by Maisy Morgan
“All right, kiddos, we told Stacey’s parents we would be back at the cabin by one, and we’re going to be cutting it close,” Jaden said at last.
They said goodbye to the friendly family, promising to see them at the dance party by the river that night. Mary smiled, glad that they had met a couple of Whitewater students. Bradley and Stacey had seemed very friendly and helpful to the nervous upcoming freshmen. “Well, they were very nice,” Mary said.
“Ken’s all right,” Roy said as they headed inside the restaurant. “I’m surprised he remembered who I was. We only worked together once, and we didn’t have a whole lot of interaction. Smart guy. I think his wife, Jaden, does interior design or something like that. I remember him showing some people on set some pictures of some of her work. I also remember him talking about his kid. Didn’t realize Bradley went to Whitewater. Guess that will be one more person you guys will know going in.”
The hostess seated them rather quickly and they all whipped open their menus, except Anna, who apparently already knew what she wanted. The talk was now all about high school and the insider information that Bradley and Stacey had given them about various teachers. “I hope I don’t get Mr. Gretchen for chemistry…” Draco said.
“You don’t take chemistry until junior year, Draco,” Roy said.
“They’re entering junior year,” Tripp said. “So how would they even know if Mr. Gretchen was that bad?”
“By reputation, I guess,” Draco said, hardly able to pay attention to his menu. “They said that Mrs. Sampson was the best English teacher for the freshmen classes, though.”
“There are going to be plenty of teachers you like and dislike over the years,” Mary said. “But don’t go in thinking the worst. All teachers will have students who like and hate them. You’ve got to form your own opinions.”
“Yeah, but there’s nothing wrong with a review,” Draco muttered.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Anna said. “Look at the menu, would you, Draco? I know you always take forever to order.”
“We get it, Mom, you’re hungry,” Draco said, and she smacked him on the side of the arm.
Roy laughed. “Well, I guess now that we’ve told them we will be at the dance party tonight, we have to go, don’t we?”
“Yes!” Draco and Tripp exclaimed at once, both looking very excited.
Mary laughed. “Well, I do like the idea of a party by the riverfront. It could be fun.”
“Sounds like we’re going, then,” Anna said. “Now, seriously, who is ready to order?”
Mary laughed. She just loved the Morris family. They were sincerely friendly and upbeat people. She couldn’t have asked for a better group to have fallen in with so quickly upon arriving in Georgia. Between them and Cindy and Hannah, Mary really felt like she and Tripp had hit the jackpot as far as friendships went.
She opened up her menu, scanning it with a keen eye before laughing. “I don’t know what any of this is. What’s haggis?”
“Meat boiled in a sheep’s stomach,” Anna said, and Mary closed her menu for a moment with her face scrunched up—enough of a face, evidently, to cause everyone at the table to erupt in laughter, with the exception of Anna, who didn’t care for everyone poking fun at German cuisine. Evidently, Anna came from a long line of Germans. “Honestly,” Anna said. “I can’t take you people anywhere! All I wanted was some authentic German food, and you all turn it into a joke…”
Chapter Three
Tripp and Draco bolted up to the loft after they arrived back at the cabin. The prospect of going to a dance party by the river after having been personally invited by upperclassmen from their school was appealing. Not just any kids had invited them, but a member of their school’s varsity football team, and he had seemed cool. And Stacey was gorgeous and had promised to introduce them to her younger sister, whom Tripp was hoping looked a lot like her, if he was being honest with himself.
The boys tore open their suitcases, locating their swimming trunks and changing. Tripp elected to wear a dark blue suit with a black stripe down the right leg. When he turned to see what Draco was wearing, he decided that it could have been a lot worse. Draco was in a jet black swimsuit with a Slytherin emblem stitched on one of the legs. “Nice,” Tripp joked as Draco threw on a black t-shirt and slipped into some flip-flops.
“You’re just jealous,” Draco teased.
Tripp threw on a t-shirt as well, and the two boys bolted downstairs. “Where’s Grandma?” Tripp asked Sarah Jane, who was playing on the floor with a doll she had brought along with them on the trip.
“She’s taking a nap,” Sarah Jane said.
“Aren’t you going to get your swimsuit on?” Draco asked.
“Mom and Dad want me to take a nap too,” Sarah Jane muttered, and even Tripp had to admit that the little girl looked exhausted, but he was feeling increasingly eager to get to the dance party.
Mr. Morris came fumbling out of the master bedroom, rubbing his eyes and looking quite tired himself. “Oh, come on!” Draco moaned. “Aren’t we going to the party?”
Mr. Morris smirked. “Draco, it’s been a pretty hectic day between the drive and walking around town after lunch. I think everyone needs a bit of rest before we go. Your mom is half asleep in there.”
“Aww, come on, Dad…” Draco groaned. “Bradley and Stacey said they were going early…”
Mr. Morris seemed to understand what the boys’ dilemma was, and Tripp didn’t care for how amused this made the man. He smiled. “Tell you what… Tripp, if you want to ask your grandmother if it’s okay, the three of us will head out early on foot. The ladies can join us later by car.”
This made Tripp perk up immediately. He hurried into the guest room where his grandmother was pulling her hair up in a bun. “Grandma, Mr. Morris said he would take Draco and me down to the river early if it’s okay with you?” he said, a strong pleading tone in his voice.
“Tripp, if you and Draco go now, you’ll both be tired and not want to stay by the time the rest of us get down there,” Mary said.
“I doubt it,” Tripp said and then smiled at her in a way that let her know he was about to say something mildly insulting. “I mean, we’re teenagers… you’re kind of an old lady, Grandma.”
“Wow,” she said, but she laughed at him. “You are too mean to me. I hardly think of myself as an old lady. Fine, you and Draco go early with Mr. Morris. But don’t you dare start moaning and groaning about leaving until the ladies are ready to go tonight. And, I’m only being so nice because I know tomorrow is your birthday.”
Tripp grinned. “Thanks, Grandma,” he said and bolted out into the living area. He could see Mr. Morris carrying Sarah Jane up the stairs to the loft, her tired little hand gripping her doll while her sleepy head rested on the man’s shoulder.
“Your sister is kind of adorable,” Tripp teased.
“She’s a brat—shut up,” Draco warned. “What did your grandma say?”
“She is fine with us going so long as we don’t tire ourselves out before everyone else gets there,” Tripp said.
“Please—after all that German food, my mom will get tired long before I do even if they don’t show up for another three hours,” Draco said, and they both excitedly gave Mr. Morris the good news as he came back down the stairs.
He stepped away for a moment, throwing on some swim trunks himself and giving his wife fair warning about what they were up to before emerging from the master room with a bag over his shoulder, ready to go. The three of them marched out of the cabin and down the long stretches of backroads. They talked excitedly about what to expect at the dance party, and eventually, they arrived at a portion of the river that was somewhat hidden in the woods—the trees full of white lights, hanging lanterns, and as promised, glowsticks galore.
People were splashing around in a shallow portion of the creek while others were grabbing inner tubes and running further up river to ride them back down to the party. There was also the wonderful aroma of hotdogs a
nd burgers cooking on a bunch of grills. Finally, up high on the nearby hillside overlooking the river was a DJ already blaring music for people to dance to.
“Hey! It’s Roy!” an unfamiliar voice boomed, and Tripp turned to see three men standing together, each with a soda can in their hands. He recognized one of them as Ken, Bradley’s father. The man standing right next to him was the one who had spotted them.
“Come here, boys,” Mr. Morris said, and Tripp and Draco followed him.
Mr. Morris stuck out his hand, shaking with the man in the middle who had called him over. “Good to see you again, Bobby,” Mr. Morris said.
“Bob,” the man said with a wink.
“Tell me you remember me, right?” the third man in the group said, shaking Mr. Morris’ hand.
“Darren, right?” Mr. Morris asked.
“Look at that; he’s a genius. Meets us once on a movie set and remembers our names. When you get all famous and start doing more than extra work, you gonna remember us?” Bob asked and laughed at his own joke.
“Hey, you three remembered me,” Mr. Morris said.
Three chattering women made their way over, and Trip spotted Bradley’s mom, Jaden, amongst them. Jaden went and stood by Ken, and he put his arm around her waist and smiled. “You remember my wife from earlier,” Ken said.
“Good to see you again, Jaden,” Mr. Morris said.
Bob snagged up his wife in a similar fashion that Ken had done to Jaden, and the pretty blonde woman laughed. “This here is my lady, Lana,” Bob said, winking.
“You two must be Stacey’s parents,” Mr. Morris said. “I can tell—she looks just like her mama.”
“I’ll definitely take that as a compliment,” Lana said. “My girls are gorgeous. You haven’t met our other daughter, Becky, have you? She’s running around here somewhere.”
“Probably chasing her sister around,” Bob said.
“I’m sure,” Lana agreed, shaking her head.
The third woman cleared her throat, and her husband, Darren, jumped. “Whoa, sorry, hon,” he said. “This is my wife, Natalie.”
“Nat,” she said, smiling. “You must be Roy, the actor?”
“EMT,” Mr. Morris said. “I do a little extra work on the side. This is my son, Draco, and his friend, Tripp.”
“The birthday boy, right?” Lana asked, and Tripp blushed. “Stacey mentioned that it was your birthday this weekend. Fifteen. Our daughter Becky turns fifteen in about a month, and she is counting down the days until she can get that learner’s permit. I think Stacey is too—we make her drive Becky around everywhere.”
Bob laughed. “Wait until she finds out we’re going to make them share a car.”
All of the adults laughed at this. “Tripp!” a voice wailed down the river, and Tripp and Draco turned to see Stacey waving her arm wildly. She was sitting on a large stone right next to Bradley, who was also waving at them.
“Go on,” Mr. Morris said, and Tripp and Draco bolted away from the adults.
“Hey, Stacey! Hey, Bradley!” Tripp said as they stopped by the water.
With them were two other girls, the younger of which Tripp assumed to be Stacey’s little sister Becky, but it was the other girl that immediately caught his attention. Her shiny red hair flowed halfway down her back, and she had shimmering green eyes and a cute little nose. “Guys, this is Tripp and Draco—the ones we met in town earlier,” Bradley was saying. “That’s our friend Kara, and that’s Stacey’s little sister, Becky.”
“Hi,” Tripp said, not taking his eyes off of Kara. Kara seemed to notice his intense staring, but she didn’t seem to mind. She just smiled at him.
Draco threw his thumb up towards the parents who were still gathered. “So, who belongs to who again?”
“You know my parents,” Bradley said. “Ken and Jaden.”
“Our parents,” Stacey said, waving at herself and Becky. “Bob and Lana.”
“Darren and Nat are my parents,” Kara said, shaking her head at her father who was swaying to the music and trying to get his less enthusiastic wife to dance with him. “He’s pretty embarrassing.”
“I know the feeling,” Tripp said. “Pretty sure my grandma is going to get here and try to get me to dance with her.”
Kara giggled. “Awe, that’s cute,” she said. “Are you close with your grandma?”
“Sort of,” Tripp said. “It’s kind of a long story. I haven’t known her that long, but now I live with her.”
“Huh…” Kara said, studying him with great interest. “Sounds like a story you’re going to have to tell me sometime.”
“So, who’s up for going down the river in the inner tubes?” Bradley asked. “We haven’t done that yet. We’ve got an even number of people; I say we walk up to the couple’s tubes.”
“Couple’s tubes?” Tripp asked.
“Yeah, two seaters,” Kara said, jumping up. “You can ride with me, Tripp,” she yelled as she sprinted off.
Tripp smiled, and he wasted no time in chasing after her. He heard Becky grunt in annoyance, probably knowing that Stacey had intended to try to set them up. Draco didn’t seem to mind one bit, and he politely held out a hand to help Becky stand up off the stone where she had been seated. “Dad!” Bradley called up towards the crowd. “We’re heading up to get inner tubes!”
“Stay together!” Ken called, and Bradley shot him a thumbs up.
They walked until they spotted a golf cart that was offering rides up hill, so the three couples squished together. Stacey sat in Bradley’s lap, and Tripp blushed terribly when Kara did the same to him with very little warning. “Don’t let me fall off,” she warned him, and he put his arms around her.
Becky shrugged and followed the lead of her big sister and her friend and sat herself right down in Draco’s lap—Draco’s face turned a terrible shade of red. When they at last arrived at the inner tube station, they got in the shorter line meant for people riding two seaters. They didn’t have to wait too long, and soon they were floating down the river. Some parts of the river were rather slow moving, other parts zipped them along rapidly and made Kara giggle.
“So, how do your parents all know each other?” Tripp asked Kara casually.
“Our dads all work together,” Kara said. “It’s a construction company they started up. Bradley’s mom works there too as an interior designer for the company.”
“That’s cool,” Tripp said. “What about your mom? She stay at home or what?”
“Photographer, actually,” Kara said. “My mom and Stacey’s mom met each other through our dads—they both had their own competing studios in Peachtree City for the longest time. Few years ago, they opened up a studio together, and it’s been doing awesome.”
Tripp smiled, keeping track in his head. Ken, his wife Jaden, Bob, and Darren worked together on construction—Jaden the company’s interior designer. Stacey’s mom, Lana, and Kara’s mom, Nat, owned a photography studio together. “Cool,” Tripp said, and he glanced back at Draco and Becky, who had fallen behind a bit, and was shocked to see that Becky had leaned over and was locking lips with him. No freakin’ way, Tripp thought, somewhat amused but also kind of proud of his geeky friend. Draco looked like he had no idea what to do or how to respond, and Tripp looked away to avoid embarrassing him.
“Becky is kind of desperate,” Kara whispered and pointed up towards Stacey and Bradley who were also making out in their inner tube. “Got to be like big sister. I think she’s worried. Stacey is little miss popular and Becky doesn’t want to live in her shadow. Becky has been practicing all summer with us to make sure she’s ready for cheer tryouts.”
“You cheer?” Tripp asked.
Kara smiled. “Yeah. Stacey and I both cheer, and I’m pretty sure come next year, Stacey is going to be cheer captain. Becky has talked about trying out for twirling instead of cheerleading, though. She did ballet for the longest time, so I think she’d be better at that. Becky wants to join HOSA with Bradley too.”
“The n
ursing thing?” Tripp asked.
“Exactly,” Kara said.
“So, you do cheerleading. That take up all your time?” Tripp asked.
“Pretty much,” she said. “I’m thinking about picking up something else this year though. Just to do something different. Not sure what, though. Stacey’s talking about joining a photography club that got started up last year. She wants to take pictures like her mom.” Kara glanced back at Becky and Draco and rolled her eyes. “Hey, Becky! Don’t be so aggressive! You just met the poor guy—he’s got to come up for air eventually!”
This caused Stacey and Bradley to unlock their lips for a second to look back. Stacey did not look amused. “Knock it off, Becky! I’m going to tell mom!”
“Oh, shut up, Stacey,” Becky said, letting go of Draco, who looked like he was going to pass out. His blond hair was sticking up, and Tripp suspected that Becky had been tugging on it.
Tripp smirked at him, and Draco avoided eye contact with him, but he was grinning. Before too long, the three inner tubes got a bit separated—Bradley and Stacey far up ahead, and Becky and Draco far behind. There were a lot of twists and turns in the river, and the trees blocked their view of one another. A small part of Tripp wondered if he leaned in, would Kara make out with him too, but he thought better of it. The last thing he wanted was to have to explain a busted lip to his grandmother.
“You got a girlfriend?” Kara asked suddenly.
“Huh?” Tripp asked.
“I mean, unlike Becky, I’d like to know that first,” she said. “You’re cute.”
Hannah’s face flashed before his eyes, but he shook it off. He and Hannah weren’t dating, so why would he think of her all of a sudden? Sure, he’d had a little crush on her for a while—he wouldn’t deny that, but he had never acted on it. And Hannah never expressed an interest in him either, or at least he didn’t think she had. “Um, no, no girlfriend,” he said. He tried not to give away the fact that he was nervous. He leaned back in the inner tube and said in a joking manner, “Why? You wanting to make out now, too?”
