Chapter 5 #2
Talia intervenes. “If it’s your first time in Star Cove, I think I can help. I’m a townie, born and bred, and I know everyone. The hotels in town will rip you off in the summer. But I know a few locals who rent their extra rooms during high season.”
I smile at Talia. “That would be amazing. We come from the East Coast and we blew through most of our budget to get here.”
“I could text a few people or, even better, you might be in luck. Hey Sam!” Talia yells at someone a little ahead of us in the line.
A blonde, willowy girl waves her hand. “One sec.”
We watch as she says something to the girls in line with her and then she comes to join us.
“Sorry, I was making sure I didn’t lose my spot in line. What’s up?”
Talia makes the introductions and explains that we need a room for at least a couple of days.
“You’re in luck.” Sam smiles. “My mom has been renting out my old room since I moved into the Zeta house on campus. Her last guests left this morning. Let me see if it’s still available.”
While Sam types a message to her mother, Talia explains.
“I hope you get that room. Sam’s mom is lovely, and her house isn’t far from the pier, and it’s right on the beach.”
I cross my fingers behind my back, hoping that the same lucky star that made me run out of gas right in front of the cheerleading tryouts will find me a nice, cheap room until I get selected for training camp.
“You’re in luck.” Sam smiles once her phone pings with a reply. “I told my mom to give you the friends and family discount. And since your car is out of gas, I’ll give you a ride there once we get our numbers and then I’ll bring you here again with gas so you can get your car back.”
I can’t resist the urge to hug Sam. “Thank you, thank you so much. You don’t have to do all that, but Jodie and I are extremely grateful.”
“So, so grateful.” Jodie chimes in.
Sam’s smile lights up her entire face. “Don’t mention it. Fellow dancers should help each other, and we might even get to be teammates.”
“Sam is right.” Talia agrees. “The two of us are in the same sorority, but I think sisterhood should extend beyond that. Women should help each other whenever possible. Especially if they’re united by something powerful like art. And dance is an art form.”
The line advances, and we all move a few steps forward.
“Hey girls,” Sam says. “I’m gonna go back to my spot in line. I’ll wait for you when you’re done, and we’ll go to my parents’. This is the weekend of the annual Star Cove County Fair, and Talia and I are going out later with the rest of our Zeta sisters. You two should join.”
Before I can say anything, Jodie agrees. “It sounds like fun. We had a Zeta Theta Beta chapter at our college too. It would have been fun to pledge, but between dance and classes, my schedule was pretty tight, so I never did it.”
“Then you have to come.” Talia beams. “A few of the girls are also trying out for the team. Most of our sisters are really nice. And like this, come Monday, you’ll feel right at home.”
“Yes!” Sam squeals. “We can be honorary sisters until we all make the team.”
A giggle comes from a tall, dark-haired girl in designer jeans and high heels who stops by our little group.
“You shouldn’t listen to these two.” She says, giving me and Jodie a once over and twisting her nose as if she didn’t like what she sees.
“Carole, the team’s director, and the chief choreographer Lexi are my mom’s Zeta sisters.
I just went to the director’s daughter’s wedding two weeks ago.
Take it from me, there must be five hundred women here and they’re taking forty, maybe forty-two trainees.
Carol told me that the final team roster will be thirty-two.
The selection and training camp are going to be brutal. So I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”
Talia rolls her eyes at the newcomer. “That’s rude, Gen. You don’t know Taryn and Jodie; they might be better dancers than all of us.”
The girl laughs, throwing her head back, as if Talia had just cracked the funniest joke ever. “I seriously doubt it. Besides, you should watch out rather than help people you’ve just met. We’re all competing for those thirty-two spots.”
“Worry about your own odds. Gen. Talia and I will worry about our own. I’m a Zeta legacy too, and my mom saw Carole at the latest alumni dinner last month.
Carole told her about these selections and that she hopes to bring the same values of sisterhood she learned in Zeta Theta Beta into her new team.
So I would check the bitchy attitude at the door. ”
Two more girls dressed in Gen’s same style walk up to us. “Gen, don’t waste your time with these two. They’ll never make the team, anyway.” The first one says.
“We have to get ready for tonight. I heard from Jayden that Mack will be there. You have to look like a billion bucks if you want to get him back.”
Gen’s head whips to look at the newcomers. “Are you saying that I don’t look good right now?” She bites out with a glare that could incinerate her friend on the spot.
“Of course not!” The other two squeal.
“Anyhoo,” Gen turns on her heels, looking at us over her shoulder.
“Free word of advice if you want one shred of a chance to pass the first round of selection and get to dance your solo in front of Carole and Lexi. Go shopping and come dressed in something presentable. The unwashed look you two have got going on isn’t the style we go for in this town.
And you two, don’t waste your time with these two hopeless charity cases.
Carole and Lexi will eat them for breakfast.”
“Jeez, do they wear pink on Wednesdays?” Jodie snorts as Gen saunters away with a pep in her step after her hostile parting words.
Sam shakes her head. “Yeah, her mother missed a golden opportunity when she didn’t call her daughter Regina.”
I roll my eyes. “We had mean girls in Hemlock Beach too. But in the South, mean girls smile at you and say stuff like, bless your heart. They hide their poison under a thick layer of sugary kindness.”
“Oh, you won’t see much kindness from that one. Genevieve Bergen might come from one of the richest families in the state, but at the fancy private schools she attended before college, they taught her anything except manners.” Talia says.
Sam agrees. “Yeah, that girl is as rude as she is self-centered. Since she broke up with her long-term boyfriend, she’s been even bitchier than usual.”
“That’s true. To be honest, Mack isn’t an asshole.” Talia muses. “He could do a lot better than Gen.”
“Girls, you gotta bring us up to speed. Who is Mack?” Jodie asks.
I swear my best friend is the nosiest person in the world.
“Macklin Shayba,” Talia offers. “Is one of our hockey team’s rising stars.
He’s the Cove Knight’s left winger and was the player with more points in the whole league last year.
He’s a little cocky, but I don’t think he’s a bad guy.
Tucker says he trusts him and he doesn’t give his trust away that easily. ”
I’m getting confused. “Who’s Tucker?”
“Tucker is the starting goalie on the hockey team and Talia’s big brother.” Sam explains.
“Yes, and the biggest pain in my ass too.” Talia snorts. “But if you come out with us tonight, you’ll meet them all. The whole town is going to be at the County Fair on the pier.”
Jodie rubs her hands together, a devilish smile on her pretty face.
“Awesome. I like hockey players. I think our car ran out of gas in the right place. After we get our numbers, let’s go get cleaned up and take a nap before it’s time to go out.
” She wraps her arm around my shoulders and pulls me closer, planting a huge kiss on my cheek.
Hockey players are hot. Or at least, there was one in my biology class last year that I had a secret, hopeless crush on. Of course he was popular and didn’t even know I existed, but he sure was nice to look at.
“Let’s go.” I smile, pushing that thought to the back of my mind.
Star Cove might be the fresh start I need. There’s no point in thinking about the life I had to leave behind.