fun. You totally should. Invite my brother. He’ll hate it; he’s so afraid of heights. And get a pic—I’ll totally post one of him freaking out. Try to get him to puke, please. I’d love that,” Angie said, and walked away with the sound effects of her embellishments banging together.
“You wanna bungee tonight?” Stella asked me, like I wouldn’t notice that she’d really wanted Angie to go, and Angie had blown her off.
“Sure,” I said.
Again, we made our way through the vacationers burning calories before the midday heat set in.
Folks exercised to a backdrop of organ music from the merry-go-round. Midway workers hosed last night’s crumbs off the boards and into the water. I kept thinking about what Angie’d said. “How do you think Angie knows so much about the Smoothie Factory’s expansion plans?”
“Sounds like she knows Mrs. Gardiner,” Stella said while reading a text.
“She already has a job lined up at a store that hasn’t even opened. How’d she manage that?” I asked. “Do you think maybe she’s mates with that girl Lydia or someone else that works there?”
“Maybe,” Stella said, again not really paying attention to me, instead focusing on her phone. “That would make sense.” Things were quiet for a bit while she texted. When she was done, she looked up and asked, “Ready for the bungalow?”
Thirty-Five Josie
Mr. Rodney’s Bungalow
June 23 (Continued)
Mr. Rodney’s bungalow wasn’t much to look at. I’d imagined a bungalow made of bamboo and a thatched roof, like the type of hut you’d find on a Caribbean island nestled under a palm tree. But this was a small, one-story, one-bedroom house that was chockers of stuff needing attention: peeling paint, duct tape over a broken window, and weeds that had assumed control of the driveway that had once been ruled by gravel.
We went to the door, and I mentally added a broken doorbell to the list of needed repairs.
After a few rounds of knocking and calling inside through the cracked window, we decided Mr. Rodney wasn’t home, or he was too asleep to hear us, or he just didn’t want to answer the door.
“At home, grommets like to catch the waves early,” I suggested. (Grommets are Aussie surfers.)
“Yeah. He’s probably in the water,” Stella agreed without looking up from her phone. She hadn’t stopped texting since we’d left Angie.
“Stella?”
“What?” she asked with her eyes still down.
“Stella, can you put that down? We’re doing something here.”
Her arm dropped to her side with drama, followed by a sigh. “I’m making plans for tonight,” she said.
“I don’t care. It’s super rude when you text like that when you’re with someone. I mean, we’re having a convo.”
“Fine,” she snapped, because “fine” usually ends an argument, right? “Well, we do have plans now.”
Oh great, probably another bonfire where she could wear some more of TJ’s clothes.
“Bungee,” she said.
“Is it like a date for you and TJ? Because I don’t want to go on your date.”
She tilted her head and smiled. “No, not like a date. All three Ts will be there, and Dario.” She added, “Dario’s not jumping.”
I didn’t answer, but my anger eased a little when I heard that Timmy would be there. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was happy that she’d probably arranged that for me.
Thirty-Six Josie
Boardwalk
June 23 (Continued)
Stella pulled some bangs out of my ponytail while we waited at the end of the pier.
“It’s fine the way it is,” I said.
“A little side bang is so in.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“I don’t get that,” Stella said with just a hint of anger, like she was frustrated that I wasn’t more excited to look better, different, older.
“Why can’t you let me look the way I look? You know, I don’t look bad,” I told her.
“Are you kidding? I didn’t say you look bad. I think you’re crazy pretty. I would kill for blond hair and your legs.… I understand why you run. They’re great!”
“Then why all this fuss over fixing me?”
“I just think you look like you don’t care how you look, and you should.” Stella added, “Maybe show it off a little.”
The Three Ts arrived right on time. “Show what off?” TJ asked.
“Oh, nothing,” I said. “Just girl talk.”
Tucker stood in the background behind TJ and Timmy. “I’m getting a funnel cake. Anyone want one?”
Timmy said to him, “Tuck, we have a workout in the morning.”
Tucker said, “Duh. That’s why I’m carb loading tonight.”
“You carb loaded at lunch with pizza,” TJ reminded him.
“Look, you prep for workouts your way, and I’ll do it