Page 32 of Alice & Meg: Summer Vacation
“Okay, who is doing this?”Meg said.
We all turned to find her holding another tiny plastic turtle in her palm.
This one was orange.
“Seriously?”I said.“Where did you find it?”
“Under my towel,” she groaned.“It’s like they’re multiplying.I was going to give you guys my surprise, but this little shit showed up.”
“Maybe they’re breeding?”Cyn suggested.
“No.No turtle sex in the Flamingo Inn,” Meg declared.“Who is turtling us?”
I watched Meg closely.She looked frazzled, like she was starting to believe she might be hallucinating turtles.
I eyed Greta again.Itfeltlike something she would do.But I’d been watching her, and she hadn’t left her float all morning.There was no way she was going to slip turtles around the pool.
Meg dropped the turtle in her bag.“I swear, if I find one in my bra, I’m lighting this place on fire.”
“Can we get back to you having a surprise for us?”Raven called.
“Oh, I have one, too!”Reva jumped up and ran toward her room.Not even a minute later, she was back with a plastic bag.“I’ll go first because I want to,” she laughed.She reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of pretty and colorful beaded anklets.“I made these,” she said proudly.She moved around, handing each of the girls two anklets.
“These are great, Reva,” Wendy gushed.“I can’t believe you made them.”
I gasped.“And they are stretchy!They’ll fit on my cankles!”I slipped them on and proudly twisted my foot around to get a good view of the bracelets.“I love them.”
“My turn,” Meg called.She pulled a stack of something bright pink out of her bag.“I didn’t know the motel was going to bethispink, so it’s really a coincidence these are pink, but it’s now totally fitting.”She handed them out like they were a stack of playing cards.
“It’s a cow!”I explained as I looked at it.It was a bright pink koozie that had a Highland cow in an inner tube floating with the words “Summer Vibes” around it.
“Flip it over,” Meg instructed.
We all flipped them over and squealed.
They were all personalized with our names.
“Freakin’ perfect,” Greta said as she put on her anklets and then slid her soda can into the koozie.
Around eleven, Glenna and Dottie wandered out in matching black sunhats and carried their tumblers like it was high tea.
“Time to say goodbye,” Glenna said.
“You sure?”I asked.“You could stay and come mini-golfing with us.”
“Oh no,” Dottie said.“We don’t do weekends in the Falls.Too many tourists.We’ll come back next summer before the crowds.”
Glenna pressed a slip of paper into my hand.“You better call us.We want a full reunion next year.”
“You got it.”I smiled and hugged her.
They waved to everyone, got a few more compliments on their sassy style, and disappeared through the gate one last time.
By noon, the pool had started to empty out as everyone trickled back to their rooms to get dressed.Wrecker and I walked back hand in hand.My hair was a little damp, my skin warm from the sun.I felt relaxed.Happy.
I slipped into the bathroom first and threw on a lilac sundress.It hugged my curves in just the right places, and the hem fell mid-thigh.Nothing fancy, just soft cotton, but I liked how it looked.
I came out, brushing my fingers through my damp hair.I turned to the mirror and caught a glimpse of Wrecker sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling on his boots.He looked up, and his eyes darkened.
