To Izzy's relief, the boys arrived at her house at five-thirty in the morning in Dom's twin cab as planned. They wanted to get to the farm with plenty of time to muck around. Cole leaped out of the front seat to help the girls with their bags while Izzy introduced Attila. The little dog was beside himself with excitement that he was going on a trip.

'Are you even sober?' said Tal to Dom, who was in the driver's seat.

'On the water all night,' Dom smiled conspiratorially at her through the rear-view mirror.

'Sure,' Tal grinned as she climbed into the back. Izzy made her way around the side of the Ute to sit next to Tal but Cole beat her to it.

'Sit up front, Iz?' he asked with puppy dog eyes.

Izzy glanced at Tal. Her friend shrugged, seemingly amused at Cole's enthusiasm to sit next to her. Izzy wasn't so keen. She wanted to sit with Attila, who would be harnessed on the back seat. Attila was a good traveler, but he took a bit of time to settle down, and Izzy was worried he'd misbehave if she wasn't there to keep him calm.

Cole wasn't concerned at all, though, so Izzy let him sit in the back. He pulled himself in next to Tal. Then, to Izzy's amazement, Atilla leaped onto Cole's lap and scrabbled over his legs to his booster seat on the back seat between Cole and Tal, eyes smiling, mouth open.

'Guess that's sorted,' said Izzy amused. 'Can you strap him in, please?'

'Dogs love me,' said Cole, stroking Attila on the back of his neck and clicking his harness into place.

'What happened to you last night?' Izzy said grumpily to Dom as she pulled herself into the front seat. 'Em's gone for a short holiday and, you're already cracking onto some other girl?' She was annoyed at him for ditching them.

From the back seat, Cole laughed at Izzy's tone. 'Chill Iz,' he said. 'We's is on holiday.'

Ignoring Cole, Izzy asked Dom: 'Did you go home with her?'

He paused before responding as if undecided how much he should say.

'You don't need to know,' he said. 'That way, even if I did, you won't need to lie.'

Izzy growled at him. 'You assume I'd lie for you?'

'Well, you're not a snitch, are you?' Dom said laughing.

Izzy rolled her eyes and said: 'This is going to be fun.'

Dom leaned across her and opened the glove box from which he pulled out a postcard. He handed it to Izzy.

'Cheer up. It's from Em.'

The card had a bunch of too-good-looking J-Pop boys on it dressed in tuxedos.

Izzy flipped it over. It said:

Tokyo's on roids. So awesome! Folks are annoying af.

Miss you (and your beautiful body)!

ILY Em XOXO

PS Stay close to my girls. Don't forget the rules ...

'Nice to see you're taking her advice,' Izzy said beneath her breath, returning the card to the glovebox with an obvious slamming motion.

'I guess we move on?' Dom said, grinning.

Izzy turned and cast her eyes out the window at the silver dawn breaking across Sydney. The streets were beginning to come alive as the car made its way out of the city. Somewhere around Chatswood, a young man cycled past on a racing bike a little too close. Attila, with teeth bared, struck out at the cyclist, snarling and barking, causing Cole to jump in his seat.

'He's as well behaved as you in the morning,' said Tal, laughing at Izzy.

'Warned you,' Izzy told Cole, giving Attila the stink eye. 'Seriously, he's a pain. Let me know if you want to swap seats.'

As quickly as Attila had erupted, he calmed down and sat smiling back in his booster seat.

Dom turned the car radio to play Triple J, and Izzy went back to window-gazing. Her friends chatted and laughed among themselves and soon they were on the freeway headed towards Newcastle. The group amused themselves by telling stories of a guy they all knew called Freddie. Izzy didn't know him, but Freddie seemed to be accident-prone.

Izzy listened with a half ear as they laughed about a time Freddie concussed himself and couldn't remember he'd lent his laptop to Dom, then got angry when he realised Dom had it. The group was howling with laughter.

It's not that funny, Izzy thought to herself.

'Or remember that time that Fred faked his death?' said Cole from the backseat.

'What's that?' asked Tal laughing.

'Freddie and I were down the farm, and he was having a bit of trouble with the ladies,' Dom explained, 'and we thought okay, why not fake his death?'

'For sympathy?' said Tal skeptically.

'Yeah. So, girls would feel for him,' said Cole. 'We ended up just faking that he got like really badly injured in a motorbike accident.'

'Did it work?' asked Izzy, joining the conversation.

'With the ladies?' asked Cole.

'Yeah, did he get any girls?'

Dom grinned. 'No one knows to this day!'

Cole was cackling in the back seat. 'He got pop-ups, didn't he?'

'Yeah, he got a bunch of pop-ups. I was like, Get well soon, Fred'

Izzy and Tal smiled knowingly at each other.

The mood in the car remained jovial to Newcastle. They were making good ground. The traffic was light, and though Dom was a P plater, Izzy realised he was a good driver. She felt safe with him, he didn't speed and didn't muck around in the car. Her parents would approve.

Izzy took a photo of Atilla on the back seat, his head leaning on Tal. She messaged it to her Mum to let her know they were okay and on their way.

After Newcastle, they'd be turning onto the New England Highway with a good couple of hours still to go. Izzy could see if they kept up the pace, they'd probably make it to Dom's place around mid-day.

'D'ya reckon we can go for a ski when we get there?' Cole asked Dom

'Tomorrow,' said Dom, 'The boat is at Murwillumbah. When we arrive at Uki, we can unpack quickly and then go for a ski, or a wakeboard before dark.'

'Will there be light when we get to your place today?' asked Tal.

'How long do you think this drive is?' asked Dom, smiling into the rear-view mirror.

Izzy turned to look at her friend and laughed.

'I don't know, man. I've never been to Armidale,' said Tal defensively.

'It's not Tassie,' Cole dead panned.

Izzy reached her hand out to her friend assuring her they were teasing. 'We'll be there just after midday, sweetie.'

Tal blushed.

'Can we go horse riding today?' said Cole.

'Sure,' said Dom, 'Then later, we can get a fire going.'

'Excellent,' said Cole. 'I brought some fireworks. I got a cake, a single shot and something else. Can't remember.'

'That'll have to wait, man. The horses will skitz.'

'Sorry, yeah, didn't think about that.'

'We can use them in Byron,' said Dom. 'I can't wait for New Year's Eve. It's gonna pop off!'

'Where d'you get fireworks?' Izzy asked.

'Lakemba.'

Dom was being cryptic. She'd wanted more information than that. Izzy made a face at Cole.

'Ah...we went to a Bulldogs game in Belmore a couple of weeks back. We were talking about fireworks on the train when this fella behind us offered to get us some.'

'That's some expensive shit,' said Dom.

'Addictive too,' agreed Cole. 'It's so much fun, though, man. If you get heaps of people together, then it's kinda worth it.'

Dom fumbled in his pocket for his phone to show the girls a video. 'Check this out,' he said, handing his phone to Tal. 'I shot myself in the stomach. D'you remember that?' he said, glancing at Cole.

'Oh, I do! I fuckin' thought you were going to die', said Cole. 'You had it the wrong way.'

'Coz, you told me the wrong way to do it!'

Cole's voice yells on the video. '...watchout it's pointing at you!'

'So, I smacked it out of his hand,' explained Cole, pointing at the screen, 'and then there. Bang! It hits Dom in the stomach. Then it explodes on my foot!'

Tal started giggling uncontrollably. Attila was wiggling all over the place, trying to bite the phone in her hand.

'He doesn't like fireworks,' said Izzy.

'It hurts, man!' said Dom, 'You can hear everyone laughing. My stomach was purple for a week.'

'Hilarious, absolutely hilarious,' said Cole. 'My foot had the biggest blister.'

'Shot yourself in the foot, literally,' said Tal.

'Yeah, shit happens. It was worth it.'

'You want to open these?' said Cole, pulling out a packet of Maltesers.

'Nah. We're stopping at Maccas soon, mate,' said Dom.

'Sod you, I'm cracking these,' said Cole opening the packet and offering Tal.

'That's pretty naughty, man,' said Dom.

Ignoring him, Cole took a handful of the round malt balls out of the packet and popped them in his mouth.

'Do you have TikTok?' Cole asked Tal, between mumbles.

Tal lifted an eyebrow. 'I have spent way too much time on TikTok,' she said. 'If I don't pass this year, I'll know why.'

'TikTok's like soft porn,' said Dom. 'It's probably more addictive.'

Izzy kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to seem uncool, launching into a spiel on the dangers of social media. They could love it they wanted. She wasn't here to try and change them.

The group chatted until they spotted the turn off to McDonalds. Izzy was starving. Her mum never usually let them eat at Macca's, and she'd been dreaming of a Grand Angus burger for what seemed like forever. It suddenly struck her that there was a time when she would never have eaten a burger in front of a boy. Now she didn't care. She was starting to feel comfortable with Dom and Cole. It felt good to spend time with boys who were just friends. She'd always been so shy she hadn't realised how much fun she could have. Suddenly a feeling of optimism came across her. She'd had her doubts, but now she was sure this would be a good trip after all.