Whitney

by Jade Parker

  I walked over to him. “Hi, Mr. Spencer.”

  “Whit —”

  He tripped, the box wobbled —

  I lurched forward, grabbed it.

  “Whew!” Mr. Spencer said. “That could have been a disaster.”

  “No kidding. I’ll take it to the table for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  He walked away and I carried the cake to the table. Once I set it down, I started laughing.

  What do you know? I finally saved something after all.

  * * *

  I tried not to let the saving of the birthday cake go to my head. I walked around, making sure that I avoided Marci. I had spied her at the pavilion. Her auburn hair was styled so it was big and fluffy. I wondered if she had given any thought to what was going to happen with her hair the first time she went underwater. She was wearing a white bikini, so I assumed she was planning to hit the water. The other i’s — Sandi and Andi — were standing near her in white bathing suits. It was like she was ignoring them and they wanted to be noticed so badly. Had I really considered her a friend?

  Slipping away before she noticed me, I checked to make sure everything was ready for the light show, and that the band was ready to go. I gave them the signal that they could start playing. Music blasted through the park. Shouts went up from the partygoers and some started dancing on the beach. Others raced off to hit the rides.

  With so many people, it didn’t seem like a very personal birthday party. The tables in the pavilion were piled with gifts. I wondered if Marci would get anything that she actually wanted. I thought that if I had a birthday party here, I would tell people their presence was present enough. Really, what did Marci need?

  The park was serving free hot dogs, so I went through the food court and made sure everything was going well there.

  “Some people are complaining because we’re only serving hot dogs,” the supervisor at Scavenger’s told me. “Think it would be okay if we served hamburgers, too?”

  I couldn’t believe he was asking me. “What’s your opinion?”

  “I’d rather eat the cost on the hamburgers than listen to a bunch of complaining. Have you met the birthday girl? She didn’t think our buns were fresh enough. They were delivered this morning.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, I’ve met her. Hold on.” I took my cell phone out of my shorts pocket and called Dad. I explained the situation.

  “Sometimes you have to pay a little more to keep customers happy. Do what you think is best,” he told me.

  I hung up and nodded at the supervisor. “Serve whatever keeps everyone happy.”

  He grinned. “Great.” He turned to his staff. “We’re going into full service!”

  I would have thought they would grumble about having more work to do, but apparently they’d already had their share of dealing with unhappy guests, because they got right to work.

  Charlotte’s announcement about the gold coins had been met with a lot of whoops from our guests, so I stopped in at the Treasure Chest. The employees were busy.

  Dahlia walked over. “Have you met the party girl?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “She came in here saying that she should have free gold coins. That she shouldn’t have to search for them. Is she seriously spoiled or what?”

  I knew better than to talk badly about a customer — or a past friend — to someone I wasn’t friends with.

  “Sorry you had to deal with her. If she comes back, tell her to speak with management.” I figured Marci wouldn’t bother to do that. It was one thing to terrorize clerks. I didn’t think she’d go after the bosses. But even if she did, they were paid way more to deal with problems.

  “Okay, thanks.” Dahlia turned to go, then turned back to face me. “I heard you didn’t want to come in today but they made you, so I guess you don’t get to do everything you want. Sorry about what I said the other day.”

  So not all rumors were accurate. No one made me come into today except me. Still, I accepted her apology and headed out.

  All around the park the ice-cream guys were busy. Seeing them reminded me of Jake, keeping vigil by the fire, making sure it didn’t go out.

  The band was loud and their music filled the park.

  Just before nine, they sang “Happy Birthday.” As soon as they finished, Michael started the laser light show.

  I could hear everyone oohing and aahing — just like they had on the Fourth of July. It was really impressive, and the lights could be seen from most areas of the park so the partygoers didn’t have to return to Tsunami to enjoy the show.

  I grabbed a trash can on wheels and started moving it through the pavilion picking up the paper plates and cups that people had left behind after they’d taken time to eat the cake. Paper scraps from Marci’s gifts were all over the place. I couldn’t believe how inconsiderate the guests were. They couldn’t have stuffed the wrapping into a trash can as she opened the gift?

  I bent down to pick up a plate. It was upside down and when I lifted it, I discovered the cake was squished into the pavilion floor. I tried to scrape it up with the plate. Yuck!

  Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light. I looked up. Marci was standing there with her camera, gloating.

  So much for avoiding her completely.

  “A new picture for my MySpace page,” she said. “Whitney St. Clair works as a janitor. What next?”

  I stared after her as she walked away. My heart was hammering. The world was going to see me cleaning up squishy cake. What would they say? What would they think? Would they laugh at me?

  Suddenly, I heard laughter — mine.

  Was I really worrying over this? Who cared if I was picking up trash? I knew my real friends wouldn’t. As a matter of fact, they would think posting the picture was as ridiculous as I did.

  At eleven o’clock, the bells sounded and Charlotte announced over the park intercom system that the party was over and that everyone should leave the park.

  I was pushing a trash cart through Tsunami when I heard, “This park is so lame. The party was supposed to end at ten. They can’t even tell time.”

  It was Marci. She was talking to the i’s.

  And I’d had enough. I walked over to the group. “You know, Marci, you’re pretty ungrateful.”

  Andi and Sandi gasped as though a creature had just emerged from the pool.

  “Your parents paid so much for this party that the management decided at the last minute that you should have an additional hour. All the employees have been working hard to make sure you have a good time. Working extra shifts is voluntary. Yeah, we get paid more for the extra hours, but do you think we want to work? We’d like to be out having some fun, too, you know. Instead we’re here, listening to you whine about everything you don’t like, while you and your friends trash the park. Paraphrasing Buzz Lightyear here, you’re a sad, strange little girl and you have my pity.”

  I heard clapping. I looked over my shoulder. Caitlin and Robyn were giving me a thumbs-up.

  “You’re just jealous,” Marci said.

  My mouth dropped open. “Of what?”

  “Of everything I have, and because we kicked you out of our group.”

  I looked at the i’s, then I looked back at Marci. Maybe for the first time I was seeing them as they were. Nothing would ever make them happy. “You didn’t kick me out, Marci. I walked out.”

  Then I spun on my heel and headed to where Robyn and Caitlin were standing.

  “You told her, girlfriend,” Caitlin said as she and Robyn fell into step beside me.

  “I think I used to be like them,” I murmured sadly.

  “No, you weren’t,” Robyn said. “Not on your worst day.”

  I laughed softly, then settled into silence and thought about it. “But no one really depended on me.”

  “Are you kidding?” Caitlin asked. “Who did they call when Lisa had to leave? Who did people go to when a problem came up tonight?”

  I thought about it
some more. “Me?”

  “You. The awesome party-girl.”

  She was right, but it was more than that. Even though I no longer liked Marci, I worked hard to make sure tonight was a success, and I finally understood why I worked so hard.

  Because it was my job.

  It took us almost an hour to shoo everyone out of the park. Another hour to clean up.

  “You did a great job,” Charlotte said to me later. “You better report to work on time tomorrow.”

  “I will. The souvenir shop needs me.”

  “Not as much as I do. You’re back on my staff.”

  “Thanks. I’m going to start planning the employee end-of-summer party.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  I knew she said that because my dad owned the park. But I wasn’t bothered by that anymore. I had proved something to myself tonight. I had done this. I made this party happen.

  I was standing at Tsunami, where the water lapped at the shore. I said good-bye to employees as they walked by, thanked them for what they had done.

  “See you tomorrow,” Robyn said.

  “Wait.” I walked over to Robyn and Caitlin. “I just wanted you to know that I couldn’t have done tonight without you.” I grimaced. It sounded corny but it was the truth.

  “We didn’t really do anything,” Caitlin said.

  “It’s hard to explain, but tonight I realized what real friends are. They believe in you. I’m really going to miss you when summer is over.”

  “So, transfer to our school,” Robyn suggested.

  “The public school is so big. It’s a little scary.”

  “But we’ll be there for you. It won’t be bad. It’ll be fun.”

  I just didn’t know.

  “I’ll think about it. Anyway, I just wanted to thank y’all for being my friends.”

  “You don’t thank friends for being friends,” Caitlin said.

  Still, she hugged me. Robyn came closer and then all three of us were hugging. They were the best. The real world.

  * * *

  After Robyn and Caitlin headed home, I waited at the water park, near Tsunami, while everyone left. The band. The light-show crew. The lifeguards. The ride attendants.

  Then the lights started going off one by one. All over the park.

  A few distant lights stayed on, so everything wasn’t plunged into darkness. Mr. T walked out of the office building.

  I watched as he headed toward the path that would lead to the gate. I guess he didn’t see me standing there. That was fine. I wanted a moment alone in the park, just to absorb my sense of accomplishment.

  I closed my eyes and listened. I could hear the water and the slight breeze. It was never truly quiet around here.

  I dug in my shorts pocket and pulled out my phone.

  “Need a ride home?” Jake asked.

  I nearly dropped the phone. The only person I had avoided more than Marci was Jake.

  “I thought you left.”

  “Nope. So how ’bout that ride?”

  “Actually I was just going to call my dad to come get me.”

  “I can give you a ride.”

  “It’s out of your way.”

  “Not as much as it’ll be out of your dad’s way.”

  Unfortunately, he had a point. I thought about arguing, but there was an easier way to handle this.

  “Let me call my dad.” I stepped away from Jake and dialed home. Dad picked up on the first ring. I didn’t waste any time getting to the point. “Jake wants to give me a ride home. Say no.”

  “Think I’m going to have to say yes.”

  “Dad —”

  “Whitney.” He was using his don’t-argue-with-me voice. Then he said quietly, “Princess, he returned all the money to me.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Last night when he was here, he gave me back all the money I paid him to watch you.”

  I was stunned. “Why?”

  Dad laughed low. “Welcome to the real world. Some things are more important than money.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

  “I thought you were too mad to really listen. We’ll talk more when you get home. Let him bring you. I imagine he might want to talk to you first, though. So he can have an hour. But that’s all.”

  Dad hung up before I could object.

  “What did he say?” Jake asked.

  I turned to face him. “He said I didn’t have to be home for an hour. So do you want to go somewhere?”

  “Yeah, I do. I want to go to a tropical island. Wait right there.”

  Jake disappeared into the darkness. I wondered what he was doing.

  Then I heard the water lapping more forcefully against the shore and I realized that he had turned on the waves, so it would be like we were at a real beach.

  I saw Jake’s silhouette as he came nearer. He was holding something in his arms. I realized it was firewood.

  He set the load down on the sand and began building a fire.

  “Sit down,” he said.

  I sat. It was a warm night. I could almost imagine all the stars that were in the sky, although very few were visible because the distant light of the city was washing them out. But it didn’t matter. I heard the roar of the ocean and that was enough to help me imagine I was on a beach somewhere on some island.

  When Jake had the fire going, he sat by me. “I guess you’ve been to a real tropical island,” he said.

  “Yeah. Several. I travel a lot with my dad.” I looked at Jake. “He told me that you gave him back all the money. Why?”

  Jake stared in the fire for a while. Finally, he said, “Because it didn’t seem right to take money for something that I liked to do. I liked watching over you. I liked spending time with you. I liked talking to you. But I wanted more. And I didn’t think I could have it while he was paying me.”

  “What else did you want?”

  He stopped looking in the fire. He turned his head and looked at me. I could feel the intensity of his gaze even in the near-darkness.

  “I wanted to kiss you,” he said quietly.

  I swallowed hard. “He’s not paying you now, right?”

  “No, he’s not.”

  “So, okay.”

  I saw him grin. “I like you a lot,” he said.

  “I like you, too. A lot.”

  He leaned nearer. I stayed very, very still.

  His lips brushed over mine. So light, like testing the warmth of water before diving in.

  He settled his mouth against mine, kissing me more firmly. I had waited almost all summer for this moment. It seemed so right. With the night surrounding us, the fire crackling, the waves washing over the shore …

  Just the two of us at the water park, kissing, really was paradise.

  There was anticipation and a touch of sadness in the air. We were all waiting to hear the clanging bells that signaled the park was closing. Only this time, it was the final closing of the season.

  Summer was over. Most schools in the area would be starting next week. The summer employees who went to college would be heading off. The permanent full-time employees would be around, of course, to oversee the maintenance crews who worked during the fall and winter to make sure everything was ready to go for next summer.

  The owner, my dad, approved letting the employees have free rein over the park once it closed. The front office assigned me to arrange things. I, of course, recruited the usual suspects: Caitlin, Robyn, Sean, Michael, and Jake. Michael arranged for us to have a small light show at midnight. We were going to show movies all night, using the back wall of Tsunami as our screen. The rides were going to be open. All the leftover food, ice cream, candy — anything perishable — was going to be made available to the employees. Jake and I were going to deliver anything that remained in the morning to a homeless shelter.

  Jake and I had been dating since Marci’s party. He was my official boyfriend now. I liked him a lot, so much, in fact, that I’d made an im
portant decision that I was going to tell my friends about as soon as the park closed and we met up for the party.

  The bells sounded. Guests began gathering up their things to leave. I was walking through the Tsunami area when I spotted some people still lounging near the water. With a sigh I went over to them. “Didn’t you hear the bells? Park’s closing.”

  Aunt Sophie smiled at me. “We thought we’d hang around for the employee party.”

  “You’re not an employee.”

  “David is.”

  David grinned at me. He looked a lot younger when he was smiling, when he wasn’t taking things so seriously. He still drove me around, but in a few more months I’d be getting my license. I had a feeling that Dad would find another position for him. Maybe he’d be Dad’s bodyguard. Who knew?

  “He’s not a park employee,” I pointed out.

  “I’ve never been at the park at night,” Aunt Sophie said. “We want to stay.”

  “Oh, all right. But only on the condition that I get to plan your wedding.” They hadn’t set a date, but I knew it was coming. Even now, the engagement ring he’d given her was reflecting the last rays of sunlight.

  “It’s a deal,” Aunt Sophie said.

  Walking away, I realized that I had become quite the bargainer.

  It didn’t take long for the park to go into party mode. I met up with the gang at the food court area. Jake had my burger and a plate of nachos waiting for me as I sat beside him.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I said. “I had a few things to check on.”

  “Is everything set up right?” Robyn asked.

  “It’s perfect.”

  “I can’t believe this is our last night here,” Caitlin said.

  “I can’t believe school starts next week,” Michael grumbled.

  “I’m excited about school starting,” I said.

  “Why?” Robyn asked. “You’ll have to deal with the i’s again.”

  “No, I won’t. I’m transferring to a public school.”

  Her eyes widened. “Our school?”

  “Yep.” My life-altering decision.

  “Awesome!”

  I looked at Jake. He grinned at me. It wasn’t avoiding the i’s that had made me ask Dad to let me start going to a public school. I wanted to be with my friends and my boyfriend.