And the Winner Is...#18

by Melissa J Morgan

  So forget shopping. There were other ways to have fun. Other ways called Michael. Tori shot her boyfriend an IM.

  : Hey, boy. What’re you doing right now?

  : Hey, girl. Going to play soccer.

  : Do something with me instead.

  : You said you were busy the rest of the week with Nat.

  : Nat who?

  : Gotta go. Late.

  : Maybe I’ll come watch. Where are you playing?

  Tori let out a growl of frustration as the message “MichaelS is no longer available” appeared on her computer screen.

  Michael was right. She was supposed to be doing something with Nat. But, again, where was Nat? What was her deal?

  Tori logged on to the camp blog. Maybe somebody there knew something about the mysterious disappearing Natalie Goode.

  Posted by: Tori

  Subject: Where, oh where, is Natalie?

  Hey, everybody—

  Anybody know what’s going on with Nat? We were supposed to get together if her dad had plans, and right this minute, he’s on television. Live television. Which I would call having plans.

  I’ve called and texted her, but I haven’t heard back. So have I been ditched or what?

  Answer me. I know you’re out there.

  Tori

  Within two minutes, Tori had three responses. She clicked on the first one and started to read.

  From: Alyssa

  Subject: Nat

  Haven’t heard from her, Tori.

  If you guys go to that new exhibit at LACMA, the one with the meat under glass, I want to hear everything. It sounds really original. Gross, but original.

  Alyssa

  From: Valerie

  Subject: Missing person

  That’s weird, Tori. It doesn’t sound like Natalie. Maybe she was talking about Thursday and not today? Probably some mix-up like that.

  Val

  From: Jenna

  Subject: Natalie

  Maybe she’s playing a game of hide-and-seek and forgot to tell you.

  Jenna

  Joke of the day: How do scientists know the world won’t come to an end? Because it’s round.

  Very funny, Jenna, Tori thought. She flopped down onto her bed and clicked on the TV.

  Wednesday afternoon television. Great. Tori flipped through the channels. One thing she knew for sure—she didn’t want to watch Tad Maxwell’s giant face smiling away. It was just a giant, smiling reminder that Natalie had bailed on her. Without a phone call, a text message, or even an e-mail.

  chapter

  SIX

  Natalie and Reed walked out of Grauman’s Chinese Theater onto the cement patio covered with movie star handprints. “It’s really true that the studios dump the most stinky movies into theaters in February,” Natalie commented.

  Reed widened his eyes in mock astonishment. “You didn’t like the part where the guy and the alien went skiing together? I found the moment when the alien saw snow for the first time just so moving.”

  Natalie laughed. “I found it just so cheesy. But I always love going to movies here. Here and the Cinerama Dome.” She turned and looked back at the theater. It was so cool how it had been designed in the style of a pagoda, with a huge dragon carved on the front and stone lion-dogs guarding the entrance.

  Reed turned and looked at the red building with the green roof. “I forget how awesome it is. I just buy a ticket and head in without paying any attention.”

  “Yeah, I’m like that about a lot of the amazing New York City stuff. If you see something too often, it’s like it becomes partly invisible,” Natalie answered. She turned and moved out of the way so a tourist could get a shot of John Wayne’s handprints—with his buddy’s hands positioned next to the prints. Tourists loved putting their hands next to the stars’ to compare sizes.

  “There’s Bingley, right on time.” Natalie nodded to the town car pulling up across the street. “You sure you don’t want a ride?”

  Reed shook his head. “We’re pretty much on top of a subway,” he answered. “So dinner at Baja Fresh on Friday night, right? The one on Sunset and Vine.”

  “Right,” Natalie agreed. “I have to see the Elvis you say is always performing on the sidewalk.”

  “Kevin, the street Elvis,” Reed corrected. “You can’t forget the Kevin part. He’s not so great at the fast stuff, like ‘Jailhouse Rock.’ But he does a killer ‘Love Me Tender.’ ”

  “I can’t wait. I’ll see you there at seven,” Natalie told him. Then she headed for the car.

  Bingley jumped out and opened the door for her. “Have fun?” he asked.

  “I had the best time,” she said as she climbed into the backseat.

  “You might want to check your phone. It’s been ringing a lot,” Bingley said once he was behind the wheel.

  “Oh, I did leave it here!” Natalie exclaimed. “I thought maybe I lost it. I had to use Reed’s phone to tell you when to pick me up.” She snatched the phone off the seat beside her. Wow. Three voicemail messages and eight text messages. Natalie listened to the voicemail messages first.

  “Hey, Nat Brat. It’s Tors. Call me back.”

  Natalie clicked to the next message. It was from Tori, too. “Me again. I’m showered, dressed, blow-dried, and ready to go. Call me.”

  Oh, no. Oh, no, oh, no. Natalie had completely forgotten she’d told Tori they’d get together if her dad had plans. Dreading the rant she was going to hear, she moved on to the next message.

  “Hey, it’s Brynn. I need a little boyfriend advice. I might need to break up with Jordan, and I know you just did that with Logan. Call me. Or we can talk online. But call Tori first. She posted on the blog, and she seems kind of stressed that she hasn’t heard from you.”

  Tori posted on the blog? She must be even more upset than Natalie thought she’d be. Yikes. She moved on to her text messages. She suspected some of them were going to be from Tori, too.

  So what’s the plan for today? Shopping, shopping, or shopping? I’m up for anything. But did I mention shopping? Tori

  Hey, Nat. Tori posted on the blog. She’s looking for you. She thinks you were supposed to be getting together with her. There’s some communication confusion going on. Val

  Could you take some pics of the Columbia Record Building and zap them to me? I need them for an art class project. Zoom really close on the top, where it looks like a needle on a stack of records. (Those weird vinyl things.) Oh, and Tori’s looking for you. Alyssa

  Did you ditch Tori? If you did I wouldn’t blame you. Just kidding. You know I’m nice now. Call her. She’s trying to find you. Chelsea

  N. WHERE. ARE. YOU? T.

  Natalie didn’t bother to read the rest of the messages. Clearly, she needed to call Tori RIGHT NOW!

  She found Tori’s name in her list of contacts and hit Send. Please be there. Please pick up, she thought as Tori’s phone began to ring.

  “Where are you?” Tori asked when she answered. She didn’t bother giving Natalie a hello. “I thought we were supposed to get together if your father was busy. And I saw him on Oprah’s show. Her live show.”

  “Tori, I’m so sorry!” Natalie burst out.

  For one minute, Natalie thought about lying. She could tell Tori she’d spent the day hanging out in the green room at the TV studio while her dad did his interview. Then Tori couldn’t be mad at her.

  But she couldn’t do that to Tori. It was bad enough that Natalie had forgotten their plans. Lying to her friend would just make the badness so much badder.

  “I’m so sorry,” Natalie said again. “I thought my dad was going to be able to spend all day with me. Then I got up and saw his whole entourage having breakfast with him. It was so clear he wasn’t going to have any time to spend with me—”

  “Which is why you should have picked up the phone and called,” Tori interrupted.

  “I’m so sorry,” Natalie said for the third time.
“It’s just that I’d read a text message from Reed right before I found out my father was going to be gone all day. Reed was kind of in my head when it happened, so I called him up and we decided to get together right then.”

  “So you just forgot all about me,” Tori said, her voice sharp.

  “Yeah,” Natalie admitted. What else could she say? “I so suck,” she added.

  “You do,” Tori agreed. “But I guess you were feeling kind of bad this morning when you found out your dad had all those plans.”

  “I was pretty miserable,” Natalie answered. “And Reed, he kept me busy all day. You know the first place we went? My dad’s star on the Walk of Fame. Reed said it was so I could spend some of the day with my father. How sweet was that?”

  “Pretty sweet,” Tori admitted. “Michael called me—”

  “Pretty incredibly sweet,” Natalie interrupted. Reed had been so much fun today. He’d almost made her forget that she hadn’t spent any time with her father since she’d arrived in LA.

  And he’d totally made her forget about her plans with Tori. And now just thinking about him had almost made her forget she was on the phone with her friend. Yikes.

  “Do you want to hit the beach tomorrow, Tor?” Natalie asked. “I’m thinkin’ Malibu.”

  “I could use a little Bu time,” Tori said. “How about noon? Surfrider Beach?”

  “I’m there. I’ll bring lunch. You just bring you,” Natalie answered. “I so owe you after today.”

  “Yeah, you do,” Tori said. But she laughed, so Natalie knew she’d been forgiven.

  Brynn created a private chat room, then waited. About thirty seconds later, Grace popped in, followed a few seconds later by Natalie.

  : Hey, B. I love how you decorated the room. ;)

  : Nothing you say can make me laugh today.

  : maybe we should get jenna in here.

  : No. I need serious help. Jenna isn’t that good with serious. It’s the Nat-Grace combo I need.

  : Tell us.

  : I’ve been messing up incredibly at rehearsal. My lines just won’t stay in my head.

  : Have you tried reciting your lines in bed, right before you fall asleep? That helps me.

  : i should ask my dad for advice…i’m not such the drama girl.

  : It’s not really the lines that are the problem.

  : But wait. You just said…

  : I know, I know. And I am completely disgracing myself at rehearsal. I’m going to destroy the whole play if I don’t get it together. What I need to do is spend every second practicing.

  : so why are you talking to us? go forth and shakespeare!

  : The thing is, Jordan wants to hang out with me. It’s vacation, and he has all this stuff he wants us to do together.

  : ah.

  : Oh. Well, Nat’s more the boy expert than I am, but can’t you just explain the sitch to him?

  : I tried. And he hung up on me. I don’t know what to do, you guys. The play opens this weekend, and it’s such a big chance for me. Forget big. Huge, enormous, giganto! The Globe is going to review the show and everything. But Jordan’s my boyfriend. And I can’t totally ignore him, right? Grace, you’re my drama girl. And, Nat, you know guys. What am I supposed to do?

  : As the drama girl, I have to say the play is the most important thing. You love theater, Brynn. We both know that. And doing Shakespeare, with a bunch of professional actors in the cast…that’s huge squared. I’m jealous. And happy for you. And jealous. You’ve got to do whatever it takes to give your best performance.

  : Except what it takes is completely ignoring Jordan.

  : maybe you should just be up front with him. tell him right now that until the play is over, you’re going to have almost no free time.

  : He’d probably just hang up on me again.

  : He should get how important the play is to you.

  : yeah, but, i can see how no brynn time makes for an unhappy bf. if brynn really can’t see jordan for months, it’s almost like they live in different states. and i know how hard that is. it’s why logan and i decided to end it. well, logan decided, but he was right. the bad/good thing is, i just met this really cool boy out in la. yes, la, as in across the country from me most of the time! ack!!

  : So you’re saying if Jordan can’t accept me being tied up with the play, we should break up?

  : That’s what I think.

  : i wasn’t saying that, exactly. but maybe…

  : Ooooh. Except, what about Priya?

  : Wait. What? What about what about Priya?

  : she’s jordan’s best friend. you do something to jordan, it’s like you do it to priya.

  : I don’t want to break up with Priya. I don’t even really want to break up with Jordan. But now I think I have to. He just doesn’t get why I can’t hang out with him and be in the play. But I can’t. There’s no way.

  : Good luck!

  : let us know how it goes.

  : With Jordan or Priya?

  : Both!

  Brynn logged off the computer, then she let her head fall back and stared up at the ceiling. She was going to have to do it. She had no choice. She was going to have to break up with Jordan. She hoped she didn’t end up minus a boyfriend and a regular friend. It would be horrible to mess up things with Priya, too.

  chapter

  SEVEN

  Sunscreen—check. Beach towel—check. Magazines—check. Lip balm—check. Sunglasses—check. Beach umbrella—check. Aloe vera gel—check. Beach blanket—check. Evian water face spray—check. Hamper—check. Cooler—check. Cute beach hat—check.

  Natalie had everything she needed for one fun-and-sun-filled day at the beach with Tori. She grabbed her beach bag, leaving the rest of the stuff for Bingley, and headed out the front door.

  Her dad gave a quick double toot on the horn as he pulled his vintage Corvette Stingray convertible into the circular drive.

  “Dad! What are you doing here?” Natalie exclaimed. “I thought you had back-to-back-to-back-to-back press conferences today.”

  He pulled to a stop in front of her. “I did. I do,” he answered. “But while I was driving from the first one to the second one, it hit me.” Her father grinned at her.

  “What hit you?” she asked.

  “That my favorite—and, okay, yes, only— daughter is in town, and I haven’t spent any time with her.” He leaned over and opened the Stingray’s passenger door. “Get in. I’m taking you to lunch. I found a great new sushi place. And I know sushi is your favorite.” His brow furrowed. “It’s still your fave, right?”

  “Right,” Natalie said. She jumped in the car, leaving all her beach supplies behind. She knew she should tell her dad she had plans with Tori. But he might think she shouldn’t cancel with a friend on such short notice. Which was true. She shouldn’t.

  She was going to, though. Tori would just have to understand. This might be the only time during her whole trip that Natalie could get some one-on-one time with her dad.

  Beach umbrella—Natalie’s bringing. Sunscreen— check. Beach towel—check. Lip balm—check. Sunglasses—check. Aloe vera gel—check. Magazines—check. Evian water face spray—check. Cute beach hat—check. Beach blanket—Natalie’s bringing. Hamper—Natalie’s bringing. Cooler—Natalie’s bringing.

  Tori grabbed her beach bag. “Mom, come on!” she called. Her mother was going to drop her at Surfrider Beach, then hang poolside at her friend Jenny’s place until Tori was ready to come home.

  “Almost ready,” her mother answered from the bathroom.

  “Which means we’ll be leaving in an hour,” Tori muttered. Her cell phone rang. She dug it out of her bag and glanced at the screen. Mic
hael. “Hi, boy,” she said when she answered.

  “Hey, girl. Whatcha doing?” he asked.

  “I’m about to head to Malibu. If I can pry my mother away from the mirror.” She shot an annoyed glance down the hall at the closed bathroom door.

  “I could be up for Malibu,” Michael hinted.

  “Uh-uh. It’s girl day. Natalie and I are going,” Tori explained.

  “How about if I ask Reed? He and Nat got along, right?” Michael said.

  “Right. They got along so well that I barely saw Natalie when we were all at the pier,” Tori explained.

  Michael didn’t say anything. Tori could picture the look on his face—all pouty. Michael insisted that boys didn’t pout. But they so did. At least he did.

  “She’s only going to be here for a week—half a week now,” Tori continued, trying to make him understand. “I’m not going to have many other chances to get together with her.”

  “What am I supposed to do today?” Michael asked. Tori almost laughed. He sounded soooo pouty!

  “Poor boy. Like I’m your only friend,” Tori said.

  “You’re my only girlfriend. At least you are unless you keep ditching me,” Michael told her.

  “I’m not ditching you. I told you before Natalie even got here that I wanted to hang with her as much as I could this week,” Tori reminded him. She glanced at her watch. If she and her mother didn’t leave in, well, two minutes ago, Tori was going to be late. “Gotta go,” she told Michael. “I’ll call you tonight.”

  “Bye,” he said, and hung up.

  He was not happy. Tori got that. But he’d live.

  She looked at her watch again. “Mom, now please! I don’t want Nat to be sitting on the beach by herself, waiting for me to show!”

  tors, can’t meet you. dad free—for once! i’ll call you later!

  Natalie hit Send. No signal. Again! And she’d already tried to zap the message out eleven times. Plus she’d tried to call four times.

  Tori is going to kill me, Natalie thought. She stared at the mountains rising up to the north, willing them to crumble into dust so she could get some cell phone service.