Spear fishing was as hard as Devin had imagined it would be, and she hadn’t even thrown her spear at anything yet. The swirling water was so brown and muddy that she couldn’t see a thing.
Eva gave her a hopeful double-thumbs-up from the ridge. She and Jahmin had been detailed to find dry wood for the fire. They were expecting to be cooking something soon. Devin jabbed her spear between her feet in frustration. Apart from everything else, she was so sick of being wet.
She decided to head downriver over the flat to the stream that Jahmin had crossed. The current wouldn’t be as fierce or the water as deep. The visibility might be better too. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation. Using her spear like a walking stick, she set off.
Jahmin was in no mood to look for wood. ‘It’s all going to be wet,’ he complained. ‘Typical. Longest, hottest summer on record and the minute we find ourselves lost in the bush, it pisses down.’
Eva sighed. Although Jahmin had worked hard to lose his spoiled brat status, sometimes his heritage won out and the spoiled brat reasserted itself with a vengeance.
‘You have to look under bushes and things,’ she said. ‘There’ll be some. Devin said mānuka burns even when it’s wet.’
‘What does mānuka look like?’
‘Dunno.’
‘I’m not even hungry.’
‘Well, I am, so put a bloody lid on it, would you?’
Jahmin watched Devin make her way along the riverbank.
‘What’s the deal with you and Devin, anyway?’
‘Huh?’
‘You guys being nice to her. It’s … different. I never heard her talk so much before.’
‘I know, right?’
Eva headed off towards a little cluster of trees, Jahmin following, wearing his wet sneakers and grey shorts, irritably tugging at the tight sleeves of Mandy’s pink cardy. It was way too small for him, but it was the only piece of clothing that was dry and available, so it would have to do. He’d quite enjoyed making everyone laugh when he’d put his outfit on earlier, but now he just felt ridiculous.
‘She saved us. She didn’t care that we weren’t friends or anything. She helped us. She’s a good person.’
‘I haven’t talked to her for like, years.’
‘I know, me neither. I’ve been thinking about it heaps. Everyone ostracising her and stuff. And I have this theory. It was a habit. Just a really bad habit. You know? We gave her those screwed-up names and they stuck to her, and soon all we saw were the names and not the person. Like Budget Brand baked beans, right? It’s just baked beans, who cares. But you’re not going to buy budget, cos if it says it’s budget, then it is budget. But really? At the end of the day, it’s still baked beans.’
Jahmin clapped in mock awe. ‘Awesome analogy, Evs.’
Eva inclined her head graciously. ‘Thank you.’
‘She was pretty weird, though. It wasn’t like we didn’t like her for no reason.’
‘Yeah, but they were dumb reasons. So she was a bit thick when it came to schoolwork and stuff. She wasn’t the only one. And so what if she looked a bit … rough. Her mum died when she was little. She was brought up by her dad. She never learnt about clothes and haircuts and stuff.’
‘She used to eat hedgehogs. Remember?’
‘She doesn’t any more. And you used to eat bagels with cream cheese and smoked fish. No one teased you.’
‘You did. “Fish breath, stink breath,” as I recall.’
‘Oh, that’s right, blame me. Everyone called you that.’
‘You started it.’
‘Someone had to.’
They had reached the trees. Beneath them the ground was almost dry. It was littered with long, papery tī tree leaves and fallen sticks. Eva gestured expansively. ‘What’d I tell you?’
As they headed back to the hut with as many sticks and tī tree leaves as they could carry, Eva said, ‘It’s Rocky I’m worried about. His leg is munted.’
‘Yeah, it’s not too pretty. Devin did a good job, though.’
‘Lucky for him. There was no way I was going to touch it.’
They found Rocky sprawled outside the shelter, enjoying the sunshine.
‘What do you reckon about moving up there?’ Jahmin suggested, gesturing back towards the trees. ‘It’s more sheltered. Firewood too.’
Eva dumped her heavy bundle on the ground. ‘Why didn’t you say that before and save us a trip?’
Jahmin grinned. ‘Thought you might need the exercise.’
Before Eva could retaliate, Rocky cut in. ‘All good, bro. Not now though, ay? I’ve only just got outside.’
‘Sweet as. Rest up. We’ve got all day.’
Jahmin fetched a few rocks from the riverside, set them into a perfectly round circle and stacked the wood and tī tree leaves into a little pyramid in the exact centre.
‘That’s how they do it in the cowboy movies,’ he said with satisfaction. He slotted another rock into place and stepped back to admire his handiwork.
Rocky smiled. ‘If you build it up on one side, it’ll help protect it from the breeze. The rocks’ll heat up too. Give off more heat.’
‘Oh,’ said Jahmin, a little crestfallen. ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’
‘Ancient Māori wisdom,’ Rocky said sagely. ‘Handed down from my tipuna.’
Eva waited until Jahmin was out of earshot before saying, ‘You are so full of shit. Devin showed you that.’
Down at the river, Jahmin was considering the physical attributes of one round rock over another when he heard a shout. Devin was waving frantically at him. He strained to hear what she was saying, and then dropped the rocks and ran towards her, shouting to Eva and Rocky over his shoulder. ‘Devin’s found someone!’
