Mack was confused. “Okay, and?” she asked.
Brady grabbed her shoulders. “In the movie, Lela sings that song about falling for the perfect boy and being happy.”
Mack interrupted him. “See? That’s my point. Why does she need a boy to be happy?”
“Because it’s nineteen sixty-two,” Brady countered. “The thing is, after Lela sings her song and falls off the stage, it is Tanner who is supposed to catch her as he’s walking by.”
“And what happens right after he catches her?” Mack asked.
“They fall instantly in love,” Brady said. “But they’re pulled apart, and a full-on dance war breaks out.”
Mack and Brady looked around Big Momma’s. No one was dancing. There was no declared war. Everyone actually looked a little bit bored.
“It’s almost like no one knows exactly what to do next,” Mack guessed. She dragged Brady outside to the porch to talk more. “So Lela and Tanner were supposed to fall into each other’s arms, find love, then be pulled apart in a turf war? That’s how it’s written?”
“But instead they fell into our arms, and now they’re into us,” Brady concluded.
“And there’s no turf war?” Mack asked. “So, we changed the movie?”
“We changed the movie,” Brady confirmed.
“We changed the movie,” Mack repeated.
Brady laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, third time, still doesn’t sound too good, huh?”
Mack looked out onto the beach. “Do you think it will affect anything?”
Brady considered the question carefully. “It affected who they fell for. Who knows what else it could affect?”
Mack paced up and down the restaurant’s porch to gather her thoughts. “Brady, you said there’s a storm at the end of the movie that we can ride out of here on.”
Brady followed her. “Yeah. Three days after they meet,” he said.
Mack stopped walking. “Okay. I’m going to ask you something, even though I know, and I know you know, I don’t want to know. Is there anything that happens in the next three days that somehow affects that storm?”
The color started to slowly drain from Brady’s face. “Come on,” he said, racing down the porch steps to the sand. “Come on!”
Mack didn’t take that as a good sign. “See? Didn’t want to know!” she cried as she followed him down the beach. She hoped that Brady was on to something that could send them back home…and fast!
Several bonfires lit up the beach as Mack and Brady ran down the shoreline. Brady scanned the beach intently.
“If you’re looking for this to make sense,” Mack began, “you’re on the wrong beach.”
Brady shook his head. “I’m looking to see if Les Camembert is building his diabolical weather machine.”
Mack scrunched up her nose. “How often do you hear that sentence?”
“Remember I told you about a maniacal real-estate developer?” Brady asked.
“Or that sentence,” Mack said.
Brady didn’t respond. He ran faster as Mack kept up with his frantic pace.
“Les Camembert knows that beachfront property is going to be gold someday,” Brady said, panting. “And he begs Big Momma to sell her burger joint so he can build an overpriced resort. But she says no.”
Mack threw up her hands. “Of course she does, or there would be no movie.”
“He then tries to bribe the bikers and surfers into leaving,” Brady continued, “so Big Momma won’t have any customers and would have to sell it to him.”
“Let me guess,” Mack said. “It doesn’t work?”
“Of course not,” he replied. “They each want Big Momma’s for themselves.” He stopped running and pointed to a lighthouse up ahead. “I knew it. There! It’s the Camembert hideout!” Brady exclaimed. “It’s so cool! Let’s go!”
Mack and Brady ran past a few more bonfires. One group even had a conga drum, and the beat urged them on as they made their way to the abandoned lighthouse.
“This is it,” Brady finally said as they arrived at the lighthouse door.
“But how do we get in?” Mack asked.
Brady smiled and gestured down at his feet. In front of the door was a doormat that read NOT WELCOME. Brady lifted the mat and showed Mack a large skeleton key.
Mack shrugged her shoulders as Brady proudly slipped the key in the lock. The door led to a tunnel that was dark and dank…and dripping with slime. Mack grimaced as she inhaled an awful smell.
“Seriously?” she asked. “Did somebody burn a gym sock?” She sniffed again. “In cheese?”
“I think I just saw a rat holding his nose,” Brady commented.
Mack and Brady reached the end of the tunnel, which opened up into a large laboratory. Les Camembert was standing in front of a machine, looking at its many switches and levers. Another man in a white lab coat was next to him.
“That’s him,” Brady said, pointing to Les. “He’s all British and proper, but he’s from Pittsburgh.” He watched the two men for a moment. “Desperate to get Big Momma’s, Les Camembert hires a mad scientist, Dr. Fusion, to carry out his diabolical idea,” Brady explained. “Come on,” he said, spotting a better area for spying on the men.
The two of them ducked low and scampered across the room without being seen. Mack gawked at the drawings, scientific data, and huge old computers scattered around. She stared at the man in the white lab coat with the crazy hair. Dr. Fusion was straight from central casting for the role of mad scientist. He was tinkering with the machine while Les talked to him.
“This machine will so drastically change weather patterns,” Les boomed, “it will literally still the oceans so there’s no longer surf. It’ll create humidity so dense, it will rust every piece off all those shiny chrome bikes.” He lifted his arms. “The surfers will leave to find a new spot to surf, the bikers won’t come near this area ever again, and I shall triumph! TRIUMPH, I say!”
Just then, the evil duo broke into a song-and-dance routine. As he sang, Dr. Fusion began turning the knobs and flipping all the switches on the machine. It began to make rhythmic noises that got louder and odder as their song went on. By the end, the machine was going crazy, the noise was deafening, and smoke was everywhere!
The smoke from the machine made Mack start coughing uncontrollably. Brady grabbed her and pulled her into the tunnel before they were discovered.
“Okay, so in the movie, Lela and Tanner discover Les’s plan, unite the bikers and surfers, and then destroy the machine, which causes an explosion,” Brady said. “That’s what creates the storm.”
“So, if Lela and Tanner don’t get together, which would get the movie back on track the way it’s supposed to play out…” Mack said.
“Then the chain of events that create that storm won’t happen,” Brady finished for her.
“Then we’ll be stuck here!” Mack cried. “And never get home!”
“Don’t worry,” Brady assured her. “We’ll figure it out.”
“How about figuring it out while I worry?” Mack asked. Just then, she almost slipped on the slimy floor of the tunnel. Brady caught her just in time. But she wasn’t sure he was going to be able to save her from this new movie ending!
Mack and Brady walked back to the beach area in front of Big Momma’s restaurant. The surfers and the bikers had each built their own separate bonfire and were hanging out around them.
Lela came running up to Brady. “Thanks again for catching me, Brady,” she said sweetly. Then she looked at both Mack and Brady. “Oh, bonkers. Are you two together? I’d never take another girl’s boy. That would be stealing,” she said. “And probably really hard to return.”
Mack couldn’t help but smile at Lela’s words. Then she had a fantastic idea. “No,” she said. “I mean, we’re together, but we’re not together.”
Brady looked confused. “Lela, this is McKenzie,” he said slowly.
“So you won’t mind if Brady takes me for a walk on the beach?” Lela as
ked, her eyes wide.
Mack hesitated, but then thought of her new plan. “Please,” she said eagerly. “Beaches were meant to be walked on. Otherwise, they’d be called…” She stumbled over her words as she realized how ridiculous she sounded. “Well, they’d still be called beaches.”
Lela looked at Mack. “You guys are strange. I like that. Meet you at the water, Brady,” she called as she walked off.
“I don’t get it,” Brady said, turning to Mack. “First you break up with me, then you push me into the arms of someone else.”
“Brady, she’s crushing on you,” Mack explained.
Brady ran his hands through his hair. “But I like you,” he said. “And until you’ve actually gone off to that school, I’m not going to like anyone but you, I mean, the way I like you.”
Reaching out to him, Mack looked up into his eyes. “I like you, too,” she told him. “But you’re not seeing what’s right in front of you.”
“You’re right in front of me!” he cried.
Mack pointed toward Tanner, who was walking down the beach, holding a guitar. “Brady, I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you,” she said.
Brady tried to follow where Mack was going with all this. He saw Lela by the water and Tanner on the other side of the beach. Suddenly, he understood. “So the way to get her to like him,” he said, pointing to Tanner, “is for me to spend time with her so I can deflect her affections off of me and on to him.”
Mack patted him on his shoulder. “I sure hope so. I’ll do the same with Tanner.”
“Fine,” Brady said with a fake sigh. “I’ll be back as soon as I can get that smokin’ girl to hate me.” He shrugged. “The things I do for women.”
As Brady went to catch up with Lela, Mack had a moment of doubt. Should they really do this? But she pushed those thoughts out of her head and headed over to Tanner.
“Hi!” she exclaimed. “Mind if I join you?”
“Of course not,” Tanner told her. “I’d want to join me, too.” He picked up his guitar and started strumming a few chords.
“So, you play guitar?” Mack asked, trying to strike up a conversation.
“I know,” he replied.
This was going to be harder than she thought! She sighed and then tried again. “No, I meant… You good?” She motioned to Tanner’s guitar.
“Sure, when I’m inspired,” Tanner said. He lowered his voice and quoted, “‘If music be the food of love, play on.’”
Mack was speechless. She hadn’t expected such a deep and thoughtful response! “Was that Shakespeare?” she asked.
“No, that was me,” he said. “Sometimes I talk low, for effect.”
Mack smiled at him, charmed. “It works.”
Tanner shrugged. “I can do high also, but the chicks really dig low better.”
Brady and Lela walked along the shore. Brady couldn’t have picked a more gorgeous setting for a moonlit stroll.
“So you’ve never been around here before?” Lela asked.
“No, but have you ever gone someplace that you’ve never been?” he asked. “But felt like you’ve been there a million times?”
“I thought I did once,” Lela told him. “Then it turned out I was never there.”
Brady kicked the sand off the tops of his feet and chuckled. Lela was just like she was in the movie—honest, sweet, and very cute in a vintage bikini.
“But someday I’d love to go someplace I’ve never been,” Lela confessed. “I’m just always…here.”
“It’s not a bad place to be,” Brady added.
Lela stopped walking and faced Brady. “It’s even better now that you’re here.”
“Wow,” Brady said, his hand on his heart. “You really are exactly like you!”
Lela laughed and playfully tossed her long hair.
“Lela, how come you bikers don’t get along with the surfers?” Brady asked, changing the subject.
“It’s always been like that,” she explained. “We’re not supposed to have a lot in common. Plus, we both want Big Momma’s.”
“But some of them seemed really cool. Like, oh, that guy Tanner,” he said.
Lela didn’t take the bait. Instead, she turned her gaze to Brady. “It was very courageous of you to charge the stage and save my life.”
“Courageous? Please,” he said. “No. Maybe. I’m sure anyone would have done the same. Even a surfer.”
“You’re my hero,” she exclaimed.
Brady blushed. “Hero? Well, sure, I guess, but…” He stopped talking, realizing he was getting away from his and Mack’s plan. He had to bring the conversation back to Tanner. “Lela, it’s amazing to spend time with you, but it’s not…I’m not what you think.”
“I dig you, Mack,” Tanner declared to Mack as he stared at her. “You’re different than the other girls around here.”
“No. I’m not different,” Mack scoffed. “In fact, I’m totally the same.”
“The same as what?” Tanner asked.
“As everyone who isn’t different,” she said, trying to keep to her agenda of getting Tanner to notice Lela.
Her comment went over Tanner’s head. “You mind if I write a song for you?” he asked out of the blue.
“Yes! I mean, what rhymes with Mack? Sack?” she said nervously. “See, bad song. Besides, you think you like me because running into you was destiny. But it is not our destiny. Your destiny, with someone you’re meant to be with, which isn’t me. See?” She knew that she was talking way too fast for Tanner, but she was desperate to get him to stop liking her.
Tanner just smiled at Mack. He began playing his guitar and singing a song.
Across the beach Lela was singing the same song to Brady. As hard as Mack and Brady tried to convince Tanner and Lela that their soul mates were still out there, it was clear that they didn’t believe it! And Brady was finding it difficult not to get totally swept up in the song. He’d had a crush on Lela since the first time he saw her on screen.
When the song ended, Tanner and Lela walked off in opposite directions, leaving Mack and Brady alone. Mack saw Brady on the beach and walked up to him.
“I’m thinking that didn’t go as we’d hoped,” Brady said.
“And now Tanner really likes me,” Mack lamented. “So what do we do? You’re the one who knows this movie so well!”
Brady thought for a moment. “In the movie, the next thing that happens is the biker girls have a pajama party and the surfer guys all hang at Big Momma’s.” He paused and then snapped his fingers. “Maybe we need to get ourselves invited.”
Mack was happy to have a new plan. She had to find Lela.
Tons of surfers were on the beach in front of Big Momma’s restaurant. The wooden porch was packed with kids waiting to eat or just hanging out. Finally, she saw Lela down by the water.
“Hey, Lela,” Mack said, running up to her. “You know what I’ve never done?” She came up next to her and gave her a big smile.
“Eaten a rock? Kissed a squirrel?” Lela asked, giggling.
Mack laughed. “All exciting things,” she replied. “But no. I’ve never had a pajama party.”
“We do them all the time,” Lela replied. “We’re doing one tonight.”
A smile spread across Mack’s face. “You don’t say?”
“Sure I do. I just did,” Lela said.
Just then, Brady spotted Tanner. He knew this was his cue. He walked over to the surfer. “Hey, Tanner,” he called. “What are you guys all doing later?”
“Hangin’ at Big Momma’s. Want to join?” Tanner replied.
Brady was very pleased with himself. “Sure!” he shouted. He walked back over to Mack smugly. “Girls tend to overcomplicate things.” He nodded toward Lela with a cocky look in his eyes. “Hey Lela, you should invite Mack to your sleepover.”
“Great idea!” Lela cried. “How about it, Mack?”
Mack rolled her eyes at Brady. “I wouldn’t miss it,” she said. Then something c
aught her eye that took her breath away. “Be right back.” She ran over to her surfboard, which was leaning against the porch railing. She pointed to where her surfing rash guard had been hanging earlier. It was starting to fade away…fast!
“You did see that, right?” Brady asked when the spandex shirt disappeared.
“If you did,” Mack said, trying hard to remain calm. “What’s going on?”
Brady took a step back. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Maybe because rash guards didn’t exist yet, they can’t be here, so they disappear.”
“But we also didn’t exist, so…” Mack’s voice trailed off. Once again, she couldn’t find the right words. She took a deep breath. “What’s going to happen to us?” For the first time since they had traveled back in time, Mack’s eyes welled up with tears. She wanted to bury herself deep in the sand. Brady reached out to hug her.
In the distance, Mack heard a few chords of music. She pulled back from Brady. “No! No music!” she shouted. “Brady, we have to get out of here,” she pleaded. “I have to get on that plane!”
The music started to get louder.
“No! This is not a song!” Mack shouted.
Suddenly, the music stopped.
Mack took a deep breath. She had to get control. She had a sleepover to attend—and a musical to fix!
In Lela’s bedroom, a group of girls lounged around in pajamas. Struts, one of the biker chicks, was teasing Cheechee’s hair up with a comb and hairspray. Mack watched, amazed at what was considered a cool hairstyle in the 1960s.
Lela was standing in front of her closet with her hands on her hips. Rifling through her many hangers, she finally grabbed a dress. She held it up and then slipped it on.
“Should I wear this to see Brady?” she asked. “He loves to surf, and water is blue, and this dress is blue, so next time he surfs, he’ll see the blue water and think of me!”
“Why should a boy influence what you decide to wear?” Mack asked. “Or anything you do? It’s your life, you should decide what you do,” she said. “Besides, boys aren’t that smart. That’s why they’re not girls.”
“They only have to be smart enough to ask us out,” Cheechee joked.
Teen Beach Movie Page 3