RSVP #6

by Melissa J Morgan

  “Hey, no offense, but that restaurant sounds weird,” Grace said, stopping Natalie by putting her hand on her wrist.

  “Yeah, and we’re not very dressed up,” Jenna put in. “I’d feel funny eating someplace an ambassador eats wearing jeans and a sweater.”

  Natalie looked to Alyssa. Her best friend moved her shoulders, as if to say, Hey, whatever you want to do, I’m fine with it.

  “Well...” Natalie was stuck.

  “Did you already have a plan for lunch?” Alyssa asked her.

  “Yes. I have a list of about four places,” Natalie began. She opened her purse and rummaged around for the correct pieces of black paper. “Hold on. We got out a little later than I expected, but . . . let’s see, where’s the list—”

  “Hey, look!” Grace interrupted, pointing. “Hot dogs!”

  Sure enough, there was a hot dog cart on the corner of their block. A short, wiry man in a black cloth jacket stood behind a large aluminum box on wheels. A colorful red-and-white-striped umbrella shielded him from the sun.

  “My mouth is so watering,” Grace announced. “Let’s snag some hot dogs, okay, Nat?”

  Jenna bounced on the balls of her toes. “Please, please, please?”

  “Alyssa’s a vegetarian,” Natalie argued. Eating Hebrew Nationals from a cart was definitely not part of the plan! She had three really swanky, famous restaurants on her lunch list, plus the cool new retro place that served egg creams.

  “Actually, it says on his sign that he also has tofu hot dogs. I love them,” Alyssa said.

  “Oh, come on, Natalie,” Grace pleaded. “I’m so hungry, I’m about to faint. By the time we go somewhere else and sit down and order, it’ll be time to get ready for the reunion.”

  Jenna nodded hard, clasping her hands and placing them beneath her chin, begging like a sad-eyed kitty cat.

  “Grace has a point,” Alyssa said, taking their side.

  Natalie thought of the hours she had spent on the Internet, Googling restaurant names and studying their menus. How she’d made sure they were open on Saturdays and if they required reservations.

  “Fine,” she grumbled. “We’ll have hot dogs.”

  She reached for the large sack filled with goody bags. Alyssa said, “It’s okay. I’ll carry it for a while.”

  Natalie tried to maintain her composure as she led the way to the vendor. He had a droopy face and a dark moustache. He was wearing a New York Giants baseball cap. Natalie thought of Sarah, who often wore a Boston Red Sox cap. It hit her that she was having troubling entertaining just three of her bunkmates. Tonight she would have ten of them!

  “What’ll it be, ladies?” the vendor asked pleasantly.

  “Get whatever you want,” Natalie said curtly. “My mom gave me plenty of money to pay for lunch.”

  “You don’t have to pay for everything all the time,” Grace said. “We’re not poor, you know.”

  Natalie’s mouth dropped open. Was Grace dissing her? She couldn’t believe it!

  “It’s really nice of you to offer to pay for everything,” Alyssa said. “But why don’t we pay for you? As a thank-you for being such a great hostess.”

  “Yeah!” Grace cried. She turned to the man. “Give her a double extra venti hot dog with nonfat ketchup!”

  “Hey, kid, these are hot dogs, not lattes,” the man shot back, grinning at Grace. “But I got a foot-long dog that’d feed all four of youse!”

  “Only three of us are eating hot dogs,” Alyssa said. “I’d like a tofu dog.”

  “You must be from California,” he teased her.

  Alyssa smiled. “South Jersey, born and raised.”

  “Well, something went wrong there.” He gave her a wink. “One tofu dog, coming right up. And normal hot dogs for everybody else?”

  “Yes,” Jenna said, before Natalie could speak for herself. “And we’re paying for hers.” She pointed at Natalie. “So don’t take any money from her.”

  “You’re the boss,” he told Jenna.

  The man served up three steaming hot dogs on thick buns, and one tofu dog as well. Alyssa asked for sauerkraut and the others scrunched up their faces and made yecch sounds.

  Grace stuck her finger in her mouth, pretending to barf as the man heaped the stinky, fermented cabbage on Alyssa’s equally disgusting tofu dog.

  “Grace, that’s so rude,” Natalie said, cracking up.

  “It’s not my best,” Grace conceded. “And no one can fake barf like Chelsea.”

  They all got quiet for a moment as they held their hot dogs. Then Alyssa said, “We’ll see Chelsea soon.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment.

  “Guys,” Alyssa said, as she added some spicy brown mustard to her tofu dog. “We made a promise to be nice to her.”

  There was a group sigh.

  “It’s gonna be cool,” Grace said. “We’ll give her the surprise and she will stop being a pain once and for all.”

  “How are the dogs, girls?” the vendor prompted.

  “Great!” Grace made a show of taking a big bite and chewing enthusiastically. “See, Natalie? It doesn’t have to be all fancy all the time. It’s like camp! Hot dogs bring the world closer together!”

  “So does group Chelsea-stressing!” Jenna added. “It’s very . . . uniting.”

  Natalie took a bite of her hot dog. It was good; she couldn’t deny that. But she was getting nervous again, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to eat very much.

  It’s all going to be okay, she told herself.

  Standing across from her, Alyssa gave her a reassuring smile and quietly ate her tofu dog.

  Then Grace said, “Speaking of weird behavior, what was up with Alex and Brynn? Anybody figure that out yet?”

  “Not a clue,” Jenna replied. She grabbed Grace’s wrist and looked at her pink watch. “But we’ll find out soon enough.”

  All of a sudden, Natalie’s hot dog tasted like sawdust.

  “You are gorgeous,” Chelsea’s dad told her as she modeled her outfit for him. He was sipping chicken noodle soup in bed. He had gotten dressed in a pair of loose jeans and his light blue sweater. He looked pretty good, with some color in his cheeks.

  Chelsea had chosen to wear her dark brown burnt-out top with a pair of embroidered jeans. The outfit had been a total score last spring, when he was still working and they had money for clothes.

  She stuck out a leg so he could admire the brown-and-silver embroidery on the legs.

  “Woo-hoo! All the boys are going to be fighting over you.”

  “Oh, ick, Daddy,” Chelsea said, wrinkling her nose. At his pretend-hurt look, she rolled her eyes. “Boys.”

  “Hey, I’m a boy,” he reminded her. “Or I was.”

  “You’re totally not a boy,” she insisted. “You’re a dad.”

  “Truer words were never spoken.” He laid his soup spoon over his heart. “I am a dad.” A huge grin spread across his face. “The best thing to be in the world.”

  She came up and gave him a big hug. “You’re going to be okay if I go, right?”

  “Didn’t your mom tell you we can’t wait for you to get out of our hair?” he chided her. “We’re going to party down!”

  She gave him a playful smack on the shoulder. Then she cried, “Oh, Daddy! Did I hurt you?”

  “No way, dude.” He sounded so dorky that she could help but burst out laughing. He laughed too, and cupped her cheek. “Seriously, Chelse. Your mom and I both want you to go and have super-mega fun.”

  “Okay, I will.” She got up off the bed. “Super-mega-ultra fun!”

  “You go, girlfriend!” He high-fived her.

  Rolling her eyes at him, she left the bedroom.

  Soon she and her mom joined the busy weekend traffic. As they left her dad behind in their house, Chelsea felt a mixture of nervousness and total excitement. Okay, those girls were totally immature, but she also wanted to party down with them and have super-mega-ultra fun. There was a part of her—a big part—that co
uldn’t wait to eat burgers and show off her outfit and bowl and ride a go-kart.

  She thought about her bunk, picturing each girl in her mind. She had actually missed them.

  I’ve grown up a lot, she thought. Maybe they have, too.

  She really, really wanted to have a good time.

  She crossed her fingers for good luck and kept them that way in her lap.

  Alex was relieved that her mom had called Natalie’s mother to tell her that she and Brynn were taking a later bus. That way she hadn’t had to talk to Natalie herself. They were going to miss helping decorate the table . . . with Natalie’s decorations.

  That was fine with Alex.

  “Are you thinking about Chelsea?” Brynn asked as they rode the bus toward New York City. “You have such a weird look on your face.”

  “I’m thinking about Natalie,” Alex confessed. Her mood darkened. “And now I’m thinking about Chelsea.”

  “I’m stressed out, too,” Brynn said. Her eyes got huge. “What if we walk in and Natalie has told everyone we’re fighting? And everyone, like, stares at us? And the room goes totally silent. The music just stops.”

  Alex blinked at Brynn’s drama-queen version of the situation. It wouldn’t be anything like that, would it?

  Brynn peered at her, staring into her eyes. “Alex? Are you feeling sick?”

  Alex shook her head. “I’m great.”

  “Oh, good.” Brynn exhaled. “I thought you were going to say you had to go home.”

  “No way.” Alex took a deep breath and smiled broadly. She would give this reunion her all. She’d make sure she wasn’t a drag to anybody, especially not to Brynn.

  But how was she going to do that when things were so messed up with Natalie?

  Jenna, Natalie, Grace, and Alyssa modeled for Natalie’s mom, making snobby pout-faces as they stomped down an invisible fashion show runway in the center of the living room. She applauded each girl’s strut as they paraded in their cool new outfits.

  She’d seen Natalie’s choice already, of course. Natalie was wearing a black-and-purple checked top and black leather pants from Italy. Grace was wearing a lavender sweater and black pants, and she had caught up her crazy curls with a stretchy dark purple headband. Jenna was in a purple and gray top and black jeans, which was pretty dressy for her. Alyssa had on her trademark black T-shirt and black jeans. It was awesome with her new haircut.

  Natalie’s mom had been concerned about Alyssa’s short, purple streaks. She was uncertain if Alyssa’s mom would be upset that her daughter had done something so extreme when she was away from home. But there wasn’t much she could do about it now.

  Natalie and the others had decorated the living room for the sleepover. They had crisscrossed strings of plastic palm tree lights across the ceiling. Dark blue and green streamers of seaweed and silly fish with big eyes and kissy lips hung over the windows. Natalie had hung a wacky singing fish mounted on a trophy plaque on the door of the guest bathroom. The robot fish would start to wiggle and sing whenever someone walked past the guest bathroom.

  They decided to add Jenna’s trunk to the decor, making it look like a little grass shack by draping some green sheets over it. Using Natalie’s computer and printer, Jenna made a sign that said FUN SHACK. It was written in a Hawaiian-flower font she found on the Internet. Jenna taped the sign to the entrance to the shack.

  With lots of squeals and giggles, they hid Chelsea’s surprise behind the “shack.” Then they gathered up several shopping bags brimming with decorations and treats for the bunk table. Each girl had packed some incredible junk food or other goody for everyone else.

  “Whoa! That’s my sack,” Jenna said quickly, as Grace picked up a dark blue bag. “I’ll carry it!”

  “What’s in it?” Grace started to look.

  “A surprise,” Jenna said quickly. “For the table. So let’s go!”

  Natalie and the others had permission to enter the party half an hour early to help decorate their table. If Alex and Brynn had made the earlier bus, they would have been included.

  Why is Alex so mad at me? Natalie thought anxiously.

  The intercom buzzer sounded, and Mr. Bartok said, “Ms. Goode? Is car.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Bartok,” Natalie’s mom replied. She rose. “Showtime, ladies. I’ll walk you girls outside.”

  They took the elevator and went through the front door as Mr. Bartok cried, “Ah! You are four beautiful young ladies! The ladies of purple!”

  “Have fun,” Natalie’s mom said, as the four climbed into their car.

  Noah placed their bags of goodies into the trunk, got into the driver’s seat, and started the engine. The car pulled away.

  “I feel like Cinderella!” Grace announced.

  “Me too!” Jenna exclaimed, holding her blue bag on her lap.

  “Me three,” Alyssa murmured. “Thanks for everything, Nat. This has been amazing.”

  “Yeah, just when I think it can’t get any more amazing, it gets more amazing,” Grace added.

  “It’s not over yet,” Natalie replied, trying to sound positive. “It’ll be so nice to see everybody again.”

  “Yeah, no kidding. Now you’re going to reunite with Prince Charming.” Jenna blinked her eyes rapidly, making her eyelashes flutter. She pushed her lips together and made little smooching noises. “Oh, Simon, I loooove you!”

  “Simon! Oh, Simon!” Grace gushed, kissing the back of own hand.

  “Hey, as I recall, you and Devon were a thing,” Natalie shot back.

  “Oh, well,” Grace said, all flustered. “He may have competition, you know. Back home.”

  “Who? Greg? Or Andrew?” all the girls demanded at once. They started teasing Grace about the two boys she hung out with in drama club.

  “I wonder if Marissa and Pete will be all loveydovey,” Grace said, obviously trying to take the attention off herself.

  “Love at the reunion! It’s so exciting!” Jenna cried.

  Everyone laughed hard.

  Then the car pulled up to Village Bowl.

  “Am I dreaming?” Grace gasped.

  Village Bowl took up an entire city block. It was four stories tall and the façade was painted to look like a hip, retro version of Greenwich Village during the fifties. There were all kinds of businesses and stores—a deli, a newspaper stand, a tobacco shop, a bookstore, a beauty parlor, and a soda shoppe.

  Painted fifties-style people populated the “buildings.” There were guys with oily, slicked-back hair, jeans with rolled-up cuffs, and white T-shirts. Girls in poodle skirts walked by with their noses in the air. One of them was holding a rhinestone-studded leash around the neck of a snooty poodle that was the twin of the one on her dress.

  Noah continued down the street, signaling a left, and turned into an underground parking garage. The tunnel was painted to look like a bowling lane, with an explosion of pins on the opposite wall.

  “Even the parking garage is amazing!” Grace cried.

  Noah pulled into a space in the vast, brightly painted parking area and turned off the engine. He offered to help the girls carry their bags. Natalie thanked him, saying, “We have four sets of hands.”

  “Besides, the elevator is already here,” Jenna announced, grabbing up her mysterious blue bag. She rushed toward the opening doors of an elevator painted like a go-kart zooming toward them. “Hurry, you guys!”

  Laughing, the other three caught up with her. All the heavy bags bashed against their knees.

  “How’s my hair?” Natalie asked Alyssa.

  “Perfect,” Alyssa assured her. She grinned at her. “Simon will love it.”

  They took the elevator to the fourth floor. When it stopped, an electronic voice shouted, “Get outta here! Have some fun!”

  They squealed with laughter.

  “We will!” Grace called back.

  Before them stood double doors, painted in checks of white, red, and black, with a neon sign over the door that blinked off and on. It read: GET IN H
ERE! And below it, VILLAGE BOWL PARTY ZONE!

  “Here goes nothin’,” Jenna said, pushing on the doors. Natalie joined her and they went inside together.

  chapter NINE

  Festive Mylar balloons in all shades of fun bobbed against the ceiling of the Village Bowl Party Room. Metallic streamers hung from the balloons, shimmering in the light of at least three whirling disco balls.

  Below the balloons, counselors, CITs, and a few campers were decorating the tables with tablecloths and centerpieces.

  “Look!” Jenna jumped up and down, jabbing her finger to the left. Beside an undecorated table, their beloved petite blond counselor was unfolding a shimmery purple tablecloth.

  “Julie!” all the girls cried at once.

  They raced toward her. A clump of balloons at the opposite end of the table moved, and Natalie spotted Marissa behind them.

  “Marissa!” she called, waving.

  In no time at all, the girls were group-hugging Julie and Marissa. Everyone was talking at once—about their looks—hair, clothes, manicures—and catching up on school, sports, and boys.

  Finally, Julie asked them, “Where are Alex and Brynn?”

  Jenna, Grace, and Alyssa looked at Natalie, as if she was supposed to speak for the group. She didn’t know if she should go into the fight between them. Alex and Brynn weren’t here to give their side of the story, and she didn’t want to sound like she was tattling on them.

  Alyssa stepped up. She said, “Alex needed a little more rest, so they’re catching a later bus.”

  “Oh?” Julie looked concerned. “Is she okay?”

  “Yeah,” Natalie said. “They’re meeting us here.”

  Julie’s frown morphed into a big smile. “All right! That’s great news.” She resumed unfolding the tablecloth. “Let’s hustle. Show me what you brought.”

  “We got these,” Natalie said. She dug in the bag she was holding. Out came a white plastic bowling pin with a slot in the top. Each pin came with a blank name tag to fit into the slot. “We got fourteen of them. They’re place cards.”

  “Cool!” Julie said. “Can a couple of you write the names of all the girls on the cards? We’ll put them in a little pile and let each person choose where she wants to sit.”