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just go anywhere,’ suggested Emma.
    â€˜Yeah,’ I agreed.
    We pushed through some branches and suddenly there was a slight clearing. In the middle was an upturned tree. I walked over to it and sat down.
    â€˜What are you doing?’ asked Emma.
    â€˜I’m thinking,’ I told her. ‘We haven’t been this way before.’
    She sat down next to me and sighed.
    â€˜Shall we just shout out until someone hears us?’ she asked.
    â€˜We could,’ I replied.
    From within the tree-line something moved quickly. It stopped and then it moved again.
    â€˜It’s nothing,’ I told Emma. ‘It’s probably just a bird or a badger or something.’
    â€˜I’m not scared!’ said Emma. ‘Honest . . .’
    â€˜Do you think the others are looking for us?’ I asked.
    â€˜I hope so,’ she replied. ‘It would be a bit mean if they weren’t.’
    â€˜But we’ve only been gone about an hour,’ I said. ‘Gavin said the course normally takes a few hours . . .’
    Emma looked worried. And we’ve not seen anyone,’ she reminded me. No one at all . . .’
    â€˜I’m sure they’ve missed us by now,’ I replied.
    There was some more rustling in the trees. Then another loud crack. And then something began to growl . . .
    â€˜Come on!’ I shouted, grabbing Emma’s hand and running towards the other side of the clearing.
    Emma screamed and followed me. We pushed our way through more trees, andthen suddenly my feet slipped from beneath me and I went crashing down a steep bank with Emma right behind me. We ended up knee-deep in the stream. The water was freezing.
    â€˜Eurghh!!!!!!!!!!’
moaned Emma.
    Something moved along the top of the bank.
    â€˜It’s still there,’ I said. ‘Let’s just follow the stream.’
    â€˜But I’m wet!’ she complained.
    â€˜It doesn’t matter,’ I told her. ‘Let’s go . . .’
    Whatever was up on the bank moved again and then there was another growling sound. Only it was deeper than the first one.
    â€˜I’m scared!’ Emma told me.
    â€˜So am I,’ I admitted.
    Whoosh!
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The water around us turned blue and then red. And then someone started giggling. Someone else started laughing. The third personsounded like they were almost
crying
with laughter. I looked up the steep bank and saw them: Chris, Abs and Lily!

    â€˜What are you doing?’ I demanded. ‘Chris! Lily! We’re supposed to be on the same side!’
    â€˜GOTCHA!!!!!!!!!!!’ shouted Abs, before splattering me with blue paint balls.
    â€˜You nasty, horrible, nasty . . . horrible idiots!’ shouted Emma.
    She didn’t get to say anything else because Lily blasted her with paint too. Red paint . . .
    When we got back to everyone else, I wasn’t bothered about who’d won the challenge. I was cold and wet and my feet hurt. But I wasn’t as bad as our goalkeeper, Gurinder, who had tripped and twisted his ankle. It was really badly swollen and it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to play in ournext game. His dad had taken him to the hospital to get his ankle x-rayed.
    Lily was excited because Gurinder’s injury meant that our reserve keeper, Gem, would get a game.
    â€˜She’s brilliant!’ Lily told anyone who would listen.
    I looked around at the squad. The Blue team had officially won and no one from our side was even complaining. It was strange because everyone was just having a laugh together – boys
and
girls. It looked like the coaches had been right to bring us on this team-bonding exercise. And
everyone
had cheered loudly when Emma arrived back and blasted Gavin with one paint ball after another!
    â€˜OK, people!’ shouted Wendy. ‘Time to go home. Training on Thursday this week, although we’ll be