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 poring 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.
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 seagull 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 sweatshirts 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:
STACEY + TOBY = LUV
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 Stoneybrook.
“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 th
ey 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.
We split into the same traveling groups as before.
As we were pulling out of the driveway, Mr. Pike called to Mrs. Pike, “First stop, Ellen Cooke’s to return the keys. Next stop, ice cream!”
“Jingle bells, Santa smells,” sang Nicky.
“I hate that song, Nicholas,” said Mallory.
“Good-bye, Sea City-silly-billy-goo-goo!” cried Claire.
“Where’s the Barf Bucket?” asked Margo.
I sighed. We were on our way home.
“Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! I’m home!”
I let myself into our house, feeling absolutely exhausted. Claire had asked, “How many more minutes till we get there?” twenty-nine times between our ice-cream stop and Stoneybrook.
“Stacey!” My parents ran out of the kitchen and folded me into a happy three-person hug.
“How are you?” asked Dad.
“Did you have fun?” asked Mom.
“What did you do?” asked Dad.
“Did you have any problems with your insulin level?” asked Mom.
“Look at your tan!” exclaimed Dad.
“What happened to your hair?” asked Mom.
Although we had left rain behind in Sea City, the sun was shining in Stoneybrook. Mom and Dad and I sat out on our back deck and talked and talked. I didn’t exactly tell my parents everything (I left out Scott and Toby), but I told them a lot. I told them how easy it had been to stick to my diet, and that my insulin levels had been fine. That was the truth. And I told them that the sun had lightened my hair. That was half the truth.
“What’s gone on around here?” I wanted to know.
“It’s been pretty quiet,” said Mom. “Oh, before I forget, Claudia phoned about an hour ago. The Kishis are back, and she wants you to call her.”
“Okay,” I said, but I was in no hurry to move. I was too tired. Dad made iced tea and we sat on the deck and drank it as the sun dropped behind the trees in the yard.
I waited until after dinner before I went to my room and picked up the phone. I wished I had my own private telephone number like Claudia did, but I knew I was lucky even to have an extension in my room. I closed my door. Then I lay down on my bed.
I dialed Mary Anne. I was dying to call Claudia, but I knew Mary Anne needed me, and I really wanted to talk to her.
“Hi,” I said when she answered. “It’s me, Stacey. I wanted to see how you’re doing.”
“Oh, I’m fine,” said Mary Anne. “I’m sorry I cried before. I just didn’t think saying good-bye to him—Alex, I mean—would be so sad. I didn’t—Oh, I don’t know. I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be embarrassed. Why are you embarrassed?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mary Anne, he’s a boy,” I told her. “And it’s okay to like a boy.”
“But I never liked one before. I’ve always been sort of afraid of them.”
“Then I’m glad you met Alex. I’m glad he helped change your mind about boys. They’re not alien creatures, you know.”
Mary Anne giggled. “I know. Hey, Stace? I want to tell you something. I understand now how you felt about Scott at first. I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time about not helping out and everything.”
“That’s okay. I guess I really wasn’t being very fair. I did stick you with more than your share of the work. And that wasn’t right. Besides, when a person is baby-sitting, the kids should come first, no matter what. Do you forgive me?”
“Sure,” replied Mary Anne. “Do you forgive me?”
“Of course.”
“Hey,” said Mary Anne, starting to giggle. “Remember when all the Pike kids tried to give me sunburn remedies?”
“Yeah. And when Claire won those free games from Fred?”
“And the look on Adam’s face when Nicky got the hole in one?”
“And the look on your face when Alex said he and Toby would double date with us?!”
We were laughing hysterically.
“I wonder if anyone ever found the box of chocolates you left on the bench on the boardwalk?” I went on. Thinking about Scott and the girl made me sad, but I could remember the chocolates and laugh, or look at his whistle and smile.
“Oh, I hope so,” said Mary Anne. “Listen to me. I’m laughing so hard I’m crying.” I could hear her sniffling and snuffling.
“Did you and Alex exchange addresses?” I asked.
“Yup.” There was a pause. “We exchanged something else, too,” she said finally.
“What?!”
“On the boardwalk, on Friday night. I didn’t exactly tell you the whole story.”
“Yeah?”
“We found this place where you can buy rings and have stuff engraved on them. So he has a ring with my initials, and I have one with his.”
“Ooh, Mary Anne, a ring!” I exclaimed. “That sounds serious.”
“Well, it isn’t,” she replied. “I mean, not really.”
“Are you going to wear it?”
“On a chain around my neck, not on my finger. I don’t want Dad to see it. He’d probably lock me up until I’m twenty-one.”
“Maybe not,” I said.
“Maybe not,” she agreed.
“Listen, I have to go,” I told Mary Anne. “Claudia called this afternoon, and I haven’t called her back yet.”
“Okay. I guess I should call Dawn and Kristy.”
“Mary Anne?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really glad we got to know each other better.”
??
?Oh, me, too!”
“Well, bye.”
“Bye.”
I pressed the button, listened for the dial tone, and called Claudia without even hanging up the phone.
She answered on the first ring. “Aughh! Hi! I can’t believe I’m talking to you! How come it took so long for you to call? How are you? How was the trip? Oh, I got all your postcards! I’m really sorry about Scott.”
I laughed. “How are you?”
“Great. Our vacation was fabulous! It was good for Mimi. She’s getting better. And there were arts and crafts at the place we went to, and I threw a pot.”
“You what?”
“I threw a pot.”
“Why?”
“I mean, I made a pot—you know, on a potter’s wheel. That’s what it’s called. Throwing a pot.”
“Oh.”
“The teacher said it was the best one she’d ever seen a beginner make. So Mom and Dad said maybe I could take a pottery class here when school begins.”
“That’s great…. Did you meet anyone interesting?”
“You mean, any interesting guys?”
“Of course.”
“Of course.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. His name is Skip. He’s three. I baby-sat for him.”
“No, seriously!” I cried.
“Seriously,” said Claudia, “there weren’t any guys my age up there. Unfortunately. But I was busy enough just reading your postcards. So what finally happened with Scott and Toby? And what was the great present Scott gave you?”
“Oh, Scott gave me his lifeguard whistle. I’ll show it to you sometime. And he and I are friends, although we’ll probably never see each other again, or even write. And Toby and I are, well …”
“What?!”
“On our last night in Sea City, Mrs. Pike gave Mary Anne and me the evening off, and we went on a double date with Toby and his cousin Alex.”
I could almost hear Claudia’s jaw drop. “Mary Anne went out on a double date?”
“Yup.”
“With a boy?”
“What else?”
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.”