Page 103 of In the Same Boat

I place my hands over my cheeks.

‘So when you two were upstairs at my house, you were…’

‘Scheming,’ Mum says.

Oh my gosh, is that better or worse than if they were having sex? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think it might be worse…

‘I understand why you’re furious, but we could see something between you – and, look, we were right…’

I laugh – it’s more of a cackle, in fact.

‘Well,’ I say, and I can hear my voice getting brighter in the way it does when I am two seconds away from losing it, ‘since everyone’s being honest… Nico and I were pretending to be together too.’

Mum’s face falls.

‘W-w-what?’ Hank babbles in disbelief.

‘Yep. To get you two together,’ I continue, delighted to be able to prove them wrong, because how dare they manipulate us like this? ‘And then, once it became clear you were a thing, we started trying to get ourselves kicked off the holiday – because neither of us wanted to be here. Especially not with each other.’

Hank stares at Nico.

‘I cannot believe you.’

Nico lets out an incredulous laugh.

‘You can’t believe me?’

‘That you would lie to me like that…’

‘You lied to all of us,’ Nico reminds him. ‘And kidnapped us, so you can’t say anything.’

I think it’s safe to say that everyone is mad at everyone. There are no allies on this yacht, we’re all at war. I can only think of one thing to do – abandon ship.

I look around for life jackets, a dinghy, anything to get us off here – and that’s when I spot another yacht, not too far away. Close enough to make out people on deck – but not close enough for them to be able to tell we’ve – let’s say – broken down.

I know exactly what I need to do, the correct procedure for emergencies, so I cast my mind back to Hank’s safety briefing, run inside to grab the flare gun, then come back out and fire it.

The flare screams up into the blue sky, bright and red and dramatic – everything else aside, I enjoy it more than I should admit right now – and finally everyone stops bickering. We all look up, admiring it like a firework.

I hear shouting from the other yacht – they must have seen us. There’s no way they won’t come over and check on us.

‘Mum, we’re getting off this boat,’ I tell her. ‘Let’s go get our things.’

‘Okay,’ she says, as motivated to leave as I am.

Mum and I grab our things in silence, head back out to the deck with them and wait. The other yacht is coming, I just wish it were faster.

No one talks. No one says a word – I don’t think anyone knows what to say, to be honest. My priority is getting home, nothing else.

When the yacht pulls close enough, I see immediately that it is full of men – and absurdly buff ones at that, like superheroes here to save the day.

‘You all right?’ one calls across.

‘We’re broken down,’ I shout back, which is technically a lie about the yacht but it’s accurate in other ways. ‘And we have a flight to catch.’

‘Hop aboard,’ he says. ‘We’re heading back.’

‘Thank you, you’re lifesavers,’ I reply. ‘It’s just my mum and me – they’re staying here.’