Some Kind of Wonderful

by J. Minter

  That spring, I realized I had spent almost a year being mostly miserable. I knew I needed to look for a way to snap myself out of this funk. I needed a fresh start, a clean slate, and some new friends. I needed a new school.

  So while my old friends were island-hopping together during Spring Break, I went textbook hopping solo. And it paid off. By May, I got my test scores back from the public high school entrance exam, along with a letter congratulating me on my acceptance to Stuy, hands down the best public high school in Manhattan.

  The hardest part about it was selling public school to my parents, who were all about private school. My dad insisted that it was the only place where I could get a real education, and my mom thought it was very important that I keep up with all the families that were connected to ours. But after I made a few of my best pouting faces at opportune moments (while my dad was shaving, while my mom was color-coding her jewelry), they caved. We agreed on a trial period at Stuyvesant.

  All of that seemed like eons ago. When I'd walked across the stage at our eighth-grade graduation, I'd made a vow to try and avoid ever seeing Kennedy Pearson again. Nearly a full year had passed since I'd made that promise, and I thought I'd been doing pretty well with my clean high school slate.

  But now, standing twenty feet away from her, I felt a flood of insecurities that seemed so not me anymore. Why was her hair so voluptuous and shiny? Oh no, she was not carrying the same Bric's duffle in navy blue! And how did she already have a clan of followers huddled around her? I scanned their faces to see if Camille was there, but I didn't see her in the crowd. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I was reeling. I needed to sit down.

  I reached out in front of me, grabbed Judith's and Meredith's arms, and steadied myself.

  "Omigod, Flan, what is it?" Meredith asked. "I've never seen you like this. You're scaring me."

  "Tell us what we can do to help," Judith said. "I knew I should have made you take an Airborne."

  I struggled for words. "I . . . I . . ."

  And then I saw Kennedy turn to look at me, and it was like a heat wave and a burst of terrible bright light had hit me at once. "I can, too!" Kennedy's mocking voice came booming across the parking lot.

  Everyone in the crowd around her looked over at me and burst into one giant laugh. And my heart broke all over again. Tears stung my eyes, and I couldn't bear to even look at Meredith or Judith— who were both totally innocent and clueless. So much for our paradise vacation.

  Where was that giant steamer trunk when / needed something to crawl into and hide?

  Chapter 8

  DESTINATION FUGGET ABOUT IT

  The next thing I knew, someone was fastening a middle seatbelt around me and someone else was tilting my head back and positioning a bottle of water to my lips.

  "Cold, so cold" I whispered. I was in the back of one of the Range Rovers, and my friends were on either side of me.

  "Here," Judith said. "Drink."

  "Ladies," our driver said as he started the car. "You'll be staying in Bungalow Eight."

  A blur of palm tree fronds began whizzing past our windows.

  "Ooh," Meredith said. "Just like the club. How lucky! Flan, isn't that lucky?"

  "Mmm," I think I said out loud.

  I caught sight of a billboard for cave diving, one for parasailing, and one showing a huge open-air deck on a gorgeous cliff overlooking the water. I couldn't see the beach yet, but I could smell it. On some level, I knew we were on the way to the bungalow that we'd call home for the next week. But all I could focus on was the extreme embarrassment of the last five minutes and the side order of a very strong and sudden case of nausea that I was dealing with.

  "Sooner or later, she's going to have to speak," I heard Judith say over my head to Meredith.

  "Do you think one of those guys was her ex-boyfriend?" Meredith whispered back.

  "Worse," I managed to moan.

  "Flan, you're alive!" Meredith said. "Wait—worse than an ex-boyfriend? What do you mean?"

  "Ex-girlfriend," I said, taking the water bottle from Judith and resting it against my forehead.

  Judith's eyes looked like they were about to bug out of her head. "You never told us you—"

  "No, no," I said. "Not that kind of ex-girlfriend. It was Kennedy Pearson. A girl I used to be friends with at my old school. That is, before she turned into my nemesis."

  "Oh," Judith said. "You're right, that is worse." She looked over at Meredith. "Remember Jana Walsh?"

  Meredith grimaced. "You say that as if I could forget Jana Walsh."

  Judith turned back to me. "Jana Walsh was the other point in our triangle way back in the sixth grade. The three of us were best friends all through elementary school."

  "You've never mentioned anyone named Jana Walsh before," I said.

  The girls nodded gravely.

  "There's a reason for that. Remember the Tony Incident?"

  "Of course," I said. Tony was a hot guy from M&J's old school. He was the reason we enacted the No Adam Rule in the first place, because the girls had (supposedly) learned their lesson after both lusting after the same guy once before—with disastrous results.

  "Well," Judith said, "after Meredith and I decided that our friendship was more important than some lame video-game-playing, prepubescent—"

  "You mean after we totally freaked him out by waging a screaming fight over him in front of an audience?" Meredith interrupted with a laugh. "Well, the point is, Flan, that after that—"

  "Our best friend, Jana Walsh, stepped in and stole him right out from under us," Judith finished. Then, an embarrassed look crossed her face. She froze and there was an awkward silence before she said, "Oh, but she was totally bitchy about it and neither of us ever got over it. She wasn't half as mature and honest with us as you've been about Adam. Anyway, what I mean is, Meredith and I totally know what it's like to have an ex-best friend who you never wanted to see again. Right, Mer?"

  Meredith nodded and quickly changed the subject. "What'd this Kennedy girl do, anyway? Please don't tell me she tried to steal your boyfriend."

  "Worse," I said, feeling like a broken record. "She succeeded in stealing my best friend."

  The 'diths nodded again. They put their arms around my shoulders.

  "You're right," Judith said. "That is much, much worse."

  "So what are we going to do about it?" Meredith asked.

  It was hard to feel so shaken up and numb while looking out the windows as we drove. The stereo was playing Bob Marley on low, and the windows were rolled down all the way so that the most fabulous breeze tossed our hair around. Everything outside was just so lush and green and incredibly, incredibly beautiful that I couldn't help but be warm again.

  "Nothing," I said, somehow managing to put on a braver face than I felt. "We're not going to let her bother us. We're going to go through with all the things we said we'd do this week. We're going to— whoa!"

  We had just turned into a circular driveway that opened up on a massive two-story white stucco house with a faux thatched roof and a long wooden staircase down to the beach. This was no quaint little bungalow. This was the lap of luxury.

  "'Whoa' is right," Meredith said. "This can't be for us?"

  "Ladies," the driver said, stopping the car. "This is Bungalow Eight." He opened our car doors and began to carry our suitcases into the house.

  Meredith and Judith stood there, stunned for a minute, and then all three of us dashed for the door.

  Inside, our pad was decked out in super elegant island decor. There were three bedrooms—each with an ocean view. The upstairs living room had a giant wraparound deck with a hot tub and a row of hammocks, each shaded by different brightly colored, blossoming hibiscus trees.

  We claimed our rooms and began roaming around the property, calling out to one another about each fantastic discovery we made.

  "The fridge is stocked with tropical fruit salad and Honest Tea!" Meredith gushed.

  "And ther
e's snorkeling gear in the pool shack!" Judith shouted.

  "Hey, you guys," I called. "Come check this out."

  On the kitchen table, I'd found a folder that must have been left for us by one of the members of the Zumbergs' extensive vacation staff. Inside were a map of the island and a listing of each bungalow's phone number. My parents—and in fact all of the adults— were staying in a line of hilltop cottages on the beach cove right up from us. That was at least two miles away, so I knew that the parties on our beach would be pretty off the hook.

  There was also a detailed social schedule of events for the entire week. It was broken down into different activities for the kids and for the adults—and our schedule included a bonfire party down on the beach that night.

  "Jackpot!" Meredith said. "What are you guys going to wear?"

  Judith took the schedule from my hands. "Monday night is the bonfire. Tuesday night is a beach-side barbecue. There's an afternoon snorkeling expedition. Today there's an Island Adventure Scavenger Hunt. Um, is this a vacation or a military schedule? It's like every minute is already planned out." She flipped her hair anxiously. "You said it was going to be relaxing, Flan. I'm already stressing. When will I have time to study?"

  "Judith, we don't have to go to everything," I said. "We can pick and choose whatever we want. This schedule's just here to give us options. Don't worry— there'll be plenty of free time. Usually people go to things the first night in order to make friends, and then make their own plans after that."

  "Personally," Meredith said, taking a sip of pomegranate Honest Tea, "I want to do everything." She pointed at the first group activity this afternoon. "I mean, how many times in your life have you had the opportunity to go on an Island Adventure Scavenger Hunt?"

  "I know I'm only going to have this set of finals once, so I have to set aside a ton of time to study like crazy," Judith said.

  "I think the secret is pacing ourselves," I said. "Pick and choose what we want, skip what we don't. That's the great thing about vacation—we can do whatever we feel like doing."

  I was glad that Meredith seemed so into it all. She dashed off to change into her bathing suit for the scavenger hunt, while Judith hauled out her seven hundred-page math book. I felt that a more leisurely pace was in order, so I wandered out to the deck and climbed into one of the hammocks in the shade.

  "Why don't we reconvene here at seven o'clock to get ready for the bonfire tonight?" Meredith called on her way out the door.

  I gave her the thumbs-up and leaned back in the hammock, listening to how different the sounds of the island were from the sounds of New York. It was so relaxing out here, so peaceful. I couldn't help but close my eyes. . . .

  I was walking down an unfamiliar hallway, but I seemed to know not only exactly where I was going, but also every single person I passed.

  "Hey, Flan—love your outfit! Is that a new boatneck top? You should always wear those!"

  "Flan, you have to promise you'll run for class president this year. You're the only one who can lead our grade"

  "Flan, my cousin, Zac Efron, is coming into town on Friday, and I swore to him that you'd come out to dinner with us. Is there any chance you're free?"

  Of course, I suddenly realized. I was at Thoney, starting classes at the beginning of second semester. Everything felt so easy here, so natural. I was practically floating down the hallway. I smiled at everyone, waved at everyone.

  Flan for President? Why not?

  Of course I'm free to hang with you and Cousin Zac.

  I got to my locker, which didn't even have a combination—it just sprang open when I stopped in front of it. How wonderful! I could never remember my combination at Stuy. I was about to take out my books for my afternoon classes, when I made the mistake of glancing in the mirror of my LockerMate.

  Looking back at me was not my reflection at all. It was the face of Kennedy Pearson.

  "You think you can rule the school so easily, Flan?" Her nasty voice practically spat at me. "Well, guess what? You're wrong! Remember, I can, too!"

  I gasped in horror and slammed the locker shut.

  "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, wake up and check this out."

  I shot up in the hammock. My heart was racing. I rubbed my eyes and noticed Meredith in the hammock next to mine. Something hard landed on my stomach, and when I reached for it, my fingers found a necklace.

  It was made of abalone shells and the weird wooden beads that Meredith had shown us last week at Alice's Tea Cup. But somehow, the weird wooden beads didn't look so weird anymore. The necklace was slightly longer than a choker and was actually kind of great.

  "You made this?" I said, still a little out of it from my intense dream.

  Meredith grinned and nodded. "I found the abalone shells in the scavenger hunt. And I met some of the absolute greatest people. I can't wait to introduce you tonight. Everyone's going to this bonfire. Anyway, when I came home, I just knew the shells would look great with my new beads. Check out how great Judith's looks."

  Judith stepped forward and modeled the necklace she was wearing. It did look really cool. But I was still stuck on what Meredith had said about the scavenger hunt. Exactly which absolute greatest people had she met?

  "I don't know if it's the necklace that suits you so well," Meredith said to Judith, "or if you just look so much better without that trig book weighing you down."

  "Ha-ha, shut up," Judith said. "Let's put Flan's necklace on her."

  I stood up and let the girls fasten the necklace. When I looked at it in the mirror, all I could think of was how grateful I was to be awake, and that it was my own reflection I saw before me—not Kennedy Pearson's.

  Chapter 9

  OUT OF THE SHELL AND INTO THE FIRE

  An hour later, we were ready to party. Judith was wearing a jean skirt and a bright orange graphic T-shirt that said MEET ME IN RIO. Mer had on a long red sarong that she'd wrapped herself in like an origami doll. And I was wearing a short cream-colored tunic dress with a purple hibiscus flower in my hair. All three of us were sporting Meredith's new necklaces, and there were no sensible shoes or boat-neck tops or mismatched patterns to be found.

  We made our way toward the circle of tiki torches that outlined the bonfire below. I could hear the buzz of the party competing with the sound of the waves washing up on the shore. The sun was setting, and a few stars were already popping out. I was definitely in the mood for some fun, but I was still a little bit nervous about whom we'd find when we got there.

  "Oh my God," Meredith breathed as we got close enough to see what people were wearing. "Everyone's so glamorous. From a purely artistic perspective, this is amazing."

  She was right. It was definitely a posh-looking crew. The poncho girls had shed their cover-ups and were making do in Pucci bikini tops and designer cutoffs. A group of kids were trying to have a hula hoop contest, but they kept tripping over their feet and collapsing on top of each other in fits of laughter.

  "They're not even doing it right," Judith huffed, flipping her blond hair over her shoulders. She still sounded stressed, and I knew I needed to figure out a way to get her to relax and have some fun. But I was feeling pretty preoccupied myself, scanning the party for Kennedy's dark, wavy hair.

  "Um, I think it's because they've had a little bit of the island punch, Judith," I said distractedly.

  Judith crossed her arms over her chest, looking slightly put out.

  Meredith waved at a few kids as we walked into the thick of the crowd. "Hey, Paul," she said to a boy with white-blond hair. He was the guy Judith had picked during Would You Rather at the airport.

  "Hi, Rena," Mer said to a superskinny girl with big eyes and a splash of freckles across her nose. "You have to meet my friends, Flan and Judith," she said. And then, turning to us, she explained, "We bonded on the scavenger hunt today."

  "How's it going?" I said.

  "Awesome," Paul said, sounding like a total surfer. "How huge is this bonfire?"

  "Huge!" Judith a
greed, and I was glad to see her smile.

  The bonfire was so large that it was impossible to see the other side of it. But we could hear a lot of people laughing over there, and it seemed like that was where the action was, so we kept walking around the circle.

  When we reached the other side, I stopped short. It shouldn't have surprised me to see Kennedy Pearson holding court with about fifteen of the most popular-looking kids on the beach, but I still wasn't prepared to find myself right in front of her again so quickly.

  "It's so loud here," Judith said, covering her ears. "How much longer do you guys want to stay?"

  "Judith," I said, much more sharply than I'm sure I meant to. "We just got here! And we're on vacation"

  Judith blanched but didn't answer me. I must have said it more loudly than I realized because at that moment, a really hot guy brushed past us with four drinks in his hands. He gave me a shocked look, like he couldn't believe anyone would be that bitchy.

  Ugh, what was wrong with me? The judgmental hottie was right. I wasn't being myself, and I could tell Judith was pretty hurt.

  "Look, Judith, I didn't mean—"

  But before I had a chance to apologize, Kennedy Pearson appeared right in front of us like the wicked witch she was.

  "Flan Flood, look at you. You've certainly grown up, haven't you?" she said.

  "Hi, Kennedy." I rocked awkwardly on my heels and pulled on my shell necklace. I hated that she could still unsettle me so much.

  She looked Judith up and down.

  "Where'd you get your friend?" she said. "The same place you got that outfit? The Barney's co-op sale?"

  "Oh, no," a familiar voice said behind me. "Flan can only shop at the Big and Tall stores these days."

  I spun around. Oh my God. Meredith said that? In front of Kennedy? I couldn't tell if she only meant it as a joke, but it definitely felt like an insult.