by Jade Parker
“That’s right. I forgot. You don’t have any brothers.”
“Or sisters,” I felt obligated to point out.
“That’s right,” he said again, like he was a teacher who’d asked a question and I’d gotten it correct. “You’re an only child. You don’t act like one.”
I furrowed my brow. “What does an only child act like?”
“Spoiled, usually.”
“Says who?”
“The same people who say older brothers are irritating. Anyway, listen, I have a favor to ask. It’s about Whitney. She’s feeling, you know, like she doesn’t belong, so will you maybe invite her to go with you for lunch?”
“You couldn’t ask that with Caitlin around?”
“If she knew I was asking, she’d give me a hard time about it and probably be unfriendly to Whitney — just because it’s a favor to me.”
I stared at him. “First of all, she wouldn’t be unfriendly. She’s not a mean person. Second, I don’t understand why it’s a favor for you, if I invite Whitney to lunch. Do you like her or something?”
“Well, yeah, I like her, and I know she doesn’t have the whole work ethic down, but if you could just, you know, be nice to her, include her —”
“You think you have to tell me to be nice?”
“Hey, you hang out with my sister. What else am I supposed to think?”
“You’re the one who needs lessons in ‘nice.’ When I get in the car and say, ‘Hey,’ as in ‘hey, good morning,’ ‘good day,’ ‘hello,’ you grunt. What’s up with that anyway?”
He held up his hands. “Don’t go all ballistic on me. I have things on my mind.”
“Like what?”
“How to make a good impression as a supervisor. It’s not easy, you know. Just like this. I ask a favor and suddenly we’re arguing. Geez, forget it. I’ll find someone else.”
He started walking away.
“Sean?”
He stopped and looked back at me.
“Yeah, I’ll invite Whitney to join us for lunch.”
“Don’t put yourself out.”
“No, seriously, I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
Again, I couldn’t figure out why he owed me or why he cared so much about Whitney’s happiness. Did he care about everyone assigned to his crew? Or was Whitney special?
He started to walk away again, stopped, looked back at me. “You didn’t tell Caitlin I was on probation.”
He said it more like a statement than a question.
I shook my head. “No. How’d you know?”
“She didn’t give me a hard time about it last night.”
“She wouldn’t —”
“She would. So, thanks. And don’t forget to be nice to Whitney.”
“Obviously you haven’t noticed, but I do ‘nice’ really well.”
He grinned. “I’ve noticed.”
He strode away with a lazy walk that, contrary to the way it looked, actually covered a lot of ground quickly.
It was only when I headed to Splash that his words really struck me.
He’d noticed — noticed that I was nice. I didn’t know why that knowledge made me feel really good. Maybe because I’d started noticing lately that he was nice, too.
* * *
Whitney, however, was still a challenge.
“Why do the kids even need to be in inner tubes?” she asked. “It’s just a slide.”
“Maybe they want to feel like it’s a big-kid ride,” I said as I held the tube for a toddler so she could climb in. She was the only one around at the moment because the park had just opened. Her mom was off to the side watching, which again made me wonder why I was even here.
“They’re kids. Do you really think they notice?” Whitney was sitting on the edge of the pool again. “Maybe I’ll suggest they do away with the inner tubes.”
Like someone was going to listen to her suggestions. Honestly, why would she think anyone would care about what she had to say?
“If they did away with the tubes, we’d just be standing around watching kids slide,” I said. I pushed the little girl down the slide and straightened, twisting one way, then the other, to get the kinks out of my back.
“And that’s a problem because?” Whitney asked.
Okay, so most lifeguards just stood around watching people. And really, the inner tubes did seem like way more trouble than they were worth.
“You’re thinking I’m right,” Whitney said. “Admit it.”
“Well, maybe.”
She stood up. “I know. We’ve got a lull here, no day-care kiddos have arrived yet. So let’s test my theory.”
“Test?”
“Yeah. We’ll slide down in a tube, then slide down without. We’ll see which is the most fun.”
“Uh, actually, we’re not supposed —”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. We’re not supposed to be about having any fun. We’re just supposed to work, work, work — slave labor. Besides, who’s gonna notice? Seriously?” She looked around. “The park just opened; there aren’t that many people here yet.”
She grabbed a tube from the mesh container. “Come on. I’ll hold it while you get in. No one will know.”
Well, Nick would know and a few people were in the distance, but they didn’t look like they were paying any attention. And would Nick say anything? He didn’t seem like a whistle-blower.
He was looking at us, grinning. “Go ahead, Robyn,” he called up.
The water was so shallow that I figured the tube would stop me from plunging far enough down to get wet — so there would be no evidence of my transgression.
“For the good of the park,” Whitney urged. “It’s your duty.”
What would it hurt? Truthfully, I missed playing in the park, so maybe this would satisfy those longings.
“Oh, okay,” I finally said, giving in to the peer pressure.
I was only halfway on, not properly situated, when Whitney said, “Have fun!” and pushed me — really hard!
I went flying down the slide, screaming at the suddenness of it. I hit the cold water, dipped over, and landed facedown in the pool. I came up sputtering, and my gaze settled on a pair of firm, tanned calves — - set right in front of me.
I lifted my gaze. The legs belonged to Sean. His arms were crossed over his chest as he stared down at me. Where had he come from? And how had he shown up so fast?
“What. Are. You. Doing?” he asked.
Getting. In. Trouble.
* * *
“I can’t believe you were doing that,” Sean said.
He’d led me over to that little table where we’d taken a break together the day before. Not that we were sitting, enjoying the park. Oh, no, we were standing with him hovering over me. When had he gotten so tall? So broad? So scary?
“You know the rules. No goofing around.” His voice was firm. He was mad, really mad.
“Yeah, but see, Whitney had this theory that we didn’t really need the inner tubes —”
He took off his sunglasses. I could see the disgust in his blue, blue eyes. “We paired her up with you —”
“We?”
“Yeah. TPTB.”
“TPTB?” I was so lost.
“The Powers That Be. The guys in charge. They asked if anyone knew someone who was really dependable and I said you, because usually you are.”
I knew I should have been flattered, that somewhere in his anger was a compliment. But dependable? I was, but suddenly that sounded so boring. Maybe that was part of the reason that I’d gone down the slide — - because I never did anything I wasn’t supposed to do and where was it getting me? Whitney wasn’t doing anything she was supposed to do and she was still employed. Not only that, her supervisor was doing everything possible to keep her happy. What was up with that anyway?
Sean had to want her to be his girlfriend, but wasn’t that against park rules? To date someone you were in charge of?
“You’re the reason Caitlin d
oesn’t get into any more trouble than she does,” Sean continued.
Okay, I was the one who talked her out of trying to self-pierce her eyebrow — but I didn’t think he knew about that. He did know about the time she wanted to dump bubble bath in the hot tub, and I convinced her it would be a bad idea — that we’d suffocate in bubbles.
“I mean, I thought you were incorruptible,” he said.
“I went down a slide,” I said, getting a little fed up with his attitude. “A little slide. It’s not like I broke the law.”
“You broke a park rule.” He held up a finger. “And don’t you dare say rules are meant to be broken.”
“That’s Caitlin, not me.” She was always saying that.
He shook his head. “Look, just don’t goof around anymore.” He put his sunglasses back on. “We’ve got six day-care centers scheduled for field trips today, so stay alert. And don’t forget to take Whitney with you for lunch.”
“After what just happened? Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious.”
“Are you going to talk to her about this incident? It was her idea.”
“Ideas aren’t against park rules. Going down the slides is.”
Picky. Picky. If he hadn’t shown up so fast, she would have been going down the slide.
So he wasn’t going to say anything to her. Unfair!
He walked away and I strode back to Splash. Whitney was actually helping a boy get into the inner tube. When she gave him a little push, she looked at me and said, “He looked seriously mad.”
“Thanks a lot for standing by me.”
“We were just having fun.”
“But we’re supposed to be working.”
“So what’s your opinion on the tubes? Do they stay or go?”
Did she not get it at all?
“They stay. Why don’t you go down there and help Nick?”
“He has less to do than you do.”
“What does it matter? You’re not doing anything anyway.”
She pouted. I’d never seen an actual pout. She jutted out her lower lip. “Fine.”
She hopped on the slide, slid down.
I looked around for Sean, expecting him to show up and yell at her — but he was nowhere to be seen. Or maybe he was hiding. Maybe he didn’t want to have to get after her.
When she got to the bottom, she looked up at me. “The tubes definitely need to go!”
Something — or someone — needed to go. Her or me.
I wasn’t going to invite Whitney to lunch. I really wasn’t. I didn’t care what Sean said.
But he was the one who came over to relieve us. I guess since he wasn’t taking his lunch at the same time that we were, he had to find a lunch buddy for Whitney. I really didn’t want to be it.
But he took off his sunglasses and stared at me with those amazing blue eyes of his. I stared back. He was bigger. And he was my boss.
What was the deal? Why did he care who she ate lunch with?
“Whitney’s going to have lunch with us.”
Caitlin was already in the lounging area at the wave pool when I arrived. I’d told Whitney to meet us there — which worked since she had to buy her lunch while I grabbed mine out of my locker. I wanted a couple of minutes to prepare Caitlin, to let her know that Sean wanted us to be nice to Whitney.
“That was his big, mysterious you-can’t-be-here-while-I-talk-to-her moment?”
“Yeah.”
“He can be such a jerk.”
“No kidding.”
It was weird. I felt disloyal to Sean — - agreeing with Caitlin. But I always agreed with Caitlin. And right that moment, I did think that Sean was a jerk.
I was still stinging from his getting mad at me. It bothered me more than I’d realized at the time — not so much that I’d gotten into trouble, but that I’d somehow let Sean down. I didn’t know why I wanted to impress him with my ability to be an exceptional employee, but I did.
And it totally wasn’t fair that I’d gotten all the blame when it was Whitney’s idea. He should have at least told her not to come up with any more ideas. Of course, that sounded ridiculous when I thought about it.
“So how long does it take to grab your lunch?” Caitlin asked.
“She doesn’t bring her lunch. She had to get something from Scavenger’s.”
Scavenger’s was a shack-looking building that served hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, candy, and anything else unhealthy. Although it was really a sturdy building, it looked like it would collapse at any moment, like it had survived a storm. It was all part of the island illusion.
“She buys her lunch every day?” Caitlin asked.
“Apparently.”
“That gets expensive. Even with our employee discount. So if she can afford that, why’s she working here?”
“You seem to forget. She’s not actually working.”
“Okay, then, why is she getting paid to be here?”
I shrugged. “She said her dad was making her. Let’s just be nice to her and get this lunch over with.”
I saw Whitney looking around. I stood up and waved. When she spotted me, I sat back down. Maybe she wouldn’t come over. But I couldn’t be that lucky. She started walking our way.
“She’s kinda strutting over here like she thinks she owns the park,” Caitlin said.
“Yeah, she really has this attitude. But be nice to her, because for some reason it’s important to Sean.”
“I’m not sure why that would make it matter to me.”
“Come on, Caitlin. He’s your brother.”
“Oh, okay. Although I think that’s a rumor — that he’s actually my brother. I think my real brother was stolen at birth.”
She’d told me that a hundred times. It was like her little joke, but I was starting to think that Sean really wasn’t that bad. I wished I had a brother so I understood how the whole sibling thing was supposed to work.
Whitney walked past me, dropped her leather bag on the ground, and stretched out on the lounge chair beside mine. She didn’t have her lunch with her, so I guess she’d eaten it at the food court. That would explain why it had taken her an exceptionally long time to join us.
“This is Caitlin,” I said. “Sean’s sister.”
Whitney moved her sunglasses down her nose and peered over at Caitlin. Neither one said anything, like they were sizing each other up. It made me uncomfortable.
“Caitlin is a lifeguard at Tsunami,” I felt a need to say, to fill the silence.
“That has to be boring,” Whitney said.
“You’re kidding, right?” Caitlin asked. “Do you not see the smorgasbord of hot guys around here?”
Caitlin was all talk. She’d probably picked up “smorgasbord of hot guys” from one of her teen mags.
“We’ve got some pretty hot guys where we work,” Whitney said.
I know my jaw dropped. What alternate universe was she working in?
“Oh, yeah,” Caitlin retorted. “Mini Falls really appeals to the hunks.”
Whitney shoved her sunglasses back into place. She didn’t say anything. Like she didn’t see the point. Like she thought she’d won the argument or whatever was going on between them.
“Is that a Cartier watch?” Caitlin asked.
Whitney lifted her arm to look at her wrist like she just realized she had a watch on it. “Knockoff.”
“And the Louis Vuitton bag?”
“Knockoff. I order from a designer knockoff website. I’ll try to remember to get you the URL. No promises, though. I don’t usually remember to do inconsequential things.”
I so didn’t get Whitney. It was like she didn’t want us to like her.
“You know, you kinda remind me of someone,” Caitlin said.
“I just have that kind of face.”
“Maybe. So, do you have a boyfriend?”
Caitlin wasn’t one to give up. I might be the good influence, but she was the one with determination. She was also nosy. She liked knowing
things about people.
“What is this? An interrogation?” Whitney asked.
“Just trying to get to know you,” Caitlin said. “After all, I know everything about Robyn. We don’t know anything about you.”
“You two are friends?” Whitney asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Caitlin said. “Long time.”
Whitney leaned up a bit so she could look directly at Caitlin. “So, why do you do all the talking?”
Caitlin shifted her attention to me. “I don’t do all the talking.”
“You do most of it.” I shrugged. “But that’s okay.”
I could tell Caitlin was thinking lunch with Whitney was not going to become a routine for us, which sorta made me feel sorry for Whitney. That she seemed to have a knack for getting people to not like her. Well, except for Sean, of course. He seemed to think she was the greatest thing since the invention of the iPod.
“So what do you like to do for fun, Whitney?” I asked.
“Oh, you know? Shop.”
Hence all the knockoffs.
I looked over at Caitlin. She faked a yawn. Yeah, Whitney was really making our lunchtime boring.
Caitlin leaned in. “Okay, check this out. See the guy standing at the edge of the waves?”
It was a lifeguard, holding his rescue tube. Not the guy she’d pointed out the day before. He had blond hair and looked really athletic.
“That’s Tanner. I like him — a lot.”
I could see why. He was cute. As though he could feel our gazes on him, he looked over at us and grinned. He gave a little wave before turning his attention back to the people in the pool.
I released a tiny squeal, reached out, and tapped Caitlin’s knee. “You go, girl!”
Grinning broadly, she nodded. “I know. He came over and talked to me before our shift started and then came back over on his morning break. It was awesome.”
“You’re not obsessed with guys, are you?” Whitney asked.
“Well, yeah, I am,” Caitlin said. “It’s the whole reason I’m working here. An abundance of boyfriend material.”
Whitney looked at me. “You, too?”
I shook my head. “Sorta, but mostly for me it’s money for a car. I really want to buy a car when I turn sixteen.”
