BSC08 Boy-Crazy Stacey (9 page)

And Vanessa commented, "Joking, playing in the sun. Now this is what's called lots of fun!"

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I looked up at Toby. He looked down at me. We began to laugh. I was in love again.

Chapter 13

Friday was our last day in Sea City. The next morning, we would pack up the car and leave. I couldn't believe the two weeks were almost over.

Guess how Mrs. Pike began our last day. She said to Mary Anne and me, "You girls deserve another night off. At five o'clock this afternoon you're on your own. Just be home by ten."

We were ecstatic! But we tried not to show just how ecstatic we were. We didn't want the kids to think we didn't enjoy taking care of them.

Friday's weather was not the greatest. It was in and out, cloudy and sunny. And rain was predicted for the next day. I thought that was a good thing, because going home would be easier if we weren't leaving brilliant sunshine behind.

However, despite the clouds, the kids wanted to go to the beach. "I wanna make one last witch castle," said Claire.

"We wanna play one last game of shark," said Jordan.

Each kid had a last "wanna." While they were taking care of the wannas, I said to Mary Anne, "I just had a great idea! What if Alex could get tonight off, too? Maybe you and I

and Alex and Toby could go to the boardwalk together or something."

"Together?" repeated Mary Anne warily.

"You know," I said. "A sort of, urn, double date."

Mary Anne turned pale.

"Mary Anne, I said double date, not blind date. It's not as if you've never seen Alex before. You know him. You like him."

"But girls aren't supposed to ask guys out."

"Oh, Mary Anne, that is so old-fashioned. Besides, this is our last chance. If we don't say something, and we don't go out with Toby and Alex tonight, we'll probably never see them again."

"That's true. . . ."

"Good. Now go ask Alex if he can get the night off."

"Me?! This was your idea."

"Yeah, but Alex is your friend," I told her.

Well, Mary Anne surprised me. She got up and walked over to Alex's spot on the beach. I watched her in her caftan and baseball cap. I wished I could hear what she was saying, but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. All I know is that she came back with a grin on her face, looking a little smug, actually, and said, "We're on. We're supposed to meet them at Hercules' Hot Dogs at six o'clock."

Mary Anne and I spent almost an hour — from five until quarter to six — getting ready to see Toby and Alex. We didn't have much choice about what to wear, so we ended up in the same clothes we'd worn on our last night off, but we kept thinking of other things to do.

"I better file my nails," said Mary Anne. "They're all ragged."

"I better put on nail polish," I replied. "I've got pink sparkles and yellow sparkles. Want to borrow the yellow?"

"Sure! Oh, and I should put on hand lotion."

"My perfume!" I cried. "Where is it?"

"I don't know. Do you have any lip gloss?"

"Sure. Here. . . . Ew! Look at my hair."

"Yours! Ew! Look at mine!"

Somehow, though, we were on our way to the boardwalk at 5:45, and standing in front of Hercules' at 5:55. The boys showed up promptly at six.

Mary Anne elbowed me when she saw them heading toward us. "Doesn't Alex look great?" she whispered excitedly.

He did look great, but I thought Toby looked greater. (I didn't say so, of course.) Toby was wearing these baggy white cotton pants and

an oversized blue and white striped sweater. Totally cool.

"Hey," he said, taking me by the elbow.

"Hi," I replied. "I'm glad you could come tonight."

"Me, too."

"Are you guys hungry?" I asked.

"Starved," said Alex. "Let's eat."

Hercules' main feature was hot dogs that really were an entire foot long. We sat at the counter and gave our orders to a waitress. (I got a hamburger.) Mary Anne and I ate about two thirds of our food. The boys finished their hot dogs. Then they finished our food. Then they each ordered another dog. Mary Anne began to look a little green just watching them eat. They kept slathering the dogs up with mustard, and dumping spoonfuls of sauerkraut on them, while Toby told the longest joke in the history of comedy.

In order to get Mary Anne's eyes off the hot dogs, I nudged her and murmured, "Mary Anne?"

"Yeah?" she whispered.

"Would it be okay with you if Toby and I went off by ourselves for a while? I mean, would you feel okay about being alone with Alex?"

Mary Anne looked thoughtful. Then a slow smile spread across her face. "Yeah," she said. "I would feel okay!"

I grinned. If we hadn't been sitting in the middle of Hercules' Hot Dogs, I would have hugged her.

At last, the ends of the boys' hot dogs disappeared into their mouths. We left Hercules'.

"What do you want to do now?" asked Alex.

"Look around the stores," Mary Anne replied.

"Go to the arcade," I replied.

So we split up.

Toby and I played a dart-throwing game. I won a hat for him. He won a teddy bear for me. (Later I named the bear Toby-Bear.) It must have been beginner's luck (or maybe beginner's love) because after that we played three other games and didn't win anything.

It was starting to grow dark. "Let's walk around," I said. I liked just looking at the lights and listening to the boardwalk sounds and smelling the boardwalk smells.

We came to a shell shop and peered in. "Come on," said Toby.

Inside were shelves and bins full of nothing but seashells. I was pouring through a box of

tiny conch shells when Toby handed me a little paper bag.

"What's this?" I asked as we walked outside.

"Open it."

I did. Inside was a shiny pale pink shell.

"It's to remember me by," said Toby.

For some reason, I couldn't smile at him. I felt like crying, instead. "Thanks," I whispered.

Toby took my hand. "Hey, there's the Tunnel of Luv! Let's buy tickets for it!"

The Tunnel of Luv was like no ride I'd ever been on. It wasn't noisy, it didn't jerk you around corners, and nothing jumped out at you, Toby and I sat side by side in this boat shaped like a swan and floated lazily through a dark tunnel in which soft music was playing.

Just before we left the tunnel, Toby leaned over and kissed me gently.

My first kiss! I couldn't believe it!

I knew I would never forget Sea City or the boardwalk or the Tunnel of Luv.

Or Toby.

I would never, ever forget Toby.

Chapter 14.

I didn't want Saturday morning to come. I wanted Friday night in Sea City to last forever. Toby and me in the Tunnel of Luv.

But there was no stopping Saturday. I woke up early that morning and lay in bed, just thinking and remembering. I looked over at Mary Anne, who was curled up in a ball. Her hair was falling across her face and she was breathing deeply.

Outside the window, the waves crashed, pounding the shore. The sky was a threatening gray. A lone sea gull wheeled low over the sand. The salt air came in our open window on a breeze that felt chilly. I pulled my covers more tightly around me. It seemed like the end of summer as well as the end of our vacation.

I was amazed at all the things that had happened in the last two weeks. I'd been away from home. I'd stayed on my diet and taken

my insulin and hadn't gotten sick. I'd met two boys I liked, and one of them had kissed me.

I smiled.

Toby was going to come by that morning to say good-bye. I was excited and sad at the same time.

"Stacey-silly-billy-goo-goo?" whispered a voice.

I tiptoed to the door and opened it. There stood Claire. She was stark naked.

"Claire! What are you doing?"

"Looking for my bathing suit," she replied. "Will you come to the beach with me?"

"Sure," I said. An early morning walk might be nice. "But it's too cold for a suit. Why don't you get dressed very quietly? I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes."

When Claire and I were dressed, we put on sweat shirts and tiptoed out the front door of the Pikes' house. The sky and the ocean were almost the same color — flat gray — but no rain was falling.

Claire ran to the water's edge.

"Don't go in!" I called after her.

"I won't," she said. "I'm just looking."

Claire stood and looked forever. I'd never seen her stay in one place for so long. While she was looking, I stooped down and picked

up a piece of driftwood. Then I found a flat patch of wet sand and wrote

TOgy = i_uv

I watched and watched, but the waves didn't wash it away.

At breakfast that morning, Mr. Pike finished his eggs, wiped his mouth, and said, "Hey, hey, everybody! Guess what it's time for?"

"What, Daggles-silly-billy-goo-goo?" asked Claire, bouncing around in her chair.

"The . . . chore-hat!"

"Oh, no. Oh, no," moaned Mallory.

The triplets groaned.

Mary Anne and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"I've put the names of eight chores in the hat," Mr. Pike went on. "Pass it around, kids. We have work to do this morning. And we have to leave by one o'clock."

Reluctantly, the Pike kids passed the hat. Each ended up with a chore such as sweeping the porch or collecting the sand pails. I realized we had a lot to do before we left for Stoney-brook.

"Stacey and Mary Anne," said Mrs. Pike, "can you supervise the children's packing?"

"Sure," we replied.

A couple of hours later, the kids had finished their chores, and were fairly well packed-up. Mr. and Mrs. Pike were working away, but they turned us loose on the beach. Although the day was still gray, the air was warmer and it hadn't rained yet. The lifeguards were on duty, so the kids ran to the water for a final swim.

Mary Anne and I sat down on our towels. (We hadn't brought anything else to the beach.)

"It's almost over," said Mary Anne sadly.

"It seems like we just got here," I told her.

"Yeah."

We hugged our knees and looked out at the ocean. Scott was, on the guard station, but I barely noticed him. I was thinking of Toby.

Mary Anne looked dreamy-eyed. She'd already told me what she and Alex had done the night before. They'd sat by the ocean and talked, and then they'd gone through the Tunnel of Luv, too.

"Hey," she said. "Look who's coming."

Toby and Alex were heading across the sand with Kenny, Jimmy, and Ellie.

We waved to them. "Come sit over here," I called.

The boys came over, but they didn't sit down. "We're just out for a walk," said Alex.

"We have to get back, but we wanted to say good-bye."

"Oh, no!" cried Mary Anne. "I hate goodbyes."

They had to be said, though, because the boys really couldn't stay.

Toby walked me away from the others so we could have a little privacy.

"Promise you'll write?" I said. We had exchanged addresses the night before.

"I promise. Do you?"

I nodded. I'm not much of a letter-writer, but maybe I'd feel different about writing to Toby.

"Well . , ." said Toby.

"Well ..." I said.

"I guess this is it."

"Yeah, I guess. . . ."

"I want to kiss you," Toby whispered, "but there are too many people around."

"That's okay," I said. (The sixteen eyes of the Pike kids were boring holes into us, all the way from the ocean.)

"Will you remember me?" asked Toby.

"Always. By the shell and by the bear."

"I'll remember you by the hat." Toby was wearing it. He patted it fondly.

"Well," said Toby again. "'Bye, Stacey."

'"Bye," I replied.

I stayed where I was and watched him walk back to Alex and the kids. A few moments later, they started up the beach, leaving Mary Anne by herself. Toby turned around once to wave to me. Then they disappeared behind a sand dune.

I ran to Mary Anne. She was crying.

"Mary Anne!" I whispered. "All the kids are watching."

"I know, I know." She wiped her eyes. "I'm really okay."

I gave her a quick hug. "We'll talk about this at home tonight, okay?"

Mary Anne nodded.

My eyes drifted across the beach to the lifeguard stand — and Scott. For some reason, he turned around then. He saw me and waved.

I waved back. "Mary Anne," I said, "there's something I have to do. It'll only take a minute."

I ran across the sand to Scott.

"Hey, babe," he greeted me. "Long time no see."

"I've been busy," I replied vaguely. "We're leaving today."

"You are? Hey, too bad, love. I'll miss you."

What he'll miss, I thought, is someone to run errands for him. But somehow I couldn't feel mad about that anymore, because I knew

Scott really did like me, even if he didn't love me.

"Thanks again for your whistle," I said. "I'll always keep it." I'd never wear it, but I'd keep it to remind me of the first boy I ever fell in love with. I'd put it in a drawer, though. Not on a shelf, where I planned to sit Toby-Bear, or on my dresser, where I planned to put the seashell.

"Hey, Stacey!" Byron yelled to me from the water's edge. "Mom's calling us!"

I turned around. Mrs. Pike was at the front door of the house, signaling to us. The rest of the Pike kids were wading ashore. Mary Anne was gathering up towels.

"I have to go," I said. "I hope you like college, Scott."

"Thanks. You be good now, babe."

I joined the Pike kids and herded them across the sand to Mary Anne. Just as we were running into the house, rain began to fall.

Claire burst into tears. "I don't want to leave!" she cried.

I picked her up and gave her a hug. "I don't want to either, but it's time to leave. Hey, you'll be coming back next summer. Think of that."

"Yeah," said Claire, sniffling. "And we can eat at Gurber Garden."

"And play miniature golf."

"And jump on the trapperleens." Claire began to smile.

When everyone was dressed, we loaded up the cars. We seemed to have an awful lot more stuff than we'd left Stoneybrook with. But after pushing and shoving and groaning, we found places for everything and everyone.