Page 34 of Alice & Meg: Summer Vacation
We mounted up.I slid behind Wrecker on the bike, wrapped my arms around his waist, and sighed.
It always felt like the first time.
Meg
The sun was high, the air smelled like sunscreen and freshly cut grass, and we were all standing at the start of the wackiest mini golf course.Windmills, waterfalls, and plastic palm trees decorated every corner of the place.Bright pink flamingos stuck out of bushes like guards, and a huge grinning gator statue loomed behind hole twelve.Classic Falls City weird.
Everyone was crowded around the ball rack and club stand, sorting through colors like it was life or death.
“I need the purple ball,” I announced, scanning for my signature color.
Alice plucked a dark violet ball out of the bin and tossed it to me.“I’ll take the lilac one.It matches my soul.”
“Are we going to play together or split up?”Adley asked.“Because it’s going to take us forever to play eighteen holes with fifteen people.”
“You got somewhere else to be?”Slayer asked, arching a brow.
Adley rolled her eyes.“No, but I don’t really feel like hitting my ball once every hour while waiting for y’all to debate whose turn it is.”
Alice tilted her head.“Why does that sound oddly inappropriate?”
“Because everything is oddly inappropriate when we’re all together,” Greta said.She picked up a neon green ball and grinned like she was about to take down the PGA.
“Why don’t we do girls versus boys?”Cyn suggested and held up her pink club like a sword.
“The girls can be the Flamingos, and the guys can be the Eagles,” Reva chimed in.
Rigid scowled.“Why do we have to have a name?”
“So we can say the Flamingos kicked the Eagles’ asses,” Raven smirked.
“Yeah!”Alice cheered.
The girls decided to go first, much to the guys’ groaning.
We weren’t even three holes in and the competition was fierce.I wasn’t bad, but Adley had a killer short game.Reva was keeping score for us Flamingos.Hero was doing the same for the guys, which Rigid loudly protested.
“Hero failed geometry,” Rigid reminded us.
“This isn’t geometry.It’s basic counting,” Hero argued.
“Exactly,” Rigid said dryly.
By the seventh hole, we’d caught up to a group ahead of us.A girl and three guys wearing shirts with some riding club name I’d never heard of.Their patches looked cheap, and their vibe was off.The girl looked...uncomfortable.
Alice met my eyes.I met hers.We both saw it.
We stood back and watched as the guys hit their balls, loud and cocky.The girl quietly stepped up and tapped hers.It ricocheted off a rock and smacked one of the guys’ ankles.
He exploded.“What the fuck, April?!Are you blind?!”
She cowered, hands raised slightly.“I’m so sorry!I didn’t mean to,”
“You didn’t mean to be a goddamn moron?You’re useless, just like your mouth.”
He stepped toward her, and that’s when my temper snapped.“Hey!”I shouted, stepping forward.“I wouldn’t take one more step toward her.”
He turned and sneered at me.“And what the fuck are you gonna do about it, bitch?”
