A tent! Now, that is just so clever. Why don’t I take a tent everywhere? I’ll start tomorrow. Yes. A little tiny tent that I could keep in my handbag.

The only thing is, it’s a bit uncomfortable here on the ground. Maybe I’ll get up and stretch my legs. I try to rise, and everything goes black and swirly.

“Oh God,” I say feebly, and sink back down again.

“Don’t try to get up!” Jess says in alarm. “You had a terrible fall. I thought…” She breaks off and exhales sharply. “Anyway, don’t get up.”

Gradually I’m becoming aware of the rest of my body. My hands are all raw and scraped. With a huge effort I raise my head and glimpse my legs, all bloody with cuts. I can feel a bruise on my cheek, and I lift my hand to it.

“Ow! Is my face bleeding?”

“You’re a mess,” Jess says bluntly. “Does anything hurt really badly?”

“My ankle. The left one. It’s agony.”

Jess starts prodding it and I bite my lip, trying not to cry out.

“I think it’s sprained,” she says at last. “I’ll strap you up.” She switches on a torch and fastens it to a steel pole, then reaches into a tiny tin. She produces a length of bandage-type stuff and starts winding it expertly round my ankle. “Becky, what the hell were you doing up there, anyway?”

“I… I came to find you.” Bits of the jigsaw are reappearing in my brain. “I was doing the sponsored endurance hike.”

Jess looks gobsmacked.

“But this wasn’t the hike route! I went off the trail. The hike route was much lower. Didn’t you follow the markers?”

“Markers?” I look at her blankly.

“God, you have no bloody idea about hiking, do you?” she says in agitation. “You shouldn’t have been up there! It’s dangerous!”

“So why were you there?” I retort, wincing as she bandages me more and more tightly. “What you were doing looked pretty dangerous to me.”

Jess’s face closes up.

Eventually she says, “Last time I climbed the Pike I saw some ammonite specimens. I wanted to collect one. It’s a bit foolhardy, but I don’t expect you to understand—”

“No! I do understand!” I interrupt, and struggle onto my elbows. I have to tell her.

“Jess, I understand. I’ve seen your rocks. They’re fantastic. They’re beautiful.”

“Lie down,” she says, looking worried. “Take it easy.”

“I don’t want to take it easy! Jess, listen. We’re sisters. We’re honestly and truly sisters. That’s why I came up the mountain. I had to tell you.”

Jess frowns. “Becky, you’ve had a bump on the head… you’ve probably got a concussion—”

“It’s not that!” The louder my voice rises the more my head throbs, but I can’t stop myself. “I know we have the same blood. I know it! I went to your house.”

“You what?” Jess looks appalled. “Who let you in?”

“Jim. I saw your rock cupboard. It’s identical to my shoe cupboard in London. Identical. The lights… the shelves… everything!”

For the first time ever, I see Jess’s composure slip a little.

“So what?” she says in brusque tones.

“So we’re the same!” I sit up eagerly, ignoring the swirling in front of my eyes. “Jess, you know the way you feel about a really amazing rock? That’s the way I feel about a great pair of shoes! Or a dress. I have to have it. Nothing else matters. And I know you feel the same way about your rock collection.”

“I don’t,” she says, turning away.

“You do! I know you do!” I clutch her arm. “You’re just as obsessed as me! You just hide it better! Oh God, my head. Ow.”

I collapse back down, my head pounding.

“I’ll get you a painkiller,” Jess says distractedly — but she doesn’t move. She’s just standing there, lost in her own thoughts.

I can see I’ve got to her.

“You came up a mountain in a storm just to tell me this?” Jess says at last.

“Yes! Of course!”

She turns her head to look at me. Her face is paler than ever and kind of wary, as though someone’s trying to trick her.

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because… because it’s important! It matters to me!”

“No one’s ever done anything like that for me before,” she says, and immediately looks away, fiddling in the tin again. “Those cuts need antiseptic on them.”

She starts dabbing my legs with a cotton-wool pad, and I try not to flinch as the antiseptic stings my raw flesh.

“So… do you believe me?” I say. “Do you believe we’re sisters?”

For a few moments Jess just focuses on her feet, which are encased in thick socks and brown hiking boots. She raises her head and surveys my turquoise diamanté kitten heels, all scraped and covered in mud. My Marc Jacobs skirt. My ruined glittery T-shirt. Then she lifts her eyes to my bruised, battered face, and we just look at each other.

“Yes,” she says at last. “I believe you.”



Three extra-strong painkillers later, and I’m really feeling quite a lot better. In fact, I can’t stop gabbling.

“I knew we were sisters,” I’m saying, as Jess puts a plaster on my gashed knee. “I knew it! I think I’m a bit psychic, actually. I felt your presence on the mountain.”

“Mmm,” says Jess, rolling her eyes.

“And the other thing is, I’m getting quite similar to you. Like I was thinking I might crop my hair short. It would really suit me. And I’ve started taking a real interest in rocks—”

“Becky,” interrupts Jess. “We don’t have to be the same.”

“What?” I look at her uncertainly. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe we’re sisters.” She sits back on her heels. “But that doesn’t mean we both have to have cropped hair. Or like rocks.” She reaches for another plaster and rips it open.

“Or potatoes,” I add before I can stop myself.

“Or potatoes,” agrees Jess. She pauses. “Or… overpriced designer lipsticks that go out of fashion in three weeks.”

There’s a little glint in her eyes as she looks at me, and I gape in astonishment. Jess is teasing me?

“I suppose you’re right,” I say, trying to stay nonchalant. “Just because we’re biologically related, it doesn’t mean we both have to like boring workouts with water bottles instead of cool weights.”

“Exactly. Or… mindless magazines full of ridiculous ads.”

“Or drinking coffee out of a horrible old flask.”

Jess’s mouth is twitching.

“Or stupid rip-off cappuccinos.”

There’s a clap of thunder, and we both jump in fright. Rain is beating on the tent like drumsticks. Jess puts a final plaster on my legs and shuts the little tin.

“I don’t suppose you brought anything to eat?” she says.

“Er… no.”

“I’ve got some, but it isn’t much.” Her brow wrinkles. “Not if we’re stuck here for hours. We won’t be able to move, even when the storm’s died down.”

“Can’t you forage on the mountainside for roots and berries?” I say hopefully.

Jess gives me a look.

“Becky, I’m not Tarzan.” She hunches her shoulders and wraps her arms round her legs. “We’ll just have to sit it out.”

“So… you don’t take a mobile when you go climbing?” I venture.

“I don’t have one. I don’t usually need one.”

“I suppose you don’t usually have a stupid injured sister with you.”

“Not normally, no.” She shifts on the groundsheet and reaches behind her. “I picked up some of your stuff, by the way. It got scattered when you fell.”

“Thank you,” I say, taking the handful of things from her. A mini hairspray. My manicure set. A compact.

“I couldn’t find your bag, I’m afraid,” adds Jess. “God knows where it went.”

My heart stops.

My Angel bag.

My two-thousand-euro movie-star bag. The bag that everyone in the world is clamoring for. After all that, it’s gone. Lost on a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

“It — it doesn’t matter.” Somehow I force myself to smile. “These things happen.”

With sore, stiff fingers I open my compact — and amazingly, the mirror’s still intact. Cautiously I take a look at myself and recoil. I look like a beaten-up scarecrow. My hair is everywhere, and both my cheeks are grazed, and there’s a huge lump on my forehead.

“What are we going to do?” I snap the compact shut.

“We’ll have to stay here until the storm dies down,” says Jess.

“Yes, but I mean… what shall we do? While we wait in the tent.”

Jess’s expression is unreadable.

“I thought we could watch When Harry Met Sally and eat popcorn,” she says.

I can’t help giggling. Jess does actually have a sense of humor. Underneath it all.

“Shall I do your nails?” I suggest. “I’ve got my stuff here.”

“Do my nails?” says Jess. “Becky… you realize we’re on a mountain.”

“Yes!” I say eagerly. “That’s the whole point! It’s extra-tough lacquer that lasts whatever you do. Look at this!” I show her the bottle of nail polish. “The model’s actually climbing a mountain in the picture.”

“Unbelievable,” says Jess, taking the bottle from me and peering at it. “And people fall for this?”

“Come on! What else are we going to do?” I pause innocently. “I mean, it’s not like we’ve got anything fun to do, like our accounts… ”

Jess’s eyes flash at me.

“OK,” she says. “You win. Do my nails.”



While the storm rages around us, we paint each other’s nails a bright sparkly pink.

“That’s great!” I say in admiration as Jess finishes my left hand. “You could be a manicurist!”

“Thanks,” she says dryly. “You’ve made my day.”

I wave my fingers in the torchlight, then get out my compact to admire my reflection.

“You need to learn to put one finger thoughtfully to your mouth,” I explain, demonstrating. “It’s the same when you get a new ring or bracelet. Just to let people see.” I offer her the mirror, but she turns away, her face closing up.