Ready! Set! Hawaii!

by Annie Bryant

  It was hard for Charlotte to imagine a time when the BSG weren’t best friends, even though it wasn’t that long ago. They had been assigned lunchroom seats at the beginning of seventh grade and Charlotte remembered looking around at Katani, Maeve, and Avery and thinking that they were all so different that there was no way they were ever going to end up friends. It wasn’t until a sleepover at Charlotte’s that they realized that they had more in common than they thought.

  “It’s always good to try and make new friends,” an optimistic Charlotte pointed out. “You know. Expand your circle.”

  “Okay,” Avery admitted, “I guess you’re right. But I bet Kazie will drive both of them crazy…and by tomorrow she’ll have them convinced you can snowboard in Hawaii!”

  Charlotte and Isabel shared a smile. That was the wisecracking Avery they knew! She must be coming out of her state of shock.

  “Guys?” Katani stood in front of them while Kara-Lee and Kazie stood expectantly behind her. “Kara-Lee, Kazie, and I are going up to the Navigation Deck. Wanna come?”

  Avery wanted to see the top deck again, but no way did she want to hang out with Kazie just yet.

  “It’s probably kinda chilly up there,” Avery replied. Charlotte watched her friend’s face, thinking the only thing that was chilly was Avery’s smile.

  “Oh, we’ll be inside! Kazie and Andie’s room is on the Navigation Deck,” Katani responded.

  “Wow!” said Charlotte. “Those are supposed to be some of the best views on the entire ship!” Avery shot her a look. “But, um, we’ll probably catch up with you later.”

  “And Maeve’s gonna be the last one on the dance floor,” added Isabel, nodding toward their friend. “At the rate she’s going, she’ll be teaching hula dancing soon.”

  “You sure?” Katani asked uncertainly. She could tell that Avery definitely didn’t want to go along. She felt really torn. She kind of liked Kazie but she didn’t want to hurt Avery’s feelings.

  Crazie Kazie bounced over. She was one of those people who couldn’t stand still for a second, and her constant motion was making Avery feel seasick. Or maybe it’s just Kazie who’s making me sick, Avery thought.

  “There’s a deck off our room. The view is mega-awesome,” Kazie continued. “The horizon just goes on forever.”

  “Maybe later.” Avery shrugged, trying not to sound disappointed. It did sound mega-awesome. And she really wanted to check out the top deck at night with all of the stars—Charlotte had gotten her interested in stargazing lately—but she wanted to do that with her friends. Not Kazie and Kara-Lee. Who are they, anyway, to just walk up and expect us to hang out with them all day?

  “It’s room 7008, if you change your mind!” Kazie sang. “Catch you later, kids.”

  Avery watched as Katani left with her two new friends.

  “Yeah,” replied Avery. “Can’t wait.”

  A New Kind of Kgirl

  “I cannot believe how spectacular this view is!” Kara-Lee crooned from the deck. “It’s too much!”

  “Totally,” said Katani. She inhaled the clean ocean air. The cabin that Kazie shared with her mom was smaller than the room that the BSG were in, but it did have a tiny deck with an expansive view of the ocean. Right now, with the sun going down, the sky was like an orange-and-pink painting right at your fingertips!

  Katani went back into the room and fell back onto the queen-sized bed. “Mmm. These sheets are so soft. I think my Kgirl line’s totally got to include home décor with sheets and pillows, and well, the whole thing!”

  Kazie jumped on the bed and struck a surfing pose. “You know what would be crazy? A surfing line!”

  “Tidal wave!” Katani joked, sitting up and bouncing.

  Kazie fought to keep her balance. “Cowabunga!”

  Kara-Lee came in from the deck. “My turn!”

  Katani and Kazie moved aside as Kara-Lee executed a perfect back walkover onto the bed.

  “A perfect ten!” Katani declared.

  “That was killer! Are you a gymnast?” asked Kazie.

  “I used to be, but now I do most of my stunts on the cheerleading squad,” Kara-Lee replied.

  “We don’t have cheerleading at our school yet,” Katani added. “My friend Maeve can’t wait until she can join the squad in high school.”

  “It’s really big where I come from,” Kara-Lee confided in the girls. “Practically everyone’s a cheerleader—or wants to be.”

  “I snowboard!” Kazie shouted, jumping up on the bed again and pretending it was a snow-covered slope. She zigged and zagged like she was boarding down a mountain. “I used to do it for fun, but now I compete. That’s how Ave and I met. Her dad owns this rad snowboarding shop where my mom works, and now my mom and her dad are dating. I thought they’d be tired of each other by now, but oh well…” Kazie shifted her weight from foot to foot, and then dropped suddenly. “Wipeout!”

  “You guys competed in that Snurfer snowboard competition, right?” Katani asked, trying to keep up with the conversation.

  “Yup,” said Kazie, “but I’m shreddy to learn how to surf!” She jumped back on the bed. “Hang ten!” she yelled, took a flying leap, and landed with a THUMP! on the floor. “I’m okay!” she announced.

  Katani couldn’t believe Kazie and Avery weren’t friends! Both of them had enough energy for about a dozen kids put together. “Isn’t it great to be on vacation in Hawaii? We’re so lucky!” Katani gushed.

  “It’d be better just me and my mom.” Kazie rolled her eyes. “She’s always with Jake now. Like always. I’m psyched you guys wanted to hang out!”

  “I think tomorrow there’s horseback riding when we dock in Kauai,” Kara-Lee told them. “Do you want to ride together?”

  Katani breathed a sigh of relief. She had started riding horses with her sister Kelley a few months back, and she was getting pretty good at it!

  “Sure! I ride with my sister Kelley all of the time back in Boston. She’s been riding longer than I have, though. She’s autistic, so she does it as part of her therapy program,” Katani confided. She waited to see what her new friends would think about that.

  “That is totally awesome!” Kazie declared.

  “And isn’t that funny,” Kara-Lee remarked in her Southern drawl, “your sister’s name is Kelley?” Kara-Lee started to giggle uncontrollably.

  “Yeah?” Katani said, not getting the joke. If she’s not down with Kelley…

  Kara-Lee started to laugh harder. “We’re all ‘K’s!”

  “Ks?” By this time, even Kazie was looking at their new friend, confused.

  Kara-Lee pointed at Katani, then Kazie. “Katani. Kazie,” she said, and then, pointing at herself, “Kara-Lee.”

  “We’re all Kgirls,” Katani said.

  “Ooh, I like that! We’re the Kgirls!” Kara-Lee declared.

  “Actually, ‘Kgirl’ is the name of my clothing line—” Katani reminded them.

  “I dig it!” Kazie said, and started surfing on the bed again. “Kgirls will rock Kauai! Join the club! The Kgirls club!”

  “But it’s my clothing line,” Katani repeated. She didn’t know how she felt about using the name she had been saving for ages for her clothing line as the name of a club. Besides, she was already a Beacon Street Girl!

  Kara-Lee interrupted her thoughts. “Of course it’s the name of your clothing line! It’s a super-fashionable name for a super-fashionable girl.”

  Katani couldn’t argue with that! “We’re all pretty stylin’,” she admitted. What’s the harm of being in another club? she thought. I can’t believe how well the three of us click and we’ve only just met! The BSG would understand that there was room for everybody. “Okay, the Kgirls it is.”

  Kazie pumped her fist in the air and let out a whoop. “The Kgirls!”

  Kara-Lee followed suit. “The Kgirls!”

  Katani took a deep breath and pumped her fist. “The Kgirls!”

  As Kara-Lee and Kazie discussed their plans for the w
eek’s activities, Katani went out onto the deck. She stared out over the ocean, watching the moonlight twinkle off the waves and thinking about friends…new and old. What is it Maeve says sometimes? The old Girl Scouts line? Katani thought. Oh, right, that’s it: Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. Katani smiled to herself. And if there’s one thing this Kgirl knows, it’s silver and gold! Necessary to spice up any glam or vintage ensemble. Yes, this was shaping up to be a fashionable and friend-filled vacation!

  CHAPTER

  4

  Totally Sick!

  Now that was dinner and a show!” Maeve exclaimed, dabbing the sweat off her forehead with a napkin.

  “I’m positively melting.”

  “You look as beautiful as always,” Isabel assured Maeve.

  “Why, thank you, Isabel!” Maeve bowed dramatically. “Did you see that boy I was dancing with? He was such a smooth dancer! Like Fred Astaire…” Suddenly Maeve realized she had forgotten to ask his name! Maybe it’s actually Joe or Jim Astaire, and he’s a long-lost relative of the greatest movie star dancer ever.

  “Maeve! That kid was wearing Heelys,” Avery pointed out.

  Charlotte looked up as Maeve defended the Heelys. Charlotte had been trying to keep Avery’s mind off Crazy Kazie and Andie’s surprise visit by telling stories about Marty, but it didn’t really work. Maybe this was the kind of distraction Avery needed.

  “Maeve, have you already forgotten about Riley?” Charlotte asked. After the Valentine’s Day dance, the only boy Maeve ever seemed to talk about was Riley, lead singer and guitarist of AAJH’s coolest student band, the Mustard Monkeys.

  “Riley would understand,” Maeve explained. “It’s not like I’m going to marry this boy or anything. He’s just so adorable! Tell me he wasn’t totally dreamy!”

  Charlotte shook her head. They had been on vacation for just a few hours and Maeve was already boy crazy! “He was kinda cute.”

  “I’d say more than kinda!” Maybe Mr. Madden and Andie weren’t going to be the only ones with a chance for romance on this trip! Maeve took a huge gulp of pineapple juice and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. Hula-ing sure made a girl thirsty! “Hey, what happened to Katani?”

  “She went up to Kazie’s room with Kara-Lee,” Avery said, dejected.

  A concerned Maeve studied her friend. She wanted this trip to be filled with drama—but only the good kind!

  Just then, Mr. Ramsey returned to the table with Mr. Madden and Andie in tow. They’d gotten up to order more sparkling water. “Hopefully this last glass will do the trick,” Mr. Ramsey said weakly.

  “You might want to order a couple more, just to be safe!” Avery offered, glad that the spotlight was off of her for a minute. She avoided looking at her dad and Andie. She’d never felt weird about having divorced parents before—a lot of kids at school had parents who had split up, and it had happened a long time ago. But it was totally weird to see her dad with Andie on this trip. And it seemed as if Kazie’s only plan for this vacation was to totally invade her territory.

  “Looks like he’s not shreddy to pound some sick waves, huh, Ave?” Mr. Madden looked at Avery with a wink, but she just barely cracked a smile.

  Charlotte felt bad for Mr. Madden. She knew he was probably thinking that Avery would be more excited to see him. And she was…until Andie and Kazie showed up. Some kinds of surprises aren’t really fun! Charlotte realized. Poor Avery’s still in shock.

  “Sick waves?” Mr. Ramsey asked.

  Avery’s smile slipped into a little laugh. She forgot that sometimes she had to translate for her dad, the snowboarding Snurfman. “Sick means good, Mr. Ramsey.”

  “But I’m sick…,” his voice trailed off.

  “That’s sick like bad,” Avery explained.

  Mr. Ramsey turned to Avery’s dad. “I bet you never get seasick, Jake.”

  Andie burst out laughing. “You clearly don’t know Jake!” She smiled and grabbed Mr. Madden’s hand. Maeve thought it was sweet, but the look on Avery’s face was anything but sweet!

  “They had just built a brand-new half-pipe in Telluride, and of course the Snurfman had to be the first to ride it,” Andie said when she was done laughing. “And he got motion sickness!”

  Mr. Madden squeezed Andie’s hand and made a pained face. “Sometimes you gotta blow when it’s time to go!”

  “The back-and-forth motion of going up one side of the pipe and coming back down made him lose his lunch. We had to throw out a brand-new snowboarding jacket!”

  “Ewwwww!” said Isabel.

  “This is where it helps to own your own ski and snowboard shop,” Mr. Madden told her.

  Avery couldn’t believe her ears. Andie wasn’t even there that day! That had happened a few years ago when Avery and her brothers, Scott and Tim, had come out for spring break to visit her dad.

  Charlotte saw the scowl deepening on her friend’s face. She had to step in. “Avery, that doesn’t happen to you, right? ’Cause you’re a pro.”

  Avery shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Avery’s too modest,” Andie exclaimed, “I’m sure she told you girls that she took fifth in the Snurfer competition last winter. And she was up against some serious competition. Girls who snowboard almost every day.”

  Like Kazie, Avery thought.

  “Yeah, Ave, now I bet you’re shreddy for the waves!” her dad said. “It’s been what, two years since last time we surfed up a big one?”

  “No talk of waves, please!” Mr. Ramsey begged them.

  “Dad, I think you’re getting worse,” Charlotte worried.

  “Talk to Dr. Madden. I operate under the ‘total preparedness’ credo,” Mr. Madden replied. “I have some motion-sickness patches in my room. Just put them on your wrists and you’ll be fine in no time.”

  “They work wonders,” Andie assured him. “Look, I’m wearing one right now, just to be safe.” She pulled up the sleeve of her fuchsia dinner jacket to show off the tiny patch.

  “They’re in my cabin,” Mr. Madden told them. “It’s a bit of a trek, but I prefer to think of it as an adventure.”

  “I’m always up for adventure!” Maeve said.

  Avery shrugged. “Sure, let’s motor.” At least she wasn’t hanging out with Kazie.

  The World’s Smallest Cabin

  Mr. Madden led everyone through a maze of hallways, elevators, and stairwells until they reached a dimly lit hallway with a small door at the end.

  “This is weird,” Maeve shivered.

  “I feel like we’re in a maze, Dad,” said Avery.

  “That’s what happens when you make plans at the last minute. You get what’s available.” Mr. Madden got out his key and opened the door to his cabin. The room was so small that they all couldn’t even fit inside! “It’s the smallest cabin on the boat,” he told them proudly.

  “You can say that again!” Mr. Ramsey squeezed in between Avery and Charlotte.

  “No one usually wants it,” Mr. Madden explained. “Actually, when I made my last-minute reservations, they told me all they had was Andie and Kazie’s luxury stateroom, and it was only for two people…but you know Jake the Snake.” He winked at Avery. “I went through about twenty people on the phone before someone finally offered me the economy stateroom.”

  “More like the economy closet,” Avery remarked. “If you had taken another cruise, you’d have a nicer room.”

  “Yeah, but then Andie, Kazie and I wouldn’t get to spend time with you!” her dad responded. “Anyway, I don’t plan on spending much time down here.”

  Mr. Madden unzipped a bright red canvas bag that was almost as long as the room itself. He started tossing clothes everywhere looking for the motion-sickness patches.

  “He normally keeps his skis in there,” Andie explained, looking over Avery’s head from out in the dimly lit hallway.

  “It looks like your dad is the one who taught you to pack, Avery.” Isabel giggled. Maeve and Charlotte laughed, and ev
en Avery couldn’t help cracking a smile. Her father’s wad-up-your-clothes-in-a-ball-and-shove-in-the-nearest-bag technique did look awfully familiar.

  Maeve looked around the room, admiring what Mr. Madden had done with it. “It might be small, but you’ve made it really homey.”

  Isabel agreed. “That poster in the corner is wicked cool.”

  Everyone checked out the poster, which featured a girl in a yellow jacket on a bright red snowboard, who appeared to float in the air nearly perpendicular to a half-pipe.

  Avery stared at the poster. It couldn’t be…She looked at her dad, who followed her gaze and nodded.

  “Yeah, that’s you at the Snurfer,” he said, referring to the competition he held for snowboarders in Colorado every year. “It’s a sick shot, right? I’ve got one for you, too.” He pulled a rolled-up poster out from beneath a mountain of brightly colored shirts and handed it to Avery.

  “Avery, that’s you?” Maeve asked, shocked.

  Avery nodded. She always talked about snowboarding with her friends, but they had never gotten a chance to see her in action.

  “You’re practically flying!” Charlotte exclaimed.

  “Your brother always says you’re good, but we didn’t realize how good!” Isabel added.

  Avery had to admit, the poster was awesome. But if her dad thought it made up for the Kazie surprise, he was sorely mistaken!

  “Aha! Got it!” Mr. Madden held a small white envelope above his head, victorious. “One order of seasickness patches! This should fix you right up!”

  He handed the envelope to Mr. Ramsey, who ripped it open and placed the small, tan square gingerly on the inside of his wrist.

  “Let’s hope this is the cure,” Mr. Ramsey looked around the room with a weak smile.

  Mr. Ramsey Flus the Coop

  “Your dad isn’t seasick,” Dr. Weber told Charlotte, “he’s got a bad case of the flu.” He plucked the thermometer out of Mr. Ramsey’s mouth and peered at it over his wire-rimmed glasses. “One hundred and one.”