Lagoona Blue and the Big Sea Scarecation Page 3
It will all work out, especially if I just keep going with the flow.
Later, mates,
Lagoona
The next morning, Lagoona woke to the giggling sounds of Dewey, Squirt, and Tadpole leaping from shell bed to shell bed on the wall of their cabin. “Yay! Lagoona’s up!” Dewey said, launching himself onto her bed. He held her right eye open and grinned at her. Lagoona tickled him, and he squirmed away.
Squirt squeezed into the space between Lagoona and Kelpie and held open Lagoona’s other eye. “Good morning,” he said, putting his little nose right up next to hers. She swatted him away, but then Tadpole leaped on top of her and began poking her cheeks.
“Okay, okay,” she said, laughing. “I’m up!”
“What are we going to do first today, Lagoona?” Dewey asked. “Huh? Huh?”
Squirt begged, “Will you teach us to surf?”
“All of you?” Lagoona asked with a yawn.
“Please?” the brothers said together. They wore matching grins on their faces. All three were lined up in a row at the end of her bed, holding their hands together in begging poses.
“Me too,” Kelpie whispered into her ear.
Lagoona swung her legs out of bed. “Okay, you’re on. Get dressed, and we can head out to the pool.”
After a quick breakfast—lox and scream cheese on bagels—all five of the Blue kids made their way out to the pool. Things on the main deck were still pretty quiet when they rolled in. It seemed that most people on the cruise ship had chosen to spend their mornings lounging around in the dining room or relaxing on the upper deck drinking coffincinos in the soft glow of the sunrise. But for the Blue kids, the water was the place they went to relax and wake up. It was the perfect way to start their day. And for Lagoona, it was the one place she was least likely to bump into Toralei.
Lagoona wondered what her ghoulfriends and Gil were doing at that very moment and wished, again, that the cruise ship had Monsternet or cell service. She would have loved to be able to call or e-mail Gil and tell him about yesterday’s pool volleyball game and the fantastic sushi buffet. And she knew it would have felt great to talk to one of her ghoulfriends about the Toralei situation. Would her friends have agreed that just going with the flow and trying to avoid Toralei whenever possible was the best plan? Since Lagoona was often the monster other ghouls came to for friendship advice, she knew she ought to be able to figure it out herself. It was just extra complicated, because this was Toralei she was dealing with.
The night before, as she’d drifted to sleep listening to the waves outside their cabin, Lagoona had decided that for the rest of the cruise, she would do everything she could to extend kindness to Toralei whenever she saw her on the ship. Hopefully they wouldn’t bump into each other too much—it was, after all, a HUGE ship. But if she saw her classmate lurking around, she would invite her to join in whatever activity she and her siblings were doing. Maybe being extra nice would be enough to keep Toralei from being deliberately mean to her.
Having a plan put a little spring in Lagoona’s step, and she was excited to start the day. The previous afternoon, the line to catch waves was really long, and her siblings weren’t used to having to wait. Lagoona had stayed off to the side watching, rather than catching waves, to help make the line move faster for her siblings. Every time she had watched the tadpoles line up to catch the little monster-made waves, Lagoona felt a little pang. She missed the beach. Back home, there were waves for everyone—and no one had to wait in line. A ghoul just had to paddle out and chill in the surf, waiting for the right wave to call.
But this morning, the surf pool was empty and waiting for them—like their own private little ocean. Elsewhere on the pool deck, there were a few monsters swimming laps in the saltwater lap pool—including the Blue parents—and a few werewolves enjoying the cool shade of the morning.
Near the pools, the lifeguards were all fanging out together, joking around on deck before the busy part of the day. A few of them came over to watch the Blue kids learn to surf. Lagoona blushed with pride when the cute werewolf lifeguard complimented her on her clawesome surf style.
For the first hour of the surf lesson, Lagoona advised Dewey, Squirt, and Tadpole to focus on getting used to the feel of the board in the water. Though they were eager to hop up on their little feet right away, Lagoona persuaded them to take things slow and practice balancing on their bellies in the surf waves before they jumped onto the boards with both feet. From her own first experience surfing, she knew that learning to feel the rhythm of waves was a big part of getting the hang of it. Before long, the triplets were pros at knowing just when to catch the waves on their bellies, and she had a feeling they would be standing up on the boards in no time.
Because she’d already had some practice surfing in the ocean, Kelpie was able to stand up on her board right away. Watching the way her body moved with the board, Lagoona could tell Kelpie was a natural. If only her sister could overcome her fear of the Kraken, Lagoona was sure Kelpie would love catching some of the monster waves near home.
A couple of hours later, Lagoona flopped out of the pool to stretch out on the dry pool deck to show Dewey and Squirt how to push themselves up to standing on their surfboards. As she began demonstrating the proper form to her brothers, she spotted Toralei out of the corner of her eye. Head held high, Toralei strutted across the pool deck and settled in a comfortable lounge chair.
Lagoona waved and called out to her. “Toralei!” Toralei acted like she hadn’t heard her. But Lagoona knew her classmate could hear her perfectly well, since there were still so few people on deck. “I would be happy to teach you to surf…” Lagoona called a bit more loudly, “if you’re interested?”
Toralei sneered. “You’re not serious?”
“I am, actually.” Lagoona forced herself to smile. She hopped up and pointed to her brothers, who had slipped back into the surf pool where they were splashing around in the shallowest part of the waves. “I spent the whole morning teaching my little brothers to surf, and I could show you too. It might be something fun to do.…”
For a moment, Lagoona thought she saw the tiniest bit of curiosity and intrigue flicker across Toralei’s face. But then it was gone. Slowly, Toralei stood up and made her way toward Lagoona. As she sauntered across the pool deck, she checked to be sure the cute lifeguard’s eyes were on her. When she reached the surf pool, she leaned in toward Lagoona and said, “Nothing could drag me into the pool to stand on a slippery, slimy surfboard and look like a fool. I’ll leave the child’s play to you, Lagoona Blue.”
With a toss of her short hair, Toralei spun on her heel and began to strut back across the pool deck again. But just as she passed the edge of the surf pool, Dewey lost his footing on his surfboard and went careening into the air. His board spun, and a huge wall of water flew out of the pool and splashed across the deck. Toralei’s platform wedges caught a corner of the puddle, and her foot slipped. As everyone on the pool deck—including the cute lifeguard—watched, Toralei’s arms windmilled out. Her legs flew up into the air, and she let out a yowl so loud and so terrifying that even the lap pool swimmers looked up from the water. With a loud thud, Toralei landed right on her tail in the middle of the puddle of water.
Sputtering, fur raised, she glared at Lagoona. “You will pay for this,” she hissed.
Lagoona raced forward to help her up. “I’m so sorry, Toralei!” She held out her hand, trying to help her classmate up, but Toralei waved her away. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Toralei sprang to her feet, and Lagoona was relieved to see she didn’t seem to be injured in any way.
“It was an accident, Toralei. I’m so glad you’re not hurt. Dewey, say you’re sorry, mate.”
“Sorry,” Dewey said sadly.
“You planned that,” Toralei hissed, her eyes filling with tears.
“No!” Lagoona insisted. “It was just unlucky timing.” She wanted to remind Toralei that she was on the pool deck, and water was all around them. But she didn’t want to make things worse, so she held her tongue.
“Unlucky for me,” Toralei growled. “Lucky for you. I’m stuck looking like a fool in front of everyone. I’m sure you just loved that.”
“No way,” Lagoona said firmly. “I would never want to hurt or humiliate you on purpose. It really was an accident, and I hope you can forgive us.”
Toralei stood up and brushed at the water that was quickly soaking into her fur. “You’ll pay for this, Lagoona Blue. No one makes a fool of Toralei without suffering the consequences.” Then she stormed off, leaving Lagoona and her siblings staring after her.
Crikey, Toralei must have been seriously upset about slipping on the deck this morning! She spent the whole afternoon torturing me! I don’t know how she has that scary-cute lifeguard wrapped around her claw, but she’s somehow managed to swipe control of the pool deck and made it her mission this afternoon to try to ruin my fun.
Right after this morning’s slip-sliding fiasco, a school of little tadpoles scampered over to use the surf pool for a rubber ducky race. This crew of kiddos came swooping over to the surf pool and tossed their fleet of rubber ducks into the waves, insisting that they had been sent over—by someone—to have a duck race in the surf pool. My sibs and I had to clear the pool while they turned the waves off and cleaned out the pool’s filters. There were ducks stuck everywhere! I just know Toralei had something to do with it, since she was glaring at me from her perch up in the lifeguard stand.
Then, right after lunch, the lap pool got shut down less than five minutes into my workout… after all the live lobsters in one of the ship’s restaurant’s tanks were dumped into the saltwater lap pool. I don’t know how she managed that one, but I was stuck belly up on the deck while they r
esolved that issue.
And then, this afternoon, our ship’s scheduled stop at a secluded beach—an excursion I was so looking forward to because I’d give anything to feel sand between my toes—was canceled. I don’t know how she managed it, but I’m positive Toralei had something to do with it. She must have overheard me talking with Kelpie about our beach outing and decided that ruining the excursion would be fintastic payback for her embarrassment.
Clearly, she’s trying to make this vacation a monstrous fail for me. I’m still trying hard to go with the flow and let the days play out however they’re meant to, but it’s tough when someone is working so hard to ruin things. I just have to remember the Golden Rule and hope Toralei gets the message soon: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Eventually she’ll warm up. Yeah? Yeah!
Later, mates,
Lagoona
After their day’s adventures by the pool, Lagoona and her siblings were totally worn out and ready to eat. With the surf pool and lap pool closed for most of the afternoon—thanks, most likely, to Toralei’s kitty chaos—Lagoona spent the last bit of the afternoon playing on the waterslide with her brothers. When they’d all had enough rides, she bundled her brothers up in a huge, fluffy towel and squeezed the water off their little bodies. As soon as they were dry, all five kids dressed up for dinner and met their parents in the dining room. Lagoona felt like a princess in her new aqua dress with magenta platform sandals. Her hair was long and loose, extra wavy from the sea air, and her skin was sun-kissed from a whole day outside.
“So how’s the ship treating everyone?” Lagoona’s dad asked, relaxing back into his chair. “Pretty fancy, yeah?”
“It’s so fintastic, Dad,” Kelpie said. “Today, Lagoona taught us all to surf!”
“Gonna catch some waves out in the deep water with me when we get home, Kelpie?” he asked with a wink.
“Uh…” Kelpie said, glancing at Lagoona for support. “Yeah, maybe.”
Lagoona squeezed her sister’s hand under the table. She knew Kelpie had enjoyed surfing a whole lot more today, when there was no risk of the Kraken coming to get her. She hoped someday her little sister would get over her fear. “They were all fintastic,” Lagoona told her parents. “You’ve definitely got a school of naturals here, Dad. We can show you some of their great new moves tomorrow.”
“About tomorrow,” Lagoona’s mom said, putting down her chopsticks. “I spoke with the cruise director this morning about the upcoming activities and found out there’s a scuba excursion planned for tomorrow morning. Our ship’s course will take us right past a beautiful reef, and apparently there are some interesting shipwrecks you can explore. Would any of you be interested in getting off the ship for the day to swim in the ocean?”
“Would I?” Lagoona said brightly. “Count me in! The pools on the cruise ship are totally amazing, of course—and I’m seriously loving the pampering and poolside drinks—but this ghoul would give anything to stretch her fins in a bigger body of water!”
The other Blues laughed. “I take that as a yes?” Lagoona’s dad asked.
All five kids nodded eagerly, and they spent much of the rest of the meal planning the next morning’s outing. Lagoona couldn’t wait! As much as she loved this fancy cruise, she was feeling a bit homesick for the huge, wild expanses of the ocean. And a trip off-ship would definitely give her a break from Toralei. There was no way the water-fearing cat would venture off the high decks of the cruise ship!
As Lagoona thought wistfully about the next day’s adventure, Kelpie tapped Lagoona’s arm and whispered, “Will the Kraken get us?”
“No,” Lagoona promised. “The Kraken hides out in the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean, mate. If we’re visiting a reef, you don’t have anything to worry about. It’s shallow, and there will be tons of beautiful fish around. It’s going to be fintastic.”
Kelpie’s face broke into a relieved smile. “If the Kraken is far away, I’ll do it! It sounds fun!”
While the triplets bragged about their surfing skills—exaggerating rather dramatically about their talent for standing up and doing tricks—Kelpie and Lagoona dug into their desserts. The rich, sweet chocolate mousse was a perfect ending to a great day. Lagoona sank back in her chair, letting her eyes drift closed. She was so happy here, chilling with her family, eating great food, surfing… and now a day to explore the ocean. Life couldn’t get much better.
“Hello…” a voice purred, and Lagoona’s eyes popped open. She spun around, and there was Toralei, looking uncharacteristically sweet. “I hope you’re enjoying your dinner.”
“We are,” said Lagoona’s dad, smiling up at Toralei. “Thank you. Are you a new friend of Lagoona’s?”
“I’m a…friend… of Lagoona’s from school,” Toralei replied. “Such a funny coincidence that we’re on the ship together this week.”
“Crikey,” said Lagoona’s dad. “That is a fun coincidence. Would you care to join us?”
Lagoona cringed. Then she remembered her vow to be kind and welcoming toward Toralei. She pushed out an empty seat and gestured for Toralei to sit down with them.
“Oh, no thank you,” Toralei said sweetly. “I was just coming over to say hello and to make sure your family knows about the talent show! Everyone on board has been talking about it nonstop, and I wanted to make sure you all knew about the family competition part of the show.”
Lagoona narrowed her eyes. What was Toralei up to now?
“I don’t know about the family competition,” said Lagoona’s mom. “I’d heard about the talent show, but we haven’t gotten any of the specifics yet.”
“I would give anything to be a part of the show myself,” Toralei said, grinning mischievously. Lagoona thought she saw Toralei give her a wink. “But my family isn’t into it. But there’s a family sing-off in the talent competition. I thought your family would be purrfect for it. You could all get up onstage and sing a song together.… Wouldn’t that just be clawesome?”
Lagoona tried not to glare at Toralei. Getting up in front of all the other ship passengers to sing? Crikey. That was her worst nightmare.
“That does sound fun!” Lagoona’s dad said, gazing around the table at the rest of the family. The triplets were all bouncing happily in their seats, and Kelpie’s eyes were wide at the prospect of a brief shot at fame. “When is it?”
“It’s tomorrow night,” Toralei said. “You just have to pick a song you’re all comfortable singing together, and then you get up onstage and sing it for the rest of the passengers. I’m sure you’d have a much better chance of winning if you put together a little dance routine too. That would give your performance the extra oomph to win, don’t you think?” She winked at them.
“Can we?” Dewey asked his parents.
“Please?” Tadpole begged.
“We love to sing!” Squirt added.
“Of course we’ll do it,” Lagoona’s dad said.
“Is there a prize for the winner?” Kelpie asked, looking up at Toralei as if she had suddenly turned into the cruise activities director.
“Of course there’s a prize. The winning family will get a big shiny trophy and have their photo taken with the captain!”
“That’s the best prize ever!” Squirt squealed.
“Oh, one more thing,” Toralei said, letting her gaze linger on Lagoona. “Everyone in the family has to participate. Otherwise, you’ll be disqualified.” She waved at the Blues, then sauntered off, tossing a casual wave over her shoulder. “Ta-ta.”
As the rest of the family chattered excitedly about what song they could sing and what they could do to make their performance extra special, Lagoona felt her good mood float away. She wanted to make her siblings happy, of course, but the thought of getting up onstage to sing was… well, terrifying. While Lagoona loved the thrill of performing on her surfboard or during swim meets in the pool, singing and dancing onstage was a whole other thing. An other thing that was definitely not her thing.
“What’s wrong, Lagoona?” Kelpie asked softly, noticing that her sister was quieter than usual.