Girl Power

by Melody Carlson

  “I want to go see the competition,” said Morgan as she finished her last drink of soda. She stood and brushed sand from her behind. “Anyone else?” She started walking up the beach.

  “I’m coming,” yelled Emily.

  “Me too,” said Carlie.

  “Don’t leave me out,” called Amy as she ran to catch up with them.

  So they began what they agreed would be a quick walk up and down the beach to see what the other sculptors had created. And soon they began to see that competition was actually quite fierce.

  “Wow,” said Morgan when they were finally standing in front of the life-sized elephant who really did have a monkey on his back. “Not only is it huge, but it’s got personality too.”

  “How did they do that?” asked Emily in amazement.

  “Look,” said Carlie, pointing off behind it. “They have ladders and everything.”

  “They’ll get first place,” said Amy sadly.

  “We better get back to our sculpture,” said Emily. “Before the judges do.”

  So the girls hurried back, noticing a group of what they were certain were judges only about six sites from theirs. But when they reached their site, they all froze and looked at it in horror.

  “Where is SpongeBob SquarePants?” asked Amy in a small voice. They all stood by the sign for site fifty-eight. Their tools were there along with their cooler and beach stuff, but their sculpture had been completely demolished.

  “Those boys!” yelled Emily. Carlie began screaming something in Spanish, shaking her fists as she did. Amy looked like she was about to cry. And Morgan collapsed onto her knees on the beach, bending over and pounding into the sand. “All our hard work!” she cried. “All for nothing!”

  “What’s going on here?” asked a woman’s voice from behind them.

  They all turned to see a group of six adults standing around their site holding clipboards and cameras and looking on with puzzled faces.

  “We had a sculpture,” began Emily in a shaky voice. “It was really awesome too.” She pointed to Morgan who was still on her knees in the sand. “She designed it.”

  “But everyone helped,” said Morgan, slowly standing. Emily could see tracks of tears down her friend’s cheeks and it made Emily feel like she was about to cry too.

  “It was really amazing,” said Amy. “We thought it had a chance.”

  “But what happened?” asked a man in a Hawaiian shirt.

  “We went up the beach to look around,” explained Morgan. “Just for a few minutes … and while we were gone someone totally destroyed it.”

  “Really?” the woman in the sundress looked skeptical.

  “Really,” said Carlie, running to get her beach bag. “I took photos just before we left.” She pulled out her camera and held it up. “We have proof.”

  “Unfortunately, we can’t judge proof,” said a judge.

  Morgan nodded. “Yeah. We understand.”

  “We’re sorry,” said a short bald man. “Maybe we can see about refunding your application fee.”

  The girls didn’t say anything.

  “Hey, what happened here?” said a man who was walking toward them with several others. “What happened to SpongeBob SquarePants?”

  Morgan quickly explained their misfortune once again.

  “Bummer,” said the man, shaking his head. “I just brought my friends here to see it. It was really something.”

  “Yeah,” said a woman. “Everyone on the beach is talking about it.”

  “You were the team who made SpongeBob SquarePants?” the man in the Hawaiian shirt asked.

  “Yeah,” said Emily. “That was us. We got here late and ended up with the last spot on the beach. But even coming from behind, we got it finished.”

  Before long about a dozen or more people came and began inquiring about the missing sand sculpture. The girls explained again and again what had happened, even telling about a certain group of bullies—without using names—that had messed with them before. And, while everyone was very sympathetic, it seemed there was nothing anyone could do. Even when Carlie offered to run and get her film developed, the judges explained that they had to see the sculpture for themselves.

  “But we saw it,” said a woman. “And it was really good.”

  Several others chimed in, but the judges said that it didn’t matter. “Rules are rules,” said the woman in the sundress. And slowly the crowd began to move back up the beach.

  “It was nice getting their sympathy,” said Emily.

  “Yeah, but it would be nicer to get a prize,” said Amy, and they all agreed with her.

  “Well, maybe they’ll refund our application fee like they said.” But even as she said this, Emily knew it was a small consolation. Very small.

  chapter six

  The girls were just starting to gather up their sand-sculpting things when Morgan announced, “Hey, look who’s coming our way!”

  Emily glanced up the beach, shocked to see that Jeff and Enrico were actually walking directly toward them. All four girls stood in a line with their hands on their hips and grim expressions on their faces, as if they were prepared to face off against the pair.

  “Returning to the scene of the crime?” Emily called out to the boys. She was definitely ready for a confrontation.

  “Huh?” said Jeff with a bewildered expression that Emily, for one, was not buying.

  “Coming back to rub it in?” asked Morgan.

  “We just came to see how you girls did,” said Enrico as they continued walking toward them.

  “Yeah,” said Jeff. “What did the judges have to say?”

  “About your mess?” Morgan took a step toward the boys.

  “What?” Jeff looked almost believably confused now.

  So the girls stepped aside to reveal their ruined sculpture and both Jeff and Enrico looked truly shocked.

  “What happened?” demanded Jeff.

  “Who did this?” said Enrico.

  “That’s what we wanted to ask you,” said Emily, staring hard at their faces.

  Jeff shook his head. “We did not do this.” He looked at all of them, directly into their eyes. “Honest. We didn’t.”

  Enrico held up his right hand like he was taking an oath of office. “I swear we didn’t do this.”

  “Whoever did this is a total idiot,” said Jeff, kicking the sand.

  “Probably a red-headed idiot,” added Enrico angrily.

  “Hey, we did see Derrick Smith a little while ago,” said Jeff suddenly. “He was on his bike, high-tailing it across the parking lot, heading away from the beach.”

  “I’ll bet he did this,” said Enrico. “Man, I’m so sick of that guy.”

  “You guys honestly didn’t have anything to do with this?” demanded Morgan.

  “I promise you, we didn’t,” said Jeff. “Like I said earlier, we’ve had it with Derrick. He’s certifiable. We don’t need his kind of trouble.”

  “Did you guys see Derrick at all?” asked Enrico suddenly.

  The girls admitted that they hadn’t. “But we did see you guys,” Emily reminded the boys, still not totally convinced of their innocence.

  “Do you really think we’d come back like this if we’d done that?” asked Jeff.

  Morgan shrugged.

  “Well, you should believe us. We didn’t do it. But we’ll be on the lookout for Derrick now,” said Enrico. “If we find him, we’ll find out whether or not he was involved.”

  “A lot of good that will do us now,” said Carlie as she stooped to pick up a hoe.

  “Hey, you want us to beat him up for you?” asked Enrico, making a fist for her.

  This actually made Carlie laugh.

  “No, that’s not necessary,” Morgan said quickly. “As much as I’d like to hurt someone, we don’t need any more violence.”

  “But thanks for the offer,” said Emily sarcastically.

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better,” added Jeff, “we’re sorry this happe
ned to you girls. We thought your sculpture had a really good chance of winning a prize.”

  “Thanks,” said Morgan. The other girls thanked them too, and then the boys left. They finished gathering up their stuff and started getting ready to leave since it was pointless to stick around. Amy had already called her sister An and told her the bad news and asked her to come get them early.

  “She should be here any minute,” said Amy as she began trekking away from the beach with a shovel and a bucket in hand.

  The girls stood on the edge of the parking lot, waiting quietly for An. It seemed clear that they were all tired—not to mention discouraged. No one wanted to talk. After about five minutes An showed up, and they quickly loaded their stuff into the back of her Honda. No one said anything as she drove back toward town.

  “Sorry about your ruined day,” An said as she stopped at the red light. “Amy told me the whole sad story.”

  “Yeah, what a disaster,” said Carlie.

  “Not completely,” said Morgan. “At least we made some friends today.”

  “Who?” An glanced curiously at Morgan.

  “Well, for one thing, it was amazing how the other sculptors were really sympathetic toward us and even told us that they thought we might’ve had a chance to win.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Emily. “That was pretty cool.”

  “And I have pictures in my camera,” added Carlie. “So we can always prove how good our sculpture really was, once I get them developed that is.”

  “And then there was that last thing …” Morgan continued talking to An. “With these two guys, Enrico and Jeff … They’re like a year older than us and usually just act like big, stupid bullies. But today they weren’t so bad.”

  “And it was a relief to find out that they weren’t involved,” added Emily.

  “At least we think they weren’t,” said Carlie.

  “They were actually really nice to us,” said Amy.

  An laughed. “Well, they should be nice. You’re cute, sweet girls, and if those boys have any sense they’ll figure that out before long.”

  An dropped them at Harbor View, and they all gathered their things and trudged off to their own houses without saying much. Emily suspected that everyone was just as tired and discouraged as she felt. And while it was somewhat encouraging to hear Morgan’s optimistic take on the whole thing, Emily still felt pretty depressed about it. It just seemed so unfair. So wrong.

  But that wasn’t the only thing bugging her as she came inside, locked the door, and dumped her stuff on the floor. She also felt partially to blame for the whole stupid thing. If she hadn’t offered for her mom to drive them to the resort on her way to work, they might’ve gone with someone else, someone who wouldn’t have gotten a flat tire, and consequently they would have gotten there on time. And if they’d gotten there on time, they could’ve gotten a better site. And, instead of being off on the end where people didn’t notice what was going on, they could’ve been right in the center of things where no one would’ve been able to destroy their entry. Naturally none of her friends had mentioned this, but Emily knew it was true. And she suspected that they knew it too. They were probably all blaming her right now. She was a mess-up and a loser. Worse than that, she was probably a jinx. She remembered how her dad once told her she was a jinx—and that she brought bad luck to people. Maybe it was true.

  She took a long shower and then—exhausted from the events of the day and wanting to stop thinking about how the whole thing was all her fault—she decided to take a nap. As usual, her air mattress was partially deflated, but she didn’t even care. She figured it was what she deserved. And it didn’t keep her from falling fast asleep.

  But when she woke up, it was with a start! Someone was pounding on her bedroom window, trying to break in. Worried that it was a burglar or an ax murderer or her dad, she ran into the bathroom and locked herself in. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but since they still had no phone in the house, it was better than nothing. She held her breath and listened intently, wondering if the intruder was still trying to get in.

  “Emily!” She heard Morgan’s voice yelling at her from somewhere outside. “Are you in there? Answer me!”

  Emily quickly ran out of the bathroom to unlock the front door. “I’m over here, Morgan!” she yelled, still frightened that she might be in danger. “In front of my house!”

  “Oh, there you are,” said Morgan as she ran up the steps where Emily was standing. “I really wish you guys would get a phone!”

  “Next week,” said Emily. “Mom promised. Was that you beating on my window?”

  “Yeah.” Morgan leaned against the porch railing to catch her breath. “No one answered the door.”

  “So what’s going on?” asked Emily. “Why are you running around the neighborhood and scaring people half to death?”

  “I’m calling an emergency club meeting,” said Morgan. “Be there in ten minutes—or else!” Then, just like that, she ran off toward her own house.

  Wondering what on earth was going on, Emily went back inside, put on a sweatshirt, and quickly ran a brush through her hair. She wrote her mom a note and then headed over to the Rainbow Bus. Naturally, she was the first one there, so she sat down on the bus’s steps and tried to figure out why Morgan would call an emergency meeting. Maybe they had to talk about how to handle Derrick Smith. Perhaps Morgan had decided not to let him get away with his latest attack of meanness. Maybe she planned to call the police and press charges. Of course, they didn’t know for sure that it was Derrick this time, even though it did seem to have his fingerprints all over it.

  “Hey, you,” called Morgan as she hurried up toward the bus. She had a bag in one hand and the key to the bus in the other.

  “Want some help?” asked Emily.

  Morgan handed her the bag as she unlocked and opened the door.

  “So, what’s up?” asked Emily as they went inside.

  “We have to wait for the others,” said Morgan as she opened a window to let in some fresh air.

  “I thought I was your right-hand girl,” said Emily.

  Morgan nodded. “You are. But I just want to be fair. Okay?”

  Emily sank down onto the couch, folding her arms across her chest as if she were offended, but then said, “Okay.”

  Carlie and Amy ran up and bounded into the bus.

  “What’s going on?” demanded Carlie. “My dad said you called and said it was an emergency.” She sat down at the dining table and looked at Morgan.

  “Yeah,” said Amy. “What gives, Morgan? I’m supposed to help at the restaurant tonight and I can only stay a few minutes.”

  “Yeah,” said Carlie. “I need to get back too. I’m supposed to set the table. Besides I’m starving.”

  “Here,” said Morgan opening the brown bag and taking out four large brownies and handing them around. “Hope this doesn’t spoil your dinner.”

  “No way,” said Carlie, taking one. “I could eat all four of those and still be hungry for supper. Man, we worked so hard today. I’ll bet we burned off thousands of calories.”

  “That’s right,” said Morgan with a huge smile. “We did work hard. In fact, that’s exactly why I called this emergency meeting. You see, I just got a phone call …”

  “Yeah?” said Emily, leaning forward.

  “From the Boscoe Bay Resort …” Morgan continued in a mysterious voice. “Apparently, Emily’s mom gave them my name and phone number.”

  “But why?” demanded Amy.

  “Come on,” said Carlie. “What gives?”

  “Well, it’s about the sand-sculpting contest,” Morgan continued. “It seems that the committee decided to have what they call a ‘People’s Choice Award.’”

  “What’s that?” asked Carlie.

  “They put out a ballot box, right there on the beach,” she winked at Amy, “and probably not a Kleenex box either. And they invited everyone, including contestants and spectators, to write in the numb
er of their favorite sand-sculpture entry. And …” Morgan paused.

  “And?” Emily was pulling on Morgan’s arm, trying to get her to quit stringing them along.

  “And we won.” Morgan calmly smiled at the others.

  “We won?” said Amy.

  “Yeah!” Morgan yelled the good news now. “We won!” And then all four girls were laughing and jumping and hugging each other, so much that the bus was actually rocking with their movements. Finally they quieted down.

  “So, what did we win?” asked Carlie.

  “Well, along with the ballot box, it seems they also put out another box that was for donations. The People’s Choice Award gets a prize that’s totally donated, and the amount given was three hundred seventy-eight dollars.”

  “Three hundred seventy-eight dollars?” Emily echoed in amazement.

  “That’s ninety-four dollars and fifty cents each,” said Amy without even blinking.

  “Or something like that,” said Morgan, rolling her eyes.

  “No, that’s correct.” said Amy seriously, “you can check it on a calculator.” The other girls laughed.

  “How much is it if we put half of the total back into the bus?” asked Emily.

  Amy paused for about a second and then said, “That would be forty-seven dollars and twenty-five cents each, and then we’d have one hundred eighty-nine dolars to use for the bus.”

  “How does she do that?” Carlie scratched her head with a puzzled expression.

  “It’s a gift,” said Morgan.

  “I can’t believe it,” said Emily. “We really won the People’s Choice Award?”

  “It’s true,” said Morgan. “Oh, yeah, Carlie, the manager at the resort asked if you could get those pictures developed in time to go in Tuesday’s newspaper?”

  “Wow, we’re going to be in the newspaper again?” said Amy. “That’s twice in one month!”

  “It’s a small town,” said Morgan.

  Emily just hoped it was small enough that her dad wouldn’t somehow get wind of this. Of course, she reminded herself, her dad seldom read the newspaper or watched the news. He thought it was all “a bunch of propaganda.”