by Elise Allen
And with that, Summer jumped feetfirst off the edge of the thundercloud.
As she plunged down toward the river, she imagined herself falling as lightly and swiftly as the waterfall. Her skirt flew up and she was relieved that she was wearing her green leggings underneath. At last, her pointed toes pierced through the rainbow prisms and her body plummeted into the cool water.
I did it! she thought, relieved and exhilarated. She couldn’t wait to hear what Thunderbolt thought of her dive!
As she broke the surface of Rainbow River, she was immediately splashed in the face with a wave of water.
“I told you to get ready for a super splashing!” Thunderbolt teased.
“Oh, you rotten Weed! No fair!” Summer laughed, quickly ducking beneath the water. She yanked on Thunderbolt’s legs and pulled him below the surface. When he bobbed up for breath, she spit a mouthful of water in his face.
“Ack!” yelled Thunderbolt, wiping his face. “You tricky Sparkle!” He swam away, kicking giant splashes of water.
“Hey, Thunderbolt!” Summer shouted.
The Weed stopped swimming when he was out of splashing range. “What?”
“Thanks,” Summer said, smiling. “That high dive was really fun. And you were right about keeping my eyes on the waterfall. Good advice.”
Thunderbolt shyly looked down at the water. “No one’s ever told me I give good advice. Actually, nobody has ever told me I do anything well.”
Summer wasn’t sure what to say. It must be terrible never to be told you do anything well. She suddenly felt sorry for Thunderbolt and wondered if he ever had a real friend.
“Hey,” Thunderbolt said with a crooked smile. “Do you want to learn how to dive with a somersault this time?”
“Would I ever!” Summer answered, ready for the next lesson from her new unlikely friend.
Chapter 3
Summer ran in her green bikini toward the magnificent sand castles, carrying two buckets of seawater. Creating wild sand art with her sisters was one of her favorite things to do at her Blastoff Beach Party. The Sparkles had decided this year to create sand castles that looked like each of their homes.
“Do you need any help?” Autumn asked. Summer’s sister was resting in her adorable orange-and-yellow-striped one-piece on a rainbow beach blanket, her loose black hair covered by a giant red sun hat. She had already whipped up a perfect replica of her exotic palace, complete with a mini sand version of her elephant friend, Whisper.
“No, thanks!” Summer answered, realizing she had lost half a pail of water along the way. “We’re almost done. Next is dinner. I’ve made your favorite seaweed salad!”
Autumn murmured, “Mmmmm.” She put on her sunglasses and sipped her tropical smoothie through a red striped straw.
Summer’s Lodge was already sculpted. Right now it was Winter’s Sand Sparkledom that they really needed to finish.
“Two buckets … at your service!” Summer declared, setting the buckets next to Winter.
“Cool!” said Winter, grabbing one of the buckets and pouring its water into a brick-shaped plastic mold. They had already finished Winter’s Chalet, but then they decided to build a sand version of her ice igloo fort too. Summer wasn’t sure they could finish before the sun set. She also noticed that Winter’s legs, arms, hair in pigtails, and white skirted bathing suit with sequined snowflakes were covered in pink sand. They might need to use one of the buckets to clean Winter up before dinner. After all, she knew Winter always liked to look her best—and tonight they might have a surprise guest.
Summer had invited Thunderbolt to her Blastoff Beach Bonfire. They’d had so much fun high-diving earlier that they’d run out of time for her to teach him how to pole-vault, and so she had impulsively invited him to the party. He said he’d think about it—and she still owed him a vaulting lesson—but if he did come, it would be when the bonfire actually started. She hadn’t told her sisters, yet. She just hoped they wouldn’t be angry with her and that Thunderbolt would mind his manners.
Summer carefully helped Winter lift the brick mold onto the top of the igloo wall. They turned it over and out plunked another wet sand brick. “Only two dozen more to go!” said Summer with a smile. “Hey, where’s Spring?”
“She decided to build a shell garden for her sand castle,” Winter said, pointing her thumb farther down the beach.
Summer could see Spring skipping over the water in her swim cap and bikini made of purple and pink fabric flowers. She had a giant green inner tube around her tummy and leaned down every now and then to pick up a shell and plop it in her pink bucket. Summer imagined Spring also wanted to sneak away and chat with the sea life. She always said sea creatures had the funniest stories to share.
“We need more water to make more bricks,” Winter declared, grabbing the buckets and sprinting off. Now was the perfect time for Summer to break away and set up their feast.
She had to admit the party food on the picnic tables looked scrumptious. There were colorful buckets filled with fish crackers and pretzels shaped like octopi, platters of skewered grilled vegetables, a tangy seaweed salad, and a watermelon basket filled with fruit cut out like sea stars. There was still plenty of the tropical smoothie left, as well as pitchers of ice water with seashell-shaped ice cubes (courtesy of Winter). Summer set the table with surfboard-shaped plates and utensils fashioned like different sea animals. She wanted everything to be perfectly beachy for her sisters!
She pointed her scepter and chanted:
Yellow sparkles flew out of Summer’s scepter and danced around the beach like fireflies. One by one, each spark ignited a flame that lit up the torches, lanterns, and candles. As the sun started to set, the little orange lights all around the party mirrored its brilliance. Blastoff Beach Party perfection.
Summer put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. “C’mon, Sparkles!” she shouted. “Dinnertime!”
As her sisters joined her at the table, Summer once again wondered how best to bring up the subject of Thunderbolt.
“Working on a sand igloo can sure make a girl hungry!” Winter exclaimed, shoveling fish crackers onto her plate.
“Cockles and mussels!” Spring said, nibbling on another piece of watermelon shaped like a crab. “I know what you mean. It took me ten tries before I found a conch shell that actually didn’t have a conch living in it. Snails are very fussy about leaving their homes.” She lifted the shell to her lips and blew a loud honk.
All the Sparkles covered their ears as the conch shell trumpeted around the beach. Winter shouted, “Spring! I’m very fussy about keeping my hearing.”
“Oops,” Spring said, with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Winter. I’ve just got a lot of wind in me.”
Winter laughed so hard that fish crackers fell out of her mouth. “Spring, you have to quit saying everybody has a lot of wind. It means something else entirely.”
Spring scrunched up her face, trying to figure out what her sister meant.
“Oh!” she finally cried, her eyes popping open. “You are as bad as the Weeds!”
Summer, Winter, and Autumn couldn’t help but giggle. In playful retaliation, Spring stood on top of the picnic table and blew the conch as loud as she could. She finished her trumpeting with a final splutter that sounded like a large animal passing gas.
“Now who’s the Weed?” Autumn teased Spring.
Spring chuckled and jumped down into the sand. “I may be windy, but I’m way too delightful to be a Weed.”
“Don’t forget clean,” Winter added.
Summer was starting to regret inviting Thunderbolt. What was she going to do? He could arrive at any moment. “I’m sure the Weeds have some good qualities,” she said hesitantly.
“Yeah, staying put in the Barrens where they belong,” Winter said, stabbing her grilled vegetables with a skewer.
“About that … ,” Summer said, offering a platter of cookies decorated like flip-flops to her sisters.
“Yum!” Winter sa
id. “What’s next on the Blastoff Beach Party agenda?”
“I was thinking we could have a water balloon toss,” said Summer, wishing she knew how to tell her sisters the truth.
“Water balloon toss sounds great!” Winter exclaimed.
Summer grabbed the giant red bucket of water balloons that she had filled up earlier, dragging them out into an open patch of sand away from the tables. Maybe Thunderbolt wouldn’t come. Why would he want to hang out with a bunch of Sparkles playing with water balloons and roasting marshmallows around a bonfire? He would probably rather wrestle with his smelly brothers, throw rocks at rotting logs, and swim in a stinky marsh. They did have a blast high-jumping off of his thundercloud earlier, though. She still couldn’t believe she had mustered the courage to try a somersault jump. Thunderbolt had called it the Summer Somersault.
“C’mon, Autumn,” Summer shouted. “You’re my partner for the balloon toss!”
The four Sparkles grabbed armfuls of water balloons and took their positions.
The point of the game was to see which team could get the farthest away and still catch the water balloon without it breaking. Summer wished that Autumn had better aim so she didn’t have to keep running in all directions to catch her sister’s tosses.
“Spring!” Winter shouted. “You’re doing great! Have you been practicing?”
“No,” Spring replied. “I’m just imagining I’m catching a baby robin’s egg that’s fallen from its nest.”
Summer hated to think what would happen if Spring dropped a balloon. They would probably have to spend an hour assuring her that she wouldn’t really drop a robin’s egg.
“Rain!” Autumn shouted, pointing to the sky behind Summer’s head.
Summer turned around and saw a small black thundercloud racing toward Sparkle Shores. Oh, no. Her tummy rumbled like the lightning surrounding the cloud.
“That’s not rain!” Winter screamed. “It’s the Weeds!”
As the thundercloud loomed above them, Summer could see Thunderbolt and his brothers, Twister, Quake, and Sleet, standing next to him. They were all shirtless and dressed for the beach in cutoff pants and ragged shorts. Why had he invited his brothers? This was a disaster.
All of her Sparkle Sisters took action. Winter and Autumn aimed their scepters at the thundercloud hovering overhead. Spring squealed and ran toward their sand castles, taking refuge inside the sand igloo. Summer needed to tell them what was happening.
“Wait!” she shouted. “Let me explain!”
Autumn started to chant:
Before she could finish, Thunderbolt flew their thundercloud down to the sandy surface and the Weeds dismounted in full water-gun attack mode. “Charge!” Thunderbolt shouted, hitting Autumn in the face with his soaker.
“Stop!” Summer yelled. “Thunderbolt! What are you doing?”
Thunderbolt didn’t answer as he and Sleet launched into a water-balloon-versus-water-soaker war with Winter. Autumn hurled water balloons at Twister while he deflected them with a mini tornado. Quake, who wore an old-fashioned black bathing suit, lumbered over to where Spring was hiding in the sand igloo. He jumped up and down, and his heavy body caused an earthquake that demolished all of the sand art. Spring escaped the fallen igloo and raced back to her sisters.
Summer decided to help Winter, furious that Thunderbolt would come to her party and try to ruin it. She jumped in front of Winter and faced Thunderbolt squarely.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her hands on her hips.
He smiled and said, “I told you I was a super splasher, Sparkle!” Then he sprayed her with his soaker, dousing her face, hair, and neon-green bikini. She felt water balloons hitting her arms, and a steady stream of water hitting her back. She was being attacked from all sides!
“ENOUGH!” she shouted, holding her scepter up in the air. “One more squirt and I’ll dry up all the water in every single soaker, balloon, and water gun!”
Everything went still. Summer opened her eyes to see all the Weeds and Sparkles staring at one another menacingly.
“How dare you come and crash our party!” Winter exclaimed, pointing her scepter at Thunderbolt.
“Crash your party?” Thunderbolt asked, confused. “Summer invited me.”
Everybody turned to look at Summer, standing there dripping from head to toe. She wished she could disappear just like the sun had beyond the horizon.
Chapter 4
“Summer would never spoil her Blastoff Beach Party by inviting you Weeds,” Autumn proclaimed.
“Summer wouldn’t invite the Weed who broke my scepter,” Spring huffed, glaring at Thunderbolt.
“Or a Weed that tried to steal my polar bear, Flurry!” Winter fumed, moving in between Thunderbolt and Summer.
Summer felt sick. Her sisters were right. Thunderbolt had been awful in the past. But he was so kind earlier she had just forgotten. “I should have told you girls before,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm. “But I did invite Thunderbolt to the party tonight. I just didn’t know he’d invite the other Weeds!”
“He didn’t invite us!” Twister wheezed.
“They jumped on my thundercloud at the last second,” Thunderbolt explained, sounding a teeny bit apologetic. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal if they came along.”
Summer felt less annoyed with Thunderbolt. “Well … ,” she started.
“You invited Thunderbolt to our Blastoff Beach Party?!” Winter shouted, squeezing a water balloon.
“You see, earlier when I was racing this macaw, I … ,” Summer spluttered nervously. Winter had never been so upset with her. It made her feel hot and confused.
“She invited me because I taught her to high-dive,” Thunderbolt said proudly.
“You did what?” Twister and Sleet said together.
“Yeah, in Rainbow River,” Thunderbolt said, smiling.
“You never taught me to high-dive,” Quake grumbled, kicking up the sand.
“That’s because you’re too busy clipping your toenails and picking them with your teeth!” Thunderbolt teased, and pushed Quake down into the sand.
“Ewww!” said Autumn and Spring.
Winter got up in Summer’s face. “He taught you to high-dive? In Rainbow River?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. “I could have taught you to do that.”
“She even did the Summer Somersault!” Thunderbolt bragged.
Summer felt trapped by her sisters and annoyed with the Weeds. “We did go high-diving today,” Summer confessed. She looked over at Thunderbolt. “And … it was fun.” She smiled. Thunderbolt’s face softened.
“Well,” said Autumn, taking a step toward her, “if you did invite him, then we should go back to the party. But we should all watch our scepters.” Autumn gave Summer a hesitant smile and walked over to the picnic table.
“I’m going to go and fix our sand Sparkledoms,” declared Spring. She marched off toward the demolished sand art, clutching her scepter.
Summer felt relieved that her sisters understood. Then Winter icily stomped by her, calling out to Spring, “I’ll help you, Spring.” Summer would need to speak with her sister in private.
“So what now, Sparkle?” Thunderbolt asked, pulling Summer’s attention away from Winter.
“Well,” Summer said, indicating the picnic table, “there’s a lot of yummy food you could eat. I made flip-flop cookies. But no eating them with your feet, okay?”
“YUM!” Quake shouted, waddling over to the picnic table.
“We were also building sand art,” Summer said, pointing to where Spring and Winter were repairing the sand igloo fort.
“Sleet,” Thunderbolt said, tapping his brother on the shoulder. “You like making stuff out of slush and mud. Maybe you could go and help them fix their little castles.” He thrust his thumb toward Winter and Spring.
“C’mon, icicle face,” Twister barked. “Let’s go. I have a hilarious idea …” Sleet and Twister walked over to Winter and Spring, whispering
and wheezing.
Summer felt a little shy when she turned back to face Thunderbolt. “Let’s gather the wood for the bonfire,” she suggested.
“I’ll get the wood and you find some tinder!” Thunderbolt said excitedly. He dashed along the beach, gathering up branches of driftwood.
Summer collected a pile of dried seaweed for the tinder and Thunderbolt dropped a pile of wood where she indicated she wanted the bonfire.
“Now watch as I build a master bonfire,” Thunderbolt said, cracking his knuckles. “Watch this!”
He pointed his crooked stick at the pile of wood and seaweed and shouted, “Flmmrrrzzzkkllle!” A bolt of white lightning shot from Thunderbolt’s stick and ignited the bonfire.
“Now what do we do?” he asked. “Jump over it?”
“No.” Summer laughed. “We roast marshmallows over it.”
“I guess that’s the second-best thing you could do with a bonfire,” Thunderbolt said.
“Definitely.” Summer smiled.
Soon the only light on the beach was from the roaring bonfire and the stars twinkling above. The Sparkles stayed on one side of the bonfire and the Weeds on the other. Winter and Spring were still sore over Twister and Sleet building sand sharks and giant squids attacking their sand castles.
“How do the marshmallows taste?” Summer asked, desperate for anyone to talk.
“I’ve got a song!” Twister shouted, and he began singing in a high piggy voice:
The other Weeds started clapping and stomping along with Twister. Quake even got up and started dancing, his belly jiggling. The brothers all joined in loudly for the last chorus, then fell back on the sand, snorting and hooting:
Summer was angry and embarrassed. “That was a terrible song,” she said sternly. Thunderbolt tried to stifle his laughter, but the Weeds kept crowing.
“So, you think a Weed is better than a Sparkle?” Winter asked, standing up.
