Marissa whips around to look, then whips back and whispers, “Who’s Marko?”
“The drummer,” I tell her, and before you know it, he’s standing right there in board shorts and a cool gray T, with his shaved head and little piratey earring, smiling from ear to ear, going, “Dude! The ship is huge.”
Darren slaps his shoulder and checks him over with a grin. “You goin’ on a cruise or something?”
“Dude, I am so ready!” Then he smiles at me and says, “Hey-yo, Sammy!”
Darren takes out a big envelope of paperwork from inside his sports coat. “Let the adventure begin!”
“Uh, I’m Marissa?” Marissa says, putting a hand out.
Darren pumps it. “Darren.” He turns to Marko. “And this is my best friend and Troublemakin’ timekeeper, Marko.”
Marko shakes her hand and says, “Nice to meet you, Marissa.” But as Darren starts to walk, she looks around a little and asks, “Aren’t we waiting for the others?”
Darren looks over his shoulder at her. “The others?”
“The rest of the band?”
Darren smiles at her. “Glad you’re on the lookout for trouble, but Drew and Cardillo aren’t meeting up with us until later.”
“Wow,” Marissa whispers as Darren leads us to a line where we’re supposed to turn over our luggage. “Is he your dad or what?”
“Shh!” Then I ask, “What do you mean?”
“His eyes, the way he smiles, the way he—”
“Shh!”
“How can you be so matter-of-fact about this? This is awesome!”
And I know she’s right.
I know that it is.
And the truth is, I have butterflies.
Not nervous butterflies.
Happy butterflies.
I can’t quite believe we’re here, doing this. I can’t quite believe that nothing’s “come up,” that nobody’s flaked, and that I’m going on a cruise with … with my dad.
“Why are you crying?” Marissa whispers.
I shake it off. “I’m okay.”
“You sure?”
I nod and roll my luggage up closer to Darren and Marko.
Let the adventure begin!
Wendelin Van Draanen, Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City
(Series: # )
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