A long time passed. Without watches or phones, it was hard to tell if it was hours, or just very slow minutes. Sometimes Alice and Grace chatted a bit. I didn’t say much though. I couldn’t stop thinking about Melissa, and how horrible my life would be if she came to our school.
What if she got put into my class?
What if I had to look at her every minute of every day?
What if she made everyone hate me?
It would be like a nightmare – except that it would be true, and I’d never, ever get to wake up.
* * *
After a while, I fell asleep. I dreamed I was at home, playing with Rosie and Domino, and listening to Mum getting dinner ready in the kitchen. Then Dad came home and we all sat down to dinner, and even though the dinner was a big bowl of organic porridge, with no sugar on it, it was a nice dream.
When I woke up, it was still pitch dark. I was stiff and cold. My feet had poked out from under the blanket, and I felt like I had two blocks of ice strapped to the end of my legs. I tried to rub them back to life, but it wasn’t easy, since my hands were cold too.
Beside me, Alice woke up. ‘Hey, Meg,’ she said. ‘You OK?’
I shook my head sadly. ‘No. Not really. I’m freezing. I thought this was supposed to be a warm country.’
Alice leaned down and a second later she pushed something into my hand.
‘Here,’ she said. ‘Take these.’
‘Your socks?’ I whispered. ‘But you need them.’
‘I’m fine,’ she whispered. ‘I come from a long line of tough kids. Now put them on, while they’re still warm.’
I didn’t argue any more. I pulled the socks on, and wiggled my toes. Normally, I don’t think a whole lot about socks, but now I felt like Alice had given me the best present ever.
‘Thanks, Al,’ I whispered.
‘That’s OK,’ she whispered back. ‘Any time.’
Then we cuddled together and slept some more.
* * *
When I woke up again, the sky was turning grey-blue. Next to me, Grace opened her eyes.
‘It’s morning,’ she said. ‘Sort of. How do you feel?’
‘Hungry. Cold. Stiff. Bored.’
The two of us stood up. I tucked the blanket around Alice who was in a deep sleep, and walked over to the edge of the balcony. Below us, everything was quiet. I could see the trees waving gently in the breeze, and far away beyond them, the sea was grey and cold-looking.
‘Why did your parents have to buy the biggest villa?’ I moaned. ‘The one that’s miles away from everyone and everything?’
‘It seemed like a good idea at the time.’
‘I don’t suppose you’re expecting a cleaner, or a pool guy or anything to show up this morning?’
She shook her head. ‘The cleaner won’t come until after we leave tomorrow, and the pool man only comes every few days – and he was here yesterday. Sorry, Megan, but until Gavin shows up after his romantic date, it looks like this balcony is going to be our home.’
Just then, Alice woke up. ‘Any news?’ she asked hopefully.
‘Not unless you’re expecting something by carrier pigeon,’ said Grace, as a seagull flew past, squawking loudly.
Alice sighed and pulled the blanket over her head. ‘Wake me when it’s all over,’ she said.
I stood at the edge of the balcony for a long time. The sky turned bluer, and the sun came out. From inside the bedroom, we could hear the ping of a text arriving in Grace’s phone.
‘That’s probably Gavin, texting to say that he’s going to spend another night with Robyn and her mean cousins,’ said Alice poking her head out from under her blanket. ‘And soon we’ll hear Lorna ringing the landline to say that Eddie has to spend another night in the hospital, and that she’s going to stay with him, and they’ll be so busy, they won’t worry about us not replying, and we’ll be stuck here for another day and a night. Maybe they’ll all fly back home without us, and we’ll die here, cold and alone.’
‘Hey, Al,’ I said as I went over to hug her. ‘It’s not like you to be so negative.’
And then I remembered. ‘You’re hungry, aren’t you?’
She nodded. Alice is always really cross when she’s hungry.
‘Maybe we could catch a seagull, and it could lay us an egg,’ I said, trying to make her smile. It didn’t work.
‘Yum,’ she said. ‘A raw seagull’s egg, that’s just what I’ve been dreaming of all night.’
‘Pancakes,’ sighed Grace. ‘I just might kill someone for a big plate of pancakes with bananas and chocolate spread. Or even one of your er … creative sandwiches, Alice. I’d eat one of those now, if only I had the chance.’
I didn’t think I was all that desperate. Then I remembered that I’d been dreaming of a bowl of my mum’s organic porridge and I understood how hungry I was too.
After a bit, a small patch of sunshine spread across the corner of the balcony. Alice crawled out from under the blanket, and we dragged the couch over, so we could warm our legs.
‘No sun cream, Megan?’ said Alice. ‘What would your mum say? Maybe you should move into the shade?’
I sighed, and stretched my legs out further into the sun. ‘I’m going to risk it,’ I said. ‘And Mum might just forgive me for sunbathing without factor 1,000 on my skin – if it saves me from dying of the cold.’
Suddenly Grace jumped up. ‘OMG,’ she said. ‘Look over there, on the beach path – beyond the trees. There’s people walking.’
Alice and I jumped up too. ‘We’re saved’ she said. ‘We’re saved. We’re not going to starve to death on this balcony after all.’
She started to jump up and down and scream. ‘Over here. We’re over here. We’re trapped on this balcony. Come and rescue us.’
‘You might as well save your voice,’ said Grace. ‘They’re too far away. They’ll never hear us.’
‘But we can’t just let them get away,’ I said. ‘We have to do something.’
Alice turned around and picked up the blanket and started to wave it madly in the air. It would have been funny, if I hadn’t so desperately wanted it to work. And then, amazingly, one of the people stopped walking.
‘They’ve seen us,’ I whispered. ‘They’ve definitely seen us.’
The other people stopped walking too. They were really far away, so it was hard to tell for sure, but it looked like they were looking at us. Alice was going crazy. She was waving the blanket so wildly, I was afraid she was going to fly away.
I was starting to think how stupid we were going to sound when the rescuers got here.
And whether they’d be able to get a key from José, so we could finally get off the balcony.
And if they’d ask hard questions about why we were home alone.
And what I was going to have for breakfast.
And then I saw something terrible.
‘They’re waving at us,’ said Grace. ‘I can’t believe they’re just waving at us.’
‘They think we’re only being friendly,’ said Alice.
She was right. Each of the faraway figures gave a few waves, and then they turned and continued to walk. A minute later, they were gone, hidden by the trees on the side of the path.
Alice, Grace and I sat on the couch again. For a minute we’d been hopeful, and now that that hope was gone, I felt even worse than I had before. I felt like one of the balloons at Jamie’s party – all pathetic and deflated and sad.
‘I wonder what time Gavin will get here,’ said Alice.
‘I wonder how mad Mum and Dad are going to be,’ said Grace.
‘Maybe they’ll feel so sorry for us that they won’t be mad at all,’ I said.
‘Yeah, you‘re right, Megan,’ said Grace. ‘They might feel sorry for us – in about a hundred years time, when they’ve finished being mad. I should never have lied to them. They’re cool about lots of stuff but they hate lies. Lying is the one thing that drives them totally crazy.’
Alice leaned over and hugged her. ‘The three of us were in on it,’ she said. ‘We’ll all share the blame.’
‘Of course we will,’ I said.
‘Thanks, guys,’ said Grace. ‘That’s nice of you.’ But I could see that our words hadn’t made her feel any better.
The three of us sat there, like criminals waiting for a judge to arrive to tell us how long our prison sentence was going to be.