“Don’t tell me how I should feel! You don’t know what I’m going through.”
“And you don’t know what I’m going through!” Cooper shot back as the boat they were in came to a stop in front of a waterfall. “I like you, Ava. A lot. But I don’t know if you like me. I think you do, but you’re not giving me a chance. And that’s not fair.”
Ava was silent. “You’re right,” she finally said. “I’m not giving you a chance. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. Maybe just a little more open-minded?”
“This hasn’t been easy for me,” Ava admitted. “I’m still sorting things out.”
“I’m not Josh,” Cooper said. “Remember that, okay?”
Ava nodded. Then she asked, “Why aren’t we moving? Is the ride broken?”
“I think not moving is part of the ride,” Cooper said.
“Part of the ride?”
“Listen.”
Ava tilted her head and heard the sound of couples kissing.
“How long do we have to listen to that?” she groaned.
Cooper shrugged. “Five minutes? Ten? I don’t know.”
“What are we supposed to do until then?”
“We could make ourselves a little more comfortable,” Cooper said. “Is it okay if I put my arm around you? And you could put yours around me. It might give us some wiggle room. And don’t worry! I’m not going to hug you or kiss you or do anything affectionate.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Ava said as she slipped her arm around Cooper’s back.
“You didn’t have to. I’m a mind reader.”
“Really? So what am I thinking?”
Cooper gazed down at Ava. He stared into her blue eyes, glittering in the darkness. It would be so easy to kiss her. All he had to do was lean forward and press his lips against hers. But he couldn’t. He’d promised.
But he really wanted to kiss her!
“That I’m a nice guy,” he said, tearing his eyes away so he would no longer be tempted. “And maybe, just maybe, we’ll kiss again before spring break ends. Am I right?”
Ava nestled herself against Cooper’s chest and he placed an arm around her, holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
“Maybe,” Ava whispered. “Maybe.”
Cooper smiled in the darkness. Yes! It was exactly the answer he had been hoping for.
Mindy couldn’t remember the last time she had been to an amusement park. Maybe junior high? She’d forgotten how much fun they could be! Since they’d arrived, she had gone on a ton of rides, eaten a lot of junk food, and was now playing the ringtoss, trying to win a stuffed pink rabbit. Unfortunately, her rings weren’t getting anywhere near the top of the milk bottle they had to fall over. It was frustrating! She really wanted to win that stuffed rabbit. It was so cute!
“I’ll take another three,” she told the guy in the booth, handing him her money.
“Need a little help?”
Mindy whirled around. “Damian! What are you doing here?” She was surprised to see him all alone. When they’d first arrived at the park, Wanda had instantly slipped her arm through his, steering him in the direction she wanted to go, while Lacey and Vivienne trailed behind. Mindy had started to follow after them, but then remembered Wanda’s orders from yesterday afternoon and decided to explore the park on her own.
When they’d gotten back from the spa, Damian had still been at the house. At the sight of him, Mindy had panicked. What was he still doing there? Wanda wasn’t supposed to know that he’d been spending time with Vivienne! At the sight of Damian, Wanda had smiled, but then her smile had turned into a frown when she realized Damian and Vivienne had been alone. Of course, she didn’t know how long—three hours and forty-five minutes, to be precise!—and that bugged her. Luckily, Damian had waved the amusement park passes he’d brought over. And Vivienne had kept her mouth shut. Crisis averted!
“My brother, Steve, got these from a friend,” he said. “I thought you might want to come with us tomorrow.”
“I’d love to,” Wanda instantly answered, snatching the passes out of Damian’s hand as she gave him a sweet smile.
“We’d all love to,” Lacey said as she removed three passes from Wanda’s hand, keeping one for herself and handing one to Vivienne and one to Mindy. Obviously, Lacey did not trust Wanda to distribute the rest of the passes! “That was so sweet of you to think of us.”
“Great! We’ll touch base tomorrow morning.”
After Damian left, Wanda tried to convince Lacey and Vivienne that they should stay home, but they refused to change their minds. Wanda didn’t say anything to Mindy, but maybe that was because she knew Mindy didn’t dare cross her. If Wanda wanted her to stay home, she’d stay home!
“Why would he have brought four passes if he was only inviting you?” Lacey asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“He was being nice. He didn’t expect you to take them!” Wanda pointed out.
“But we did,” Vivienne said. “And he didn’t say anything. That means he’s cool with us coming along. If it was a problem, he would have said something. Right, Mindy?”
Mindy suddenly felt like a huge spotlight had been aimed at her. Don’t drag me into this! she wanted to scream. But they had. And now she needed not only to show that she was loyal to Wanda, but at the same time not piss off Lacey and Vivienne.
“He probably figured we’d do it like a class trip,” she said. “You know, everyone arrives together but goes off on their own once we get to the park. Then we all meet up at the end of the day.”
“Exactly,” Wanda agreed. “Damian will spend the day with me while everyone else goes off on their own.”
And that was exactly what Mindy had done.
Until now.
“Where’s Wanda?” she asked, searching behind Damian for a glimpse of her. If she was headed this way, Mindy did not want to be alone with Damian.
“I don’t know and I don’t care! We got separated after we got off the roller coaster and I decided to take a break from her.”
Mindy decided to tease Damian for a little bit. “Maybe she went off to reapply her lip gloss. Or buy another one. I hear you helped her go through one the other night.”
“Huh?”
“Should we start calling you the Kissing Bandit? The name kind of fits.”
Damian stared at Mindy in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb! Wanda told us all about her excessive lip-gloss use during your first date. She had to keep reapplying because you kept kissing it off.”
“What?!” Damian exclaimed, outrage on his face. “That’s a lie! I never kissed her. Not once!”
“You didn’t?” Mindy didn’t know why, but the fact that Damian hadn’t kissed Wanda made her feel…happy. “That’s not what she says.”
“Do you believe everything that girl tells you?”
“Usually. Why else would she lie?”
Damian gave Mindy a duh expression. “To make the rest of you jealous?”
“That is Wanda’s style,” Mindy admitted.
“My kisses are reserved for one girl and one girl only,” Damian said. “You!”
Hearing those words, Mindy felt a thrill.
Until she remembered how dangerous they were.
Even though they’d made a deal for a kiss, Damian wasn’t supposed to be kissing her.
She looked around in panic. “Shhh! Don’t say that!”
“Why not?”
“It will make Wanda mad! The only girl you’re supposed to be interested in is her.”
“Yeah, well, she makes that a little difficult. She’s too clingy. Too possessive. Vivienne’s kind of cool. We spent most of yesterday afternoon playing with your Wii.” Damian nodded at the ringtoss. “What are you up to?”
“Trying to win a stuffed rabbit.” Mindy tossed her remaining rings. And missed. “Shoot!”
“Try again?” the guy in the booth asked.
Min
dy shook her head. “Based on how much I’ve already spent, I could buy my own rabbit. Looks like it’s game over for me.”
“Let me try,” Damian offered. “I bet I could do it.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“We’ll see,” Damian said, handing the guy some money and getting ready to toss his first ring.
Mindy’s mouth dropped open as she watched Damian toss all three rings over the milk bottle.
“We have a winner!” the guy in the booth announced.
“Which rabbit did you want?” Damian asked.
“The pink one.”
The guy in the booth handed the pink rabbit to Damian, who gave it to Mindy. “All yours.”
“Thanks.”
“What are you going to name it?”
“B.W.”
“B.W.?”
“Short for Bunny Wabbit.”
Damian rolled his eyes. “Why do girls always resort to baby talk? Why can’t his name be Bunny Rabbit?”
“Because he doesn’t look like a Bunny Rabbit. He looks like a Bunny Wabbit!”
“Uh-oh!” Damian yelped, grabbing Mindy by the arm and pulling her behind him. “Wanda is headed our way.”
“Did she see us together?” Mindy gasped.
“No, but it’s only a matter of time. Come on,” he said, pushing her toward the line for the Ferris wheel. “We’re going for a ride!”
Within minutes, Mindy and Damian were in an enclosed car heading for the top of the Ferris wheel.
“We can’t hide up here all day,” Mindy said when the car stopped, swinging in the breeze.
“Why not? It’s so quiet up here. Peaceful. It’s like we’re the only two people in the world.”
“Bite your tongue!”
“You wouldn’t want to be all alone with me?” Damian moved closer to Mindy, pressing her into the corner of the car. “What’s the matter? Afraid you wouldn’t be able to control yourself?”
Mindy wondered if Damian was about to collect the kiss that she owed him. Her heart began racing as she imagined what it would be like to kiss him. He was probably a very good kisser.
But she wasn’t ready to be kissed! She was all hot and sweaty from going from ride to ride. She looked a mess! Damian couldn’t kiss her now! She had to stop him!
“Down, boy!” she exclaimed, bopping Damian on the nose with B.W. “Your charm might work on the girls at South Ridge High, but I’m immune to it!”
Damian gave Mindy a sly smile. “Uh-huh.” He folded his arms over his chest and slid back into his corner of the car. “That kiss is coming. Soon. Very soon. And you’re looking forward to it. Otherwise you wouldn’t have freaked out the way you just did.”
“I didn’t freak out,” Mindy said, trying to sound calm, even though nervous butterflies were fluttering through her stomach. She did want Damian to kiss her. But she didn’t want him to know that!
“So tell me about life at North Ridge High. You must be Miss Popularity.”
Mindy laughed. “More like Miss Unpopularity.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Why not?”
“Why wouldn’t people like you?”
“I have this little problem called gossiping.”
Damian shrugged. “Nobody’s perfect.”
“I’m trying to change.”
“And you think hanging out with Wanda and her friends is going to do that?”
“I already told you. They’re the most popular girls at North Ridge High. If I become friends with them, then I’m popular.”
“And that matters to you?”
“Yes, it does! Don’t you understand? This is my chance to change things, and I’m going to change them! I want to have friends. I want people to like me!”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help you,” Damian promised. “You can count on me.”
“Not if Wanda catches us together!” Mindy warned. “We can’t go sneaking off by ourselves anymore!”
The Ferris wheel started to move and their car headed back toward the ground. Mindy stuck her head out, wanting to make sure Wanda wasn’t anywhere in sight. “You get out first and then I’ll follow you.”
When their car landed back on the ground, Damian opened the door. But before leaving, he glanced back over his shoulder at Mindy. “In case you didn’t know it, you do have a friend. Me.”
Then he gave her a wink and left her alone with B.W.
Chapter Nineteen
Danielle was brushing her teeth when she heard a scream.
“Not again,” she groaned, spitting out toothpaste and wiping her mouth on a towel before leaving the bathroom.
Out in the hallway, she ran into Ava, who was heading downstairs. “Does she always have to scream?”
“That didn’t sound like Lindsey screaming,” Ava said. “It sounded like a guy!”
Danielle listened to another scream. “You’re right. And Lindsey did say she was going to leave a surprise for Howie this morning.”
“I think he found it!”
As they approached the kitchen, they could hear the screams getting louder and louder.
It was definitely a guy.
They walked into the kitchen and gasped.
“What happened to you?” Ava laughed, clutching a hand over her open mouth.
Howie was covered from head to toe in some sort of sticky substance, with white feathers stuck all over him.
“Your crazy friend rigged a bucket of maple syrup and feathers over the back door!” Howie screeched. “That’s what happened!”
“Would you like some pancakes to go with that syrup?” Lindsey asked, turning from the stove with a spatula and a plate of pancakes.
“Look at what you did to me!” Howie complained, waving his arms in the air.
Danielle giggled. With the way he was covered with feathers and waving his arms, Howie resembled a giant chicken.
“What I did?” Lindsey snapped. “I was only protecting what was ours. You’ve been sneaking into our kitchen all week, eating all our food and not even saying thank you!”
“Sharla said I could!”
Lindsey waved her spatula in Howie’s face. “That doesn’t mean you can just help yourself to whatever you want! You ate the picnic lunch I made for Cooper and Ava the other day and didn’t even say you were sorry. I slaved all night over a hot stove because I wanted their picnic to be special. But you ruined it!”
“It was delicious,” Howie said.
“You’re just saying that so I won’t be mad at you!” Lindsey fumed.
Howie crossed his heart. “Best fried chicken I ever had.”
“It’s my grandmother’s secret recipe,” Lindsey grudgingly admitted.
“I liked the cake, too.”
“I made it from scratch.”
“I could tell. It didn’t taste like it came out of a box.”
“What’s going on here?” Ava whispered to Danielle.
“I’m not sure, but I think Howie’s flirting with Lindsey!”
“Is it working?”
“I don’t think so,” Danielle said as Lindsey continued to glare at Howie, who kept sweet-talking her.
Just then, Ava’s cell phone rang and she answered it.
“Hello!”
“Hi, it’s Mindy!”
“Hey, Mindy, what’s up?”
“I’m having a pool party today and I wanted to invite you and the girls.”
“Sounds like fun. What time?”
“Swing by at around twelve.”
“We’ll be there,” Ava said. “Any new developments with Project Damian?”
“I can’t talk right now,” Mindy whispered. “I’ll fill you in when I see you.”
“Okay. See you later.”
“Bye!”
“Who was that?” Danielle asked when Ava got off the phone.
“Mindy Yee. She invited us over for a pool party.”
“We’re going, too!” Howie exclaimed. “Mindy called to invite Damian and told him
to bring us along.”
“Then I guess you better start cleaning yourself up!” Lindsey told him. “Maybe you can get one of your housemates to pluck you. Because I don’t think Mindy’s going to want feathers in her pool!”
“Who were you on the phone with?” Wanda asked as she walked out to the pool and lay down on a lounge chair.
Mindy wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but ever since yesterday afternoon, when she’d been alone with Damian, she felt like Wanda was watching her every move. It was almost as if Wanda had some sort of radar and suspected that Mindy was interested in Damian, which was so not the case. Damian was a friend and only a friend. She had to stop being so paranoid!
“Ava.”
“Why were you talking to her?”
“I invited her to our pool party.”
Wanda made a face as she lathered her arms with suntan lotion. “Why did you do that?”
“She and her friends had us over for that barbecue the other night. I thought it would be nice to invite them over.”
“That party was a snooze fest!”
What did Wanda expect her to do? Uninvite them? And did she forget that she had met Damian at that snooze fest? Apparently! “Well, they’re coming over.”
“You invited Damian, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And he’s coming?”
“He said he was.”
“I don’t want it to look like I’m chasing after him.”
But you are! You are chasing after him!
And Damian seemed to know that. Which was why he was keeping his distance from Wanda. Mindy didn’t know if he was doing it because he knew it would drive Wanda crazy or if he just wanted his own personal space, but Wanda was not happy that Damian wasn’t at her beck and call. Of course, Damian shouldn’t be at Wanda’s beck and call. She already had a boyfriend! But Rick didn’t exist this week. At least not in Wanda’s world.
“Isn’t today a great day?” Lacey asked, joining Wanda and Mindy by the pool. She sat down on the chaise lounge next to Mindy, stretching herself out in the sun.
“Why are you in such a good mood?” Wanda grumbled.
Mindy knew why. Damian had spent some time alone with Lacey yesterday afternoon. He’d gone on a couple of rides with her and even won her a stuffed teddy bear in one of the arcades. Lacey had told her all the details when they’d gotten home last night.
Spring Fling Page 16
