Like Bees to Honey | gxg

8. Dangerous Games

Soft voices floated through the night, but it took a sudden burst of laughter to shock Sabina out of her sulk. When she looked around the narrow patch of dark beach, no one was there. Then a handful of stones skittered down the hillside and she realized the people were above her, where the cliffs folded back towards the mountains behind.

Someone spoke in a quick, staccato tone like they were telling a joke. More laughter. Was that Christina?

With her solitude spoiled, Sabina thought about heading back towards the bonfire. She thought she was ready to talk to Alice and pretend that being rejected hadn't changed anything between them. If the tennis club was out here, maybe the spikeball net was free and they could play a lowkey game.

Joyful shrieks split the night, and then a pair of loud splashes. Were they cliff jumping? Some parts of the shoreline were steep enough for it to be safe, but she didn't know this spot. She would be in so much trouble if her sister hurt herself jumping off a cliff and she wasn't around to help.

So she flossed sand from between her toes with her socks, put her shoes back on, and went looking for a way up.

A short way back along the beach she found a steep, rocky path that cut up through the bristly scrub. It was barely visible in the dark. She scrambled up, dirt catching under her fingernails. Soon the trail intersected with another narrow track that paralleled the cliff face, probably winding all the way up from Pebble Beach. She turned towards the voices, which were muffled now that she was away from the water.

The path hitched back once, turned again, then spilled out onto a wide stony bench. Scraggly trees overhung the shelf on the uphill side, and on the other, the rock dropped away into the darkness and the lake.

A small crowd gathered dangerously close to that edge. She'd been mistaken; it wasn't Christina and the tennis club. Instead, it was Alice and Mel, dripping wet and wearing nothing but their underwear. Sabina forgot that a moment ago she had been feeling a chill.

As Otis watched and Alice's friends cheered them on, the two girls backed up several steps. They nudged each playfully, teasing. Then they sprinted towards the cliff, Alice a step behind, and leaped off. Sabina's stomach swooped as though she was the one who had jumped, but Mel let out a whoop as they vanished below the cliff face. Another pair of splashes announced as they hit the water, far below.

It didn't surprise her that Mel was the kind of person who jumped off cliffs.

"Hey, you found us," Riley said, and Sabina started. Their loud Hawaiian shirt was unmistakable even with the moonlight leaching the colour out of everything, but she hadn't even noticed them standing with Isaac in the shadow of the trees. "I was looking for you."

"Oh, yeah. I went for a walk." Sabina smoothed her skirt, too busy deciding she wasn't going to let herself get flustered by the sight of pretty girls to wonder why Riley was out here with the Vergers.

Beside Riley, Isaac drained a tall can and then gestured with it toward the edge. "Gonna give it a try, Bina?"

"Are you sure it's deep enough?"

He laughed, but there wasn't malice in it. "No one's ever gotten hurt before."

He moved towards the cliff in time to hand his sister up over the edge. Alice shook out her long hair like a dog, water droplets shining in the moonlight. Right behind her, Mel pulled herself up using a frayed rope tied to one of the gnarled trees.

"Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it won't," Sabina said, even though no one was listening.

Mel said something in a low voice to Alice, who giggled. Sabina's stomach pinched uncomfortably. She blamed that energy drink she'd had earlier.