The cold water drags at my jeans as I swim across the current to reach the bank of the river.

Normally, I love jumping into this river, sometimes even with all my clothes on, but right now, it's the worst sensation ever. I lost my grip on my shoe when I fell, and it went off somewhere. I'll mourn for it later because I'm so mad at it right now I don't even care if it drowns.

All I wanted to do today was give Kira the ring and tell her, in no uncertain terms, how much I love her. I was willing to beg her to be my girlfriend if she said no since she didn't seem to hate it. She even said just now that I'm a good boyfriend, so the chances are she might've said yes... if I offered some incentives.

I could sweeten the deal with things like endless mounted pictures of mud and insects. I would even offer to feed her dragons some meal - bleh - worms - yuck. The very idea makes me want to puke, but I would be willing to do that every day if she would just agree to be mine.

Yes! I'm that pathetic.

My lack of self-respect and incredible levels of desperation aren't even the most wretched things about this situation I'm in right now. There are way worse things going on here.

I've lost the ring!

The little pouch is not in my pocket anymore! I frantically cast around, treading water and spinning in circles, searching for any sign of the gold and burgundy pouch, but it is not conveniently floating near me. The ring would probably have caused it to sink. I see plenty of golden leaves, and some fish have brushed past me, but there is no silk pouch with a treasured ring anywhere. Diving doesn't help since the water is too murky to see much.

"Noooooooo!" I bellow, slapping the water, hitting myself in the face with the spray. Shaking my head, I cough and snotter, swiping a hand over my eyes to clear my vision so I can swim back and forth some more in an utterly hopeless search.

I'll have to ask Delia to make a new ring, but at this stage, I don't even know if it is worth it. I need to speak to Kira and fix what I've broken, and if she agrees not to break up with me, I'll let her pick something she would like to wear all the time.

She would've loved the little bug.

"Dammiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" I yell, wrestling my way through reeds and sludge until I'm trudging through mud, sucking at my feet and filling my shoe, causing me to land on my face more than once. I finally bundu-bash through the underbrush to reach the footpath. I've travelled downstream from the boulder quite a bit, and when I crash through the thorny weeds and wild bracken, I nearly run into Delia and Simon standing under a tree.

They turn at my intrusion, their eyes widening with shock when they see me dripping wet and mud-smeared, wearing only one shoe, stumbling towards them.

"Ethe! What happened?!" Delia exclaims, rushing over to rest a hand on my chest, looking up at me with concerned eyes. "Kiki just ran through here like her pants were on fire. I thought you guys were playing some kind of weird game again. Please tell me this is not some kind of kinky sex thing... or maybe that would be better than what it looks like," she adds with a grimace. "I take it your talk didn't go well?"

"I lost the ring," I choke, feeling increasingly rotten.

"Where?!" Delia asks, her face falling with disappointment. She'd spent a large part of last night getting the stone perfect and pasting it in. I feel so bad for all her effort going to waste, and I know how much of her heart she puts into her work.

"In there," I mutter, pointing behind me, where the river is going about doing its river things as if it didn't just ruin an important moment by stealing Kira's ring. "I'm so sorry."

"Ethe..."

"I'm really sorry, Deli; I know you worked hard on it," I say miserably. My sister moves as if to hug me but then thinks better of it, taking my muddy, wet fashion statement into account.

"Looks like you lost your shoe too," Sy points out, and I shrug, hanging my head. Yup, I lost my shoe and most of my dignity. Despite popular belief, I actually had some.

"I think I lost Kira," I croak, and Delia shakes her head, patting my upper arm. I almost laugh when I see Simon glance at the river with wide eyes, forgetting he'd just seen her run past. "Not in the river, just from my future."

"Of course, you didn't," Deli assures me, taking one of my hands in hers. "Tell me what happened?"

"I kissed her too much, I guess..." That's the only thing I'm aware of that happened. Things started to go wrong when I kissed her... no, she kissed me... It started to go wrong the moment I kissed her back. I shouldn't have taken over like that. I didn't mean to take the lead away from her.

"Dammit!"

"Ethe, were your raging hormones running away with you?" Delia asks, giving me a perplexed, vaguely sympathetic look.

"A little bit..."

"Ethan?!" she shouts, slapping my arm. All signs of sympathy have disappeared from her stern face. She is glaring at me, looking very dissatisfied.

"Hey! I just kissed her!" I assure her, stepping away from her nails in case she decides to pinch me. "I swear! Come on! You know I would never do anything she doesn't want me to do!"

My words echo hollowly in my head when I see Simon fold his arms, his eyebrows shooting up as he smirks at me. Cheeky bastard. "Shut up," I huff, and now he's openly laughing.

I swear I liked him more when I thought he was a stuck-up, snooty, intellectual poet guy for the first five minutes after meeting him.

He's right to mock me. I'm such a blooming hypocrite!

Yesterday, after the boat race, the guys were chatting excitedly, talking about how awesome it was to race full speed like that. We were admiring Jet's nifty handling of the craft, and Simon told us how much he loved sailing and how he would love to do it again soon.

"It's even better than sex!" he exclaimed excitedly at some point. When he saw the thunderclouds gathering on my face, he hurriedly added that he was only speculating since he hadn't actually experienced anything like that yet and wasn't planning to anytime soon. I obviously kept on glaring at him because he was indirectly talking about my sister.

All my protective instincts took over. I had to keep reminding myself that this was Simon and that he'd only ever been good to Delia in the few months they'd been together.

"Ethan, you know I would never do anything she doesn't want me to do," he said, looking highly stressed, and when I started grumbling under my breath, Jet wrapped an arm around his head, covering his mouth.

"Stop talking," he said. "I've really started to like you, and I'm looking forward to us being sailing buddies, so please stop talking."

"Come on, Ethe, it's Sy! He's one of the good guys," Lurch reminded me, slapping me on my back hard enough to snap me out of the scary spiral I was being sucked into. I knew that, of course, and I also know that Delia has a mind of her own, and I don't get to make decisions for her. It's just... It's Deli, and the idea scared me. I'm not sure why. It just did.

I love my sister.

Here I am now, saying those exact words after judging Simon so harshly, and he was only trying to find something awesome to compare sailing with. He had never kissed Delia so much that she ran away. She might've made him run away on occasion, though.

"Of course, I know that, Ethe," Deli assures me, taking my hand again. "But this is Kiki, she's as skittish as a fawn when it comes to love and romance... and kissing... and crowds and boys... Lots of things."

"Yeah..." I swallow, clenching my teeth. I knew that, and yet, there I was...

"You're shivering," Delia remarks, grabbing the edge of my shirt to wring some of the water out of it. "Are you cold?"

"No." I'm not cold; I'm upset.

"Give her a call. I'm sure she already feels silly for running away like that," Delia says. She winces when she runs her eyes over my dripping clothes. "If your phone is still working after taking a swim."

What?!

"I've lost my phone!" I lament, patting all my pockets. "I've lost my friggin' phone!" I am so close to losing my grip on my self-control right now, too. That grip can just join the shoe, the ring and my cell phone wherever they disappeared to. I'm over this day now!

"Oh, Ethe..."

Wait! I took it out to take the selfie; I don't think I put it back in my pocket. Feeling a tentative spark of hope, I turn on my heel and hobble back to the boulder. One foot is squelching noisily in the wet sneaker while the other is getting caked with dirt and stabbed by sticks, thorns and stones poking at it through the wet sock.

I don't even care anymore!

Deli is right; I need to get my phone (or use hers) and call Kira. Maybe if she doesn't have to see my face, she'll stick around to listen. Maybe if she heard my voice without seeing me, she'd forget that I got all hot and bothered and over-zealous, and she'd tell me to come over for some lemonade and M&Ms.

No! I should video call her. In my current state, I might be more appealing to her because I look like a bug that lives in mud.

I can dream.

I nearly fall, climbing onto the boulder since my wet pants and one-shoe situation make everything more difficult than it has to be. My current mental state is not helping either. I sat up here feeling happy and in love only a few minutes ago. Now I'm crawling clumsily over warm stone, feeling utterly miserable. I should just lie here until... I don't know until what.

I'm relieved to find my phone still intact where I left it, and then joy sparks through my body, dislodging at least some of my depression when I see gold and burgundy silk flapping in the breeze where it's snagged in the crevice that grabbed my shoe earlier. The pouch must've slipped from my pocket when I took out my phone and slid there during my wrestling match with my shoe.

"Yes! Yes!" I shout, freeing the pouch. I lift it, waving it at Delia and Simon, looking up at me from the bottom of the boulder. I wasn't even aware of them following me here. I slide the ring into the palm of my hand to inspect it and am happy to see that it is still perfect. "Yes!"

I'll take this as a good sign that things might be looking up. Only my shoe is gone now... and my girl...

"Did you just break up with me?" I type and send the message before I shuffle off the boulder to join Delia and Simon. This time, I use my bum for the dismount, like a wise person who doesn't want to fall into the river again.

"Well, aren't you going to call her?" Delia asks when I lean my back against the boulder, lowering my head. The moment of relief when I found the ring and my phone has gone now. I'm back to feeling miserable. My arms hang down like long, limp appendages attached to my stone body. I lift my chin and try to smile at Simon when he puts a comforting arm around my shoulders.

Yeah, I guess I still like the dude, even if he's started to be a bit cheeky sometimes and wants to make a career out of being a pirate. All of that probably counts in his favour.

We had some crazy laughs on that boat yesterday because of him.

"I think I should just go over there instead," I say, finding a piece of my backbone stuck somewhere up my butt. I reflexively lift my phone when it vibrates, and when I open the message, my heart contracts painfully while that small piece of backbone I found crumbles into dust. Instead of answering my question with a yes or a no, Kira sent me a horrible gif of a grey-skinned man with terrible teeth tossing a kiss and waving goodbye.

"That's harsh!" Simon gasps, squeezing my shoulder.

"No, it's not!" Delia states decisively, taking the phone from my limp hand. "This is Kira's crappy phone telling us it's about to die forever. She was probably trying to type, but the battery died. Things often just happen when her phone dies, and it takes ages before she can turn it on again."

It's true. I've heard the girls talk about it before. Kira needs a new phone, battery, or both, but she never bothers to ask her dad to get any of that because she is not a phone person. She often forgets it up in her room. We'll have to remedy that soon.

"Yeah, it rang once and went to voicemail," Delia says, lowering the phone she'd tried to use to call Kira and handing it back to me. "Hey, Ethe, don't take this so hard. If there's one thing I'm 100% sure of, it's that Kira loves you. It's going to be alright."

"Ride back with us," Simon offers. "I have to go collect people now anyway."

"Thanks," I mumble, trudging down the path with wet pants, chafing me every step I take. I need to go home, take a shower, get dressed, hurry over to Kira, and try to salvage this awful situation. It feels like I've lost everything I'd worked so hard to build this week.

"Won't it be easier if you take off the sock and your other shoe too?" Simon asks when I pause for the millionth time to pluck an irritating twig from my sock.

"Taking off my pants will help more," I assure him.

"Please don't," Delia laughs, and as always, hearing the sound lifts my spirits a bit.

Simon drops us off at home and I hurry to my bathroom, leaving the two to say goodbye as if they won't see each other for ages. He changed his plans when he got a message that Paul is ready and waiting. He will say goodbye now, grab Lance and then fetch the other two and his stuff.

I feel bad that I'm not joining him because the guy is really excited and nervous about camping with all the boys. Most of them are still strangers to him. I know my friends will look after him. They have fully adopted him into our group, which is great because Sy is an awesome guy. If I can get things eased over with Kira, I'll hurry to the campsite to hang out with him.

Delia is waiting for me on my bed when I leave the bathroom after my shower, and I'm glad that I've retained the habit of wearing a towel in my travels to and from the bathroom, the way I did when my room was still downstairs. This would've been another awkward moment if I'd lost that habit.

The two of us have had many of those since we hit puberty and were wrangling changes in our relationship to fit with the changes in our bodies. Things got rocky between us for a while until we found our way again, became comfortable with who we were becoming, and accepted each other's new versions.

"I think you should go camping," she tells me.

"Not you too!" I grumble. "How can I leave now with things the way they are?" I really thought my sister, of all people, would understand.

"I know it's hard, Ethe," she soothes, "but I think Kiki needs a little bit of space right now. She is clearly spooked. She will calm down, I promise."

"Deli," I groan, running my fingers through my wet hair. I'm this close to dropping the towel, so she'll hurry out of my room. I cannot deal with more people telling me to go camping when my heart is eating itself alive in my chest. It's going to start on my lungs soon.

"I'll go talk to her," Delia says. "We'll have a lovely girls' night, and tomorrow, when you come back, she'll be jumping up and down going: 'Ethy! I love you sooooo much!'" She seriously just mimicked Kira's seven-year-old lisp and made a heart with her hands in front of her chest. "I promise."

She might have a point. She and Kira haven't spent much time together this week. They always have a girls' night on Founders' Day Sunday. They often have those, so it's not as special to them as the camp is to me, but still... it's theirs. Maybe it was one of the reasons Kira wanted me to go camping.

"Hey," Delia says, pulling my arm so I'll sit beside her on the edge of my bed. "I love you, Ethe, and I love Kira. You're my brother and sister. I want you both to be happy and get married one day. You belong together."

"Really," I scoff. "You want your brother and sister to get married?"

"I could've phrased that better," she laughs.

"I can't promise I won't kiss her too much again," I shrug. "Because I didn't plan to do it."

"I highly doubt kissing was the problem, Ethan, unless you really suck at it," Delia smiles, leaning her head against my shoulder. "Kira is waking up, and she's scared. That's all it is. She got stage fright. Like earlier this year when she had to recite a poem in front of the class and ran out the door instead. She's really good at running away."

She really is.

I grin, remembering running after her when the teacher gave me a nod. I found her on the rugby field, looking completely confused. She didn't even push me away when I hugged her that time. Until our dating deal, she always pushed me away. That day, she laughed and said: "Oops! I ran! How do I go back now?"

"She hasn't changed in that respect since the day we met her 12 years ago," Delia shrugs. "She just runs a lot faster now."

That is also true.

"Go on. I'll talk to her and send you a text later," she says, giving my bicep an encouraging squeeze. "Well, she'll probably call you herself when her phone is charged enough to turn on again because she must be feeling like an utter twit for running off like that."

She's right; Kira often runs away when she becomes stressed or flustered, and then she feels silly for running. Her run reflex is very strong.

"Don't be mean to her," I warn.

"I won't!"

"Take off your flip-flops!" I order, looking at Delia's feet in her floral flip-flops. She loves yanking them off when I make her mad and walloping me with them or throwing them at me. They're too floppy for it actually to hurt, but still, I don't want her going all Viking warrior on Kira. "You can go there barefoot."

"What?"

"You're not spanking my girlfriend."

"I never spank her... well, not much," she chuckles. "I only ever spank Jet because he asks me to... we're both a little warped."

"You said it." That is actually true. It is disturbing but true.

I know Deli is right; I should give Kira some space, but I don't like it.

While standing on the paving in front of the garage doors, tying my tent into the special bracket I've mounted on my motorcycle, I decide I'll come home if Delia sends me a message saying that she cannot get through to Kira. Or worse, if Kira calls me and I cannot get her to hear me out.

One way or another, I want this situation sorted out today. For now, I'm listening to Deli's advice, putting on my helmet and pulling my backpack with snacks, toiletries and a change of clothes onto my back. We always get wet or dirty, so taking extra clothes is a good idea... even if they usually get wet and dirty too.

Sighing, I look up at Kira's window for the last time. There's still no sign of her. I've been checking on and off. I need to stop looking, or I'll run over there and climb the trellis.

I tie my sleeping bag on top of my tent and pull on all the bindings to make sure it's all secure before I disengage the kickstand and push the bike down our driveway to the gate. Taking a deep breath, I open the gate, clenching my teeth against the desire to turn back while I doggedly push the bike through and close the gate. Before my resolve can leave me, I slide into the saddle, start the bike and take off.

I want to look forward to the camp the way I always do, but my heart is a lead ball in my chest. I won't be able to relax before I see Kira and smooth things over. Then again, I can imagine how hard Jet will laugh when I tell the story of how I kissed the girl, made her run away and ended up falling into the river.

He'll probably call me Georgie Porgie.

It is pretty funny, and I am chuckling now too, thinking about it. My life is a friggin' comedy of errors sometimes. I need to get to the camping grounds. I need Burlap's encouragement and Jet's mockery. I need to hear Barn laugh loudly and Lurch make jokes only he understands.

Life is going on as normal on our tree-lined street. Mrs. Henderson is walking Rampant... or he is walking her, dragging her where he wants to go. Jonah Winslow and his best buddy Josh Marple are having a water fight in the Winslows' front yard while Mrs. Riley is watering her flowers next door to them.

Since we're taking younger boys with us this year, we limited the minimum age to 10, as we're new at this and needed to see if we can cope first. I feel bad for Jonah and Josh; I know they really wanted to go, too, so I promised them that the guys and I would take them camping during the upcoming school holidays. I even promised not to take Lance, Reuben, or any of the older boys, just them and a couple of their other mates. That cheered them up.

I'm slowing down to turn the corner at the junction when I notice movement in my mirrors. Someone seems to be running down the middle of our road. The dog probably got away from Mrs. Henderson, and she's giving chase. She might need help catching him.

When I turn the bike onto the road, joining our circular street from the right, I glance down our lane to see where the dog got to so I can stop and grab him. I nearly fall off my bike when I recognise Kira. She is running in my direction with her hair streaming in the breeze.

That cannot be good. Kira never goes for a casual run. She does not like running... unless it is away.

Especially from me.

♂♀