Making Waves

by Nicole Leigh Shepherd

  My dad places his hand on my shoulder. “There are worse things in life, Abigail.”

  “Huh?” I furrow my brow in confusion.

  “Homicides, MVAs, natural disasters …”

  “That’s great,” I say, sighing. “I feel so much better.”

  “You know, I’m very proud of you,” he adds, squeezing my shoulder tighter.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I say, wrapping my towel around my shoulders as I allow his words to wash over me.

  Unfortunately, I can’t relish in the rare moment of father-daughter understanding for long because, of course, that’s when the rest of my family chooses to come over.

  “Was that cutie Brody?” my mom asks. She means well, but as soon as my response—“Yup, that’s Brody”—is out, it’s an invitation for my brothers to pile on.

  “Do you want me to tell him to keep his hands off you?” Robby asks, stepping forward with his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

  “Will you guys just relax?” I say, my volume rising.

  “He mentioned something about going to college anyway when I was talking to him earlier,” Frankie adds.

  My stomach drops. “You talked to him too?”

  Alex continues where Frankie left off. “Yeah and you know what guys do when they go to college.”

  “Will you guys just shut up for once? Brody’s not like that.”

  Frankie rolls his eyes.

  “Yeah sure,” Alex interjects.

  Robby follows up with, “All freshman guys are like that.”

  “Oh my God!” I yell. “When are you going to stop trying to run my life?”

  “Honey, they’re just overprotective. You know how brothers are. They just want to make sure you’re safe. That’s all,” my mom’s calm voice interrupts my tantrum. “They feel like they’re losing you to all this.”

  I look from my brothers to my dad. “Is that true?”

  My dad looks at my mom.

  “Of course it’s true,” she says. “This is a new world for them. All this glitz and glam. They’re worried that the Abby we know and love is just going to poof! disappear.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I say, wrapping my arm around my dad’s shoulder. “I can be part of all this—lifeguard here, go away to college—and still be a Berkeley.”

  “I know, Nemo,” he says, looking down at me. “It’s just going to take me a little while.”

  I hug my dad.

  Then I look at my brothers. “So what’s the deal with you boneheads? You really just afraid your little sister is gonna get too classy for you?”

  “Yeah, that is what we’re worried about,” Alex says guiltily.

  “But never fear!” Frankie calls out. “We have our ways of making sure you’ll always be a woman of the people.” He snatches me up in a choke hold and gives me a noogie.

  Robby grabs my legs.

  “Boys. I don’t think this is the right time and place for horseplay,” my mom says.

  Alex grabs my arms, then waves my parents off.

  I wiggle, but it’s no use. My brothers firmly have me in their grasp. They walk me down to the ocean edge, a few hundred feet away from where the men’s competition is still going on.

  “Ready!” Frankie yells.

  “No!” I shout, knowing what’s coming.

  They begin to swing me.

  “No, guys. Please!” I plead.

  They laugh maniacally. “One, two, three!” they all yell in unison and toss me into a wave.

  I shut my eyes tight and hold my nose as I smash into the huge wave. My butt skids across a sand bar.

  When I eventually stand up, I shout, “You guys are dead!”

  “You’ll never get us!” they yell, taking off across the sand.

  I glance at the members of the competition audience who’ve caught sight of what we’re doing. I shrug—whatever. Then I take off after my brothers.

  * * *

  “It’s time to announce the winner of this year’s Last Blast Competition!” Denise calls out after the crowd has taken their seats on the white folding chairs now set up along the beach. In front of the tower, a stage has been constructed for the announcement.

  She pulls a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. Unfolding it, she gazes out at the audience from her spot on the podium. Then she looks down at the paper and speaks into the microphone, “With thirty-one points out of her team’s seventy-six total, this year’s scholarship winner and next year’s captain is Abigail Berkeley!”

  The crowd erupts. Chants of “Abby! Abby! Abby!” sound out with more excitement than I knew that the onlookers had in them. As I make my way to the podium, I glance at Zoe and my parents, thrilled to finally be in a good place with everyone who’s important to me.

  Just then, Brody whistles. My stomach drops. Okay, so not everyone …

  Fortunately, it’s not more than twenty seconds later before Denise says, “We would like to present Abigail Berkeley with the Last Blast trophy and scholarship to the school of her choice.” She hands me the gleaming gold trophy.

  I feel a hot tear fall from my eye as the crowd roars in applause.

  Denise hands me an envelope. “Congratulations,” she whispers. Then to everyone else she says, “Congratulations go out to Abby and her team, the Malibu Mafia.”

  I stare at the scholarship envelope in one hand and the trophy in the other. Then I hear Zoe yell out, “Yeah Abby!”

  At that moment, everything I’ve been through since the first time Zoe and I stepped on this very sand two and a half months ago comes barreling back to me like an unexpected wave.

  I take a deep breath and glance at Denise.

  She nods, reminding me it’s time for my speech.

  The crowd claps in anticipation.

  I clear my throat. “First, I want to thank the Beachwood Country Club for this honor today.”

  More applause.

  “But this win today isn’t just about me.” I look at Zoe, then at my brothers. “This is for every girl out there—regardless of where you live or what you come from—who dreams of becoming a lifeguard. Everyone deserves the opportunity.”

  A hush rolls across the crowd. They know I’m about to do something to rock the boat.

  I steel my nerves and continue. “And that’s why I think that everyone who dreams of working this beach should have the chance to try out for a spot on the lifeguard team, regardless of whether they or their parents are club members.”

  The crowd is so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

  “So for my first act as captain, I hereby make the Beachwood Country Club lifeguard tryouts open to all!”

  No one moves. Then my parents and brothers begin to clap. And then out of nowhere, I hear Brody start to chant, “Open tryouts! Open tryouts!” It’s not long before the other lifeguards join in, “Open tryouts! Open tryouts!”

  Most of the members look around at each other in confusion, though a few do clap politely.

  Denise grabs the microphone from me, taking this as her cue. “Okay. Well, thanks, Abby.” She pauses and looks out at the crowd nervously. “Well, that concludes today’s Last Blast Competition. Drive safely.” Placing her hand over the microphone, she turns to me. “This will have to go through the board, you know.”

  “I know.” I shrug.

  “But I have to say that I like your gumption.” She winks at me, then steps off the podium.

  My team surrounds me as soon as she leaves.

  Katie wraps her arm around my shoulders. “Congratulations, captain,” she says.

  “Yeah. Congrats,” Zoe says. “Although I knew you could do it. Because …”

  “I know,” I say. “Abby always wins.”

  Zoe beams. “Exactly.”

  I notice that Brody is standing back by the chairs, away from the rest of the group. His ear-to-ear grin is visible even from this distance.

  I’m about to walk over to him when my dad climbs up onto the stage. “Phenomenal speech, Abigail,”
he says. “I was proud of you before, but after that, I couldn’t be more humbled by you than I am today.” I could be wrong but I think I spot a few tears in his eyes.

  “Way to go, sweetheart,” my mom says, sniffling as she envelopes me. Unlike my dad, she doesn’t try to hide that she’s been crying.

  Once my mom steps away, my brothers crowd around me. As they jostle for my attention, I can make out what looks to be a really uncomfortable scene a few rows away. Lexi and her dad have returned from wherever they fled, but they don’t appear to have made peace in the interim. If anything, it looks like the situation has only grown worse. She pleads with him as he hangs his head in disappointment. Her mother, meanwhile, is nowhere to be seen.

  “Look,” My father says, drawing my attention back to my family. “We realize how much all this means to you—lifeguarding here, going to college. And as much as we don’t like the club …”

  “All we want is for you to be happy,” my mom says, picking up where my dad trailed off.

  “Yeah, and because of that, we won’t stand in your way,” Robby adds, resting his hands on his leather belt.

  “You won’t?”

  “Well, unless some jerk tries to mess with you,” Frankie smirks.

  “And speaking of jerks—”

  “Alex, watch the language,” my mom cuts him off.

  “And speaking of guys in your life,” Alex continues. “There’s a certain one with a weird name standing over there, waiting to talk to you.” He points behind me.

  I turn and see that Brody is still standing there, just as he has been ever since people first started coming over to congratulate me. Tons of people float past him, but he doesn’t acknowledge them. His eyes stay glued on me.

  I wave at him vigorously before I even know what I’m doing; it’s like my hand has a mind of its own. I quickly put my hand down, my stomach dropping. Logically, I know that I can’t be captain and date Brody—although I might be able to break barriers when it comes to non-members, I’ll never convince Denise to break the no-fraternizing policy—but in that moment, I realize that to give up one would be to give up a part of myself.

  Brody smiles at me earnestly, inviting me to start anew with him, to begin again in a world free from silly rules and worries.

  I swallow a lump. There’s no such place.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Jason asks as we arrive at the club later that night. At least three carloads of his friends—all fellow BCC employees, none of them club members—pull up behind us.

  “Absolutely,” I say. “I meant everything I said during my acceptance speech.” We’re a good half hour late for the Luau. It’s time for the club to start accepting change.

  “Okay,” Jason shrugs.

  The valet is dressed for the occasion in an ivory-and-teal flowered Hawaiian shirt. He hesitates before he opens the door for me and my guests.

  “Please,” I say to him.

  He furrows his brow. “I guess it’s okay ….”

  I beam at him. “Thank you! Thank you!”

  Jason wraps his arm around my shoulders in a brotherly fashion. Turning to the valet, he says, “You just made her special day that much better.” He pauses. “And ours.”

  I feel like I’m glowing. How is this the same grumpy Jason that I worked with all summer?

  As soon as the valet opens the door to the lobby, I’m immediately assaulted by Hawaiian music.

  “Look at this place!” a girl yells.

  Tiki torches surround the pool, giving off streams of black smoke.

  “This is insane,” another guy remarks.

  He’s not wrong—there are more tropical flowers than I ever thought existed.

  As luck would have it, Lexi is the first person I spot. She’s dressed in a flowing Michael Kors floral dress and is deep in conversation with Brody. Of course. After what Brody told me, I doubt if there’s really anything there, but I guess she’s trying to win at least once today.

  I spot a lei dangling over the marble fountain statue. I grab it and hang it around Katie’s neck as I pass her.

  “Thanks!” she exclaims, taking a break from chatting with one of the older male guards. “I’ve been looking for one of those.”

  I hear Zoe screech, “Abby! You came!”

  A second later, I’m surrounded by Zoe, Kylie, and Missy, all with flowers in their free-flowing hair and extra leis in their hands. Kylie fluffs my hair.

  “We forgiven?” Missy asks, holding up the assortment of leis. “We brought gifts!”

  Kylie rolls her eyes at her. “We’re really sorry about what we did,” she adds sincerely. “We had no idea she was …”

  “Yeah, yeah, of course.” I shrug. There’s no point in being mad at them any longer. It’s not their fault how things worked out. Looking at Kylie, I say, “I know you were going through a rough patch.” Then I turn to Missy, giggling. “You, on the other hand, had no excuse.”

  She grins back, “Nope. Mea culpa.” She places a pink lei around my neck. “Token of my apology,” she says.

  As she rests the lei around me, the group of them catch sight of Jason’s friends behind me. “What is that?” Missy asks.

  “Oh my God, Abby. How many people did you bring with you?” Zoe asks, pushing Kylie out of the way.

  “A lot.”

  “They look familiar. Who are they?” Kylie asks.

  I raise my eyebrows. “You should know: they’re all club employees, Jason’s friends. Consider this my second official act as captain.”

  “You’re my hero,” Missy says, coming at me with her lip-gloss wand. Then she sighs. “So many new hotties. So little time.”

  Kylie and Zoe pretend to swoon.

  Just then, the DJ replaces the Hawaiian songs with club beats. He smiles at us as he mixes the tunes. Everyone begins to dance, and if the members didn’t notice that there were party crashers before, they sure do now.

  Fortunately, no one seems to care. Even Brooke and Allison shrug and join in on the fun, pulling me to the center.

  “This is awesome!” Zoe yells as she joins the group. She drags a crowd, including Kylie and Missy, around me.

  Missy does the running man dance with a crazy face next to a guy Jason brought, causing us to crack up. The guy then takes this as his cue to start break dancing.

  “Best summer eva!” Zoe yells.

  Missy, Kylie, and I cheer.

  Kylie wraps her arm around my shoulders and squeezes.

  As I’m dancing, I feel a light tap on my shoulder.

  When I turn around, I see that it’s Lexi.

  “Can I talk to you for a sec?” she asks. Her eyes dart from me to the crowd.

  I shrug and follow her to a spot behind the lifeguard tower. “What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to say that I didn’t actually want to get you in trouble or anything.” She looks up at the star-filled sky.

  “Is that your ‘I’m sorry’?” I ask, eyeing the party. Only a few seconds with Lexi and already I’m itching to get back.

  “Yeah, I guess. Look. I’m sure you saw at the competition that my dad is crazy. He puts a ton of pressure on me. Plus, you heard about my friend Mara who got fired ….”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “Well, I kind of blamed you for it, you and your friends …” Her voice trails off. “Brody doesn’t care about it, you know. His sister didn’t even like guarding here. She’s using the free time to do some filmmaking on the fly. But I was offended and I’ve got other stuff going on in my life that my parents won’t exactly be thrilled with when they find out.”

  I hold up my hand. “It’s fine, Lex. We all have our stuff.”

  Lexi smirks. “Okay. Great. Then we’re cool?”

  “Sure. I guess.”

  And with that, she walks away.

  When I turn around to rejoin the crowd, Brody is in front of me. Shivers run down my spine. He lifts my chin with his index finger, looks deep into my eyes,
and says, “You know that deal we made this afternoon? About being friends?”

  “Yeah …” My stomach fills with butterflies.

  “Well, I can’t be friends with you anymore.”

  I shirk back. “What? But … I …”

  “This is my last summer at Beachwood.”

  My feet lose feeling. “Where are you going? Michigan? Is your mom better?”

  “I got a job guarding at the UCLA gym. It’s not the beach, but it works.”

  “You did?” I feel my heart swell. “So you got accepted to UCLA?”

  “Not yet. But I’m hoping this is a step in the right direction. For my future and for me and you.”

  Wait, what!?

  He runs the back of his hand along my arm. “So what went wrong after the bonfire? I know I didn’t find you till the next morning and everything and I’m sorry about that. But I figured that if I got another job and wasn’t working here, that would mean that you wouldn’t have to worry about the rule anymore and—”

  I don’t know if it’s the luau or what Brody just told me, but I grab him and kiss him hard. Right there in front of everyone.

  At first, he’s surprised, but then he grabs me tightly around my waist and pulls me closer. He tastes sweet like pineapple juice. My feet lift off the ground as we find our rhythm. When he gently lowers me back to the sand, we hear cheers behind us.

  “Finally!” Zoe shouts.

  I laugh, but I don’t let it get to me. I know she means well.

  Brody whispers in my ear, sending chills down my back. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to let you go back to school in a few days. We missed out on so much time.”

  I stare into his deep green eyes. “Well, then it’s good that we have now, isn’t it?” I jump into his arms and we kiss again as the waves crash behind us.

  In the distance, we hear cheering. Then Brody and I watch a group of people sprint toward the ocean. Once they reach the water, they tumble into the waves. As they come up, I get a better view of who led them, hand-in-hand—Lexi and Jason.

  My jaw drops. Slowly, a picture starts to form in my mind: Lexi telling me she had things that she couldn’t tell her parents about; Jason getting so mad at her, irrationally so; the way she looked at him the first time she saw him at the snack bar; how she was always trying to get his attention; how Denise’s rule prevented lifeguards from dating all club employees; how bitter Jason was … before. “So Lexi and Jason were together this entire summer?” I look up at Brody.