It was only mid-morning, the Thursday before Memorial Day, and the day was already promising to be hot. I wanted to be floating along the Sometimes Raging Rapids that circled the outer perimeter of the park. For the adventuresome, it offered a detour through rushing waters and over short, plunging falls. When I was in the water, I was adventuresome.
Out of it … not so much.
For Abby and Morgan,
who went above and beyond.
With deepest appreciation.
CONTENTS
COVER
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TEASER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY JADE PARKER
COPYRIGHT
“Brawk! Welcome to Paradise Falls! Brawk!”
With my large tote bag slung over my shoulder, I looked up at the parrot sitting on a swing hanging from a tall pole. A leather leash kept him tethered to the swing. My best friend Caitlin Morgan, her brother Sean, and I had just passed through the entrance to Paradise Falls water park.
A sign warned not to feed the parrot. Still, Sean reached up and offered the bird some sort of treat.
“Brawk! Thanks, mate. Brawk!”
Sean grinned. “I taught him that last summer when I worked here and taking care of him was part of my duties.”
“Isn’t that against park rules, to feed him?” Caitlin asked.
“The rules apply to guests, not employees,” Sean said.
Sean had this real Men in Black thing going. Black jeans. Black T-shirt that was maybe a size too small and showed off the muscles that I knew he’d been working out to get. He had black hair that fell across his brow. All that black made his startling blue eyes really stand out — when his eyes were visible. Right now they were hidden behind dark sunglasses. But then so were mine and Caitlin’s. We’d been to the water park enough times as guests to know that the sun reflecting off the water and cement was glaringly bright.
“It’s so quiet,” Caitlin said as we followed the path to the main part of the park. “It’s kinda eerie.”
We heard no screams as people hurtled down the slides. No splashes as people hit the water. No yells. Nothing. But then the water park wouldn’t officially open for the summer for another hour.
“Enjoy it,” Sean said. “It’s my favorite time, right before the madness starts.”
We rounded a corner and the smell of chlorine hit me. I loved it. It called to the water sprite in me. There was nothing I enjoyed more than playing in water.
“Okay, I’ve got to go to the manager’s office,” Sean said. “Y’all wait here.”
“We know,” Caitlin said. “We read our letters.”
She really didn’t like him telling her what to do. He was two years older than us and had worked here the past two summers. He’d just been promoted to supervisor. I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out, because now he had a reason to tell her what to do — and she had to do it.
This summer, Caitlin and I were also working here. Our letters of employment had told us when to arrive and where to wait. Plus a banner that read SUMMER EMPLOYEES WAIT HERE was hanging between two palm trees.
“Just don’t get into any trouble,” Sean said.
“Like we would,” Caitlin mumbled.
“Yeah, you would,” he muttered before walking off.
Watching as he disappeared into a building, I wondered why he never talked to me. This morning, when they’d come to pick me up, I’d slid into the backseat with a brightly delivered “Hey!” I was pumped about our first day at work. Caitlin had turned around in the seat and given me a knuckle rap.
Sean had simply grunted. Maybe he wasn’t a morning person, or maybe he didn’t like me. Whenever I was visiting at Caitlin’s if I walked into a room and he was there, he’d mumble something and walk out. On the other hand, he was giving me a ride to work, so who knew? He’d never been mean to me or anything. We just had this strange ignore-each-other relationship going on.
“You know I had to make his lunch this morning,” Caitlin said like she was totally disgusted. “It’s the price I have to pay for him to drive us here every day.”
“That doesn’t seem fair. I mean, he works here, too. He has to come here anyway.”
“What can I say? My brother’s a total jerk.” She looked around. “So what do we do now?”
Caitlin had been my best friend since kindergarten. We did everything together, including taking a Red Cross class and getting CPR-certified so we’d be qualified to work here. We wanted to be lifeguards, but a lot of other positions were available at the water park: ride attendants, cleanup, food service, customer service, shop clerks. It was amazing, really.
“We wait, I guess. I wonder where everyone else is,” I said.
“They’ll be here. We’re just early because Sean had to go to a” — she made quote marks with her fingers — “supervisors’ meeting. He’s already throwing it in my face that he’s going to be in charge of me.”
As soon as she’d heard that she was hired, she’d cut her black hair so it was cropped all over, uneven lengths that really worked for her. If it got wet, all she had to do was fluff it with her fingers to make it look good. I’d considered cutting my long brown hair, but I liked having long hair. It was layered but I could still pull it back into a ponytail — - which is what I’d done this morning.
“You mean, like, he’ll be your supervisor?” I asked.
“I don’t think he can be mine. I think there are rules against that. You know how he is, though. He thinks he’s important now.”
“Well, he is. He’s a supervisor.” I was impressed anyway.
“Are you defending him? What are you? His lawyer?”
“What? No. I’m just saying. He’s young to be a supervisor. Aren’t most in college?”
“I guess. Just don’t say anything that’ll make it go to his head. He’s hard enough to live with.”
I was ready to drop the subject, so I looked around, even though I knew almost every aspect of the park. Caitlin and I had spent a lot of time here.
Behind me, the locker rooms were camouflaged to look like grass huts. To my right were several souvenir shops and a food court — also sporting a tropical-island atmosphere. Palm trees dotted the path, interspersed with shade trees. As a rule we didn’t have palm trees in north Texas, but they looked like they belonged — probably because the entire park had the tropics theme going.
Caitlin sighed. “Think anyone would notice if we sneaked over to Tsunami and just stuck our toes in the water?”
The pool that created awesome eight-foot waves was ahead of us. The sun glistened off the calm water.
“It’s a little hard to get there without leaving footprints in the sand.”
In front of Tsunami was the lounging deck, with real sand spread around the lounge chairs. I’m not talking sprinkled sand. I’m talking a foot of sand, enough so you could build sand castles and dig for buried treasure. Sometimes they hid cheap gold trinkets in the sand. You never knew when or where, but you’d hear someone yell when he found one.
“It might be harder to work here than I thought,” Caitlin said. “It’s so tempting to play.”
“No kidding.”
Behind the deck was the large, covered pavilion. On the other side of the deck, I could see the upwardly curving path that marked the beginning o
f Thrill Hill where the larger, more exciting slides waited.
We heard the parrot squawk, no doubt signaling the arrival of someone else.
“I think it would drive me crazy to work near the entrance,” Caitlin said. “I might end up strangling that bird.”
I smiled. I’m not usually a violent person, but I think the bird could challenge my patience.
A couple of guys emerged from the shadowy walkway. They grinned, looked a little self-conscious, and walked over to the side.
“Summer employees, you think?” Caitlin asked.
“Probably.”
They were wearing shorts, T-shirts, and sandals. Caitlin and I were wearing shorts and spaghetti-strap tops. We’d been a little nervous about our first day at work, so we’d talked last night and decided we’d wear something similar — that way if we were dressed wrong, at least we wouldn’t be alone in looking silly.
She’d asked Sean what to wear, but he’d only said, “You’re working at a water park. What do you think you wear?”
Sean wasn’t really into fashion. As a matter of a fact, I’d never seen him wear anything that wasn’t black.
It was only mid-morning, the Thursday before Memorial Day, and the day was already promising to be hot. I wanted to be floating along the Sometimes Raging Rapids that circled the outer perimeter of the park. For the adventuresome, it offered a detour through rushing waters and over short, plunging falls. When I was in the water, I was adventuresome. Out of it … not so much.
Although my favorite ride was Screaming Falls. For that wicked ride, you stepped into a box and the attendant pushed a button. The floor dropped out and you plummeted down an almost vertical slide, screaming all the way. It was awesome.
See? Adventuresome.
The parrot began seriously squawking, over and over, as more people began to arrive. I recognized a couple of kids from school, but most of the people gathering in the area were strangers.
A low hum vibrated around us as people talked quietly. People were clustering in small groups, probably friends, just like Caitlin and me. We were our own little clique. Sometimes I thought we needed to grow a bit, but Caitlin didn’t see the point. “We’d have to start taking votes on things,” she’d said. “You know, be democratic. I’d rather be queen.”
She always said it jokingly, but it was true. Usually Caitlin came up with the ideas, and I simply followed. The arrangement worked for us, because Caitlin liked to lead, and, well, I didn’t.
I was actually a little nervous about how I might respond in a crisis. I was pretty sure I could handle it, but I’d never been tested. I was really hoping that Caitlin and I would be working in the same area, would be paired up, partners.
Glancing around, I saw a girl sitting on a bench by herself. I hadn’t seen her come in. She had long, flowing blond hair. Park employee rules were that long hair had to be pulled back — I guess if it was whipping around your face you might have a problem seeing everything you needed to see.
Anyway, the girl was wearing large sunglasses that made her look like an actress or a supermodel. Or maybe it was the fact that she appeared to be totally bored. I wondered if she was here for a photo shoot. She just didn’t look like the type to work at a water park. Didn’t look like the type to work at all, actually. I’m not sure what it was about her that gave me that impression. She seemed aloof, not at all customer-oriented. Plus, she had a large leather tote bag resting near her feet. Who brought leather to a water park?
I noticed a lone guy with short-cropped dark hair standing nearby, watching her like maybe he wanted to go talk to her, but was too shy. Whenever she glanced over at him, he looked away. It was kinda funny in a sad sort of way. Reminded me of me, I guess.
I tended to look away from guys when they looked at me, like maybe they’d know what I’d been thinking as I watched them. I was fifteen and wasn’t all that comfortable talking to guys. Caitlin was better at it, because she at least had a brother to practice on. I was an only child.
Mom had fallen in love with my dad in high school. They got married right after they graduated. After I was born, Dad decided there was more to life than family and working at the neighborhood convenience store. So he and Mom had gotten divorced.
And he’d headed off into the sunset.
Total loser. I hated to admit that since half of me was carrying his genes. But he was. Mom and I had never heard from him again. Not even child support payments. When I was younger, I pretended he was in the Witness Protection Program. That he never contacted us because he wanted to protect us from the bad guys he was running from. But eventually I had to face reality: We weren’t in danger, Dad wasn’t trying to protect us. He was just ignoring us.
Mom was still a little guy-shy. And who could blame her? Maybe I’d taken after her, was a little guy-shy, too.
“You know we could meet a lot of guys this summer,” Caitlin whispered. “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we got a boyfriend?”
“You mean one to share?” I asked, teasing her.
“No, one each.” She didn’t smile or laugh at my joke. She was getting pretty tired of being boyfriend-less. “I read an article about summer romances. You have to be so careful because sometimes guys don’t take them seriously.”
She was also always looking for the answers to life in teen magazines.
“Isn’t that like when you meet someone on vacation?” I asked.
“Well, yeah.”
“All these people live around here.”
“So you think we’re safe from getting hurt?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just that he won’t be going away.”
“Unless he’s a college guy,” she said.
“Yeah, right, Mom’s going to let me date a college guy.”
Behind us, I heard a door slam shut. An older man wearing red shorts and a white polo shirt with the words PARADISE FALLS and a little waterfall embroidered on it strode through the crowd. He smiled, said hi, patted a shoulder here and there. A line of boys and girls, that included Sean, followed him.
The man hopped onto a bench in front of us the way some kids jumped onto their skateboards. So maybe he wasn’t as old as I thought he was.
“Welcome to Paradise Falls!”
The kids who had been following him lined up on either side of the bench. I figured they were all the supervisors.
“I like to introduce myself as Mr. T,” the guy on the bench said. “It’s simpler than my real name, which you either won’t remember or will butcher trying to pronounce.” He laughed, and I wondered if he was one of those people who laugh at their own jokes, mostly because no one else does.
“I’m the park’s general manager,” he continued. “We have our permanent employees who are in charge of various aspects of the park. You may or may not meet them. Then we have our summer supervisors, who you will come to know.
“Our job here — your job here — is to make sure our guests feel like they’ve stepped into paradise. Keeping them happy is our number one priority, that and keeping them safe. That’s a big responsibility, but we know you’re up to it or we wouldn’t have hired you.
“My assistant, Gretchen, has your assignments” — a young woman with blond hair standing beside him waved her hand — - “and once she passes those out, you’ll report to the customer service hut where we’ll pass out your uniforms. Enjoy the summer.” He pointed a finger at us, to dramatically emphasize his next words. “But mostly, be watchful out there.”
He hopped off the bench, and Gretchen climbed up. She smiled brightly. “All righty! Here we go!” She began calling out names and handing out the envelopes.
It was several minutes before she called out, “Caitlin Morgan!”
Caitlin released a little squeal like she’d just been announced the winner at the MTV Awards. She hurried forward to get her envelope.
“What did you get?” I asked her as soon as she came back to me.
“I thought I’d wait until you get yours.”
r /> “Don’t you want to know, like now?”
“Well, yeah, but —”
“Robyn Johnson!”
My heart slammed against my ribs. This was it. I edged my way past the people who were too interested in reading about their own assignments to really notice me. I wiped my hands on my shorts before taking the envelope.
I thought Sean was looking at me. It was a little hard to tell with his sunglasses. I smiled. He didn’t smile back. Okay, so he wasn’t looking at me. Or maybe he took his job too seriously to smile. Either way, I felt a little silly as I went back to where Caitlin waited.
She grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side, away from everyone else.
“Who should go first?” she asked, studying the envelope in her hand.
“You,” I told her.
“Okay.” She tore off the end of the envelope, blew into it — no doubt to build the suspense — then tipped it so the slip of paper fell into her hand. She turned slightly so I could read it at the same time that she did. She was just a little shorter than me, which made reading over her shoulder easy. She unfolded the paper —
“Yes!” she said before I got a chance to see what it said. “Tsunami! Hottie heaven! Yes, yes, yes!”
“That totally rocks!” I said. Wow. What could be better than being paid to hang out where the cute guys were?
She was grinning broadly when she turned to me. “Let’s see what you’ve got,” she said.
I couldn’t believe how nervous I was. My first job ever! I’d remember this summer forever.
I slid my fingernail beneath the flap, worked it free, and pulled out the sheet of paper. I unfolded it and stared at the bolded words. “Splash? What is Splash?”
I didn’t remember ever slipping and sliding my way along that slide. Was it new? Obviously, it created a splash, so it was probably a big ride, maybe a large waterfall or a multistory vertical drop —