One Summer

43

The café was crowded, and Blake and Mikki got as close to the DJ as possible. The tunes were already blasting, and people were dancing. Blake and Mikki got Cokes from the bar and settled into a corner to watch and listen.

“You look really good,” Blake said.

Mikki had on jean shorts, flip-flops, a white sleeveless blouse, and a pair of earrings her mother had given her for her fourteenth birthday. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she’d washed the latest color out of the strands. Her skin had tanned, and her face glowed.

Blake had on jeans and a long-sleeve shirt worn out with the sleeves rolled up. She eyed him. “You don’t look so bad either.”

He laughed. “Thanks a lot. Want’a dance?”

“Okay.”

They hit the dance floor and spent a half hour getting sweaty and out of breath, as they jostled next to kids doing the same thing. After another couple hours of listening to the music, things started to wind down. Blake said, “How about a walk on the beach? Nice night.”

“Okay, but remember what I did to Tiffany.” She held up her hands in a pseudo — martial arts pose.

Blake laughed. “I’m not messing with you. Or your dad.”

They strolled along the sand. Mikki took her flip-flops off and carried them in one hand. Her free hand touched Blake’s, and he wrapped one of his fingers around one of hers. At first she pulled back, but a moment later they were holding hands.

They reached an isolated section of beach where tall dunes were covered with lush, tangled vegetation.

Blake said, “I guess we better head on back.”

“Okay.”

He turned to her. She faced him.

“This was nice,” she said.

“Not just saying that?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Most girls are easy to read. But not you.”

“I get that a lot.”

He grinned, cupped her chin with his hand. He dipped his head to hers.

She pulled back.

He looked annoyed. “What’s wrong? You’ve kissed before, right?”

“Of course I have,” she said heatedly. “I’m almost sixteen.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“There’s no problem.” She grabbed him by the neck and planted a kiss on him. When they pulled apart, he exclaimed, “Wow. Okay, that was cool.”

However, from Mikki’s look, the kiss had not had the same effect on her. In fact, she looked a little guilty.

“Let’s get back,” she said hurriedly.

They’d only walked a few feet when Blake said, “What was that?” He turned around and stared at the dunes.

“What was what?” said Mikki.

Then the sound came again. Something was moving through the dunes.

“What is it?” Mikki asked, her fingers closing around Blake’s wrist.

“I don’t know. But something’s up there.”

“Maybe a dog or a cat?”

Another sound.

Mikki said, “That’s not a dog or cat. That was someone talking. Blake, let’s just get out of here.”

“Hold on, there’s something weird going on here. I think I recognize that voice.” He called out, “Dukie? Dukie, is that you?”

“Who’s Dukie?”

“Left tackle on the football team. Big and dumb. I don’t know what he’d be doing here.” He looked around. “Look, just hang here a sec; I’ll be right back.”

“Blake, don’t go up there.”

“Just hang on; I’ll be right back.”

He scooted toward the mounds of sand and quickly disappeared into the darkness. Mikki stood there looking anxiously around. There was no moon tonight, and it was hard to tell where the water ended and the land began.

“Blake?” she whispered harshly, but there was no answer. She moved closer to the dunes. “Blake?”

Hands came out of nowhere and grabbed her. She tried to scream, but something clamped over her mouth. As she looked frantically around, she saw that all the people around her were wearing Halloween masks, dark, gruesome ones.

Somebody put duct tape across her mouth. Another bound her hands behind her back. She jerked and pulled and fell down. Hands held her against the sand. Something was poured over her hair. Someone covered her eyes, and she felt something being sprayed on her clothes. She kept jerking and trying to scream. Tears poured down her face.

Someone yelled, and then there was a loud grunt.

Suddenly, whoever was holding her down fell over hard. The crowd abruptly moved away from her. Mikki sat up and struggled to see what was going on. As her eyes focused, she saw Liam hitting one of the masked people, and the person crumpled. Someone jumped on Liam’s back, but he whirled around and threw the attacker off. As the person hit the sand, the mask popped off and Mikki saw Tiffany Murdoch staring at her. Mikki managed to get the rope off her hands and tore the duct tape off her mouth as another, larger person in a mask hit Liam and knocked him down. Two others jumped on top of him. Then another guy roughly pulled those two off and straddled Liam. Mikki leapt up, raced across the sand, and jumped on top of the guy, pulling his head backward, her nails raking his face.

He yelled something and pushed her off as he twisted away and fell down. Then he jumped to his feet, his mask askew. Sitting on her butt in the sand, Mikki looked up in disbelief.

“Blake?”

He rubbed the scratch marks on his face, turned, and ran. Mikki saw him grab Tiffany’s hand, and they raced off toward the dunes. Mikki tore her gaze away from them in time to see the remaining guy drive his foot into Liam’s stomach. She scooped up some sand, jumped up, ripped off the guy’s mask, and threw the sand in his eyes. He yelled and started jumping around, clawing at his eyes. She pushed him backward, and he fell, then picked himself up and staggered after the others.

Mikki raced over to Liam, who lay facedown in the sand holding his stomach.

“Oh my God, Liam, are you okay?”

He slowly sat up, breathing hard. She wiped the sand off his face and clothes.

“Wow, you really know how to party,” he said, grinning weakly.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Just got off work. Was taking a stroll to wind down before I drove home. Then I heard some weird stuff and saw some people behind that dune. Then you two came walking by. When they jumped you I came flying in.”

“You... you were watching us? Then you saw...?”

“Hey, no big deal. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He rose gingerly. “Come on. I’ll drive you home.”

Mikki didn’t move. “I’m sorry, Liam.”

“Sorry for what?”

“It wasn’t nearly as cool as when you and I kissed.”

He looked down, his fingers clenching as though looking for the comfort of his drumsticks. “Really?”

“Absolutely, really.”

She stood. “You were really brave to do that. You saved me.”

“Jerks.” He looked at her and drew in a quick breath. “Damn.”

“What?”

“Your hair and your clothes.”

She looked down at her clothes. They were spray painted red along with her exposed skin. She touched her hair; it was sticky and clumped and smelled like rotten eggs.

“Jerks,” she said. She looked in the direction of the dunes. “Blake was part of it. I can’t believe I was that stupid.”

“So were you on a date with him? I mean, that’s cool. He’s the quarterback, not a bad-looking guy either.”

“It was a mistake,” she said, gripping his arm. “For a lot of reasons. And he set me up. I bet it had to do with me beating up Tiffany at the beach party.”

Liam looked shocked. “You beat up Tiffany? You didn’t tell me that.”

“Well, she had it coming.”

He laughed and then grabbed his ribs.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she said worriedly as she put a hand around his waist to support him.

As their bodies touched, they looked at each other.

She said, “I’m really gross right now, Liam.”

“No, you’re not; you’re beautiful.”

Mikki went up on her tiptoes even as the tall Liam bent down to her. They kissed, this time far longer than they had the first time.

As they drew apart and opened their eyes, she said, “You’re my knight in” — she looked at his dark clothes and smiled — “black shining armor and hiking boots.”

He touched her cheek and grinned. “And you’re my fair maiden in flaming red with stinky stuff in her hair.”

“Liam, we can’t tell our parents. My dad will go after all of them and probably end up in jail.”

“But what about your clothes and hair?”

“I’ll clean up before I sneak in the house.”

Liam said, “So we’re not going to get back at Tiffany and her friends?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that. We’re going to get back at them, but we’re going to do it the right way, not the stupid way they tried to do it.”

“So how, then?”

“You’ll see.”

She plopped down in the ocean water and started to scrub.