Ready! Set! Hawaii!

by Annie Bryant

  Maeve held the mask up to her face and looked through the eyeholes. She batted her lashes dramatically. “You guys really are miracle workers! These are amazing!”

  Isabel blushed. “Thanks, Katani and I worked awfully hard on them.” She pulled her long dark hair in a ponytail and tried on her mask, which was green satin, accented with dark blue feathers.

  Charlotte held her mask—lavender with black satin trim—up to her face and said in her best French accent, “Bonjour, mes amies!”

  “Bonjour!” Franco called from on top of Charlotte’s suitcase. It was his new favorite perch.

  Isabel laughed, keeping an eye on Avery. “You should teach him French, Char!”

  Avery smiled a little, so that was good.

  Maeve sat down at the edge of her bed. “I’d like to get married in Paris,” she sighed dreamily. “Although on a cruise ship in Hawaii is a close second. Can you believe your dad is engaged, Avery?”

  “Ummm,” Avery said. Charlotte and Isabel shared a look.

  “We don’t have to talk about it, Ave. If you don’t want,” Isabel offered.

  Avery shrugged, “It’s okay,” and strode through the chaos of clothes and masks and shoes to hide in the bathroom for a minute. She knew there would be plenty of wedding talk at dinner, but she was hoping to avoid it for as long as she could.

  “What do you think Andie’s going to wear?” Maeve whispered once Avery was safely out of earshot. “You don’t pack a wedding dress on a cruise. Or do you?”

  “You probably would,” Katani joked.

  Avery sighed and looked in the bathroom mirror, holding her mask up in front of her face. It was blue with little dolphins painted on it. Maybe no one will recognize me, she hoped.

  “I just realized what we have to do!” Maeve exclaimed, loud enough so Avery could hear. “We have to plan the wedding!”

  Avery heard Charlotte laugh. “No, we don’t.”

  “Katani will obviously help with the dress,” Maeve said, more quietly this time. “Isabel, you’ll do the invites, since you’re our resident artist. Our writer—Charlotte, naturally—will find a poem. I’ll pick the music and…what else?”

  “Franco!” Franco blurted out.

  Maeve huffed. “No, Franco, no parrots at the wedding. Now I know I’m forgetting one more thing…oh! The flower girl! That will be Avery, of course.” Maeve danced around to the bathroom door and tapped on it. “Avery, come out please? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m NOT coming out of this bathroom until you stop talking about weddings!” Avery shouted.

  “I didn’t mean to forget her!” Maeve whispered, looking worried.

  “I don’t think she’s upset that you forgot her,” Katani said. “Did you ever think for a second that maybe Avery doesn’t want to play wedding?”

  “But weddings are so much fun!” Maeve insisted. Actually, she’d only been to one wedding, her Aunt Lisa’s, and she had been too young to remember much of it. But Maeve had spent more than her share of time flipping through bridal magazines in the supermarket and dreaming up ideas for her own future wedding someday.

  Charlotte put down her mask and sat next to Maeve on the bed. “But it’s her dad. So it probably isn’t fun to her. She’s still in shock.”

  “I’m so clueless,” Maeve whispered, suddenly embarrassed that she’d gotten so carried away. It was just so hard to keep in her excitement!

  “I’m sure it’s okay. Just give her some time,” Charlotte assured her.

  Maeve put her head in her hands. “I am such a bad friend.”

  Isabel ran over to hug her. “You just didn’t think.”

  “Avery, you okay in there?” Katani tapped on the door.

  The knob turned and Avery poked her head out. “No more wedding talk?”

  “No more! I promise.” Maeve looked stricken.

  “Flower girl!” Franco cried.

  Maeve whirled on the parrot. “Franco, be quiet!”

  Franco hissed back.

  “FRANCO!” Maeve yelled, “You are the meanest, most nasty parrot EVER!”

  “No! No! No!” Franco stopped suddenly when Isabel wagged her finger at him.

  “Franco, apologize!” Isabel scolded him.

  Franco turned back to Maeve and bowed his head. “Bad Franco.”

  The stern look on Maeve’s face melted. “Okay, Franco, even I can’t stay mad at you.” She picked the last piece of pineapple off the plate and handed it to him. “Truce?”

  “Ha-ha-ha!” Franco cawed, then delicately took the piece of fruit from her hand. “Pineapple!”

  A knock came at the door. Everyone turned toward the door, then back to Franco. What to do? The knock came again.

  “Who’s there?” Franco asked.

  “It’s Jake Madden,” came the reply from the other side of the door.

  Isabel quickly took charge, gently removing Franco from Charlotte’s suitcase.

  “Franco, you’re going to sit on another perch for just a couple of minutes, but you’re going to have to be quiet. Okay?” She placed him on the rod that extended across the closet and then gently shut the door.

  “Not in the middle of all my clothes again!” Katani hissed.

  “We have no choice!” Isabel mouthed back.

  “Night-night!” Franco squawked quietly as Isabel swung the closet shut. She turned around, keeping her back pressed against the door, and nodded to Avery to let her Dad in.

  The door swung open, and a tall figure in a black shirt with a freaky green, wart-covered face strode across the room and plopped down on the couch!

  “Ahhhhhh!” Isabel screamed, hearing Franco join in from the other side of the closet door.

  Avery ripped off the monster mask and Mr. Madden grinned.

  “Got you!” He took in the girls’ elegant opera masks. “I guess that’s what they meant by masks?” He lounged back on the sofa and tapped his fingers together nervously. “Nice place you got here, girls…”

  Charlotte could sense that Mr. Madden wanted to talk to his daughter. Maybe she could convince him to talk to her somewhere other than the room with the parrot? “Marisol’s just about to take us to dinner,” Charlotte said. “But you and Avery could go ahead now.”

  “I’m not that hungry yet,” Mr. Madden remarked just as Marisol stepped in from the next room.

  “Was that a scream I heard?” Marisol tried to hide her surprise at seeing Mr. Madden there with a giggle and a quick compliment. “I love your masks!”

  “Thanks!” Katani said louder than necessary as Marisol pulled Isabel into the hall. “Franco?”

  Isabel shrugged helplessly.

  “I think Ave and I should just hang out here for a little while,” Mr. Madden continued. “We haven’t had much, y’know, time together, huh Ave?”

  “Uhhh,” Avery stammered. She’d kind of gotten some thoughts together after the bus ride, and she really wanted to talk to her dad, but not in the room where they were trying to hide Franco! There’s no way her dad wouldn’t figure it all out, and then they’d all be in huge trouble.

  “So you all just go on ahead. You must be hungry!” Avery’s dad waved the girls out the door.

  “Come as soon as you can, Ave!” Maeve called back.

  Charlotte looked at the closet, then at Avery, and then back at the closet meaningfully.

  “I will take care,” Avery said, nodding that she knew what Charlotte meant. Then the door of the cabin shut and it was just Avery, her dad, and…nobody else. No hidden parrots, stowaways, or future stepsisters.

  Mr. Madden sat down on the sofa and looked out their porthole. The sun was just beginning to set behind the clouds, and the window offered a front-row seat to a spectacular sunset.

  “That’s a pretty fancy mask you got there,” he said.

  Avery glanced toward the closet. How long would Franco stay quiet? “Thanks. Katani and Isabel made it.”

  “Shoulda asked them to make me one!” Avery’s dad held up the green rubber thin
g. “This isn’t exactly cruise ship material,” he joked.

  “Hey, it’s not what you wear—”

  Mr. Madden finished Avery’s sentence. “It’s how you tear. Exactly.”

  He paused for a moment, looked out the porthole and then back at his daughter. “Ave, I know you’re probably still in shock from this afternoon. I did have a whole plan to rap with you about it before popping the question. It’s just that things got…gnarly. I just want to make sure you’re okay with all of this.”

  Avery snorted. Okay? Am I okay? Her dad had gone from surprising her by showing up with Andie and Kazie on the cruise to springing a brand new family on her. How could she explain the difference between “my dad’s girlfriend’s annoying daughter, Crazie Kazie” to “my stepsister, Crazie Kazie.” She wasn’t even close to okay!

  A rustling sound came from the closet. Franco!

  “What’s that?” asked Mr. Madden.

  Avery coughed. “What? Oh, that’s nothing.”

  Franco moved around in the closet again. It sounded like he was rubbing his beak against the closet door. Avery panicked!

  “Listen, you’re right, it is a shock. And it’ll take some getting used to, but I’ll get used to it. Pinky swear.” She took her dad by the hand and led him to the cabin door. “And I’m starving, but I have to go to the bathroom quick…meet you in the hall in a few?”

  Her dad hugged her, and gave her a thumbs-up. “I knew you’d be on board. I’ll just, uh, wait here!”

  Avery shut the door behind him before he could wonder why he had to wait in the hallway and breathed a huge sigh of relief. She retrieved Franco from the closet and carried him into Mr. Ramsey’s room to his actual cage. “Sorry we had to do that, Franco. That was close!”

  Franco nodded, and hopped on his perch. He peered at Avery with his beady black eyes.

  “Sad?” Franco asked.

  Avery scratched the feathers on the bird’s head. “Oh, Franco, if you only knew.”

  Freaking Out

  The Masquerade Dinner swung into full gear! Mysterious music played through the loudspeakers while masked waiters set down plates loaded with salad, roast chicken, fish, and rice in front of the girls.

  Isabel’s eyes grew wide. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m actually sick of eating.”

  “Speak for yourself!” Charlotte exclaimed in her French accent. “I think zees poulet is merveilleux!” And she popped a piece of chicken in her mouth.

  “Did you see they posted the order for the karaoke contest tomorrow?” Maeve said between bites. “We need to think about practicing, pronto.”

  Katani leaned over to Maeve. “Speaking of practicing—”

  Maeve saw how nervous Katani looked. “You’re freaking out?”

  “Who’s freaking out?” Avery said with a mouthful of rice. The food was definitely helping her sorta kinda forget about the wedding for a little while. She’d at least managed to convince her dad to sit at his and Andie’s table for the evening and let the BSG have some time together.

  Katani glanced to the table where Kara-Lee sat with her parents. Kazie was sitting with them, too. Katani was singing with the Kgirls, sure, but these girls at this table were her friends. She should just tell them. “The Kgirls don’t know I can’t sing.”

  Avery burst out laughing, then coughed, choking on her rice. She took a sip of water and caught her breath. “How could they not know?”

  “Because I didn’t tell them!” Katani cried.

  “Why not?” Isabel asked.

  “I just didn’t. And now I’m going to go up there and everyone’s going to laugh at me!” Katani wiped her mouth and folded her napkin back up carefully. “I’m toast.”

  Isabel and Charlotte shared a look. They didn’t like the fact that Katani wouldn’t be performing with the rest of the BSG, but they also didn’t want her to look bad.

  “Hang on,” Maeve said “what about the whole backup vocals thing we practiced? You don’t feel comfortable doing that?”

  Katani shook her head. “You don’t understand how good these girls can sing! It’s gonna fall flat.”

  “There’s only one option, then,” Charlotte concluded. “You have to tell them.”

  “But what if they kick me out of the Kgirls?” Katani asked, totally not feeling like herself. Since when was the Kgirl afraid to speak her mind? Maybe since there started being three Kgirls…, she realized.

  The table looked at her, silent. Avery was the first to speak. “If they’re really your friends, they’ll understand,” she said quietly. “But if you’re really their friend, you’ll tell them.”

  Katani nodded. “You’re right.” She sighed. But knowing what the right thing was and actually doing it? Totally different!

  Under the Stars

  After dinner everyone except Mr. Madden and Andie, who had wedding plans to discuss, gathered on the top deck to listen to Vivianne Grace, the onboard astronomer, lecture on the stars’ role in naval navigation.

  It was a perfect evening for stargazing—the air had turned chilly and the sky was clear. Stars twinkled in the night sky like lit candles on a birthday cake. The girls sat on adjoining lounge chairs, huddled under blankets.

  “Let’s start,” said Miss Grace, “by identifying some of the major constellations in the night sky…”

  Charlotte listened to Vivi, transfixed. Her landlady, Miss Pierce, was an astronomer and she let Charlotte and her friends use her brass telescope in the tower room to observe the stars and the planets. Charlotte wondered what it would be like to sail across the sea using only the stars as a guide! Maybe Nick Montoya would come with me. Charlotte smiled to herself, remembering his cute brown eyes.

  Maeve, on the other hand, had a different star in her sights: Chad. He had come to the lecture with his parents and Will. She had already imagined Chizzam as her leading man. They could do a whole series of movies together, like William Powell and Myrna Loy! Or Bogie and Bacall! And in the grand finale, we’ll surf off into the sunset! She could see the headlines now! “Surf Bunny and Chizzam rock the Blue Crush!”

  She suddenly realized that Chad was staring at her. “Did you say something?” she whispered.

  He laughed quietly, which made his blue eyes light up even more. “You’re totally not listening!”

  “I am,” Maeve insisted. “I just didn’t hear you!”

  Chad laughed again. “Did not!”

  “Did too!”

  “Did not!” Chad said again, and then burst out laughing. Everyone in the room turned to stare.

  Maeve flushed red. “Chad! Keep it down!”

  Chad hung his head. “Sorry,” he said, and gave her a puppy dog look.

  Riley would never act this immature…, Maeve realized as the lecture ended to thunderous applause and everyone gathered their things, getting ready to head back to their cabins for the evening.

  “I was going to check on my dad before I headed back to the room,” Charlotte told Marisol. “Is it too late?”

  “Not at all,” Marisol said gently. “I’ll go with you. Anyone else coming?”

  “I think I’m going to pack it in,” Katani said. She had plenty to think about, like how she was going to break the news to Kazie and Kara-Lee that she couldn’t sing!

  “Me too,” said Maeve and Isabel, yawning.

  “Avery? Do you want to come?” Charlotte asked.

  Avery shook her head. “I think I’m done too.” It had been the longest day, ever, and Avery wanted it over as soon as possible.

  Postcards Home

  Dear Sam,

  I’m going to a wedding! No, not mine! Avery’s dad and his girlfriend are getting married. Isn’t that the most romantic thing ever? I’ll see you soon!

  XOXO,

  Maeve

  Dear Nick,

  My father always says there’s a story in everything. I think this trip has a whole novel in it! Tonight we watched the stars from the top deck—I’ve never seen so much of the sky at on
ce before! I can’t wait to tell you all about everything, but I’m running out of room on this postcard. I hope you’re having a fun vacation, too.

  See you soon,

  Charlotte

  Dear Candace,

  I did something super dumb. I still haven’t told my new friends I can’t sing, and the karaoke contest is tomorrow! I know, you re laughing. Why did I let them think I could sing? Clearly I have been away from you too long—you always remind me that being yourself is the most important thing. If only it wasn’t so difficult! Miss you tons!

  TTYL,

  Katani

  Dear Elena Maria,

  Avery’s dad is getting married tomorrow! Can you believe it?

  Adios, Isabel

  Dear Scott,

  Turn your phone on! I tried to call and I know you won’t get this stupid postcard for like a week, but anyway, Dad is getting married. NOT A JOKE.

  Later,

  Ave

  CHAPTER

  16

  Practice Doesn’t Always Make Perfect

  The ship’s horn sounded three short blasts, waking the girls up. Charlotte stretched and peered out of the porthole. “We’re in Maui!” she said excitedly.

  Isabel yawned. “We are? It still feels like we’re on a ship.”

  Avery threw a pillow at her. “Up and at ’em, Izzy! I don’t want to miss one second of beach time.”

  Katani was already dressed and brushing her hair. She made it a practice to get up before everyone so she’d always have enough time to get ready. Yes, she was tired, but these were the kind of sacrifices the future CEO of Kgirl Enterprises would have to make, so she’d better get used to it!

  Avery slid off the top bunk and managed to kick Maeve’s arm, which had been hanging off the side of her bed. Maeve made a sound like mmmrrgff and turned over.

  “Maeve! Get up!” Avery whispered in her ear. “It’s beach day!” She still didn’t move. “And karaoke day!”

  That got Maeve’s attention. She opened her eyes and smiled sleepily. “Time to rise and sing!”

  “Isn’t it rise and shine?” Katani took one last look in the mirror before settling down to wait for her friends to get ready. She wished everyone would stop talking about karaoke and singing!