“Shut up,” I said. “I don’t even want to imagine how much of a monster she’s going to be this summer. Although… maybe she’ll be tolerable now that she and Charlie are together. I can only hope.”
Maybe it would be like in school when the good kids were forced to sit next to the misbehaving ones to be a good influence on them. I doubt it would work all that well, but anything would help. And it would give me a reason not to hate the idea of them being together—I needed a bright side to look at.
“Charlie!” Violet exclaimed. There was a harsh clanging sound in the background, like she had dropped a metal bowl, making me jump.
“What about him?” I asked. I rubbed my ear as if that could undo the ringing going on from the awful sound.
“Are you going to see him today?” Violet asked.
“Why would I see him?”
“Because he works with you…” Violet said slowly.
“No, he doesn’t.”
“Yes, he does. I mean, I know he’s not a swim instructor, but he’s a lifeguard at the same pool, so it’s basically the same thing.”
“He’s not working as a lifeguard this year,” I said. I thought back to the other day when I had been talking to Matthew about his summer job as a waiter. He’d mentioned that Charlie was working at a restaurant too, and I wanted to ask more about it but I didn’t know how to without making Matt suspicious of why I cared.
“What?”
“I don’t know, my brother just told me he’s working at some restaurant,” I said. “Anyway, I have to head to work now. I’ll come by as soon as possible so we can go to Jaxon’s party. I doubt this will take long.”
“Okay, I’ll be home the whole afternoon, so you can just come here whenever you’re done if you want.” That wasn’t surprising. Violet didn’t go out much.
“I was also thinking we should go to the drive-in movie theater this week,” I said. We wanted to enjoy everything Port Lane had to offer before we moved away. Matthew kept telling me I needed to stop looking at college as if I was moving away from Port Lane forever, but it was hard not to see it that way. I’d spent my whole life here and had never left for more than a month at a time. Moving a few hours away was a big deal to me.
“Let’s go Saturday. I heard they’re playingMean Girls.”
“Perfect.”
“Are you at the school yet?” Violet asked.
“Just walking through the gates,” I responded. Bayshore Academy was a large and imposing building, surrounded by a significant amount of greenery and sports fields with a wrought-iron fence around the whole property. The original part of the building used to be a mansion back in the day, but the school had been expanded with random add-ons on all sides. Most of the people who worked here over the summer were students, so it was totally normal to us, but there were a few people—such as Penny and Charlie Owen—who attended Falcon High instead, and every year without fail, at least one of them would get lost in the expansive hallways of Bayshore. Luckily, all of us students knew the place backwards and forwards and could easily find them no matter where they were lost. One time last summer, Penny had stumbled upon one of the secret passageways. By the time I found her, I was pretty sure she had decided that she was never going to get out of there. I swear, the look on her face told me that she had accepted her fate.
“Okay, well, have fun at work, and I’ll see you in a bit!”
Fun at work seemed like an oxymoron to me, but I didn’t say so as she hung up. I was about to put my phone away when I noticed a text from Matthew. I frowned as I opened it.
Matthew
I hear you scared Charlie this morning.
I rolled my eyes. Was that how Charlie had described it to him? I knew Matt didn’t understand teenage girls all that well, but I didn’t appreciate the insinuation that a boy got scared by seeing me in a towel. What the heck did that mean? That I was ugly?
Madison
I didn’t scare him
Matthew
Whatever you say
But don’t do it again
Madison
It’s not like I did it on purpose
