Piranhas in Pink: Piranhas in Pink Book One
Page 10
“Don’t worry about that.” Eden turned to me, grinning. She handed me a pale-pink envelope sealed with a golden P. The words PLAY THE FOOL were typed on the front.
With shaking hands, I removed the small note card inside. Someone had written the instructions of my task in neat cursive letters.
I read it aloud. “Your first task is to play the fool. You must go inside and get everyone’s attention. Stand on the bar and sing ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun.’”
I swallowed hard. Although I wasn’t shy or afraid of crowds, I was not a fan of public humiliation, especially when it had the possibility of going viral. “Can I get a drink first? I like to hydrate before I sing.”
The girls popped the car doors open and hopped out.
“No,” Kyla said, checking her hair in the side-view mirror. “You have your assignment. Let’s go. No stalling.”
In slow motion, I removed my seat belt.
“Today, Lennox!” Eden shouted.
I had to pretend that it was hard. If I made it seem easy, they might think up worse things for me to do.
The padded feet of the onesie did not protect me from the rough gravel scattered all over the ground. It was like walking on Lego blocks. The shouts of a rowdy crowd and country music grew louder with each step I took.
Eden held up an ID card. “You guys go around back. I’ll let you in.”
We scurried across the small parking lot and along the dark edges of the building. My life suddenly involved sneaking into a hole-in-the-wall bar, dressed like a giant baby.
At least it was a one-in-a-gazillion chance that I would know someone inside. Following the girls, I told myself that it would be over before I knew it. Did Bree have to do the same thing? If she could do it, so could I.
A dim flickering bulb was the only source of light behind the bar. I focused on the ground, trying to avoid broken beer bottles and God only knew what else. Seiko pushed me past the foul-smelling dumpster toward the rusted exit door. We waited a minute before the door creaked open. I froze, looking down at my floppy onesie, thinking maybe it wouldn’t be as easy as I thought. Dani shoved me inside. Not expecting the push, I was just able to find my balance instead of landing face-first on the filthy floor.
The exit door led us to a dark, narrow hallway. After passing a door marked STAFF ONLY, we took a right, passed the restrooms, then entered the bar area.
The placed was much bigger than it seemed from the outside. Bartenders moved busily behind the long counter against one wall. A small stage was in the front, set against a faded red curtain. Guitars and banjos were mounted on the walls along with portraits of people I didn’t recognize. In one corner, happy drunks yelled over the jukebox. A lively game of pool was happening to the left of the bar. Waitresses weaved through the crowd, carrying trays with overflowing glasses of beer. The volume dropped slightly as people noticed us. They eyed us briefly then went back to whatever they had been doing.
Kyla pointed across the room to a big empty screen. “They have karaoke set up over there.”
“I got it,” Seiko said before disappearing into the crowd.
The other girls grouped behind me.
Eden patted me on the butt and shouted in my ear, “Go ahead! Get their attention.”
Dave and Eddy’s was so loud that I wanted to cover my ears. How am I supposed to compete with the noise? After taking a deep breath, I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, “Hey!”
A few people at tables close to us looked in my direction and frowned.
Dani and Kyla shook their heads and laughed as if they had decided beforehand that I would fail. They didn’t know me at all.
I pushed my way through the crowd, singing along to “Take Me Home, Country Road.” At the bar, I grabbed an empty barstool and climbed onto the counter, almost kicking over a man’s bowl of nuts in the process. He swore at me, but I ignored him. Seconds later, the music of Cyndi Lauper’s hit record came blaring through the speakers. Finally, all eyes were on me. I didn’t have to yell once I was standing on the bar in my duck-covered onesie.
Seiko hurried over and handed me a mic. It was showtime.
I knew every word. My mom, my sister, and I had been silly and danced to the song in our PJs on Saturday nights, back when Piper was alive and Mom was fun.
People grabbed their drinks as I worked my way up and down the bar, forgetting that everyone else was there. At first, people gawked at me in amazement, but it didn’t take long to get crowd participation from the tipsy patrons.
The music cut off abruptly, and a booming voice spoke from another mic. I hadn’t even gotten to the chorus. A large balding man in a flannel shirt that was too tight pointed at me. “I told you girls not to bring your idiot asses back in here. Get the hell out!”
The crowd booed him. I didn’t know if the task would be considered complete if I stopped, but the girls waved me over. I hopped down from the counter, and we tumbled through the front doors, choking with laughter. We piled into Kyla’s car and took off.
Eden looked back at me. “That was great, Lennox. You were fearless.”
Dani looked back at me. “It was good, but don’t get too comfortable. That was the easy one.”
That didn’t bother me at all. The first task had been child’s play, and I expected the second to be the same. And if the third challenge was going to be what they’d done to Bree, I was prepared. The girls weren’t about to punk me.
They blindfolded me again and stayed silent. Dani removed the blindfold just as we pulled up to a house in Roosevelt Park.
“Seiko,” Eden said.
Turning in her seat to face me, Seiko handed me the second envelope. It was a darker shade of pink.
I removed the card. “Task number two. Play the thief. You must enter the house and steal a prized possession.”
Okay, maybe it wasn’t going to be so easy. I wanted to be in the group, but I didn’t want to be arrested for breaking and entering. “Whose house is this?” Some lights were on, but no cars were in the driveway, but that didn’t mean none were in the garage.
Seiko peered through the window. “Mine.”
“You want me to break into your house? Why?”
She sighed. “Well, you won’t really be breaking into the house. You’ll be breaking into my cousin’s room. She has this stupid trophy that she won last year at the district academic bowl. She topped everyone who competed, and now she thinks she’s Albert Einstein. That trophy is her prized possession.”
“So why do you want me to steal it, then?”
Seiko’s beautiful face scrunched in anger. “Because I hate her. Ever since her parents sent her here to live with us, she’s been making my life miserable.”
Kyla was freshening her lip gloss in the driver’s seat. “Mei is just the absolute worst.”
Dani groaned. “And she never goes away.”
Seiko nodded. “Mei is always in our business. I can’t do shit without her snitching. She’s perfect, and my parents, the brilliant Dr. and Dr. Tanaka, are always comparing us. She’s going to flip out about this trophy. I just want to get under her skin for once. Let her see how it feels.”
That seemed petty to me, but whatever.
“Anyway, my parents are out, and Mei’s gone for the night. She’s staying with a friend.” She bent over and handed me my clothes. “Change. All the cameras are temporarily disabled. I left the laundry room open. Go around the left side of the house. It’s the first door you’ll come to.” If the layout of the house was the same as Gary’s, I knew exactly where it was.
Seiko went on. “The alarm will go off. The code is 9276. The keypad is right by the door. Mei’s room is always locked to keep me out, as if I’d want anything she has. You need to figure out a way in and get that trophy. You only have twenty minutes to do it.”
She waited for me to change.
“Good luck,” Eden said once I was done.
Seiko looked at her phone. “And your time starts now.”
Using the flashlight on my phone, I maneuvered through the dark house. The layout was identical to Eden’s and Gary’s. Every house in Roosevelt Park must have looked like that. The sound of running water drew my attention. I shined my light in the direction of the sound. It came from a waterfall beside the staircase. The Tanakas’ place looked super modern and was decorated much better than Gary’s.
Remembering that I only had twenty minutes, I put a move on it and headed upstairs to a hallway of bedrooms. Only one room had a closed door, so it must be Mei’s. I tried the knob, but just as Seiko had stated, it was locked.
I’d picked plenty of locks. Piper had a bad habit of locking herself in her room when she was upset. Picking locks was super easy. It almost made me wonder why people even bothered to lock their doors.
Even though it wasn’t a part of what I was supposed to do, I walked back to the room before Mei’s, which had to be Seiko’s, and flipped on the light. Her room was a mess. The walls were painted magenta, but everything else in the room was black and white. Her bed was covered with piles of clothes. I had no idea where she slept. Books and stacks of paper littered her desk. Tacked to her walls were pictures of random football, baseball, and basketball players, but I got the feeling that Seiko wasn’t really into sports, just the eye candy.
I rushed back downstairs and pulled a knife from a kitchen drawer. It took me about thirteen seconds to pop Mei’s lock. I pushed the door open and stepped into an immaculate room with everything exactly in its place. I scanned the room quickly. Mei’s shelf was filled with trophies, but only one rested under a glass case, and it was the biggest.
Gently, I lifted the glass case and snagged the trophy. It was much heavier than it looked. I went back downstairs, tossed the knife back into the drawer, headed for the laundry room, and reset the alarm.
I made it back to the car with three minutes to spare. The girls applauded. Seiko grabbed the trophy from me and ran her fingers all over it with an envious glint in her eye. She wished that trophy were hers. I bet she wanted to be smart like Mei so she could please her parents.
“Excellent, Lennox,” Eden called from the front seat. “You’re really impressing us tonight.”
“Thanks,” I replied, but really, it had been easy.
“That’s it for the night,” Kyla said as she drove toward my house. “You’ll have your final and hardest task tomorrow. Rest up.”
I wasn’t nervous at all. Leaning back into my seat, I thought about how great it was going to be when I didn’t fall for their little act.
12
Play God
I woke up late Saturday morning to find Mom at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee and staring at the wall.
I opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice. “Hi, Mom.”
No response.
I poured myself a glass of juice and sat across from her so she would have to look at me. “Mom, I said hi.”
Mom blinked three times and took a sip of her coffee. “Hi, honey. What did you do last night?”
“I went out with some friends.”
She traced the rim of the coffee mug with her finger. “What friends?”
“Girls from school. We just went to grab a bite to eat. Nothing major.”
“Hmmm.” She took a sip of her coffee. “How are they? Are they nice girls?”
No. “Yeah. Everyone likes them. They’re the most popular girls in our grade level.”
“That’s great, honey.” Mom sighed, looking through the glass doors that led to the patio. She obviously wanted to say something.
“What?” I asked.
She rubbed her eyes. “This is a new start for us. The whole point of us moving here was to start over. So please be careful.”
“What do you mean?”
Her eyes brimmed with tears, and a knot formed in my stomach. I hated when she cried.
She pressed her eyes shut tight. “I need you to be good because I can’t be that mom again. When Piper died, everyone looked at me, wondering what I had done wrong that something so terrible could happen to my daughter. Why didn’t I see the signs? Why didn’t I prevent it? They were all judging me. I could see it in their eyes, and I don’t want to go to that place again.”
I reached across the table and took her hands in mine. “It’s okay, Mom. I’ll be good. I promise.”
My heart ached for her. After Piper died, Mom’s friends had rallied around her those first few months, giving her all the support she needed, but then they slowly began to slink away one by one. My friends had done the same thing.
I squeezed her hands. It was one of those days when I had to be the mother and she was my child. “We’re going to be okay here. Don’t worry. Have you eaten breakfast?”
She shook her head.
I left the table and headed to the pantry. “I’ll make us my famous French toast.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
She sounded so far away that it scared me. Even with everything I had going on, I had to make sure I kept her with me.
***
That night, I was told to dress in all black again. Mom and Gary had gone out. My plan for the evening was the last thing on their minds. That was fine. I was just glad to see Mom happy and getting out of the house.
We drove toward the shore. I was relieved not to be blindfolded. Seiko sat in the front with Kyla, while I was in the back, wedged between Eden and Dani. Eden popped her gum in my face. “Has anyone told you about Piptopia?”
What? “Uh… no.”
She grinned. “It’s the coolest place. It’s our own private little hangout. Everyone knows to stay away. You’ll love it.”
Piptopia turned out to be a small cave about forty feet from the water. It was surrounded by huge boulders. Kyla parked a little bit away from the cave, and we climbed out. Eden lifted the hatch and pulled out pink lanterns, the kind used for camping, and handed one to each of us.
Bright-yellow police tape formed an X across the entrance of the cave. Clearly, Eden liked playing in her daddy’s work things. We ducked underneath the tape.
Inside, we switched the lanterns on, and the light danced on the walls of the cave. The name of each PIP was written in pink paint. Right underneath Eden’s, Carrington’s name had been crossed out with a line of messy red paint. It made me think of blood.
Seiko spun around with her arms outstretched. “We can come here and do whatever. It’s our own little world.”
Headlight beams flooded the cave as another car pulled up. It was a dark-colored Lexus. The door swung open, and Mei stomped into the cave.
Here we go, Lennox. Just play along.
Anger had taken over Mei’s dark features. “Where the hell is my trophy, Seiko?”
Seiko shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but you need to get out of here. This place is for PIPs only.”
Mei looked around at each of us and gritted her teeth. “Where is it? Somebody’d better turn it over right now, or I’ll… I’ll… I’ll file a police report!”
Eden scoffed. “Really? A police report over a stupid trophy? Get a life. My father would be more likely to arrest you for wasting their time.”
“It’s called theft, Eden. It’s a crime. Your father would be obligated to hear my complaint. Contrary to what you idiots believe, you can’t just do whatever you want and get away with it.” Mei’s voice grew louder and angrier with each word, and I admired her acting skills. I was almost buying it.
Dani leaned against the wall of the cave, looking bored. “What would we want with your trophy?”
Mei’s head snapped in Dani’s direction
. “I don’t know. Why do you do any of the things you do? Just to screw with people. And my phone’s missing too. I guess you don’t know anything about that either.”
“Oh, so now you want to blame me because you lost your phone.” Seiko stood nose to nose with her cousin.
They were truly polar opposites. Mei had bangs and inky-black hair that ended at the middle of her neck, while Seiko’s bleached-blond hair was long and wild. Mei wore a pleated skirt that came almost to her knees and an oversize sweater with a calico kitty at the center of it. It was the perfect thing to wear if you wanted to conceal the bulletproof vest underneath. Seiko wore a black hoodie and tiny black bootie shorts, even though it was cool out.
Seiko bumped chests with her cousin. “I’m warning you. You’re family, and that’s the only reason I haven’t kicked your ass yet. You’d better get the hell out of here right now.”
Mei narrowed her eyes. “The phone wasn’t supposed to be part of this.”
Part of this?
“Shut up,” Seiko said through clenched teeth, annoyed that Mei was giving their secret away.
Mei shoved Seiko so hard that she stumbled back, landing in the sand.
Good show, girls. The other PIPs gasped, and I widened my eyes, feigning shock.
Seiko glared at Mei like something sinister had taken over her. “Oh, no, you did not just do that!”
Looking stunned, Mei turned to run. Seiko raced after her with the rest of us trailing behind. Mei hurried up the clusters of boulders, which brought her to the top of the cave. The rocks were easy enough to maneuver, almost like stairs. Seiko walked menacingly toward her cousin as Mei took tiny steps to back away from her.
“You’re going to regret the day you decided to piss me off, Mei.” Seiko shoved Mei, sending her to the ground.
Mei’s eyes closed, and her head rolled to the side. I would give her an A for effort, but the fall wasn’t believable at all. She hadn’t even hit her head, yet I was supposed to believe she was unconscious.
Kyla and Dani knelt over Mei.