by Jade Parker
I closed my phone and dropped it back into my tote bag. Looking over at Whitney, I couldn’t imagine not having a mom to call. I didn’t know how to tell her that or even if I should. We never really talked personal stuff, which was probably why I knew so little about her.
Then my thoughts drifted to that afternoon. I didn’t know why I was interested, but I wanted to ask her what she’d been talking to Romeo about during lunch. I shouldn’t be interested in him, especially after the disastrous pool-evacuation episode. But I was. Even after I’d come back from my break with Robyn, I’d been unable not to notice Romeo.
He’d spent most of the remaining afternoon in the pool alone. At one point, two younger boys who I thought were twins and looked a lot like Romeo hung out with him for a while. I wondered if maybe they were his brothers. I remembered all the times when Sean had to come to the water park with Robyn and me to watch us when we were younger. So maybe Romeo hadn’t come with a girl. Maybe he had just met her, like he’d said. Which meant he worked fast, and when she wasn’t around, he was looking for someone else to fill the void.
If it was Robyn walking beside me, I wouldn’t have had to ask. She’d just tell me. But Whitney and I were new friends — - which meant she didn’t know what I was thinking. Sometimes I wasn’t even sure she knew what she was thinking.
“So that Romeo guy,” I said as though I was bored, just trying to fill in the silence between us, “you sure talked to him for a long time.”
“Yeah, he was pretty interesting.”
She just left it at that. I wasn’t going to ask what made him interesting. I wasn’t going to pry information out of her. Besides, if I asked too many questions, she might think I liked Romeo and I didn’t. Not at all. With any luck, I’d never see him again.
“I heard about the pool fiasco,” Whitney said.
I groaned. “Did you have to mention it?”
“I think it took a lot of guts.”
Her comment surprised me. “What did?”
“To blow your whistle, evacuate the pool, create chaos.”
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “That really makes me feel better.”
“No, seriously. A lot of people wouldn’t have done it because they’d have been afraid of looking stupid.”
“Yeah, well, I really wish I hadn’t done it.”
“Still, it was the right thing to do.”
Her words made me feel better. I’d never really expected comfort from Whitney. Maybe we were becoming real friends.
We came around a corner. I saw Robyn and Sean leaning against a wall, holding hands. Reluctantly, I gave my brother credit for playing it cool with Robyn when they were at work.
“She’s in,” Whitney said.
“I knew she would be,” Robyn said, smiling.
Sean fell into step beside me and bumped his shoulder against mine — even though he had to bend down slightly to do it.
“So what was with the emergency evacuation —”
“It was a mistake,” I said before he could finish. “I was an idiot, okay?”
“I didn’t mean that. It’s just not like you to panic.”
“I thought someone had drowned,” I said curtly.
“Then you did the right thing.” He put his arm around me, gave me a quick hug.
“Someone taped stupid souvenir whistles on my locker,” I muttered.
“People like to tease. Don’t let it get to you.”
Easy enough for him to say. He wasn’t the one people were teasing. Still, I did appreciate his support. We didn’t usually have touchy-feely moments.
The white limo was waiting near the entrance. Robyn had ridden with Whitney several times, but I never had. I tried not to look impressed as I settled into the leather seat.
Whitney handed everyone drinks from a little refrigerator. I really didn’t understand why she was working at Paradise Falls. I didn’t think it was because she needed the money.
The concert was at a soccer field in a nearby town. A beverage company had built and named it after themselves. It was a new field, really nice with lots of seating. They actually used it more for concerts than soccer games. They’d covered the field with a wooden platform and set up seats so some people could be closer to the stage instead of in the stadium seating area. The concert had already begun by the time we got there. Still, we stopped at the concession stand and bought drinks and hot dogs. Then we made our way down to our seats — in the first row. Sean and Robyn went down the row ahead of us, then Whitney, then me.
The band was loud. I wasn’t familiar with them, couldn’t understand the lyrics, but I liked the beat of the music, moved in rhythm with it. Most of the crowd were on their feet, shouting, yelling, adding to the mayhem. There was too much noise to talk.
Whitney punched my arm and when I looked at her, she laughed and covered her ears. I guessed she was trying to tell me that it wasn’t her kind of music. It wasn’t mine either, but I was still glad that I’d come. It was something different. Since I was working this summer, it just seemed as though I didn’t have much time to get out and really have fun.
It wasn’t until near the end of the concert that the light show began. It was awesome. The lights flashed, shot up into the sky, seemed to dance in rhythm to the music. Green, yellow, orange, bright colors that sometimes shimmered, sometimes wavered.
I was totally amazed.
When the band finished playing their last song, the noise level dropped. The light show ended just as abruptly. All that sensory overload almost made me dizzy, but I loved it.
Everyone applauded, and I didn’t know if they were clapping for the band or the laser light show. I was definitely clapping for the lights that had lit up the stadium.
Whitney leaned in and yelled in my ear, “Was that wicked or what?”
I gave her a thumbs-up. She was grinning from ear to ear as though she’d created the light show herself.
People stopped clapping and began leaving. I could hear them murmuring and things got even quieter.
“Can you imagine something like that — - only more spectacular and in only red, white, and blue?” Whitney asked.
“More spectacular?” I asked. “I don’t know how it could be.”
“I bet it could be. So wouldn’t this be better than fireworks?”
“It’d be great,” Robyn said.
“Definitely different,” Sean added.
“So do we want it?” Whitney asked.
“I think we should at least suggest it,” Sean said.
“Are y’all going to be on my light show committee?” Whitney asked. “If I make this happen?”
“You bet.” Sean.
“Absolutely.” Robyn.
“Of course.” Me.
“So what do we do now?” I asked.
“We wait,” Whitney said.
People were moving around on the stage, packing things up. It seemed a little like a letdown to watch them after the show. It took away part of the magic.
“So were you impressed?” a voice — a voice I thought I recognized — asked from behind me.
I spun around. Just as I’d feared: It was Romeo. What in the world was he doing here? Why did he care if I was impressed? And impressed with what exactly? I was doing that whole multiple-question-thing that I hated.
Romeo was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with the words LIGHTS FANTASTIC superimposed over glittering spotlights. He also had a baseball cap on, so he didn’t have to flick his hair out of his eyes.
“We were totally impressed,” Whitney said. “So who do I talk to? Your dad?”
While she’d been talking, Romeo had been looking at me as though he expected me to answer. Or maybe he was waiting to see if I’d blow my whistle at him. But I’d left it in my locker. It hadn’t occurred to me until now that maybe the unfortunate incident — as I was coming to think of it — - had embarrassed him as much as it had embarrassed me. At least my name wasn’t shouted over the park. Should I have apologized to him
for trying to save his life when it didn’t need saving?
He finally shifted his attention to Whitney. “Yeah. Here’s his card.”
He held out a business card, and she snatched it from his grasp as though she was afraid it was going to disappear.
“Call him tomorrow,” Romeo said. “We’re usually booked for the Fourth by now. Well, actually, we were but, like I told you when we talked this afternoon, we had a cancellation.”
This was what they’d been talking about when Whitney went over to the lounge chairs during lunch? Why hadn’t she just told me that? Did everything with her have to be so mysterious?
“Tell him we want it,” Whitney said.
“Okay.” He grinned. I didn’t like that I noticed how nice his grin was. “But don’t you need to check with management or —”
“We’ll take care of it and if they say no” — - she shrugged — “maybe I’ll throw my own party. Either way, I want a light show.”
“Okay then.”
“This is my team,” Whitney said. “You know Caitlin already.”
“Yeah, I know Caitlin.” His voice got low, teasing, and I knew he was thinking about all our silly, and not so silly, encounters. Not to mention the whole false alarm thing. At least he didn’t mention it. I was so tired of all the jokes about it.
“This is her brother, Sean, and Robyn. Everyone, this is Michael.”
I wasn’t very good at hiding my surprise. “I thought your name was Romeo,” I said.
He was grinning again. “Michael Romeo, but most people just call me Romeo. I don’t know why. They seem to like the name. Between you and me, it’s a little embarrassing.” He took a step back. “Anyway, I have to help pack up the equipment, but I’ll let Dad know and we’ll set up a meeting.”
When he was out of earshot, I turned on Whitney, angry, hurt, and humiliated. “Why didn’t you tell me that he was part of this light show idea you had?”
“Why? What difference does it make?”
“You knew I didn’t like him, that’s he’s the reason I made a fool of myself today, clearing the pool.”
“Noooo. I knew you didn’t want to talk to him. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to not liking.”
Of course it did. What planet did she come from?
“And I didn’t know he was behind the pool clearing.”
“They called out his name —”
“So? They call out a lot of names. I don’t pay attention to announcements. What’s your problem anyway?” she asked.
“I don’t want to work with him.”
“Why not?”
Because he made my heart do these strange somersaults. It was weird. Felt funny. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. This hadn’t happened with Tanner. I didn’t know what it meant.
“I just don’t.”
“Fine. Then don’t be on my committee. I can find someone else.”
It was strange, but her words hurt. I was expendable to everyone. Tanner. Whitney. Even Robyn, in a way.
My dad had always said it was as though Robyn and I were joined at the hip because we did everything together. And now, she was standing off to the side, holding my brother’s hand.
Which left me standing alone.
I didn’t say anything in the limo on the ride back to the Paradise Falls parking lot. I didn’t say anything in the car as Sean drove Robyn home. When he pulled up in front of her house, he got out and walked her to the door.
I knew why. He wanted to kiss her good night.
I felt like such a third wheel. I moved to the front seat. I couldn’t wait until I was sixteen and could drive myself around. One year to go. It was going to be the longest year of my life.
I knew I’d overreacted to the whole Romeo thing. It was kind of funny, because now that I knew his name was Michael — - well, Romeo did seem to fit better. Although I didn’t think I’d ever be able to call him that without thinking of lines from Shakespeare. We’d studied his works last year in English class.
And it was an interesting last name — - Italian maybe. Mine was pretty boring. Morgan. Caitlin Morgan.
I wondered if Michael helped his dad with the light show. Made sense that he did. Otherwise, why was he there tonight? I wondered if Whitney liked him — in a like-like kind of way. It was hard to tell with her sometimes. Okay, it was hard to tell with her most of the time. True friends hung out together, shared secrets. Every now and then I did something with Whitney, but we didn’t really hang out together. And we sure didn’t share secrets.
How could she not know how I felt about Romeo? Did Robyn get it?
The driver’s-side door suddenly opened and I jumped. Why was I so skittish?
Sean had left the car running because it was so hot outside. Not very environment friendly. Normally, I’d give him a hard time about that and we’d get into an argument since he’s convinced that global warming is a myth.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked as he pulled away from the curb.
Okay, maybe an alien had taken possession of his body, because he never asked questions like that.
“It?” I asked. “Do you even know what it is?”
“Not really. But I know you’re bummed out about something.”
We only lived a couple of blocks from Robyn’s. No way did I have time to go into everything that was upsetting me.
“I’m fine,” I told him. I peered over at him in the darkness. It wasn’t often that we actually had a dialogue. “So, what do you know about Whitney?”
“What do you mean?”
“You were the one who wanted Robyn to be friends with her. How come?”
“She just seemed like she needed a friend.”
“Robyn or Whitney?”
“What kind of question is that? Robyn had you as a friend.”
“Has me as a friend,” I said as he pulled into the driveway.
He put the car in park. “That’s right. Has you as a friend. That’s not going to change just because I’m seeing her. Is that what’s bothering you?”
“I don’t know. Things are just different this summer. Different from past summers. Different from what I thought they’d be.”
“So what’s with this Michael Romeo guy?”
“You know as much as I do.”
I opened the car door and got out. I wasn’t going to ask my brother for advice on guys. Plus, I really didn’t want to talk about Michael Romeo.
But that night after I went to sleep, I dreamed about him. We were in Tsunami and I was sitting on his shoulders. He had really nice shoulders. Then he tossed me off. I screamed his name as I hit the water.
When I swam to the surface, he was standing there. He leaned in —
And then I woke up.
My heart was hammering. Why was I even dreaming about him kissing me?
I’d thought that Tanner would kiss me — that he’d be the first. Instead he’d kissed someone else. And the problem was: I’d really wanted him to kiss me.
So I didn’t want to think about Michael kissing me, because with a name like Romeo, he’d probably kiss someone else, too.
* * *
The next morning I was walking toward my lifeguard station, enjoying the peacefulness. The park hadn’t opened yet. No screams or yells or laughter filled the air. It was really like being on a tropical island. Or at least what I thought being on an island would be like. I’d never actually left the mainland. Living in north Texas, we didn’t have a lot of islands around us.
A slight breeze wafted around me, and the sun glinted off the water. Other employees were taking care of business or heading to their stations. Those of us who worked around water — as lifeguards or ride attendants — wore the red bathing suits. Those who took care of other aspects of the park — - food vendors, kiosk clerks, souvenir-shop employees, cleanup crew — wore red shorts and white polo shirts with the Paradise Falls logo on it. We all wore red visors. And almost everyone wore sunglasses.
I loved being part of the team. Be
ing a lifeguard was the job I had wanted most. It had been a shock to learn from Robyn that Sean had pulled some strings to get me the position I wanted. I guess I really needed to adjust my thinking where he was concerned.
Last night had been really weird — - his offering to talk to me about what was bothering me. For all of my life — or at least all that I could remember — Sean and I had simply irritated each other, as though that’s what brothers and sisters were supposed to do. It was strange to have him trying to be there for me.
“Hey, Caitlin!”
I swung around at the sound of Whitney’s voice. She was hurrying toward me. When she caught up with me, she was a little out of breath, her blond hair swinging around her shoulders. It caught the sunlight just like the pool did.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We’re having a team meeting at one o’clock so just bring your lunch to the conference room.”
I released a little laugh. “Didn’t you get it last night? I don’t want to do this.”
“Come on, Caitlin. I need you.”
Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. I didn’t think Whitney needed anyone. “Yeah, right.”
“Seriously. Mr. T wants the entire park to be involved — or at least representatives of each area. You represent the pools.”
The park was divided into various zones: the kiddie zone where Robyn worked; the pools, which included Tsunami and the other pools throughout the park; the slides outside of the kiddie zone; and the shops, which included all the kiosks around the park.
“Whitney —”
“Come on. Robyn is representing the kiddie zone so the three of us can have some fun. Plus, we’ll always be in the majority so we can push through our agenda.”
I laughed. “We have an agenda?”
“I don’t know. It’s something I hear my dad saying sometimes before he goes into business meetings — that he has an agenda he wants to push through. Who knows what it really means? We’ll just have fun and make this the best Fourth of July extravaganza ever.”