Dolphin Dreams, page 9
I stopped my bike, wheeling it behind a panel truck parked at the curb before the two of them—especially Kady—could look up and see me. I stayed there, quiet as a mouse, as the cousins started walking my way. I could hear them from my hiding spot. Kady was doing most of the talking, telling Avery all about the kids in our class and which ones she would want to be friends with. Needless to say, I wasn’t on the list.
It seemed to take forever before they made it safely past me. As soon as they’d disappeared around the corner on Center Street, I bolted for home, taking the long way around so there was no chance I’d run into them.
“I thought it never rained in Southern California,” I joked as I sat down to breakfast on Sunday morning, glancing toward the window as a gust rattled the panes.
“It usually doesn’t, at least not this time of year.” Uncle Phil chuckled as he handed me a glass of orange juice. “Looks like it’s going to start any second now, though. You two must’ve brought the weather with you from the Midwest.”
“Maybe we did.” Mom sounded cheerful. She was flipping through a local real estate booklet as she sipped her coffee. “Does this mean no surfing today, Cam?”
“No way.” Cam gulped down a spoonful of cereal. “This weather has the waves macking like crazy! It’s going to be epic out there today. Want to come, Avery?”
Kady looked up from her phone. “She’s busy,” she informed her brother. “We’re going to the mall to try on shoes.”
“Actually, can I take a rain check on that, Kady?” I smiled weakly. “Get it—rain check?”
She didn’t look impressed. “You don’t want to go?”
“Not today.” Now that Kady had finally decided she liked me, I’d been having fun with her that week. But most of the fun had been stuff she liked to do, and today I wasn’t in the mood for shopping or gossiping or whatever.
That didn’t mean I wanted to go surfing with Cam, though. The unsettled weather had rolled in yesterday afternoon, and when I’d gone to the overlook to watch for dolphins, the waves had looked scary big down on the beach. I might be getting better at this ocean stuff, but that didn’t mean I wanted to take unnecessary risks.
Aunt Janice was bustling around, occasionally checking on some eggs sizzling on the stove while she unloaded the dishwasher. “Maybe we can set up some viewings today,” she said, patting me on the shoulder as she hurried past. “You haven’t even seen any of the places we’ve looked at yet. Don’t you want some say in where you’ll be living?”
“Sure, I guess.” I wasn’t really in the mood for house hunting, either. For some reason, nothing I could think of sounded that appealing.
After breakfast, I settled for flipping through magazines in the living room. In the kitchen, I could hear my mother on the phone with the Realtor.
Cam poked his head in. “Sure you don’t want to come?” he said.
“I’m sure.” I smiled at him. “Have fun.”
Kady didn’t bother to check in, though I could hear her chatting on the phone with one of her friends as she left a short while later. The magazines weren’t really holding my attention, so I tossed them aside and wandered over to look out the window. The sky was clouded over and angry-looking, and wind was whipping the trees around, though it wasn’t actually raining yet. I thought about going to the cove, since Maria probably wouldn’t be there on such a gloomy day.
Would the dolphins be there? I missed them. Seeing them at a distance from the overlook wasn’t the same as watching them play in the cove just a few feet away. Still, the thought of being in the cove alone wasn’t that appealing, either. What if something happened? A little prickle of fear tickled my mind as I thought back to how I’d felt after Maria had stomped off the other day, leaving me stranded out on the water all by myself …
Just then the doorbell buzzed, making me jump. “I’ll get it,” I hollered, heading that way.
When I swung open the door, I was surprised to see Maria standing there, almost as if my thoughts had conjured her. “Hi,” she said, clutching her sketchbook to her chest. Behind her, a bike leaned against the gate. “Um, are you still mad?”
“Are you?” I countered. “You’re the one who ran off.”
She flapped her hand as if shooing away my comment. “Whatever. The thing is, I haven’t seen Seurat since that day, and I’m starting to get worried about him.”
“Since what day?”
“Avery?” my aunt’s voice called from inside. “Who is it?”
“It’s for me!” I called back. Then I stepped outside and shut the door behind me. The breeze gusted past, making me shiver in my thin T-shirt. “So, when did you last see him?” I asked Maria.
“Not since the day you—the day we—” She shrugged. “Not since the last time I saw you.”
“Oh.” I did some quick mental math. “Wait—are you sure? I mean, that’s more than a week!”
“I know.” The little crease in her forehead deepened. “That’s why I came.”
Now I was worried, too. I tried to remember the last time I’d seen the black-and-white dolphin from the overlook, but I was drawing a blank. Could it have been that long?
“I hope he’s okay,” I said, thinking again of that weird lump. “Let’s check the cove again. With the storm coming, the dolphins might be in there, right?”
I ducked inside just long enough to tell my mom where I was going and ask to borrow a bike. Aunt Janice told me to take Kady’s, since she never used it anymore. It was pink, with a big, white wicker basket on the front with a latching lid.
“Fancy,” was Maria’s only comment when I wheeled it out of the garage.
I rolled my eyes. “Want to put your sketchbook in here?” I said, seeing that she was trying to wedge it into the waistband of her shorts. I flipped open the basket, which was empty other than some dusty old spiderwebs.
Maria hesitated only slightly before dropping the sketchbook into the basket. I dropped the binoculars in there, too, just in case we needed them.
“Let’s go,” Maria said, hurrying toward her own bike. “It’s going to rain soon.”
We rode fast to the cove, leaving our bikes tipped over at the top of the trail. Down on the beach, it was less windy, but the spray was still flying, making me squint as I peered out at the water.
“Do you see anything?” I asked, stepping closer to the surf.
Maria just shook her head. “Should have brought my board,” she muttered. “It’s too hard to see from the beach. Maybe we should swim out there.”
“No,” I said quickly, shooting a look at the churning, wind-whipped waves. “We’d see if any dolphins were out there. Maybe we should check from the overlook.”
“You couldn’t think of that when we were at your house?” she muttered. But then she sighed and gave an elaborate shrug. “Fine. Let’s go back.”
I gritted my teeth, knowing what she was thinking. That I was a big chicken. But I pushed that thought aside quickly. Seurat might need us; this was no time to start arguing again.
We spent another half hour on the overlook with my binoculars before the wind got bad enough to chase us off the cliffs. Once we saw a few dolphins far out, but even though we took turns with the binoculars, we couldn’t see Seurat’s distinctive, mottled body among the others.
“Where do you think he could be?” I asked as we wheeled our bikes along the sidewalk.
Maria just shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if he shows up soon.”
We stared at each other for a moment, the worry in her dark eyes a mirror of my own state of mind. What had happened to Seurat?
It was raining by dinnertime, and the house felt stuffy and overcrowded with all the windows shut. Especially the overcrowded part—once again, half the world seemed to have decided to show up for Sunday dinner. My abuelita had brought a friend from the community center along with Aggie. Tia Teresa and her family arrived in an extra talkative mood. My second cousin Gil had turned up from college in search of a home-cooked meal. One of my dad’s racquetball buddies came and brought a much younger girlfriend who giggled at everything. My mother had invited two single ladies from the church. Today two of Josie’s friends had tagged along, and, of course, Sofia was there, sitting very close to Nico.
There was barely room for everyone in the dining room. I ended up sitting at the overflow table with four-year-old Oscar and Josie’s little gang. The older girls all seemed to consider it my duty to entertain my nephew, which meant I had to sit there listening to him babble about some online video game through most of the meal.
That was okay, though. Oscar didn’t really seem to notice or care whether I was actually paying attention, so I allowed my mind to drift back to Seurat. Avery had seemed just as worried about him as I was, which somehow made me feel a little better. But not that much better. Since his first visit to the cove, I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t seen Seurat for more than a couple of days in a row. While it was true that I hadn’t been there as often lately, it still seemed odd that neither Avery nor I had caught even a brief glimpse of the spotted dolphin since the day of our fight. Had he sensed the bad feelings between us and decided to leave for more pleasant climes? Or was it what I’d thought before—was he disappointed in my failure to convince my parents to let me go to art camp?
I shook my head, knowing I was being silly but unable to stop those kinds of thoughts from crawling through my head like ants through a melon.
“What?” Oscar demanded, taking my gesture for a response to whatever he was saying at the time. “I did too get the high score, Maria, don’t say I didn’t!”
His whiny voice was loud enough to cut through the din at the main table. Tia Teresa glanced over.
“Everything okay over there, sweet pea?” she called to Oscar in a singsong voice.
“Don’t worry,” my sister told her with a smile. “Oscar’s in good hands. Didn’t you hear, Maria is a real babysitter now!”
“Thanks to our Josie,” Papa added with a proud smile for both of us.
I winced as all eyes turned in my direction. From that point on I had to fend off questions from everyone about my new babysitting career. It was hard not to notice that nobody so much as mentioned the art program, though. It was as if my parents had completely forgotten that whole conversation. I doubted my mother had even bothered to tell Tia Teresa about it, even though she normally told her absolutely everything.
Unfortunately, it was raining too hard to even consider sneaking off to the cove after dinner. Josie and her friends were heading out to a movie, so at least I had our room to myself. I decided to hide out there and sketch to take my mind off everything.
There was just one problem. My sketchpad wasn’t in my bag, or the drawer in my bedside table, or on my desk, either. Where had it gone?
I sat on the edge of my bed, trying to think back over the day and figure out where I might have left it. Was it in the cove? It wouldn’t be the first time I’d accidentally forgotten it on the beach.
Glancing at the rain-streaked window, I grimaced. If it was there, it would be soaked by now.
“Oh well,” I muttered. “Not much I can do about it until tomorrow.”
Instead, I grabbed a library book about dolphins that I’d checked out while I was finishing up my sketch. I flipped through it idly, lingering over the nicer photos. When I reached the end, I found the receipt and realized the book was overdue.
I groaned, leaning over to slip the book into my bag. I’d have to be sure to return it tomorrow, and be grateful that at least now I had my own money from babysitting so I didn’t have to ask my parents for help to pay the fine.
At least there was that small silver lining in this mostly terrible day.
Monday was gloomy and windy, but the rain had ended, at least for the moment. I went down to the cove after breakfast, but there was no sign of my sketchpad there—or of the dolphins, either.
I continued on to the small public library. The librarian, a stern-looking Anglo lady with a long nose, observed me with faint suspicion while I dug bills and coins out of my pockets. I’d just finished paying the fine when I heard someone call my name.
It was Zach O’Malley, a boy from my class at school with an unruly strawberry blond cowlick and a toothy grin. He was one of the few boys who talked to me, since we’d had art class together last year and he’d noticed my drawings. He could barely sketch a recognizable stick figure himself, but he had an incredible talent for sculpture, turning lumps of clay into vividly rendered people and animals.
“Maria!” he said, hurrying over as I stepped away from the library’s front desk. “How’s it going? Guess what?”
That was typical for Zach. He never seemed to stop talking, not even to wait for an answer to his questions. Sure enough, he continued on without me having to say a word.
“I’m doing those art classes at the college this fall!” he said, beaming.
“Really?” I blurted out. “You got in?”
“Yeah.” He flashed his face-splitting grin at me. “I sent a bunch of pictures of my stuff, and they practically begged me to come.”
I smiled weakly. “Congratulations.”
“So what about you?” He gave me what was probably supposed to be a friendly poke on the arm, though it actually hurt a little. “Did you apply?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I won’t have time for that. Actually, I’m kind of busy right now. See you around.”
“Bye,” he called after me as I hurried off to hide in the stacks, too flustered to figure out how to maneuver around him toward the exit.
I lurked back there until he’d left, looking through the dolphin books I’d read fifty times already and feeling like the world’s biggest loser.
I didn’t remember any of my dreams when I woke up on Monday morning, but I had a strange sense of uneasiness. Maybe it was just the weather, which had stayed stormy for most of the night. But my first thoughts were of Seurat, and I decided to go check the overlook right after breakfast. Cam asked if I wanted to go surfing, but I was too distracted, and besides, the waves were probably too big for me in this kind of weather.
When I got ready to go, at first I couldn’t remember where I’d left the binoculars. Then it came to me—they had to still be in Kady’s bike basket.
I went out to the garage to get them. When I flipped open the basket, I was surprised to see Maria’s sketchbook in there, too.
“Guess she forgot about it,” I murmured. I flipped it open. The sketches looked just as good in the dim light of the garage as they had under bright sunshine down at the cove. The girl was seriously talented. Too bad her family couldn’t appreciate that.
I was sure she had to be missing the book. When I flipped back to the front, I saw that she’d written her name and address on the inside front cover in small, tidy letters. I decided to return it, and maybe see if Maria wanted to help me look for Seurat again.
It only took a few minutes to reach Maria’s neighborhood by bike. Instead of hugging the coast, like I did to get to the cove, I turned inland, deeper into the neighborhood. Maria lived on West Manzanilla Street, and I slowed down to peer at each sign I passed.
A few people were out and about and most of them stared at me as I passed, as if they knew I didn’t belong there. I couldn’t help remembering what Kady and Cam had said about this part of town.
But I also remembered what Maria had said. And she was the one who lived here. Why should I feel weird? I was just visiting a friend.
So when I spotted an old man washing his car at the curb, I slowed my bike. “Hi,” I called to him, trying to sound friendly. “I’m looking for an address … ”
The man had a thick accent that was a little hard to understand at first. But he was nice, asking me to repeat Maria’s address and then pointing the way.
His directions were good. I stopped my bike in front of a one-story stucco house with cheerful blue shutters and a flowering shrub in the front yard. According to the number on the mailbox, this was where Maria lived.
I grabbed Maria’s sketchbook out of the basket. Then I left my bike by the mailbox and knocked on the front door.
“Coming!” a girl’s voice hollered from inside, though I was pretty sure it wasn’t Maria.
I was right. A moment later a teenage girl opened the door.
“Oh,” I exclaimed. “It’s you!”
It was the girl I’d seen out jogging—the one who’d pointed me to the cove that very first time. I realized I should have figured out that this was Maria’s sister, the super popular athlete she’d mentioned a couple of times. After all, this girl had told me her little sister liked hanging out at the cove, and as far as I knew, Maria and I were the only ones who ever went there.
“You must be Josie,” I blurted out as Maria’s sister stared at me as if trying to figure out who I was. “I’m Avery—Maria’s friend?”
Josie looked surprised. “Maria’s friend,” she echoed, as if the words were unfamiliar. “Hi, Avery. Sorry, Maria isn’t here right now. Want me to give her a message?”
“No thanks, I’ll catch up with her later.” I started to turn away, keeping the sketchbook hidden behind my back. It wasn’t as if I could leave it with Josie, since Maria had told me plenty of times that she didn’t show her art to her family.
Then I hesitated. Wasn’t that the whole problem? Maybe this was why they didn’t get her. Maybe this was why they’d said no to the art program.
“Actually,” I said, turning back before Josie could shut the door. “You could give her this for me.” I held out the sketchbook. “She left it in my bike basket, and I know she’s probably already missing it.”
“Is that her book of scribbles?” Josie took the book. “Yeah, she carries this around with her everywhere. I can’t believe she forgot it.”
“I know, right?” I reached over and opened the book to one of the drawings. “There’s some great stuff in here, isn’t there? I can’t believe your parents won’t let her go to that art program.”
