”

Mia ignores that, tries to get around him. He blocks her.

“What do you say, girly whirl? What does your extra layer of fat say?”

I shout, “Hey! Let her go!”

Deke gives me a long look. Finally, he says, “We’re on the same side, Danny boy. Aren’t we?”

We’re not and he knows it, but he’s daring me to take him on. He’s a head taller and built like an athlete. Me, I’m a skinny bean in blurred glasses. A kid who’s always managed to avoid a fight.

Until now.