The Princess Sisters (The Princess Sisters Series) (13 page)

“I
thought you wanted to get wet!” Dave said as a particularly large wave drenched
Belle and Aurora’s backsides.  They both jumped up screaming and then slowly
sat back down on the dripping bench, panting. 

“We
do!” Belle said.  “But that doesn’t make it any less cold!”

Dave
stretched his legs out on the bench in front of him and placed his folded hands
behind his head, leaning back and trying to look casual.

“Well
I think it feels good,” he said.  Just then the raft hit another wall and began
spinning around in circles.  Belle saw what was coming up and she pointed it
out to the other two, motioning for them to keep quiet with her pointer finger
against her lips.  Aurora stifled a giggle and Ariel shook her head, her face
growing pale.  But Belle nodded her reply and Ariel crossed her arms over her
chest and sat back in defeat.

“So
you think the water feels good?” Belle asked Dave.

“Yeah,
in this heat, it’s very refreshing,” he said, still relaxing against the back
of the raft with his eyes closed.  The raft then spun right under the waterfall
the girls had seen, soaking Dave from his face and open mouth to his stretched
out legs on the bench.  He yelled loudly and leaped from his seat to the other
side of the raft, sputtering and trying to catch his breath.  Belle and Aurora
laughed and Ariel couldn’t help but join in.

Belle
lay back in mock copy of Dave.  “You’re right, this is refreshing,” she
exclaimed.

“Ha
ha,” Dave said as he tried to wring out the corner of his drenched T-shirt.

The
raft continued to move along the windy course.  As they turned the final
corner, the line for
Rattlesnake Rapids
could be seen above them, still
long as ever.

“Do
you know them?” Aurora asked, pointing to a group of five teenage boys who
stood laughing and waving above them.

“Oh
no.  Get ready,” Dave said, looking around them in the water.

“What...”
but Aurora didn’t have time to finish her question.

Water
began spraying up at them from all around, as if a dozen tiny bombs were going
off in the water surrounding their raft.

“What’s
going on!” Ariel exclaimed more than asked.

“It’s
those guys,” Dave explained.  “When you’re waiting in line you can pay fifty
cents or something like that and aim water at the people riding below.  Kind of
like giant squirt guns in the water to make sure your friends get soaked.”

“But
why would they all aim for us?” Aurora asked.

“They’re
on the football team with me.”

“You
don’t seem all that excited to see them,” Belle remarked.

Dave
just shrugged in reply and said nothing more.  Their raft reconnected itself to
the revolving floor and a worker stepped over to help them each climb out.  As
they headed toward the exit and back up the steps, they passed the group of
guys who had shot water at them moments before.  A couple of them patted Dave
on the back and high-fived him in passing.

“So
is this business or pleasure?” one of them asked, looking over the three soaked
girls standing with him.  The others hooted with laughter.  Dave laughed back,
but Belle noticed it seemed forced.

“You
almost done?” another one asked.  “Tick-tock.”

Dave
glared at him, but this response seemed only to encourage their laughter.

“Let’s
go,” Dave said, guiding the girls forward.  Then over his shoulder he whispered,
“Four down.”

The
boys seemed to enjoy this reply the most and they continued to laugh like a
pack of hyenas as they walked away toward the entrance to the ride.

“What
was that all about?”

“Who
were they?” Belle and Aurora asked at the same time.

“Don’t
worry about it,” Dave said, glancing back to be sure they were gone.  “Just a
bunch of guys from the team.  They’re seniors so they like to give me a hard
time.”

The
girls nodded, but didn’t really understand.

“What
do you think, toads or frogs?” Ariel asked, pointing in the direction the boys
had gone.  After Dana had shared her words of wisdom with Cinderella and Belle,
they had told the other girls all about it.  Now it had become a fun game for
them to place the boys they came across into one of the three categories.

“At
first glance, I would have to say toads,” Aurora answered.  “But a couple of
them were kinda cute!  I don’t know, maybe there was a frog or two mixed in.”

Dave
looked at the girls, confused.

Belle
continued, ignoring his raised eyebrows.  “I don’t care what any of them were,
we’ve got ourselves a prince right here,” she said, placing her hand on Dave’s
bicep.

“Uh-
what do you say we head over to the swings and dry out a bit?” Dave asked nervously,
trying to change the subject.

“Sounds
good,” Belle responded.  Dave turned left and began leading them to another
part of the park and the girls had to walk fast to keep up with his quickened
pace.

Chapter
Nineteen

A
riel’s blonde hair blew
gently in the breeze behind her as the swings spun them around and around in a
circle.  When she closed her eyes, she felt as though she were flying high
above the park with her feet dangling from the chair.  She smiled to herself,
quite pleased with the accomplishment she had made.  She didn’t know what it
was about Dave that made her want to get over her fears.  She didn’t like being
left out, she knew that much, and the way Dave put his arm around her and
smiled at her with encouraging eyes...

“Ari,
you comin?” Aurora asked.

Ariel
opened her eyes and realized she had gotten so lost in her own thoughts that
she didn’t even notice the ride had stopped and she was one of the last people
remaining in her seat.

“You
fall asleep or something?” Belle asked.

“Me? 
Fall asleep?  Inconceivable!” Ariel joked, trying to brush it off.

They
returned to the main street that ran the length of the park, still wet but no
longer dripping.  There were big games on either side of the street.  The kind
where if you win, you go home with a giant stuffed animal.  The workers of the
games called to them from every direction, trying to convince the foursome that
they needed to throw a ball at milk bottles or toss a ring around a barely big
enough bottleneck.  In the middle of all these games and noise stood some tall
letters spelling out the words:
Terror Ride.
  The letters rocked back
and forth, enticing people toward the dark building.

“What’s
that?” Aurora asked, pointing toward the ride ahead.

“It’s
a lot like
Dracula’s Castle
,” Dave said.  “You sit in a little car and
go through the spook house.  You guys want to go?”

            “I’m actually
kinda hungry,” Belle said, eyeing the nearby pretzel cart.

            “Me too,”
Ariel said.

            “I’ll go with
you Dave,” Aurora said.

            “Aren’t you guys
hungry?” Belle asked.

            “Not really,” Aurora said, and she hurried toward the
Terror Ride’s
fairly short line.

            “I guess we’ll
meet you guys here afterward,” Dave said, and he followed Aurora to get in
line.

            Belle
struggled for a second, trying to decide whether to follow them to the ride or
follow Ariel to the food.

            “You comin?”
Ariel shouted from a few yards away.

            Belle looked
over at Dave’s disappearing head one last time, and then hurried after Ariel.

            “There you
are!” Aurora grinned as Dave shuffled through the stacks of people in line and
caught up to her, near the front.

            “I think they
all hate me,” Dave said in response to the glares aimed at him by a few people
behind them in line.

            “That’s just
because they don’t know you like I do,” Aurora playfully added.

            The two of
them stepped forward as the line moved, cold mist coming down on them from the
building above. 

“This
would feel a lot better if I weren’t already wet,” Aurora said, trying to block
the cool moisture with her hands.

Goosebumps
began popping up all over her skin, but luckily the line moved quickly and they
were soon climbing into a forest green, round car.  The ride attendant looked
bored as she lowered their lap bar down.  “Have a nice riiiiiiiide,” she yawned
and the car moved forward along the track and into the dark building.

            “Wow, it’s
chilly in here,” Aurora said, leaning closer to Dave.  He placed his arm over
her shoulder and they rode comfortably in silence, observing the wax dummies
and other scary props.  Aurora looked up at Dave, admiring his perfectly shaped
jawline.

            “What?” he
asked with a smile.

            Aurora tried to hurry and turn away but it was too late, he had seen her staring. 

            “Has anyone
ever told you what big eyes you have?” he asked.

            “The better to
see you with, my dear,” she replied sarcastically.

            “No, I mean
they’re really pretty,” Dave recovered quickly.

            “Thanks,” Aurora said, pulling some vanilla chapstick out of her pocket and carefully applying it to
avoid his gaze.

            “Can I have
some?” Dave asked.

            “Sure.”  Aurora turned to hand him the small capsule and instead found Dave’s lips pressed against
hers in a quick kiss.

            “Thanks!” he
said.  “Has anyone ever told you what soft lips you have?” he asked, trying to
smooth over the slightly awkward moment by making a joke.

            “The better to
kiss you with, my dear,” Aurora said and she grabbed his face in both her hands
and kissed him back.

Their
lips were separated this time with a sharp jerk when a loud horn sounded at the
end of the ride and Aurora jumped into the air, causing their heads to
collide.  They looked at each other, rubbing their sore foreheads and burst out
laughing.  Their car pulled back into the bright sunlight and they exited the
ride, still laughing.  Then they walked back to the place where they had left
Belle and Ariel and spotted the two of them sitting on a nearby bench,
finishing the last of a salty pretzel.

“What
happened?” Belle asked, getting to her feet and eyeing Aurora’s forehead.  Aurora glanced at Dave, who laughed in return and pointed to the spot where her head was
throbbing.

“We
conked heads when a horn surprised us at the end of the ride,” Dave said,
explaining the red bump on Aurora’s hairline.

Aurora
reached up and felt the sensitive spot they were discussing.  The moment had
been so funny, she hadn’t even realized how hard the collision actually was.  Now
she could feel a soft bump as it began protruding under her fingertips.  One
look at Dave told her he was getting a similar reaction to their encounter.

“It
looks like it hurts!” Belle said, gently examining Dave’s head.  “Do you need
some ice or something?”

“Naw,
it really isn’t that bad.”

Dave
began walking in the opposite direction toward the other side of the park. 
Belle walked by his side and began questioning him on the new rides they were
about to experience.

“No,
don’t worry about me.  I don’t need any ice either,” Aurora grumbled as they
walked away.

“Come
on,” Ariel said, pushing her sister forward from behind.  “You know Belle well
enough to know that no one else exists when a cute guy is around.”

“She
acts like she owns him though,” Aurora said, pointing to Belle who now walked
with her hand clutched around Dave’s arm.

“He
doesn’t seem to mind,” Ariel commented.  She looked longingly after Dave, as
the two continued to walk ahead.  She was hoping Dave would show more interest
in her today, since they had kissed.  But she wanted Dave to initiate the
attention.  She wasn’t about to throw herself at him like Belle and Aurora were
doing.

As
if on cue, Aurora said, “That’s because he doesn’t know his options yet.”  And
she tossed her hair over her shoulder before quickening her pace and claiming
Dave’s other arm.