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blood suckers. Every branch that I brushed past made me jump. Drops of water falling from the trees almost gave me heart failure. When a bird flittered past, I grabbed Mia’s arm in panic.
    ‘Chill out,’ Izzy said. ‘You’re not going to get attacked by a leech with all those clothes on.’
    Even though it was a hot day, I was wearing a long-sleeved top and had my socks pulled up as high as they could go. I looked like a complete dork, but at least I was protected.
    ‘Maybe we could sing to keep your mind off leeches,’ Mia suggested. She gave a rousing rendition of our school song. It was so terrible that by the time she reached the chorus I’d forgotten all about leeches, but Izzy had heard enough.
    ‘Quiet. I’m trying to think,’ she said, frowning. ‘What are we going to do when we get to the waterfall?’
    ‘But I didn’t even get to the best bit,’ Mia said, looking hurt.
    We marched on in silence.
    ‘Well,’ Izzy said finally, ‘I say we just act normally. Have a swim and wait for the boys to talk to us.’
    ‘That’ll never work,’ Mia said. ‘How about I pretend I’m drowning and wait for one of them to rescue me?’
    Izzy stopped in her tracks. ‘Don’t you dare.’
    Mia laughed. ‘As if I’d really do that.’
    ‘Let’s just be brave,’ I said. ‘Give them a wave, sit down and have a chat. How hard can that be?’
    Mia raised her eyebrows. ‘So, how’s that strategy working with Rio?’
    ‘Not too well so far,’ I had to admit.
    It had been months now, and I still hadn’t managed to say more than a few words to him. And I was certain that since the Snow White knickers incident a few days ago my progress with Rio had reached a standstill. So maybe I wasn’t really the best person to be giving advice about being brave.
    We’d been walking for ages, and I had eyestrain from watching for leeches, when we heard the faint sound of rushing water and a lot of shouting and hooting.
    ‘It’s them!’ Izzy whispered suddenly.
    ‘How can you tell?’ I whispered. It might have been anyone making that noise.
    ‘I can definitely hear Dan!’ Izzy said, cupping a hand to her ear.
    ‘I thought his name was Sam,’ I said.
    Mia sighed. ‘I hope it’s Calvin.’
    We listened for a few more minutes, trying to work out how many people were at the waterfall. We could definitely hear several guys, but there were other voices, too. There were girls’ voices.
    As we listened, I looked down and saw a black mark on Izzy’s ankle, just above her sock. At first I thought it was just mud, but then I realised – it was a leech! I took in a sharp breath and put my hand over my mouth.
    ‘Izzy,’ I whispered loudly. ‘Izzy!’
    Izzy glanced down at her ankle and screamed. Not a little girly squeal. A full-throated bellow. Her voice echoed around the valley like she was being murdered.
    ‘Get that thing off me!’ she screamed, flailing her arms around wildly.
    Mia grabbed Izzy’s hands. ‘It’s just a leech. Calm down.’
    But Izzy didn’t calm down. She just kept screaming. ‘Off, OFF! Get it off!’
    I couldn’t believe it. Tall, strong Izzy, captain of the water-polo team, was hysterical. She really was scared of leeches.
    I just wanted to turn and run – to get out of that leech-infested rainforest and never come back. But I knew I had to help. Somehow I choked back my fear and bobbed down beside Izzy’s ankle. I took a deep breath and then flicked the leech from her leg. Izzy let out one final scream as the leech went flying into the undergrowth.
    ‘You all right?’ came a voice from down the track.
    I turned to see three guys running towards us, their hair wet and drops of water running down their bare chests. It was like a trio of young forest gods had come to rescue us.
    ‘I’m fine,’ Izzy squeaked. ‘A leech.’ She pointed to her ankle.
    The guy in red board shorts (known as Dan, Sam and Calvin) bent down to inspect her leg. ‘Can’t see anything.’
    ‘I flicked it