Someone to Make Trouble With

It was the first – but not the last – time Juno would get into a fight with her host family.

‘It’s just a camping trip!’ Juno said. Her and Sarah and Beth and the Scottish wilderness; that’s what it was meant to be. ‘My parents won’t care.’

‘We’re your parents while you’re here,’ host-dad Rob said, ‘and we’re saying no. Beth Gordon might be a sensible girl, but she’s still a minor.’

‘I can’t believe this,’ Juno said. ‘Just call them, they won’t mind!’ Juno’s parents would be glad she was just wanting to go camping and not out to get drunk at parties. Not that Juno wouldn’t do a bit of that too.

‘We’re not wasting a long-distance call on that,’ host-mum Annie said. ‘It’s our house, our rules. You know that, Juno.’

Juno had to resist the urge to yell that it wasn’t fair; she grit her teeth on that. She could not resist the urge to go to her room and punch her pillow a few times. And after that, to call Sarah, who had suggested the three of them make the trip in the first place.

‘That weekend won’t work,’ Juno told her. ‘There’s some dumb family thing they want me to go to. Can we push it out a week?’

‘I’ll check with Beth,’ Sarah said, ‘but that should be fine. Give me a minute.’

It would be suspicious if Juno asked to stay at Sarah’s the same weekend as she’d proposed the trip. But give it a week, and Rob and Annie would have had time to relax about it.

They’d never trust her again, of course. But Juno could find her way around that too.

‘Beth says all good,’ Sarah said, when she returned to the phone.

‘Great,’ Juno said, ‘I can’t wait.’

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Juno made the effort to sulk for a few days, but after that, she appeared to get over it. Annie didn’t even question it when Juno asked to sleep at Sarah’s when the Friday of the trip rolled round. Once Juno was gone, of course, there was nothing Annie would be able to do about it.

So Juno went home with Sarah that Friday, her schoolbag stuffed full of more things than she’d need for just a sleepover, and they piled into the car together with Beth and all the camping gear.

Beth was the one with the licence, so she was up front. Juno sat with Sarah in the back, where they could talk – pouring over the guidebook together, or reminiscing about past trips. It was more fun to talk when Beth was in the front, because Beth always seemed to know when Juno was exaggerating. If Sarah knew, she never minded; she listened to all Juno’s stories eagerly. It made Juno wish that she had more to tell. That there would be stories they would tell together, one day.

It was late afternoon when they arrived at Loch Assynt – time to pitch their tents and still explore the castle ruins by the lake before it got dark. There was less to the ruins than Juno had expected – really just a single tower standing lonely against the lake. Still, there was the weight of time upon it, and Juno liked that. And more, there was enough there to climb on.

‘Don’t blame me if you bring the whole thing down,’ Beth said, when she saw Juno testing the stone.

‘Never,’ Juno said. She found a grip and pulled herself up, already looking for her next move.

‘It’s not that far to fall,’ Sarah said. ‘Not from this side.’ The walls were low on the inside where the earth had built up against them; they were higher on the outside.

‘It’s not you two I’m worried about,’ Beth said. ‘I just don’t want Historic Scotland coming after us.’ But she didn’t stop them.

Juno made it to the top without bringing the ruins down around her. She swung a leg over so she could perch there, looking out at the lake and the bare hills stretched out before her. Sarah was slightly behind. From inside the walls, Beth shook her head at them.

‘You sure you don’t wanna come up?’ Sarah said to Beth, when she’d pulled herself into a sitting position. Beth was just as capable as either of them.

Beth waved a ‘no’ with her hand. ‘I’ll leave the stunts to you two,’ she said. ‘Meet you back at the car in an hour, and we’ll get some tea, yeah?’

‘Uh-huh.’

It was a relief, once Beth had wandered back down along the lake shore, and Juno and Sarah were alone. There was a pleasant breeze, and it was quiet. Probably there would be other people along soon – this was only normal holiday stuff, after all. Although most holiday-makers probably stuck to the ground.

‘Shoulda brought the camera,’ Sarah said, looking out toward the horizon.

‘We can take photos tomorrow,’ Juno said. They were here for two nights, after all. That was, if Sarah didn’t freak out when she heard what Juno had to tell her next.

Juno shuffled closer along the rock wall. ‘You know,’ she said, ‘my host parents actually said no when I wanted to come out here with you guys. They think I’m just sleeping over at yours tonight.’

Sarah’s eyes went wide. ‘Juno, no,’ she said. Even the word ‘no’ sounded amazing from her mouth. ‘They’re going to know when you don’t come home tomorrow.’ She groaned. ‘Jesus, they’ll flip.’

‘Yeah, but too late to stop us, right?’ Juno grinned, and it was half hope.

‘But they’ll call my parents,’ Sarah said, eyes fluttering upwards. ‘Oh, they’re going to be mad.’

‘Don’t tell Beth,’ Juno said.

‘God, no,’ Sarah said. ‘She’d probably make us drive back home right now. In fact, I think I’d better be pretending you never told me at all.’

‘Don’t you want to get in trouble with me?’

Sarah’s smile was a brilliant relief. ‘Not on your life!’

Juno poked her side. ‘That’s the secret, is it? Keep your mouth shut, and everyone thinks you’re a good girl.’

‘I know how to keep my nose clean,’ Sarah said, batting Juno’s finger away playfully. ‘Nah, I’ll tell them. Just like, “well, we’d already gone all that way” and “I didn’t think they’d be that mad”.’

Juno burst into real, proper laughter.

‘It’s kind of fun,’ Sarah said, eyes on Juno, ‘having a secret. Doing something you’re not meant to.’

Juno had never wondered before, if Sarah had secrets. Things she wouldn’t tell Juno, more than just stuff she was embarrassed about from when she was a kid, or what she and Paul got up to when they were alone. Juno had secrets like that. She’d always had secrets like that. From her friends. From her family. Juno lived off secrets.

But some secrets were things you could share.

Juno took one of Sarah’s hands and tangled their fingers together. ‘I knew you’d understand,’ she said.

Sarah smiled, and squeezed her hand back.

There was a family approaching along the shore then, and the two of them would have to get down before they got told off for disrespecting heritage sites – but still the weekend stretched out before them. Things they’d never seen before; if they could get down into the caves up the river, things most people wouldn’t have the daring to see. And maybe Juno would get home and her host family would rip her a new one and she’d be grounded for the rest of her exchange …

But it would be worth it. Because she knew now that Sarah was someone she could have secrets with.

And Juno had never minded a little bit of trouble anyway.