Earth Angel (Falling Angels Saga) (23 page)

“That must be one heckuva swim suit you got there. You’ve been putting it on for ten minutes.”

Ten minutes already? Wow.

“Coming right out, Miss Official Timekeeper,” I called, sarcastic yet playful.

“That’s my job, and I plan on keepin’ it,” she called back. I could picture the smile blossoming on her face on the other side of the door. I was smiling, too. I was lucky to have a friend like Maudrina, even if at times she was a real pain in the behind. I guess when you’re trying to get over the loss of a loved one, a well-meaning pain in the behind is exactly what you need.

*

On Saturday evenings in May and June, before the weather got too hot (
yeah, right!
), Splashtopia hosted what they called Dive-in Movie Nights. These are evenings where young people can come and enjoy the waterpark until sundown and afterwards enjoy a movie on the lawn by the wave pool.

The movie was usually a horror flick that most of us had already seen, but the movie wasn’t the attraction. Arizona is a land-locked state. Dive-in Movie Nights are our version of
Beach Blanket Bingo
—for you trivia buffs, that’s an old beach party movie starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello—and when you live in Arizona you don’t get many shots at those.

When we had arrived at Splashtopia, the sun had not yet begun its descent into the mountains. Most of the guests were huddled under trees or beneath one of the colorful man-made shade structures to escape the beat-down the sun was handing out. As we pulled into the parking lot, Curtis pointed toward a stand of shade structures under which the Poplarati were starting to gather.

“There they are,” he said.

Maudrina and Curtis were now officially dating. I’d been cautious of their relationship in the beginning. Curtis didn’t go to G.U. He attended Jennings, a snooty private school for the sons and daughters of the valley’s rich. At first I feared he might be slumming with Maudrina—looking for a quick hit before retreating to the safety of his own herd. But my fears proved to be unfounded. Curtis was a gentleman who worshiped the ground Maudrina walked on.

“Hey, Zim, let me carry the picnic basket for you. It feels heavy,” he said as he unloaded our gear from the rear deck of his Explorer.

“I got it, Professor Membrane. Besides, you’re already carrying the cooler.”

They had chosen nick names for themselves from a Nickelodeon cartoon series they had fallen in love with and watched over and over. The new nick names were either incredibly cute, or up-chuck disgusting. I opted for the latter, although I kept my opinion to myself.

“Still, I’d feel better if you let me take it,” Curtis said gently easing the basket from Maudrina’s hand.

She shot me a quick look, and I could tell that on the inside she was beaming with pride. Curtis was a hot, square-jawed sixteen year-old with dark coloring who reminded me of an old-time Hollywood movie star. He had gleaming white teeth and eyes that crinkled at the corners when he laughed. He liked to laugh.

When I looked at Curtis I thought of Guy. Guy was a gentleman just like Curtis was.

“This is going to be so fun,” chimed Maudrina.

“Yeah, right.” It was still close to ninety degrees out with just an hour or so of sunlight left. I had a feeling things weren’t going to cool much once the sun went down. I wondered how long I’d have to fake having fun before my headache flared up.

“Come on, Megan. It’s not so bad. Really. It’s a dry heat,” Maudrina said in response to my mood.

I jumped all over that one: “When people say it’s a dry heat, what they mean is instead of being hot like a steam bath, it’s hot like a sauna.”

Curtis burst into laughter. “That’s a good one, Megan. I’m gonna use that one. Count on it.”

“Be my guest.”

“I’m sure it’s going to be a great evening,” Maudrina said, still hoping to change my mood. “I’m so happy you’re here.” She nudged Curtis.

“Yeah, me too,” he said quickly.

“Me three,” I said, not exactly ecstatic over my
third person in the room
status.
It’ll be over soon
, I thought as we headed toward the group.

They were all there—the most popular kids at Glendale Union High. The Poplarati. Ashley Scott and Heather McNamara were in string bikinis that showed off their tanned bosoms and a whole lot more. Jeremy Bowen and Alonzo Briggs were shirtless, wearing colorful calf-length board shorts that accented their athletic torsos. They greeted us warmly, as if they’d hung with us all their lives, instead of only the past two months.

“How they hangin’, Barnett?” called Jeremy with a grin. “Ready for Kilimanjaro?”

“Yeah, right,” I replied, realizing I’d been saying
yeah right
a lot lately. “Slim chance I’ll be skyrocketing down Kilimanjaro today or any other day.”

Kilimanjaro was the incredibly high, free fall waterslide that every daredevil who visited Splashtopia had to try. All the guys chimed in about doing it right after they ate, as if that made them seem tougher.

Guy wouldn’t go on the Kilimanjaro slide. Not that he was afraid. On my trip to hell, I found Guy hanging a hundred feet in the air lashed to electrified spider webbing. Guy would have had nothing to prove riding Kilimanjaro.

“Don’t be a wuss,” Jeremy said with a smile that showed off his good looks. It was hard to believe that a year ago Jeremy wouldn’t speak to me. Now he was teasing me as if we were old pals. A lot can change in a year. A lot
had
changed in the past year.

A soft breeze had begun to blow. It wasn’t a cooling breeze, but rather one that felt like hot air from an open furnace. It would offer no relief from the heat.

“I want to go in the wave pool. Just to cool off a bit before the movie.” Maudrina was staring at me and Curtis with doe eyes.

“I could use a dip,” Curtis responded.

Their eyes were on me.

“You guys go. I’ll just chill over here in the shade,” I said.
I agreed to come to Spashtopia with them, I did not agree to go in the water.

“Chill?” asked Maudrina with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, bake.  I’ll just bake over here in the shade.”

“Come on, Megan. It’ll be fun. You’ve been complaining about the heat all day. Now’s your chance to do something about it.”

She was looking at me with pity-eyes again—I swear, that girl could do a million things with her eyes—this time using them to guilt me into the pool.

“The lady’s got a point,” added Curtis. They really were a cute couple. I liked the way he backed her up every chance he got.

“Oh, all right,” I said, adding a loud exasperated sigh.

I didn’t agree to join them in the wave pool because I wanted to cool off. Okay, I
did
want to cool off, but that’s not why I agreed. And it wasn’t the pity-guilt Maudrina was throwing my way, either. I agreed to join them because Ashley Scott was looking at me like she wanted to chat. A chat with Ashley was more like a cranial probe for information she could use against you whenever you got on her bad side. I’d had a few of those chats with her in the past. I wasn’t in the mood for another.

The wave pool was half filled with bathers who were enjoying the cooling dip, some sitting on float tubes, others standing and jumping over the gentle waves as they rode through.

I had stripped down to my one piece and was feeling practically naked. My only solace was that Maudrina in her black bikini actually
was
practically naked.

“Hey Barnett, how come you never give me any play?” someone called as we arrived at the edge of the pool.

Jack Parson, a jerk from school, had said the exact same words to me one day in French class early in the semester, before Ashley Scott had shut him down. I turned. Jack Parson was now standing a few feet from me, ogling my breasts.

“Hi Jack.” A knot began forming in my gut. Jack’s pale flesh was highlighted by a tattoo of a cobra that snaked its way up his left forearm and into his feeble bicep—the beginnings of a sleeve.  I folded my arms across my chest, hoping he’d get the hint and avert his gaze. No such luck.

“Now that your ex is out of the picture, I think it’s time you got with a real man.” There was a self-satisfied smirk on his lips. His leering eyes were blood shot, and I realized where his extra dose of confidence was coming from. He had been drinking—from the look of him, all afternoon.

“Ooh look, they just turned up the wave pool,” Maudrina called. There was little-girl excitement in her voice. “Come on.”

The soft swells in the pool had grown since we arrived poolside.

“Don’t be scared,” said Jack in a leering tone that made my skin crawl. “I got you.”

An unfamiliar churning bubbled up in the pit of my stomach. Anger mingled with fear, blending into a dull ache. The anger was spreading quickly like a brush fire in dry weeds, moving too fast for me to it tamp down. The fear was there because the anger was spinning me out of control, and this lack of control was a new feeling for me. I didn’t know where it would lead.

Then Jack opened his mouth to speak again, and something told me the outcome of this encounter was not going to be good.

“Come on, Megan, I see you moping around school like a kid who’s lost his dog. It’s time you moved on. Guy was ai’ight. But he wasn’t all that.” A smirk edged its way onto Jack’s lips.

The party-line on Guy was that his parents had split up and he’d opted to live with his father who moved to Anchorage.

“He
was
all that!” My voice was a soft growl.

Images of Guy flooded in: Guy holding my hand as we sat on my couch; Guy staring into my eyes with laughter dancing in his; Guy planting sweet kisses on my lips as we sat on the bottom of the bleachers. With each new image I could feel my anger mounting.

“The pool!” someone screamed.

The waves in the pool had increased dramatically, swells rising up ten feet into the air and then smacking into one another before sloshing down over innocent bathers. Someone screamed as the bathers in the pool struggled to make their way back to shore, but their escape had been stifled. They were at the mercy of the raging water, being tossed like rubber toys in a bathtub.

“The wave pool’s gone wild,” someone else yelled.

Gawkers began swarming to the edge of the pool to get a better look.

“The wave machine must be broken,” Jack said, his eyes finally off my breasts and on the increasingly turbulent water. He was trying to act as though he wasn’t frightened, but I saw him inching backward, away from the edge of the pool.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“For what?” His eyes opened wide.

More people were starting to scream.

“I’m ready to go in. You got me, right?” I dipped my toe into the swirling water, looked into his sorry face with come-hither eyes.

“Megan!” Maudrina called in a scolding tone.

You crazy,” said Jack, as he continued backing away. “You got a death wish, don’t you?”

“It’s just a little harmless water. Come on, Jack. I betcha Guy wouldn’t have been afraid.” I stepped into the pool. “Come on. You got me, right?” I held out my hand to him. He didn’t take it. Instead he continued backing away, eyes wide with fear.

A huge wave swept up out of nowhere and corralled me into its watery arms, yanking me from the shallow edge of the pool. The wave dragged me out toward the center.

“Megan!” I heard Maudrina scream.

Looking back toward shore, I saw horror strewn across Jack’s face.

“You’re not half the man Guy is,” I hollered before the wave tossed me into the air. Splashing down, I was immediately engulfed in another wave and went under.

As I hung suspended under the water, I wasn’t afraid. I felt good, so good. The quiet calmness beneath the storm on the surface excited me.  The good feeling was not only because of the look on Jack Parson’s face—oh, but that was precious. I was enjoying the looks on
all
of their faces. The fear in the eyes of
all
the bathers delighted me.

The churning in my belly congealed into a warm, sticky deliciousness.
I did this
, I thought. As crazy as it seemed, I believed it was true.
I did this
.

By the time I bubbled up to the surface, the surging water had begun to calm. Lifeguards were wading in, rescuing the most hysterical. I smiled to myself, and the deliciousness increased.
I don’t need rescuing
.
I may never need rescuing ever again
.

Someone had turned off the wave machine.

As quickly as it arrived, the deliciousness in my belly began fading away. It was gone in no time. My belly calmed. The waters calmed. The surface of the water in the wave pool was now smooth like a glass table top. I walked to shore. Agitated bathers were all around me. I was as calm as the waters of the wave pool.

When I got to shore, Jack Parson was nowhere to be found—but Maudrina was. She was staring at me with wild eyes. Curtis rushed to my side.

“Good God. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I didn’t know the water was going to be so rough, but I’m fine.”

“That was a dumb thing to do. You could have drowned in there.”

“No. Not really.” I looked at Maudrina. She was still staring at me.

“The wave machine must have gone wacko,” Curtis said, handing me a dry towel. “Splashtopia is about to get hit with a big lawsuit. Trust me on that.”

I again glanced at Maudrina.

“I think we should go,” she said in a clipped tone.

“Yeah, I agree,” said Curtis. “I’ll get our things. Maybe we can beat the crush of cars getting out of the parking lot.” He dashed off to retrieve our gear.

Maudrina and I were alone. She continued to stare. I couldn’t read what was stirring up behind her eyes, but I didn’t like the look of it.

“That was weird,” I said matter-of-factly. I looked away.

“Very.” Her tone was low, guarded. “What do you suppose happened?”

I looked back, holding her gaze for a long moment before responding. “I don’t know. I… guess the wave machine broke. Right?”