Chapter 24: It is Summmmma!
Rikki’s POV
School’s out for summer. School’s out forever! Yay! It is officially summer. And I am thrilled. We are set to leave for a two week cruise tonight. Izzy and I are so excited for it. We have never been the Caribbean. So it is yet another thing to check off the bucket list.
Just a few more hours in the house, and then I am free. For two weeks, at least. All I have to do now is pack. I know I should have pack earlier. But I didn’t want to pack and get ready for it and then have Aunt Jane tell me I’m not going after all. I kind of doubt she is going to change her mind now. We leave for the airport in three hours and then the cruise starts tomorrow morning.
So what should I bring to the Caribbean? Shorts, tank tops, flip-flops, swimsuits, and a whole lot of sunscreen. That is just about all. I think. I hope. Everything is just in a pile on the bed. I have no clue how it is all going to fit in to the suitcase.
It took ten tries to pack everything in a way that would maybe possibly allow me to zip up the suitcase, if Izzy and I sit on it. Even then it’s going to be hard.
“Izzy? Rikki? Are you two ready yet?” Aunt Jane bellowed up the stairwell.
Simultaneously, we responded, “Yes.”
We raced down the stairs with our bags banging around behind us. “We’re here,” we said with a smile.
“Good because the taxi is out front. So let’s get going.”
We piled in and the driver started off to the airport. We are flying out of a local little airport to JFK in New York and then down to Florida from there. Which mean a lot of sitting around and waiting.
Our first flight isn’t for another hour and half but thanks to all of the security we have to go now. Yay... But since it is ten pm, security shouldn’t be a problem.
The taxi stopped in a drop off zone in the parking lot. We climbed out and grabbed our bags. As expected, security took like ten minutes. So now we have an hour of sitting here until boarding.
We sat down in the really uncomfortable plastic chairs. About ten seconds later, Izzy grabbed my hand and pulled me to the little news stand. “Let’s get some reading material for the flight.” I don’t have the heart to tell her I was planning on attempting to sleep the entire time. Or reading the book I brought, not reading some gossip rag.
She went around scanning though magazines with me trailing right behind her. She finally chose a few and went to buy them. By the time she was done paying and we made it back to Aunt Jane our flight was boarding.
The plane is one of those tiny little ones. It only seats like thirty people. We walked down the aisle and past 5 rows of seats. We are right in the middle of the plane. Izzy and I go to one side of the aisle and Aunt Jane went on the other side. That’s the way the plane is. There are two seats on one side and one on the other.
We settled in and I took the time to look around. There are only four other people on the plane. A man came back and asked us all to unfasten our seatbelts and be prepared to move our seats to balance out the plane.
He approached Izzy and me. He asked Izzy to follow him. He sat her down about two rows up. Aunt Jane is the being moved to the first row and I get to stay right where I am.
The plane starts moving towards the runway. And a few minutes later, we were airborne. I love little planes. They stay low enough to the ground to actually see the area below you.
My ears kept popping as we climbed up through the air. When we leveled off I put my headphones and let the music play. I searched through the my library looking for one song in particular. I skipped all the way down to ‘s.’ The song’s title shoed up the screen and I hit the center button.
Well we got no choice
All the girls and boys
Makin all that noise
'Cause they found new toys
Well we can't salute ya
Can't find a flag
If that don't suit ya
That's a drag
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Well we got no class
And we got no principles
And we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Out for summer
Out till fall
We might not go back at all
School's out forever
School's out for summer
School's out with fever
School's out completely
“Get up. Rikki, get up. Now.”
“Uh?”
“We’re in New York. Are you planning on getting off the plane or what?”
“I’m getting up. Relax, Izzy.”
I wrapped my headphones around the iPod and then shoved it into my pocket. Before I had even unbuckled my seatbelt, Izzy was pulling me out of my seat.
When we disembarked the airplane, it was obvious that this is a huge airport. The gate the plane is at is probably bigger than the whole other airport.
“How long is the layover?”
“Two hours.”
Joy. Now we get to hang around an airport for two hours. What the hell are we supposed to do for the next two hours. Well, we could do what I like to do when I’m bored.
“Let’s go find some food.”
“But it’s midnight.”
“Exactly. It’s not called a midnight snack for nothing.”
We roamed around looking for a good place to get some food. Before long we had found a McDonald’s. Izzy walked right up and ordered a number 7 Grilled Chicken sandwich, plain.
“How do you eat that crap? It’s so bad for you.”
“That’s why I get it grilled not fried.”
“But it’s still soaked in grease and other junk.”
“Just let me enjoy my food in peace.”
Looking around I found an Aunt Annie’s pretzel stand. They have the best pretzels. And they should. It’s all they do, well for the most part.
“A peperoni pretzel and medium lemonade.” The guy at the counter grabbed me a pretzel and handed it to me. He went to fill up the cup with lemonade. While I waited for him, I scanned the area and took in all the different people.
It is amazing how different people can be. Some men were in suits and obviously trying to get somewhere soon for business if they are flying at this hour. Others are wearing jeans and look exhausted. And a select few and wearing sweats and yoga pants, tying to look all relaxed but falling miserably.
I turned around and the guy was back. I handed him a five and left. I sat down across from Izzy, who stopped devouring her sandwich and moved on to the fries.
“Only you would lecture me about grease and then go order a peperoni pretzel. Actually let me rephrase that. Only you would order a peperoni pretzel.”
“Well, obviously, other people like this pretzel or they wouldn’t still offer it.”
We sat there talking for a while but I don’t think either of us realized how long we sat there for until we heard our flight being called out for boarding.
Since this plane is so much bigger we actually were sitting in our assigned seats. And all three of us were sitting in the same row. The flight attendants were showing us how to properly fasten our seatbelts.
It’s one of those things that you should probably already know how to do. But I guess you never know. I took this time to start chewing some gum. This plane is going to be way higher in the sky than the last one, and my ears are going to be popping but hopefully the gum will help.
X X X X X X X X X X X X
When we landed in Florida, the sun was hadn’t started to rise yet. By the time we had our bags and were in a taxi it was 5 am and the sun was quickly rising, as was the temperature.
The taxi driver knew exactly where to go and got us to the ship in no time. We aren’t allowed to start getting on the ship for another hour so we went around looking at little shops in the area. None of them are actually open, but we went window shopping.
We walked down the pier and back and by the time we were back the custom agents were at the end of the ram that leads up to the ship. They asked to see our passports and we handed them over. They inspected them and gave us the all clear.
We made our way up the ramp to the ship and at the top they asked to see our tickets. They looked them over and told us to go up to level 15.
We climbed in an elevator and went up 15 levels as directed. When the doors opened, a large hallway was waiting. On the wall opposite of the elevator was a plaque with the room numbers on them. Aunt Jane checked the papers and then the sign. She started walking to the left and we just followed.
She suddenly stopped and Izzy walked right into her. She mumbled a quick sorry. Aunt Jane didn’t even acknowledge her and opened the door using a key pad. I don’t know where she got the code from but it worked and the keypad lit up green.
She turned the handle to our room and walked in, as we followed her. Looking around, I realize saying room is not true. We have a freaking suite! Izzy and I share a look and plop down on the couch.
“This is so… so… wow,” I say with a smile.
“I know.”
“Girls, that door goes to my room. Don’t go in. That door leads to your room. The code to the door is 8956. Got it?”
We nod our heads and grab our bags. We run over to the door that leads to our room. There are two beds. One is by the window and the other is by a wall. We race to the window bed but my legs carry me faster and I am victorious. Ha.
I throw my bag down and walk up to the window. Well, it’s actually a glass door and it leads out to our balcony. How cool is that?
“I cannot believe this is our room for the next 14 days.” I say while looking out over the harbor. Meaning we will always be looking out over it. We won’t have to look at the piers.
“You want to explore?”
“Of course.”
We yelled to Aunt Jane that we are going to check out the ship. When we don’t hear any response we figure it’s okay to do so.
We head back to the deck. We passed more people on the way to the elevator. I check my watch and see it is only seven. People have three more hours before the ship leaves.
Izzy and I reach the deck and start checking it out. There is a huge pool and hot tub. They even have one of those surfing wave pool things. We found the arcade and the dining room area. I overlooked the teen club but Izzy was so excited when we found it. I basically had to drag her away to get her to keep looking around. We came across a rock climbing wall and we weren’t the only ones there.
There were two guys standing there. They are probably around the same age as us. And one started chatting with Izzy and the other with me.
“So, what’s your name? I’m Jet.”
“I’m Rikki and interesting name.”
The other boy then turned to me as well and introduced himself as Dylan. We started walking around and getting to know the guys.
“So where are you guys from?”
“Santa Monica.”
“California? You guys live in California?” Leave it to Izzy to ask that.
“Yeah. What about you two?”
“We are from a town up in Massachusetts.”
“Well, I don’t know about you three, but I want to go see the teen lounge.”
“I’ll come with you. See you later, Rikki and Jet.”
I watched as she left me alone with Jet.
“So… are you two like sisters?”
“Twins, actually. Are you and Dylan?”
“No. Our families are just really close.”
“Isn’t like really hot out here?”
He chuckled. “Not really. But I guess I’m used to it. Do you want to hit the pool?”
“Sure. It sounds like fun.”
We went to the elevator and waited for it to come back down. When the doors opened, a bunch of people came streaming out. When they had cleared the area, we went in. Jet turned to me and asked what floor I’m on.
“Uh, 15.”
“Really? That’s the same as us. Well, this just got a lot easier.”
We rode in silence up to our floor. The doors opened but no one was there. We stepped out and the doors closed. “Which way?
“Left.” We walked until we got to my room and we both stopped. “I’ll see you in a few minutes, I guess.” I turned and punched in 8956.
“Wait, that’s you room?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because I am right across the hall from you. And Dylan in down the hall.”
“Oh.”
I walked in and went to my bag. I pulled out the bikini that was on top. It was a simple blue and white striped top and bottom. I pulled on a set of mesh shorts and put back on the tank top I had been wearing.
I yelled out to Aunt Jane again but there was still no answer. Maybe she isn’t in here. I don’t really care.
I reached for the door handle, just as a knock was on the other side. I pulled open the door and Jet was on the other side. “Ready?”
“Yup.” We went down the hallway that is quickly getting very familiar. The pool isn’t that busy even though we have already left the port. I guess people are still getting settled in.
I took my shirt off and threw it on a random chair. While I was looking around, I heard a splash. A few seconds later Jet’s head popped up out of the water. “Well? Are you coming in?”
I drove in and surfaced just behind Jet. Well, it would have been right behind him, if he hadn’t turned around. It was a little awkward how close we were to each other.
He splashed water in my face and yelled race you. He started swimming to the other side of the pool. I started after him but it was no use. He was going way too fast.
“How do you swim so fast?”
“I’m on my school’s swim team and I’ve basically grown up in water.”
“Oh. Yeah, guess that makes sense.”
“Do you do any sports?”
“Not anymore.”
“What did you do?”
“I played softball most of my life until I moved out to Massachusetts and I used to ride horses.”
“Why did you stop?”
“I didn’t want to play softball anymore and I had to sell my horse.”
“So what grade are you going into?”
“I’ll be senior in the fall. What about you?”
“A senior? There is no way you are going to be senior. You can’t be older than me.”
“How old are you?”
“15.”
“Your right. I’m not older than you. I skipped two grades. I’m only 14, but I will be 15 in a few weeks.”
“You skipped two grades?”
“Yeah and my sister skipped one.”
“Are you some sort of geniuses?”
“Technically, yeah.” People were starting to fill the pool. “You want to go do something else? This is getting really crowded.”
He nodded and we went over to the chair that had our shirts. I pulled mine over my swimsuit top and so did Jet. But before he did, I got a glimpse of his six pack.
It isn’t something that impresses me but it was impressive at the same time. “What do you want to do?”
“Wanna meet up with Dylan and Izzy?”
“Sure.”
We went towards the teen lounge. More people inside now and it was a lot harder to find Izzy than I thought it would be. But when I did find her she was sitting on a couch with Dylan and another few people. She happened to look up right when I saw her.
She jumped up and grabbed my hand. “What time is it?”
“Uhh… 1:30.”
“We should get going then. We are supposed to be meeting Aunt Jane at a quarter of.”
“Bye, Jet. Bye, Dyla-” Izzy started pulling me before I could finish. “Calm down. And when did Aunt Jane say she wanted us to meet her?”
“She didn’t. But Dylan is incredibly annoying. All he talks about is swimming. I was starting to think is a mermaid. Or merman, I guess. But enough about Dylan. Tell me about Jet?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what do you think of him? I mean he is hot. So are you going to be spending a lot of time with him or…?”
“I don’t know. But he is in the room across from us. So I guess it’s possible.”
X X X X X X X X X X X X
The last two weeks have flown by. I have spent nearly every day with Jet and Izzy seems to think I have a crush on him. But every time she says something. I think about it and I’ve come to realize something. I may not have a thing for Jet but I do have a crush on Jake.
Jet and I are going to do the rock wall one last time before we make it to the dock. And I am supposed to be meeting him in the hallway right now but Izzy is still going on about me liking Jet.
“Izzy, stop. I want you to listen carefully. I do not like Jet that way.”
“Why not?”
“I like Jake. Okay? So can we drop it?”
“I knew it. I knew you had a crush on Jake.” It never ends.
“Two seconds ago you were sure I liked Jet. Who I am supposed to be meeting right now. I will see you in an hour.”
I swung open the door and Jet was right outside. I nearly walked into him. “Hi. You ready?”
I nodded my head and we walked down to the elevator. There was no line for the wall and we were in our harnesses in no time. We have done the wall so many times, we know which equipment to grab.
“I’m going to try the hard one.” If you can reach the top of one of the section, there is a bell to ring. Jet tried it a few days ago but couldn’t quite get there.
“Go for it.” I started climbing. The only thoughts going through my head was how much I have changed in the last two weeks. The first time we had climbed, I was terrified to go up. But now I am ready to go.
But now it’s time to focus. Hand. Foot. Hand. Foot. Hand. Foot. Hand. Foot. Just a few more feet. Hand. Foot. Hand. Foot. The rope is right there. If I stretch a little more, I might be able to reach it. Hand. Foot.
Ring. Ring. Ring. I did it. I actually made it to the top. Oh my god. I did it. I quickly repelled back down to the ground. The second my feet hit the deck, Jet pulled me into a hug and lifted me off the ground.
“Jake would have loved to see that.”
“How do you know about Jake?”
“I could hear you and Izzy earlier.”
“Oh. That’s embarrassing.”
“Don’t stress over it. I might not know this Jake, but I suggest you tell him how you feel. He might be too shy to tell you.”
“Why would he be too shy to tell me something like that?”
“You really don’t know how beautiful you are, do you?” I could feel my cheeks getting red. No one has ever complemented me like that.
“Bye, Jet. I’ve had fun with you. Stay in touch, okay?”
I ran away from him before he could see me blushing. I heard him yell bye behind me but I was already gone.
X X X X X X X X X X X X
Another chapter! And it is probably the longest one. Alright, the song on the side is School’s Out For Summer by Alice Cooper. Awesome song, weird dude. The next chapter should be up in a few days.
I want to thank all the people who read this. I know I say it every chapter. But these last few days, my reads have jumped up a little bit and it really made me want to write again. I had been losing steam but I have it back. So thank you.
-Siobhan