Chapter 01
A Work in Progress...
It was a bad habit, but Peg rolled her eyes every time the coach called them, “Ladies.”
Like right now, “Ok ladies, this was a really good session today! I think our new Varsity team is here on the field but I want to see all of you back here on Thursday for the final tryouts.”
It’s not like Coach Julie was old, she was probably a bit younger than her mom, but Peg still thought it was just icky and kind of old-lady-ish to call a bunch of kids “ladies.” But what other word was there? It’s not like an adult can swear at school and say “ok you softball badasses!” or even “BAs” Anyhow, Coach Julie seems to know her stuff, and she seems fair. And that’s really what you want in a coach, right?
Peg shouldered her gear bag and walked over to the bike racks to head home. She found herself walking next to another one of the “ladies” from the group. She wondered if they’d both make the team.
“Wow, you were so fast out there!” Peg said with a smile.
The other girl smiled back, “You weren’t so bad either. What was your name? Peg, right? You’re new here?”
“Yeah, I’m Peg. What is your name?”
“I’m Lianna.”
“Nice to meet you, I hope we both end up on the team. And yeah, I moved here over the summer, my parents are the new managers of The Luau.” She left off the word “Grand” because it seemed like a weird way to brag -- it’s not like she owned it or anything. She had learned over the years that it’s easier to make new friends if you don’t make a first impression as a jerk.
“OH yeah! I knew you looked familiar, but I didn’t think I had seen you at school. My mom works at The Luau and sometimes I hang around, even though she says it’s against the rules for staff to bring their kids.”
“Haha, well, stick with me. Maybe as a friend of the manager’s daughter, you can hang out wherever you want and not even your mom can worry. Did you grow up here?” she paused, “That’s gotta be so cool!”
“Ummm, yeah, it’s cool. Until it’s super boring. Haha, but don’t let me ruin it for you. Where are you from?”
“We’ve lived in lots of cities -- the hotel ownership company sends my parents around to lots of places for like two or three years at a time. They’re some kind of power couple of hotel management or something. I don’t know exactly. We were in Seattle before this, and then in Chicago.”
“That’s cool. Did you live on a boat in Seattle?”
“Ha, no, that’s just in the movies. Well, I mean, I guess people do… but it’s usually not families. We were kinda more downtown. But we live at The Luau now, instead of off-site at a house like we usually do. How often do you hang around? It seems strange that I wouldn’t have seen you yet.”
“My mom is there pretty much full time. She’s Leslie, the housekeeping manager. But when I hang out, I’m usually trying to blend in on a beach chair or near the pool. She wants me kinda lay low, not to get her in trouble. You know… ”
“I get that. But my parents would be cool.”
“Yeah, but mine wouldn't.”
Peg and Lianna laughed and continued across the field behind the school toward the bike racks and easily fell into step together. They unlocked their bikes and started to ride home. Well, home for Peg. To hang out at the pool for the both of them.
While they ride across town, let’s take a moment to explore where they are headed. The Grand Luau Hotel was a resort with a capital R and a cherry on top. The Grand Luau had a golf course, boat and jetski rentals, steel drums, fire pits, twice weekly replica luaus, hiking and fishing excursion trips, Scuba lessons, a daycare for children of guests, and everything all rolled up into one. Not to mention the two full-service restaurants, one cafe, one bar (fancy) and one bar (beach-side), and the catering. You can (for a fee, of course) schedule a time to swim with dolphins or hike a volcano with a geologist tour guide. It’s all very top drawer. Every so often the art in the hallways and lobbies was switched out to feature a new and different local artist. But Peg didn’t know most of that yet.
It took much more than an hour to walk across the whole area, but no one ever really did that because The Grand Luau had a whole fleet of custom golf carts. Peg had been given a golf cart of her own as a “Welcome to Hawai’i” and a “We’re sorry you had to leave your friends back in Seattle so suddenly” gift. She wasn’t quite sixteen yet so she definitely wasn’t going to be driving out on the real streets. But, so far, a motorized cart with a good radio and about 100 acres to roam around on was an obvious bribe, but it was a bribe that was working.
The Harrison family had arrived in [city name] about three weeks earlier and had quickly begun to settle in. Because they moved so often, Peg was homeschooled with online classes and therefore she had a pretty flexible schedule. She’d start every morning with several hours of classwork in a shared office with her parents and then take the middle of the day to go exploring. This would be perfect because now she can join Lianna in an afternoon of homework by the pool sipping a Coke with grenadine and Maraschino cherries from the bar.
It was Tuesday, and even though it was only the second week of school, both girls had a lot going on. Especially if they both made the softball team.
“Two Cherry Coke Fancys, coming right up!” Cami, the bartender, said with a smile and a wink to Lianna, “I wondered when you two kids would meet up.”
“Yeah, I guess you know the place better than I do.” Peg said to Lianna. “But not for long! I’ve decided to memorize all the places and the paths and find all four private beaches the brochure mentions.”
“Four? I can only think of two…”
“Well, one of them is technically off the property, we just have access.” The bartender added this like half a fact as she walked away after delivering the sodas.
“I guess we already have our first adventure.” Peg said it like a question.
“Let me text my mom so she knows I’m here. And knows I’m allowed to be here. Haha.”
It was nice to be around someone who laughed as easily as Lianna, and she didn’t seem dumb. Peg was pretty sure they would be actual friends, not just the kind where you hang out because you’re on a team or you’re neighbors.
After a few minutes of reading in silence, suddenly Lianna asked, “Wait a second...if you’re homeschooled, how can you be on the softball team? We need all the good players we can find, even if you are haole and don’t know where all the beaches are.”
“Oh, that’s easy. I just have to take some tests every once in a while. It’s a little bit different everywhere, but usually it’s just extra paperwork. I really like the daytime flexibility and my parents always hope we get to stay for years, but the hotel people have it in their contract that we might have to move with only a couple weeks notice. So it’s easier if I can just keep up with my online classes and then just take a test to prove I’m keeping up with the local district if I want to join teams or whatever. I dunno, my parents figured it all out, and I just showed up to the tryouts. And you don’t know where all the beaches are either!”
Peg wrapped up this long speech sure she’d said too much or made it weird or somehow Lianna was gonna be annoyed. But, surprisingly, nope, Lianna just said, “That’s cool. I hope we both make the team! What’s your handle? We should get serious about it and make a hashtag for our hunt for the missing beaches.”
The girls followed each other on their photo apps and start to brainstorm:
“Hashtag The Lost Luau … Lost at the Luau?”
“The Last Beach?”
“The Softball Beaches — haha, can we sorta swear in a tag?
“Sure why not? Or how about hashtag In Search of Two Beaches? Or just Hashtag Two Beaches and it can go either way…”
“And we have a winner!”
“Oh hey,” Peg almost changed the subject, “have you seen my golf cart?”
“Like, it’s missing? What are you talking about?”
“Yeah, no. I mean, I’ve got one. We can use it when we go looking for the beach. Or if we want to bring other girls from the team over. Or whatever.”
“Oh, cool! Can it go on real streets?” You could see the plots forming in Lianna’s eyes. Peg also had a few plans of her own, but had to answer, “No, it’s just here in the resort, but the busses seem pretty good in [city name], right? The one time I tried it, I got to Target pretty easy.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never tried the bus. You’ll have to be the one who shows me around.”
Peg laughs, Lianna sips her Coke and they both got back to studying.
But not for long.
“C’mon Barry, this isn’t about you, or about me. It’s about so much more. You have got to get on board with this. Someday I’ll actually be in Hawai’i and it won’t be a discussion any longer. I won’t keep calling to ask for permission.”
This guy looks like any other guy at a fancy Hawai’ian resort — which might be why he doesn’t notice two kids sitting and reading in beach chairs on a weekday afternoon. He’s taking his surroundings for granted. He doesn’t really think of other people, so he doesn’t really notice them. He’s wearing leather sandals, loose pants, and a floral print shirt open at the neck. His sunglasses are up on the brim of his straw hat, but he has a faint tan on his face. You can tell he’s not just faking it, he really does spend a lot of time outside. He’s carrying a brown leather bag, about the size of a gym bag, but much nicer, and he’s pacing back and forth along the edge of the {Fancy Name} Tropical Pool.
His cell phone conversation seems to be either lies or deep confusing. Peg starts to listen more intently.
“Barry. Barry. Barry, we’re brothers. This should not be a fight. You know what mom would want.”
A silence and the rich man almost jumps through the phone, but stops himself, “There’s so much at stake -- “ pause, deep angry breath, “I mean, we both know it’d be so easy. Please let’s just do this and forget the lawyers.”
“Sheesh, fine! Do it your way. Take forever! Someday, someday soon you’ll regret this decision.” And he hung up with a beep and stormed back toward the hotel building. On his way past, he hollered to the bartender, “You there, girl, send a double whiskey [name] to me in room 227.”
Peg kicked Lianna in the shin from where she sat in the next lounge chair, “Did you see that!?”
“No, I was deep in the zone on this geometry problem. What happened?”
“There was just some rich dude threatening his brother on the phone, but also claiming he wasn’t in Hawai’i. Is that normal tropical vacation behavior?”
“Weird. I don’t know if it’s normal tropical stuff, but it does seem like normal rich people ish. Most of the people who come here seem to hate their family.”
“Huh, ok. But he seemed like actually angry-angry, not just bored or annoyed or whatever.” Peg made a mental note to check out room 227 (from a distance) and she got back to her books.
Only a few minutes later, Mrs. HLast walked up the girls and Peg realized this must be Lianna’s mom and she had met her several times already. “Hi girls.” Peg couldn’t help herself from smiling and thinking to herself, “at least she didn’t call us ladies.”
“Hi, mom”
“Hi, Mrs. HLast.”
“What’s up?” Lianna asked.
“Nothing much, I just wanted to see what you two were up to. Peg, your mom said it’s fine for homework by the pool, as long as it doesn’t get too busy. It’s kind of a downer-looking thing to be doing while everyone else is on vacation.”
“Got it. So I can quit studying. I’m on it.”
“Haha, no. And Lianna, I have to stay a bit late tonight. Rob’s gonna come pick you up around 6:30 and you can eat dinner at home. Please be ready when he texts you.” Mrs. HLast made meaningful eyes. She didn’t want to tell embarrassing stories when it looked like Lianna was making a new friend, but she also didn’t want her own children at each other’s throats all night.
“Ok, cool. Thanks, Mom.” Mrs. Hname started to walk away.
“Oh hey, Mrs. Hname, do you know who’s staying in room 227?”
Without even really thinking about it, she pulled up the guest list on her tablet and said, “Ruben Tname.” And then paused and said, “Why?”
“I’m not sure. But some guy from that room was really rude to Cami and I wanted to know if he’s alone or if he’s probably also horrible to his wife.”
She looked at the list again and said, “Well, he seems to be traveling alone. And if someone’s rude to the staff, we have processes for that. And you hiding out in the hallways is not a part of that process.” She gave both girls a sweeping look, “And that goes for either one of you. I’ll check with Cami on my way past, but please know we take care of our staff and we always have their backs in situations like this.”
“Oh no! I didn’t mean like you weren’t doing your job!” Peg’s heart sank within her, she was always saying something that came out wrong or too strong or accidentally offensive. She had been hoping this fresh start she could avoid some of those mistakes and have an easier time making friends. And here she was, only 45 minutes into the first time hanging out with a new friend and she was already insulting her mother — and the entire hotel staff at the same time. Argh. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant. He just made me angry and I got all concerned.”
“I know what you mean.” Mrs Hname smiled kindly, “But you really don’t need to worry about it. I’ll go talk to her about it right now. If you’ll feel better about it, you can come.”
Peg glanced at Lianna, was it weird to be friends with your friends’ mom?
“I’ll watch our stuff. You go ahead.”
Mrs Hname and Peg walked back to the Tropical Pool bar. Cami was humming along to the surfy guitar music and restocking the napkins and straws in the bins on the bar.
“Hey, Cami, I know it’s not really my department, but Peg here saw that guy in room 227 who was rude just a few minutes ago and I wanted to check in with you.”
Cami was probably in her early 20’s and she was cool and fun and good at her job without looking like she was worrying about it too much. Pretty much, Peg kinda wanted to be her. It’s probably why she got so upset about Ruben’s rudeness.
“Oh, that guy... ? Yeah, he was rude, but he’s harmless. You should see—” she stopped as she remembered that Peg was still only 15, “--well, you shouldn’t see some of the stuff I have to put up with sometimes. I laugh about it now, but that’s a way to cope with rude people. Mostly it’s just annoying and we can all complain for a second and move on. But if it gets really *serious* we deal with that too. Just last week, your mom and dad kicked out a guest who was hitting on me and trying to touch me and wouldn’t stop. Soooo, pretty much I am devoted and I will work here forever. Haha, well, til I’m done with law school anyhow!” Cami smiled and Peg felt both better and worse at the same time. She was proud of her parents.
But she was still going to keep an eye on room 227.
“Um, well, that sucks. But I’m super glad they kicked him out.”
“Me too! So, I guess what I’m saying is: Mr. 227 can kiss my…” She faded out and all three women laughed.
“Does that make a bit more sense, hon?” Mrs. Hname asked Peg. She placed an arm around her shoulder and steered her back toward the lounge chairs and Lianna.
“Yeah. Thanks.” Peg had a lot to think about.
Things stayed pretty slow outside by the pool, the girls had a second Fancy Cherry Coke and way too many pretzels. Around 6:15 — well before the appointed time of 6:30 — Lianna started to pack up her stuff.
“Well, I’d better head over to the staff parking for my brother to pick me up.”
“Oh! We can take the golf cart! I mean, I don’t know where the staff parking is… I’ve mostly been hanging around the marina and the pool… but if you point me, or you can drive it if you want.”
“Nice! Where’s it at?”
The girls headed toward the rentals area between the Tropical Pool and the main hotel where Peg’s golf cart was charging.
“Oh, it’s so cool, its got cup holders and extra spots for people, not golf bags. Uh, unless you like golf…?”
“Ha, no. I like the grass. But golf doesn’t make any sense to me. My dad keeps saying he’ll take me to the driving range and show me how now that we live here, but I kinda don’t care.”
They climbed in, hooked up some tunes — it was fancy, but not fancy enough to be wireless — and Peg said, “Ok, do you want to drive or navigate?”
“Why don’t you drive. I don’t want to mess anything up til we’ve known each other for more than a day. How about that?”
“Haha, sure.”
They headed back past the pool and took a side turned that Peg had never noticed along the side of the golf course and to the far end of the parking lot.
They only had to wait a minute or two before an old pickup truck with a surfboard in the back came rattling up to them. The truck was a shade of green somewhere between emerald and chartreuse. It looked super cool and Rob was playing the classics, they could hear the lyrics of Sgt Pepper, “lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song…”
“C’mon dummie” someone shouted who must have been Lianna’s brother, Rob.
“Sheesh, dude, knock it off! What’s for dinner?”
Peg waved and smiled. Before Lianna jumped off the golf cart, she leaned over and said, “Wait, that’s your brother? He’s super cute!”
Lianna rolled her eyes, got in the truck and said, “See you Thursday at final tryouts!”