The Trouble with Flying by Rachel Morgan

there, but nothing too hectic. I’m sure your long legs can make it to the top and back just as easily as anyone else.”
    Emily gives Aiden a friendly punch on the arm. “Not all of us have just come back from a walking holiday. We can’t all be as fit as you.”
    “So, Emily, I heard you’re getting married soon,” Elize says as she winds a hairband around the end of Simon’s plait. “That’s cool. First wedding for your family. I’m hoping I’ll beat Simone, but you never know what might happen.”
    Across the room, Aiden looks away and shifts slightly on the couch, and I wonder if he has something against Emily’s fiancé. Emily’s eyes flick towards her brother for a moment, but then she looks at Elize. “Yes, it’s incredibly exciting,” she says as a smile that obviously can’t be suppressed spreads across her face. “I’m soon to be Mrs Winterbottom.”
    Simone scrunches up her face and says, “Really? You sure you want to be a Winterbottom for the rest of your life?”
    Emily smiles. “I know, I know, it’s not the nicest surname, but … I love him, so it’s a sacrifice I’m happy to make.”
    “Your poor children,” Elize says with a sigh. “My best friend since, like, forever has suffered from an embarrassing surname her entire life, so I know how mean kids can be about weird names.”
    “Was it really that bad?” Emily asks. “What’s her surname?”
    “Haasbroek.”
    “Oh.” Emily’s face is politely blank. Aiden looks at me and raises an eyebrow.
    “Bunnypants,” I supply.
    “ Oh ,” Emily says, then covers her mouth as she starts laughing.
    Matt jogs into the lounge and stops beside the couch I’m sitting on. “Okay, so two people have bailed to join the easy walk all the adults are doing, so we’re just waiting for Malcolm and Aunt Hannah, and then we can go.”
    Half an hour later, when Matt’s older brother Malcolm and Aunt Hannah have joined us, we head along the path that rings the lake. On the other side, we climb through trees towards the foot of the mountain where the hike starts. Matt and Malcolm talk about the future of Malcolm’s start-up business, Emily and her mother discuss wedding details, Elize tosses her hair about and hangs onto every word Aiden says, and Simone and I find ourselves with no one to talk to.
    The first hour drags by as we climb rocks and follow sandy paths, always looking out for the next blue arrow painted onto a rock or wooden stump to point the way. The arrows have survived years of varying weather conditions, but some have almost faded completely. Matt’s eyes are sharp, though, and he never misses an arrow.
    After listening to Elize’s giggle for far too long, Aiden manages to convince her to ask Emily about her wedding plans. As Elize takes her sister’s hand and hurries forward to catch up to Emily, Aiden slows until he’s walking beside me.
    “Enjoying your hike?” I ask him, wiping the back of my hand across my sweaty brow.
    “More than I was a moment ago,” he says, his voice low enough not to carry forwards. “How about you?”
    “It was getting a little lonely back here, but I love the mountains no matter who’s keeping me company.”
    “Really?” Aiden lowers his voice further. “Four hours of Elize might change your mind.”
    I laugh. “Mountains are possibly my most favourite thing in all creation. Even Elize can’t ruin them for me.”
    “Your most favourite thing, huh? Better than the ocean?”
    “Yes.”
    “Better than magical forests?”
    “Yes.”
    “Better than … zoo biscuits?”
    I start laughing, but it fills me with a warm kind of glow that he remembers my zoo biscuit addiction. “Darn, I knew I forgot to bring something with on this hike.” I step over a small pile of stones in the middle of our path, then ask, “What did Emily mean when she said you’d just been on a walking holiday?”
    “Oh, yeah, I had a bit of a holiday before I came here. France first, then Switzerland, then