At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, I stood on the pier with Blaire and Elise. They had both ended up borrowing clothes from me, and I had to admit we all looked pretty incredible. I wore a miniskirt with a blousy top and wedge booties. Blaire was in ankle boots, jeans, and a sleeveless halter. And Elise wore an emerald-green silky shirtdress and strappy sandals. I felt like we were at some yacht club photo shoot, minus the cameras.
Nobody else had shown up yet, aside from the caterer, and the captain of the yacht, of course. Visions of my birthday party were floating through my mind. All that candy on the coffee table, uneaten. This party was going to be that all over again.
The big white yacht, its rows of windows reflecting the setting sun, was anchored to the dock beside us. A metal walkway bridged the gap between the pier and the boat, and there was nobody here to cross it. Shouldn’t at least one person have arrived by now? I looked at my phone.
“We’re an hour early,” Blaire said.
“But in an hour this boat will sail out to sea for the night with or without people on it,” I said.
“They’ll come,” Blaire assured me.
Elise rubbed her arms as the wind kicked up. The water lapped at the pier and she looked at the boat. “Could we wait on the yacht?”
“Yes, we can. Let’s go make sure all the food and stuff is getting set up.” Maybe this was like the metaphorical boiling pot of water. If I watched it, nothing would happen.
The caterers were busy at work putting out all the things I’d ordered. Things I thought my peers would like: mini hot dogs, sliders, pizza bites, chips. Were there normally snacks at big parties? Why hadn’t I gone to any parties before?
Eventually the water boiled. Metaphorically, of course. People started trickling in by twos and threes. By fives and sevens. I recognized a lot of the people—Bryce from Math, Laura from Chemistry—but a lot I didn’t.
“Oh, look, there’s Colton,” Elise said, pointing at her ex-boyfriend who’d just walked down the steps into the main room. “Who invited him?”
“Who’s Colton?” Blaire asked, and Elise smiled.
The noise on the yacht rose to a happy buzz and my nerves settled.
When Trina walked in, she hugged me. She wore one of the outfits she’d bought on our shopping trip—a rose-colored, one-sleeved minidress, and a silver band that twisted around her bicep. I was surprised how dressed up everyone was. Was this normal for a party or did the word yacht up the fashion game?
“You look awesome,” Trina said.
“You too,” I said.
Trina’s friend Beth, who was standing next to her, widened her eyes. “I didn’t even recognize you.”
“Thanks?” I wondered if half the people on this boat hadn’t recognized me when they arrived. I did look different.
Trina threw her hands out to either side. “You’re kind of a genius. Your party cannot fail because nobody can leave.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, when people come, think your party sucks, and take off? That’s the worst, ending the night at ten because you only have a handful of people left.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that.” What if my party sucked and people wanted to leave? I would have trapped them. They’d have to jump overboard if desperate.
Trina said, “Don’t worry about it. This will be awesome. I’m getting some food. You have like actual food. Not just candy.”
“Is that bad?”
She petted my arm. “Calm down. It’s good.”
When she left, Elise sighed. “How come you never introduce us to Trina?”
“What? I haven’t? I’m so sorry. I guess I … ” Thought you knew her, was how I was going to finish that sentence but that wasn’t true. I knew they didn’t know her, just like I hadn’t known her before recently. “When she comes back, I’ll introduce you.”
The owner of the yacht, a woman named Patrice, came up to me. “We’re going to be pushing off in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” I said, then gasped.
“What?” Blaire asked.
“The band. The band isn’t here yet.” At least I didn’t think they were. I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see over the heads of the people around me. I hadn’t thought to bring any backup music in case they didn’t show. “I’ll be right back. Don’t leave without me,” I told Patrice.
“We won’t leave without you.”
I pushed through the crowd and to the upper deck, then out onto the pier. I couldn’t see Leo anywhere. Had I really not gotten his number to call him? That was booking-a-band 101. Well, at least it should’ve been, if I wrote a manual about booking a band.
At two minutes to the hour, with me pacing the dock, Leo came strolling up, holding his guitar. A group of grungy guys trailed after him.
“Nice of you to show up,” I said.
“You said eight. I’m two minutes early.”
“I said seven thirty but whatever. I’m glad you’re here. Come on.”
Leo raised his guitar in the air like I’d just praised him somehow and climbed aboard. Just in time because Patrice was walking up the stairs.
“You ready?” she asked me.
“We’re ready.”
“This band stinks,” I said to Blaire. I sat down next to her in the back of the big room. I slipped off my wedges that were too high, dropped my car keys inside of them, and shoved them under the table. It was the first time I’d sat down all night. I’d been busy checking on food and answering questions about the yacht and my money and my new hair. Everyone wanted to talk to me.
“They really do suck, don’t they? Tell me you didn’t pay them,” she said.
“I paid them. I practically begged them to sing.”
She laughed and I did, too. It didn’t seem to matter, people were still having fun. There were groups all over the boat—dancing, lounging in chairs on the deck, leaning against railings and enjoying the view. The ocean was relatively still tonight and the rocking of the boat created a calming effect for me. I leaned my head against the wall and let out a happy sigh.
“Where’s Elise?” I asked.
She pointed and I followed her finger to Elise, who was in the middle of the dance floor dancing with a guy I didn’t recognize.
“I swear, I don’t even know half these people,” Blaire said. “Do you?”
“No. I think people invited friends from other schools.” I paused. “Not that I know everyone from our school.”
“But everyone knows you.” She circled her finger, indicating the entire boat.
Past Elise, I saw someone I recognized but couldn’t place. “Who is … ” I trailed off as my mind put her in context. Rachel from the zoo was here.
“Who is what?” Blaire asked.
My heart stopped. Rachel from the zoo was here. How did she find out about this? Was she going to tell Seth about my party? I needed to talk to her. Find out if she knew this was my party. If she knew about my lottery win. Chances were, if she was here, she did.
“Will you watch my stuff for a minute?” I asked Blaire, pointing to my shoes and car keys.
“Of course.”
I pushed through the crowd and tapped Rachel on the shoulder. She turned around and the words that were about to come out of my mouth stopped.
“Hi, Maddie,” she said.
It wasn’t Rachel. It was another girl who looked kind of like her, a lot less like her up close, actually. “Oh, hi.” I didn’t know her name.
“This is so much fun.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” I was obviously getting paranoid about Seth finding out about my win from someone else. I needed to tell him myself and soon. Too bad I’d waited so long that now I had to think up the right way to do it, make it a big production.
I pointed over my shoulder. “I better get back.” I turned around and nearly ran Trina over.
“You should do a party like this every weekend,” she said, waving her cup of punch.
I laughed. “This is my one and only, so enjoy it.”
“What else are you going to do with all that money?” she asked.
“I’m going to save most of it.”
She nodded slowly like she thought that was the most boring answer in the world. It was.
“What would you do with it?” I asked her. I was learning that people loved this question. They always had an answer ready. I wouldn’t have had an answer ready, had someone asked me that before my lottery win.
“I would buy a plane and fly it around the world,” Trina said.
“As in you would fly it yourself?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a pilot?”
“I’ve never flown a plane before but fifty million dollars would be a good motivation to learn. I’d want to do something I’ve never done before. It’s like a chance to redefine yourself.”
I nodded. “Can’t you do that without money?”
“Money makes it easier.”
“I guess.”
“Let’s say you couldn’t save the money. That you had to spend it. What would you do?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Maybe you should find out.”
That sounded an awful lot like Seth’s challenge—live a little. It made me wish Seth were here, at this party … dancing with me. No, not dancing with me. I shook my head and looked over my shoulder to where Blaire sat, her chin resting in her palm.
“Let’s go talk to Blaire,” I said.
“Um … sure.”
Trina’s hesitation made me remember how Blaire had refused to tutor her. Maybe it would help them both to get to know each other a bit.
Before we could walk back to Blaire, though, a girl with brown hair and a worried expression grabbed me by the arm. “Maddie! I have to show you something. Quick.”
“What is it?”
“Dylan Matthews is taking bets on if he’ll jump overboard.”