CHAPTER 2 - LO GETS THE BALL ROLLING
After their surf session at the hotel beach, Reef, Fin, Mrs. McCloud and Lo went over to the Pirate Ship restaurant for lunch. Lo took her friends there because she knew her parents would be having lunch there at the same time and she wanted to discuss her fundraising idea with them.
While Fin, Mrs. McCloud and Reef took their seats at a table, Lo went over to a booth where her family was sitting for lunch when Emma, who was on duty, arrived at Fin's table. "Hey guys, how'd your surf sesh go?" Emma asked.
"Epic waves out there, Alberta," Fin reported. "Totally awesome. You shoulda been there to see it when Grandma used those waves to put Reef in his place with a killer trick after he started bragging about his skills again."
"You kidding me?" Reef commented. "I could do a trick like that with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back!"
"Care to put that to the test, Reef?" Mrs. McCloud dared him, raising an eyebrow at him while seeking to make Reef back up his bravado with action.
When Reef looked over and saw Mrs. McCloud smirking at him the same way Fin usually did when she called him out on his bragging, he backed off. "I can do it, but I'd rather not," he said to try and save face.
"Sure Reef, whatever you say," Emma said with a giggle while Fin and Mrs. McCloud also laughed at Reef's expense. "So what's Lo up to over at the Ridgemount booth?" she then asked, indicating the hotel heiress where she was talking with her parents while older brother Ty and bratty younger brother George watched.
"She got an idea to do a fundraiser for the animal shelter in town..." Fin began.
"But she won't tell us what kinda fundraiser it is," Reef interrupted.
"She wants to wait until she tells her folks about it first before she tells us," Fin said after giving Reef a dirty look for interrupting her. "Whatever it is, it's gotta be something good if she wants to pitch her idea to them first."
"A talent show?" an incredulous George said when he heard Lo suggest her fundraising idea to their parents. "Lame!" he then added with a snicker, which earned him an elbow to the arm from Ty in response.
"Hey, watch it!" George said, rubbing his arm where Ty elbowed him.
"A talent show's not lame, George," Ty chided his younger brother. "It's a good idea for fundraising for charity. The animal shelter's been needing funding for a while for food, medication and operating costs and the donations they've been getting lately, well..." he said with a shrug.
"Yeah, nothing to e-mail home about," Lo agreed. Continuing her appeal to her parents, she added, "Not only would it be great for the animal shelter, it'll also be fab publicity for the hotel. So what do you say, Daddy? Can we hold a talent show for the shelter?"
"If I agree to let you do this, Lauren," Mr. Ridgemount told Lo, "you'll have to be responsible for organizing the event yourself. You can't do like you did with the Surf for the Cure Tournament where Rosie did the majority of the work while you took the credit. You can ask your friends to help you, but you're going to have to lead by example."
"Don't worry Daddy, I will," Lo promised. "I already have my plans mapped out. I'll call the shelter to tell them about the show, then I'll get flyers printed out calling for auditions for talent and I'll put them up around the hotel and in town, then I'll look for a venue to book for the show..."
"Oh, don't worry about booking a venue, Kitten," Mr. Ridgemount said. "You can use the hotel theatre for the auditions and the talent show. And to help out, whatever amount the show takes in, I'll double that amount and donate the entire night's gate to the shelter."
"So does that mean..." Lo asked, hopeful for an affirmative answer.
"Consider the talent show a go, Princess," Mr. Ridgemount declared. "You can start working on it right away."
"EEEEE!" Lo squealed happily when she heard her father say yes to the show. "Oh, thank you Daddy, I love you!" she said gratefully as she went over to hug Mr. Ridgemount. "I won't let you down. You'll be proud of me when it's all said and done!"
"I know you'll work hard and do the hotel proud, Pumpkin," Mr. Ridgemount said proudly, while Mrs. Ridgemount and Ty also looked pleased with Lo getting her opportunity. George, on the other hand, stuck his finger in his mouth and pretended to gag as a show of what he thought of Lo's plan, earning him a glare from Ty.
Lo then hustled back to Fin's table, where Fin, Mrs. McCloud and Reef were waiting to hear from her as Emma returned to the table carrying a tray with glasses of water for the foursome. "We saw your reaction, so I won't ask what your dad said to your plan," Fin said. "So dish, what kind of fundraiser are you gonna have for the shelter?"
"It's going to be a talent show," Lo explained, telling her friends about her father's plan to let her use the hotel theatre for the event and to match the total donations the show took in with one of his own, in return for her organizing the show.
"That's awesome, Lo!" Emma said, happy for Lo getting over the first hurdle with her fundraiser plans. "You need us to help you out with anything for the show?"
Lo then got a gleam in her eye when she heard Emma volunteer to help out. "Sure, I wouldn't mind a little help," she said with a smile. "I've got some ideas in mind..."
Right after Mr. Ridgemount gave his approval for holding the talent show at Surfer's Paradise, Lo immediately got to work with organizing the event, starting with getting Johnny to type out and print flyers with the front desk computer announcing auditions for the show at the hotel, while she called the animal shelter and told its manager about the show and its purpose. When the shelter gave its endorsement to the show, Fin, Reef and Broseph joined Lo in putting some of the audition flyers up around the hotel, which drew Bummer's initial suspicion when he first saw what the groms were doing. When Lo explained that the show was for charity and that it had her father's blessing (even inviting Bummer to call Mr. Ridgemount if he needed proof), the day manager grudgingly allowed Lo and company to proceed.
Once they were done at the hotel, Fin, Reef, Lo and Broseph headed off to Sunset Beach in Lo's Jeep to get the other flyers put up at assorted businesses around town, starting with the animal shelter. After finishing up papering every business in the downtown area, along with most of the stores at a shopping plaza on the highway heading out of town toward Campbell River, the hungry groms decided on dinner at a drive-in eatery called Starvin' Marvin's, located on the corner of the Campbell River highway and Lincoln Street near the plaza.
"Not a moment too soon," Broseph commented as the Jeep pulled up in front of the drive-in. "I'm starvin', yo."
"I hear ya, man," Reef agreed while Lo got out to bring the last of the flyers over to post on the drive-in's bulletin board. "I think I hear a triple-decker cheeseburger calling my name right now."
"Don't even think of letting out a loud burp in front of me, kook, or you'll be eating the wrapper your burger comes in," Fin warned Reef.
"Perish the thought, babe - I'll just let one out behind you," Reef joked, making Fin snarl at him.
"Okay guys, I just got the last of the audition flyers posted," Lo announced as she returned to the Jeep. "Now let's order up, I'm famished."
A few minutes later, the groms were in the middle of munching on their burgers and fries when Reef noticed a sports coupe arrive at Starvin' Marvin's and pull up beside the Jeep on the passenger side. "Uh-oh, guess who decided to show up," Reef said, recognizing the car's occupants when he glanced over.
Fin also looked over to the coupe. "And there went my appetite," she quipped as she recognized Tuna McGillis and Betty Sandstone getting out of the car. "The king and queen of posers just arrived."
Hearing what Fin said, Tuna and Betty walked over beside the Jeep. "Speakin' of posers, check out the two pretenders to the tandem surfing throne, Betty," Tuna drawled in his distinctive surfer-boy accent as he looked at Reef and Fin. "Don't know how you managed to beat us at that contest, bra, but you both got lucky out there."
"Luck's got nothing to do with it," Fin retorted. "We beat you in spite of you trying to cheat to get the win. And don't deny it either, we know you tried melting off the wax on our board."
"Whatev, dudette," Tuna said. "It still don't change the fact that me and Betty are still the superior surfers. Come Gromfest, we're gonna prove it when we enter and we beat you for those trophies."
"In your dreams, flounder-boy," Reef said with a poke at Tuna's nickname. "And even in your dreams, you're still gonna be on the second-place podium beside me when they give me the trophy for the win."
Tuna started laughing derisively at Reef's boast about Gromfest when he noticed a piece of paper fall out of the back of the Jeep where Lo and Broseph were sitting. Bending down to pick up the paper, Tuna checked it out and discovered what it was. "Check this out, babe," he said to Betty as he showed the deeply-tanned bleach-blonde surfer chick the paper. "Says here they're havin' auditions for a talent show over at Surfer's Toxic Waste Dump in a couple of days."
"Hey, that's my dad's hotel you're talking about!" said a displeased Lo, who did not take kindly to Tuna's snide remark about Surfer's Paradise. "And why would you be interested in a talent show anyway? Surfing's your thing, right?" she added, realizing that Tuna had picked up a leftover audition flyer she had forgotten about.
"Maybe surfing ain't the only thing I'm primo in, babe," Tuna told Lo. "Maybe me and Betty can belt out the tuneage too, don'tcha think?"
"You two, good singers?" Reef scoffed, not believing Tuna's claim. "Yeah, right! I bet the only place you could carry a tune is in the shower, and even that's stretching it for you!"
"Oh, yeah?" Tuna said. "Y'know, just to prove we're serious, me and Betty will enter that talent show of yours and blow away our comps. When it's all over," he continued to brag as he put his arm around Betty's shoulders, "We're gonna be the stars of that show and that means we're gonna get the glory and the publicity for Captain Ron and his hotel. Don't forget it, bra."
"Forget what, bra?" Reef said mockingly before he started laughing. "Soon as you hit the stage, I bet you both get laughed right off the second you open your mouths."
An unimpressed Tuna crumpled up the audition flyer and tossed it at Reef's chest in response. "Still don't matter what you think, losers," he said to the groms. "We're still gonna steal the show when they put the spotlight on me and Betty and there's nothin' you hodads can do 'bout it!"
After getting their orders to go, Tuna and Betty then left the drive-in in Tuna's coupe. "Wow, grumpy much, Tuna?" Lo remarked with a raised eyebrow as she watched Captain Ron's stooges go.
"That's just Tuna full of hot air as usual," Fin said. "He's like a scruffier version of Reef, that's all."
"Maybe, but he'll never have a coif as good as mine," Reef added, running his hand through his quiff-styled hair while Fin glanced at him and rolled her eyes. "Bank on it."
"Daddy won't be happy to hear about Tuna and Betty entering the show to represent Captain Ron," Lo then said, "especially after what Tuna said. What're we going to do to stop him and Betty from trying to steal the spotlight at the show like he said?"
While Lo talked, Fin thought about it for a moment before she snapped her fingers. "I think there's a way we can make sure those two don't steal the glory," she said with a grin.
Coming up, Fin puts her plan in action when she, Lo and Emma form a singing group to enter the talent show to counter Tuna and Betty. Lo's mom also joins the group, but Betty makes a discovery during a spy mission that she, Tuna and Captain Ron could put to use against the group.
