Safety is Relative

Chapter Five- Being Deceptively Tall and Awesome

I arrive at the wall much too soon, and with no plan of action. Nina has run straight at it, obviously trying to mimic the first boy, but she slips and manages to bang her head against it instead.

‘Nina! Are you okay?’

She nods. ‘How are we gonna get over this stupid wall? Why is it so stupidly high?’

I bite my lip. The girl is still trying to climb up, but the boy has given up, and is just sitting in the mud.

For some reason, I think of Charlie’s sigh as he saw both couples split up, the first leaving the second behind.

‘I have an idea,’ I say slowly, ‘but I need your help.’

The boy looks up.

‘What?’ asks Nina.

‘They never said anything about not helping each other, did they?’ I say, ‘So, Nina, do you think you could balance on top?’

She frowns. ‘I guess…if I could reach it.’

I get on my hands and knees in the mud. ‘Go on then.’

‘Oh,’ she says, finally understanding. ‘Are you sure that’s allowed?’

‘We’re wasting time, just do it!’ I snap. ‘My tee-shirt’s already muddy, so add your boots to it!’

She steps on my back and I brace myself, my muscles protesting. I feel her press down, really hard, and I try not to cave in, but my back really hurts. Then she’s gone, and I roll over, breathing a sigh of relief, to see her haul herself upwards, get one leg over, and sit on the top of the wall.

I grin at her. ‘Okay, now grab my arm or something and pull me up!’

I take a running jump and reach about three-quarters up the board. Nina’s arms flail above me, and she nearly overbalances. I hit the ground with a thump.

The boy kneels down. ‘Here.’

I step on his back and jump up, nearly crying with relief when my scrabbling fingers grab the top of the wall. I pull myself up, my shoulders complaining, and copy Nina’s position.

The boy leaps upwards, and I grab his tee-shirt. At the same time, Nina grabs his arm. Together, feeling like I’m going to fall off at any second, we pull him upwards.

He smiles, putting his leg over like us, and knocking into me. I lean over to the left too far, and suddenly I’m falling off. I cry out, and hit the ground below.

I’ve landed in a mud pit, and the impact of my fall was so great that I’ve managed to splatter halfway up the wall. My entire left side of my body is completely covered in mud, my hair sticking to my cheek. But at least I’m on the right side of the wall.

I can hear Nina laughing above me.

I look up, to see them both looking down. They both reach down at the same time on the other side, presumably for the little girl, but when they come up their hands are empty.

‘Ask group four for help!’ calls Nina, before turning towards me and dropping.

She lands on her feet, only her shoes getting splattered. She takes one look at me and starts laughing again.

The boy drops down next to her, landing on his bum, so at least his lower half is covered in mud and I’m not the only one.

‘I’m Jasper,’ he says, grinning. ‘Thanks for helping me.’

‘No problem,’

‘I don’t know about you guys, but since we’re kind of in a time limit I think we should get going,’ says Nina.