The Island. C.L. Taylor

you hot wearing all that, Jeffers?’

      Unlike the others, dressed in vests or T-shirts or light summery clothes, Jeffers looks kitted out to go to war in the desert in his black sunglasses, hat, sandy-coloured long trousers, bulky waistcoat and boots and a huge great rucksack propped up beside him.

      He shakes his head. ‘Not at all. Everything I’m wearing is either lightweight or breathable, or it wicks the sweat away.’

      Danny shakes his head. How can one of his friends be seventeen years old and sound like a fifty-year-old man? Jefferson wasn’t always so weird – tactless and insensitive definitely – but not weird. He was perfectly normal until two summers ago when he turned up to their holiday in Norfolk wittering away about a new group of friends he’d met on the internet who’d opened his eyes to how screwed-up we’d be in the event of natural disasters, petrol shortages, war or acts of terrorism and how important it is to prepare for such an event. Danny mostly uses the internet to access PornHub, not that he’d ever admit that with Honor in the same room.

      ‘We are here!’ Anuman announces as the boat creaks and putts as it slows down and Danny looks around in surprise. They’re in the shallows and stretched before him is a long, white beach framed with palm trees; beyond them, dense jungle and huge, jagged cliffs. They’ve arrived on the only privately owned island off the coast of Thailand – Ko Kār p̄hcỵ phạy. His breath catches in his throat as he spots a couple of macaque monkeys jumping and playing at the edge of the forest. It’s like they’ve just arrived in paradise.

      ‘The island of adventure,’ Anuman had told them as he’d shepherded them out of the hotel when Jessie finally rocked up, hiding her face behind sunglasses and an oversized hat. ‘Not many people get to go, and not alone. You very lucky.’

      Lucky, Danny thinks cynically as Anuman jumps out of the boat and into the sparkling, clear sea – or stinking rich. Thailand is by far and away the most exotic – and expensive – holiday they’ve had as a group since Milo and Meg’s parents first mooted the idea that they should have an antenatal group getaway when they were all little more than a year old. They spent a week in a shared house on the Cornish coast. He’s not entirely sure what Jefferson’s dad does for a living but it’s something to do with banking and investments. Enough, anyway, that he’s rented Ko Kār p̄hcỵ phạy, and a survival expert, for a week to celebrate Jefferson’s seventeenth birthday. When Danny’s dad heard where they’d be holidaying this year he went pale. Unlike some of the other parents, his dad isn’t loaded. He’s a freelance sound engineer and work is sporadic – a three-month tour here and there and then nothing for months on end. Danny hates the way his dad is always so stressed about money, and when the Thailand trip was mentioned he told him that he wasn’t fussed about going. But then Honor voice-messaged him, squeaky with excitement, and his stomach twisted into a tight knot. He hadn’t been apart from her for more than a week since they got together on the day of his fifteenth birthday and he couldn’t bear the thought of being without her for a whole fortnight. He’d help pay for the holiday, he told his dad; get a job washing pots in a local restaurant after school, or working in a café at the weekend. He didn’t have to do any of those things in the end; his dad was offered a gig and couldn’t make the holiday and Honor’s mum, Thea, stepped in to say she was happy for Danny to share their apartment. He’d be on the sofa, of course, but the offer was a godsend. It meant they only had to stump up enough money for one return flight.

      Danny’s grip on Honor’s shoulder tightens as the boat rocks and Jeffers leaps into the water, holding his rucksack above his head.

      Meg stands up next, clutching her belongings to her chest, and nervously stares down into the sea.

      ‘Hold your backpack up in the air as you jump!’ Jeffers shouts. ‘You don’t want to get your stuff wet.’

      ‘Duh,’ Danny says. He looks at Honor, expecting to see her smile, but there’s the weirdest look on her face – it’s like she’s gone completely blank behind the eyes.

      ‘Hey.’ He nudges her. ‘You OK? I thought you were looking forward to this.’

      She shoots him a smile but it looks fake. ‘Yeah, I am.’

      ‘You thinking about what happened last night?’ he asks. It’s his fault that lad hit on her. He never should have left her alone in the pool, but nothing’s going to happen to her on the island. He’ll make sure of that.

      Before Honor can answer, Meg jumps into the sea with a gasp and a splash, swiftly followed by Milo, who turns and offers a helping hand to Jessie. She shakes her head and, instead, hands him her bag then clambers over the side of the boat.

      ‘Oi, Jeffers,’ Danny shouts, waving at the diminutive figure trying, and failing, to relieve Anuman of the rope that’s attached to the front of the boat. ‘How about you help the girls with their bags instead of playing the big man. I think you’ve got your priorities a bit screwed up there, mate.’

      He snaps back round as Honor mutters something and wriggles out of his grasp.

      ‘What was that?’

      She looks at him defiantly. ‘Just leave him alone.’

      Danny raises his eyebrows. He can never be sure when Honor’s genuinely annoyed with him or when she’s messing around. She’s good at switching her emotions on and off, it’s what makes her such a good actress. He went to see her in her school play in Brighton and couldn’t believe how easily she was able to transform herself into someone else. She wants to go to uni to study drama after school but she’s worried she’s not good enough. Danny’s pretty sure she is.

      ‘I’m not kidding, Danny,’ Honor says. ‘You really need to—’

      The rest of her sentence is lost to the breeze as she launches herself over the side of the boat leaving her bag, and Danny, behind.