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we camped last night – and Refuge Cove on the other. There’s a cool breeze. I close my eyes and imagine I’m the last person on earth. It’s so peaceful. A three-night bushwalk in Wilsons Promontory can be hard work, but it beats school any day.
    Suddenly I feel a large hand clamp down on each of my shoulders. I’m shoved forward. My stomach drops. My life starts to flash before my eyes. Then, just as suddenly, the hands pull me back.
    â€˜Tell ya mum I saved ya!’

    I turn around. Roseanne O’Reilly is grinning widely.
    â€˜You idiot!’ I shout. ‘What a dumb trick! I could have been killed!’
    â€˜It’s lucky I was here to save you then,’ she says. ‘You should be thanking me.’
    â€˜Thanks for nothing,’ I say.
    It’s a typical Roseanne joke. Dumb and dangerous. She’s been pulling this trick on everybody since we left Tidal River yesterday morning. It’s her first time bushwalking. I think she’s a bit over-excited. She’s new to the school. I don’t know why she decided to join the bushwalking club. Probably because no other club would have her.
    O’Reilly swaggers back to the trail where the rest of the group are resting against their packs.
    â€˜You should have seen Andy’s face,’ she announces to the party. ‘I really had him packing!’ Not that anybody cares. They’re as sick of Roseanne as I am.
    Danny comes over.
    â€˜Scroggin?’ he says.

    He hands me a plastic bag full of chocolate buds, sultanas, oats, peanuts and sunflower seeds. I take a big handful and pass the bag back. My hands are still shaking from the fright.
    â€˜Don’t feel bad,’ he says. ‘Roseanne punched me in the nose this morning.’
    â€˜Really?’ I say. ‘Why?’
    â€˜She asked me if I wanted to smell some cheese. Before I could answer, her fist was right in front of my face, and then POW!’
    â€˜She didn’t wait for your answer? That’s not a practical joke – it’s just a punch in the face!’
    â€˜Tell me about it,’ says Danny. ‘She made my nose bleed too.’
    â€˜What did you do?’
    â€˜Nothing. She’s bigger than me.’
    â€˜Fair point. But we can’t let her walk all over us like this. We’ve got to get her back. Got to teach her a lesson.’
    â€˜Sure,’ says Danny through a mouthful of scroggin. ‘But how?’
    I sit on the boulder and use a twig to prise a pebble out of the tread on my boots. Suddenly the answer is clear.

    â€˜I know,’ I say. ‘Rocks!’
    â€˜Rocks?’ says Danny.
    â€˜We’ll put rocks in her pack! That’ll give her something to laugh about.’
    â€˜Great idea,’ says Danny, ‘but how are you going to get the rocks into her pack without her seeing?’
    â€˜I’m not going to put the rocks in her pack,’ I say. ‘You are.’
    â€˜Me?’ says Danny. ‘What if she catches me?’
    â€˜She won’t,’ I say, ‘because I’ll divert her.’
    There are three rocks – each roughly the size of a small coconut – a few metres down the track. I point them out to Danny.
    â€˜Those will do.’
    â€˜All of them?’ says Danny.
    â€˜All of them. And hide them down the bottom of her pack so she doesn’t find them until tonight.’
    â€˜Hang on,’ says Danny. ‘Which one is Roseanne’s pack?’
    â€˜It’s a blue MacPac,’ I say.
    I look around for Roseanne. She’s over ear-bashing Derek Watson, the leader of the trip. She has her compass out and is pointing towards the ocean. Derek is shaking his head. Her first bushwalk and already she thinks she knows better than the leader! She is really something else.

    Roseanne has this brand-new compass, which she hasn’t stopped showing everybody for the whole trip. She’s got no idea how to use it, but