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Mary-Kate and Ashley Sweet 16 series by Kieran Scott
The story so far…
Mary-Kate and Ashley, the beautiful sixteen-year-old twins, planned to spend a fantastic month at the MusicFest - hanging out at free concerts, meeting new people...oh, and working a little! Mary-Kate had left her gorgeous boyfriend Jake behind with a promise not to fall in love with any rock stars (although she admitted to having a massive crush on Gavin Michaels, the eighteen-year-old lead singer of Glowstick).
They set off in their pink Mustang convertible with their new mobile phones and cruised up the coast on their way to the coolest summer ever! But a missed exit later and a few wrong turns and they end up miles from where they need to be and lost.
When they finally arrive at Trager University Campus two whole hours late they find a place that's totally cool. They meet the lovely Akiko who isn't bothered by their late arrival - but dorm-monitor Mary-Beth is seriously foul-tempered. And most disappointing of all the jobs they are stuck with are nothing like they had imagined. Mary-Kate will lug heavy stuff around as a stage-hand and Ashley will serve up pizzas.
Totally impressed by their room, the twins get ready for their first shifts. Ashley sets off for the pizza stand, only to find the seriously silent Penny refuses to chat for the whole four hours. Although the arrival of Brian puts a girly grin on her face that even she can't ignore. Meanwhile Mary-Kate runs late for her shift after chatting with Jake, but find her co-workers far more cool. Brother and sister, Chris and Melinda invite the twins to hangout at the beach house for the evening. Sounds like this could just be the perfect summer after all.
Chapter 4
"I'm starving. I can't wait for dinner!" I said. Ashley and I walked into the dining hall. "Wow, it's practially empty in here," I noted.
There were a few people scattered at tables around the room. Otherwise, the place was dead.
Where was everybody? I wondered.
"So, meet any rock stars yet?" Ashley asked me as we grabbed a couple of trays.
I peered at the menu, checking out my choices. Shepherd's pie - no. Fried fish - double no. Meat loaf - yuck. "I met the Killer Turtles," I told her, taking a plate of pasta with tomato sauce.
"Who?" Ashley asked.
"Exactly," I replied.
Ashley laughed. "Well, I'm never going to meet anyone famous selling pizza all summer."
"Sure you will!" I told her. "We're the bright-side girls, remember? Besides, all those superstars eat nothing but pizza. Really. And you're going to be their supplier."
"Maybe," Ashley said.
Her shoulders were slumped and she was definitely dragging as we made our way across the dining hall to a table. She obviously hadn't had the best day. I felt bad for her, but at least I had some news that would cheer her up.
"So, guess what?" I said as we sat down at an empty table. "I met these really cool people, Melinda and Chris. They're brother and sister. They told me about this old beach house that the staff hangs out at every night. We have to go."
"Really?" Ashley's face brightened a bit. "What's it like?"
I twirled my fork into my pasta. "They said there's music and dancing and food and drinks. You know, standard party central."
"Sounds exactly like what I need," Ashley said.
"Didn't you meet anyone you liked today?" I asked.
"Well, there was this one guy, Brian." Ashley smiled slightly. "He seemed nice, but we barely got to talk."
"Cute?" I asked.
"Definitely," she said.
"So why so mopey?" I asked.
"The girl I work with, Penny, completely blew me off," Ashley explained, resting her cheek on her hand. "I don't think she likes me at all."
"Not possible," I said, taking a bite of my spaghetti.
The moment I tasted it, I frowned and grabbed my water. The pasta was cold and the sauce was terrible.
"What's wrong?" Ashley asked, scrunching her face up as she watched me try to swallow.
"No wonder there's no one here," I said. "It's just like the food back at school."
Ashley pushed her plate away and picked up her water bottle. "How about that grocery-store run?" she asked.
"I have a better idea," I said. "Let's hit the beach house, pronto."
Leaving our trays behind, we made a break for it. Beach house, here we come! I thought.
Let's get in there
"Wow!" I gasped when I saw the beach house that night. Ashley, Chris, Melinda and I climbed out of Chris's Jeep Cherokee and checked out the scene. "This is not standard party central."
Fifty or sixty people were milling around a huge bonfire on the beach. A little farther down the beach loomed a hulking, boarded-up house. A band played on a makeshift stage, lit by the headlights of five parked cars. Everybody was dancing.
"What are we waiting for?" Ashley said. "Let's get in there!"
We headed down the beach towards a huge cooler. I reached in and grabbed drinks for everybody. Chris rummaged through one of the brown bags filled with snacks.
"S'mores, anyone?" he offered.
"I'm in!" I answered.
Chris snagged some chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers. A pile of thin sticks was lying on the ground near the snack bags, obviously meant for toasting marshmallows. We each grabbed a stick and headed for the fire.
"Chris is an expert s'more maker," Melinda explained, handing her stick to her brother.
"I like to think of it as an art form," Chris said with mock seriousness.
"Will you make mine?" Ashley asked. "I don't think I've ever toasted a marshmallow without setting it on fire."
"No problem." Chris speared four marshmallows with our sticks and took them over to the fire. Minutes later he returned and handed us each a stick.
"The key is proper graham cracker placement," Chris explained. He brought a chunk of chocolate and two grahams over to me, sandwiched my marshmallow between them, and pulled the whole thing off the end of the stick. "Voilà!"
I took a small but messy bite of the little sandwich. "It's perfect," I declared as the chocolate melted in my mouth.
Chris beamed at the compliment, then made three more for himself, Ashley and Melinda.
"Let's go check out the band!" Melinda said, licking a bit of marshmallow off her lip.
"They're really good. Who are they?" Ashley asked as we approached the stage.
"That's Dan, Justin, Chico and Rick," Chris said, pointing to each of the guys. "They haven't named their band yet."
"You know them?" I asked.
"Sure. They're all working security," Melinda said. "A lot of the people working here this summer are aspiring musicians."
"Yeah, at the end of the summer they have this contest," Chris said, popping his last bit of s'more into his mouth. "There's a huge concert and one of the amateur acts gets a record contract."
"You're kidding," Ashley said, her eyes wide. "So these guys came here to get discovered?"
"And to see all these other acts play," Melinda said. "It's a great place to hear new styles of music and meet all kinds of people-"
"Of course, they do all want to win," Chris interjected.
The band finished their last song and everyone applauded. Then they took their instruments off the stage and came right down into the crowd to watch the next act.
"How cool!" I whispered to Ashley. "Someone here could be a star by the end of the summer!"
"Hey! That's Akiko!" Ashley pointed to the stage.
I turned. Sure enough, the girl who had checked us in that afternoon was walking to the mike with a guitar.
"Go, Akiko!" I shouted, and everyone clapped.
"Thanks… whoever that was," Akiko said, squinting at the crowd.
She started to play and I looked at my friends, impressed. She had a cool, slightly rough-sounding voice. There was obviously going to be some major competition for that record deal. I couldn't wait to find out who would win!
It's coming from that cove
I shivered in the stiff wind blowing off the ocean. Akiko was just finishing her set. I pulled my sweater tighter around my body. How could I be so hot and so cold in one day?
"You guys wanna go for a walk?" I asked Mary-Kate and the others, hoping it would warm us up a little.
"Okay. Let's check out the rest of the beach," Mary-Kate agreed.
The four of us turned away from the stage and walked along the water's edge together.
A few notes from a guitar floated along on the breeze. I grabbed Mary-Kate's wrist.
"Do you hear that?" I asked her.
"What?" She stopped to listen.
Our ears picked up the guitar again, louder, and accompanied by a voice. A girl's really pretty voice.
"It's coming from that cove," Melinda said.
"Come on," Chris whispered.
He jogged over to the rocks and we followed quietly. We crept around the rocks and peeked into the cove.
Penny and Brian were sitting next to a small campfire. Brian was playing the guitar and Penny was singing.
I watched them, stunned speechless. Penny - the girl who never talked - had the most angelic voice I'd ever heard. And Brian was amazing on his guitar, too.
"Who are they?" Mary-Kate whispered.
"Brian and Penny," I answered her.
"Brian and Penny from the pizza stand? Brian, the guy you thought was cute?" Mary-Kate asked.
"Yeah," I said. I studied the scene - a boy, a girl, a moonlit beach. It was all pretty… romantic.
"Oh, no." I lowered my eyes. Were Penny and Brian boyfriend and girlfriend?
This is the last instalment we'll be featuring on a4M.E. so to get the rest of the story, get hold of a copy of 'A Perfect Summer' from:
Copyright Harper Collins
