Esme Stark is a new student at 7 Seas High. Granted, the year hasn't started much, but Esme is still the new student. Esme's grown up with twins before, so dealing with Zack and Cody is no different for her. Join Esme on her adventure with her new f...
Finally, it was mail-call time. I couldn't be even more excited. I opened it and started seeing pictures of everybody at home. My cat, Crookshanks, relaxing on what was in bed at home. A custom bookmark that my brother, Eric, made. It was dried flowers in resin that said "Stay Gold." And there looked like a couple of envelopes from everybody in the family in one box.
"Mulch!" Bailey shouted as she opened her box.
"Mulch?" Everybody asked.
Bailey grabbed a handful and sniffed it, "Rotted vegetables and wood chips." You could see tears coming in. "I think I'm gonna cry," Bailey said.
"Does it smell that bad?" Zack asked.
"No, it smells like home," Bailey said, "You know, this is the first year I'm missing the Kettlecorn Mulch Festival."
"Lemme guess, you were Miss Junior Mulch?" London tried asking as a joke.
"Three years running, actually," Bailey said proudly, "And this year, I would have been a shoo-in for corn queen." Then the tears really started to come in, "I miss home!" Bailey ran off to hers and London's room.
A couple of hours had passed by since the mail call. I was sitting in my room, looking at the pictures my family had printed off for me. A knock came across my door.
"Come in!" I shouted. I turned around when I saw that it was Cody.
"Esme, do you know anything about party planning?" Cody asked.
"Somewhat. Depends on what we're thinking," I admitted. I had thrown a few birthday parties for the twins.
"Awe, that's really sweet. I know Bailey's told me a lot about it, so I'll definitely help out as much as I can," I said with a big smile.
I was finishing up some decorations as I got up from my spot, only to flatten out my dress.
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"Thank you, so much, Esme for helping me get all of this setup. I wouldn't have been able to do this without you," Cody said.
"Not a problem, Cody. I want to help out. She's one of my best friends, and I know feeling homesick is one of the worst feelings," I said as I fixed my hat. I could Cody was freaking out about making this perfect for Cody. "Cody, calm down. I can see your brain going a million miles a second. Look at you, you can't even keep your eyes focused on one thing."
Mr. Moseby was laughing as he jumped on top of the cover for the hot tub.
"Howdy, partners. I'm Marion Moseby, your square dance caller," Mr. Moseby announced, "Let's all get ready to hoot and holler."
"Really? Moseby?" Zack questioned.
"Look, it was the only way I could get to use the sky deck," Cody said, "Apparently calling is on his bucket list."
"Bailey's coming!" London announced.
"Places, people!" I shouted, "Let's go! Move it!"
Everybody rushed to their spots. As soon as Bailey stepped in, everybody came out and shouted surprise.
"Wait a minute. Barrels of finely aged mulch. Every corn dish known to man," Bailey gasped when her eyes set on something, "The corn crown and cob scepter. If my pappy is passed out in a pickle barrel, this must be the mulch festival."
Cody looked over at the guy who looked like Bailey's grandfather, "You heard her, pappy. In the barrel." Cody looked at Bailey, "Welcome to Kettlecorn on the sea."
"Cody, this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me," Bailey thanked Cody.
"One more surprise!" London said, "I flew in your old boyfriend, Moose!"
"Hey, y'all!" Moose said as he walked onto the deck.
"Moose," Bailey ran over and hugged him.
"I have missed you more than pigs miss their ribs at a barbecue," Moose said. As silly as that phrase was, something about a country drawl made it sound really cute.
Mr. Moseby laughed once again as he got on top of the hot tub cover. "All right. It's square dancing time. Everybody grab a partner."
I smiled as I quickly, yet quietly ran over to Zack. "Wanna be partners?" I asked.
"I'd love to," Zack said with a smile. We ran over to the area where everybody was dancing.
"Gents, bow to your partners. Ladies, curtsy to your man," Mr. Moseby ordered. Naturally, everybody followed the orders. "And five, six, seven, eight... do-si-do your corners all. Walk or waddle, hop, or crawl. Now spin her round the whole darn boat. Don't swing too hard, she'll have to float."
Honestly, I had never done square dancing, but this was a lot of fun.
"Now sweep a quarter into your family. Peck like a chicken and buzz like a bee. Promenade right just like this. And blow your partner a big ole kiss."
Everybody was having a wonderful time, or at least I thought so. "I guess we'll cut this square dance short because Cody's not a very good sport," Mr. Moseby announced.
All of us groaned in annoyance. I sighed and started fanning myself with my hat.
Of course, that didn't stop the event. We naturally went on for the games and continued on with the night.
"It's time to crown the corn queen, so lend me your ears," Mr. Moseby announced, making himself laugh, "Now, one of you lovely ladies is going to take home the crown, and I guess the rest of you are gonna say aw, shucks."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at such corny jokes. Ah, shit. I did one. That was by accident, I swear.
"The winner is... The corn queen is... Bailey Pickett!" Mr. Moseby announced. "And by an overwhelming margin, our corn king is... Moose. Get up here, you big lug!"
Everybody was clapping and cheering for Moose and Bailey.
