Welcome to Dog Beach (23 page)

“I love it. I love it. I love it!” I jump up and down and grab Claire's hands, and soon we're jumping up and down together like people who have just won the lottery.

We get to Micayla's house, and I feel like I'm bursting apart with excitement. I'm going to make things right with Micayla and Bennett. And then Claire and I are going to make Mr. Brookfield the star of Seagate, which he is already, even though nobody knows. Everyone's going to hear his scream in those movies, and everyone is going to know how amazing he is.

Claire tells me she's going to take the dogs and meet Bennett and Calvin at Dog Beach, and that Micayla and I should come when we're done.

“Hi, Rem,” Micayla's mom says when she opens the door. “I've missed you.”

“Same,” I say. “I have to talk to Micayla. Is she here?”

“Yup. Go on up.”

Micayla's sister, Ivy, is sitting on their living room couch looking at the computer. She does one of those backward waves, not turning around. I wave back, even though she can't see me.

Micayla has her door open, and before she even sees me, I peer in and notice that her room looks completely different. For one thing, she has a desk in it now. She never needed a desk before, but I guess some of the furniture from their house was moved here already.

She's sitting on her bed looking at magazines. I don't want to startle her, so I knock gently.

“Remy!” she yelps. I guess I startled her anyway. Maybe there was no way of avoiding it.

“Micayla, I'm so sorry.” I say it right away. I need her to know that's why I'm here. “I should have been more supportive and understanding of this whole big change in your life. I should have been a better friend.”

“Well, thanks. But you're not good with change.” She smiles her soft Micayla smile. “You're always talking about tradition and wanting everything to be the same, year after year. I guess maybe that's why I didn't want to tell you. I felt like if my life changed, it would let you down.”

“But it's your life, not mine.” I sit down on the edge of her bed. I realize we haven't had a sleepover all summer. Are we too old for sleepovers? I hope not. I don't think that you can ever really get too old for sleepovers. I mean, even when you're married, it's pretty much like a sleepover every night.

“That's true,” Micayla says.

“It hurt my feelings that you'd keep a big secret from me. And then I guess I just got worried that I was being replaced by Avery Sanders. She's nice and everything, but … you know.”

Micayla shakes her head. “You're not being replaced. I promise.”

“Good.” I smile.

“Anyway, I forgive you. I miss you too much to not forgive you.”

“I missed you so much too.” I reach across and give her a
hug. “Why did your parents decide to become year-rounders? I never even asked you that.”

She sighs. “You mean aside from the fact that Seagate Island is the best place on earth?”

I laugh. “Yeah. Aside from that.”

“Well, we just don't need the big house in New Jersey anymore, since Zane and Ivy are away at college. It feels really empty when they're away. And my parents started wondering why they were paying for two places when they'd rather just be here.” She shrugs. “I don't know. That's what they said. And we're all so happy on Seagate, it just made sense.”

“I bet it's going to be great,” I tell her, because it seems like the right thing to say. And then I feel even guiltier for not being more supportive before. This was likely a big decision for them, not something they just decided in a few minutes. And it probably will be great—just because it's not the Seagate I know doesn't mean it's not still Seagate.

“Oh! I still have to tell you about Mason Redmond,” Micayla says.

“Oh yeah!”

“I think we, like,
like
each other,” she says.

“
Like
like?” I giggle. “Really? How do you know?”

She twists a few braids around her finger. “We had fun at Sundae Best. And his favorite flavor is also cherry chip. And we had a lot to talk about.” She pauses. “He's not always thinking about his future, you know. I mean, he is, in that he signed up to play lacrosse this year, but that's it.”

“That's good. So what happens now?”

“No clue.” She gets up and grabs the hoodie off her desk chair. “But it's fun. Do I look okay?” She turns around and poses. “We're going to Dog Beach now, right?”

“Yeah.” I smile. “You look beautiful.”

On our walk over to Dog Beach, I tell Micayla about my idea for Mr. Brookfield's scream and Seagate Halloween.

“I love it!” She high-fives me. “So smart. Halloween is all about screaming!”

“I know, right?” I throw up my hands. “It just came to me. And hey, there's something else we need to talk about.”

Micayla looks at me sideways. “Bennett, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Come on, Rem. You totally like him. It's, like, the oldest story in the world—girls fall in love with their best friends all the time.”

“They do?” I ask. “How do you know?”

She gives me an are-you-serious look. “I just know. And also, Ivy told me she was in love with her best friend from home for three years.”

“I don't know what to say,” I admit. “I don't know exactly what happened. I just know that things changed. He's not just plain old Bennett anymore with the ratty T-shirts and the untied shoelaces who always burns the top of his mouth when eating pizza.”

“Well, he still is that Bennett, but maybe you just see something else too?” Micayla asks.

“Yeah. I guess that's it. He's still the same, but there's kind of more to him, or more underneath that only I can see. I can't explain it.”

Micayla nods. “I get what you're saying.”

“So what do I do?”

“
That
I don't know.”

“That's exactly what Claire said,” I tell her.

“Claire gives you advice now?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Sometimes. But don't worry, you haven't been replaced or anything.”

“I know I can't be replaced. I'm not worried.”

“We didn't even talk about Seagate Schoolhouse and Avery Sanders and all that,” I say. “We got off track. Tonight: you and me, sleepover and s'mores. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.”

The rest of the day at Dog Beach goes well. Everyone's happy to be there. Calvin and Bennett keep a game of Frisbee going for more than an hour. Marilyn Monroe is happy traipsing around from Micayla to Claire to me to all the other dogs.

Tabby and Potato Salad are lazy as usual, but they push a ball back and forth with their noses, and it's so cute that I take a video of it with my phone. I'm convinced it's going to be the next YouTube sensation.

It feels weird without Lester here, but they were only doing a short-term rental. Maybe he'll be back next summer.
If I were to give out awards, I think I'd give him “most social dog.”

I keep watching Mason and Micayla to see what it's like when two people like each other. I don't really notice anything that crazy. They laugh often and smile all the time and have tons to say to each other, but that's it as far as I can tell.

“Things are okay with you guys?” Claire asks me when Micayla's at the lifeguard's chair.

“Really okay,” I say. I almost tell her about the sleepover, but I don't want to make her feel left out, and I also don't know if I should include her. Perhaps Micayla and I need some one-on-one time. “Now I just have one more big idea. We need to finish our day here so I can talk to your grandpa and then I can talk to Mrs. Paisley tomorrow, the one who handles all the planning for Seagate Halloween.”

“So come over after we drop the dogs off,” Claire says. “I think your boyfriend and my brother are going out for burgers with my dad.”

“Oh, your dad's back?” I ask.

“Yeah, my mom leaves and he comes back. I don't know what that's all about.”

Suddenly the tone of the conversation goes cloudy, and I don't know if I should ask any more questions.

“Probably just schedules,” Claire says. “They're confusing. I try not to think about it too much.”

“Aren't grown-ups mysterious?” I ask, trying to make a joke. “They can drive and they have jobs and bank accounts
and stuff. But then sometimes you'll ask them the reason for something and they'll just say because they said so. And then you realize they don't have anything figured out at all.”

“Exactly.” Claire shakes her head. “They're all cuckoo.”

“Mr. Brookfield, I have the best idea!” I yell, running
into the house. Claire and I find him sitting in his armchair reading a thick book with a dark, spooky cover.

“Yes, Remy?”

“You will be the voice of Seagate Halloween! You know how everyone dresses up and we have the parade and everything?”

“Of course!”

“Well, your scream will start the whole thing. Kind of like a fanfare on a trumpet or a whistle.” I put my hands on my hips. “What do you think?”

“I'm in!” He winks. “Isn't that what all the young people say these days?”

Claire and I crack up, and Bennett and Calvin do too. They're hanging over the railing listening to our whole conversation.
It's surprising that Mr. Brookfield didn't need much convincing, but maybe he's been waiting for this all along.

Claire tells him all about her idea to show scary movies during the Seagate Sunday night movies.

“I'll talk to Mrs. Paisley,” I tell him.

“We'll go together,” Mr. Brookfield says. “I've known her for years.”

“She's always at Breakfast by the Boardwalk in the morning,” I say, even though he probably already knows that. “Let's meet her there tomorrow. Claire, you come too.”

“I'm in,” she says, laughing.

In the end, I don't invite Claire to the sleepover, but I think it's okay, because she said she was excited for a Claire-Grandpa date. They were going to Frederick's Fish and then seeing a movie at Seagate Cinema after. I think Claire likes time alone with her grandfather. She hasn't really said it out loud, but I can tell.

I walk home more quickly than I think I've ever walked on Seagate. It's as if my excitement is carrying me and making me walk faster. I can't wait for Seagate Halloween. I can't wait for Mr. Brookfield to scream and for all of Seagate to hear it. Everyone will want to know his story. And he'll be so happy to tell it. His past will become a part of his present and his future, and he'll finally be the celebrity he was meant to be.

The only thing I am still trying to figure out is Bennett.
What should I say to him? On the one hand, I think he already knows. I mean, I know he knows, because Claire told him, but I don't know what he thinks about it. And things are still okay with us. And maybe I shouldn't make anything muddy, since I don't even know what my feelings really mean. But on the other hand, I feel like I'm bursting with feelings, like I'm carrying balloons under my shirt and I have to let them out.

I run through the door and say, “Mom, Micayla's sleeping over!”

My mom comes out from the kitchen and smiles, unsurprised, and I realize she already knows. I guess Micayla's mom told her. And my mom seems so happy, and I'm relieved that this fight—the longest one of our friendship—is over.

“Do you think you're going to want pizza? Or should I make baked ziti? Or what?” my mom asks. She has her painting apron on, and there's a speck of purple paint on her cheek.

“Let's see when Micayla gets here. She just went home to grab her stuff.”

I run up to my room and straighten up. Even though Micayla has been here a million times, I feel like tonight is different. It's the beginning of our friendship after the Fight. We have so much to talk about—Seagate Schoolhouse and Mason and Bennett and the dogs.

I look around my room, and for the first time in my whole life, I want to change the decor. I want to take down my old posters, the ones of sunsets and puppies and old-fashioned
ice cream parlors. I want to spruce things up. Maybe Mom and I can redecorate—paint over this lavender and make the room a cool sea green or something. Or maybe Mom and I can paint a mural. Mom will have to do all the hard painting, but I can help a little bit.

I want to take out my old gingham beanbag chairs and put in something cool—a director's chair like Mr. Brookfield has, or maybe even some kind of indoor chaise longue.

I don't know what's come over me. Maybe it's that I'm so excited for the future that I want to get it started right away. I'm looking forward to all the possibilities, and I want to be ready for them. I don't want to hang on to old pieces of the past just because they're comfortable and they've always been there.