On the back of Alex's bike, holding onto Chase's board for dear life, Georgie contemplated letting go of her cousin and the skateboard, and just letting the tarmac take her. When Alex and Reggie rudely interrupted whatever it was Luke was trying to say, she had almost knee'd the poor boy in the face. His chin was probably hurting quite a bit. Alex thought it was funny to make jokes, while Reggie couldn't stop laughing at Luke's wounded puppy dog expression.
He insisted, "I was just trying to grab something from the cooler for her," and she guessed he'd been doing something like that. But she didn't know why he didn't just tell her to grab it herself. Out of niceties, perhaps? It was just a little strange.
Ahead of the cousins, Reggie rode beside Luke, calling over to him periodically that they were a cute couple. "No, seriously, I can picture it now," he shouted over to his friend, who was probably trying to ignore him, "you two telling your kids how you met. Daddy scared the life out of Mommy! Classic!"
"Shut up, Reg!" Luke would shout back but it only made Reggie start singing playground rhymes about kissing in trees. Alex chimed in and laughed when Georgie groaned in frustration.
The only one who didn't seem to make any noise was Bobby. He just biked silently, and would scowl every time Georgie glanced over at him. He was trailing behind the group. She would have to try and make good with him. He was one of Alex's best friends, she didn't want there to be problems all summer. However, the way he scowled made it seem like she wouldn't have much luck making right.
Back home, there was one skatepark in Edenton. Georgie frequented it with Max, they were regulars. It wasn't that big, a few ramps and what she had always assumed was an empty pool that someone just didn't dig up. But the skatepark here was much bigger than she expected. And there were a lot more people here.
It had a parking lot to one side and a few food trucks, one sporting snowcones and Georgie immediately thought she could kill for one of those. There were stairs, rails, ramps and more. This was a real skatepark, like the ones she'd seen in movies about California. A real skater's paradise.
"I could murder a snowcone right about now," stated Reggie as the group dismounted their bikes near the food trucks. Georgie was feeling slightly overwhelmed with the amount of people around them. "Not it," he called out, followed by Alex saying the same thing, then Bobby. She glanced between the boys, each of them with their fingertips on the tip of their noses.
When she turned to Luke, he gave her the most guilt ridden smile, his finger touching his nose and said, "Not it…sorry."
She had no idea what they were doing. But Reggie clapped his hands together and pointed at Georgie with finger guns. "Snowcones are on you."
With her eyebrows raised, she patted her pockets and, not to surprisingly, they were empty. She didn't have her wallet, because she'd only intended to go for a walk. She hadn't thought she'd need any cash. But they were all looking at her, waiting for her to brandish a note or something. "Lex…I don't have any money on me," she told him and he smiled for a moment, laughing before shaking his head.
"That's fine, you can make some," he grinned.
"What are you talking about?" Alex didn't answer her as he shuffled her over to a block that looked like a seat. He nodded to the seat. "What is going on? Can someone explain please?"
"You perform, people throw you cash, we get snowcones," Reggie explained, helping Alex to lift her by her underarms onto the block. "Start with Sabbath, it'll really draw people in."
"Are you guys out of your mind?" People were already starting to look their way, a couple getting closer as if waiting for the show to start. Georgie had no idea what to do. She couldn't just start singing Black Sabbath, she didn't want to make a fool of herself. Not to mention, they were the musicians. Why didn't they just get up and sing? "I am not doing this," she said to Alex, trying to get down, but he shook his head.
"Give me your hat," Alex said, instead of helping her down, snatching the hat from her head.
"How much do you think she'll make?" Bobby asked Luke, arms crossed over his chest, the world's smuggest expression on his face. He was excited to see her flounder and make a fool of herself. No, he wanted her to make a fool of herself. "I'm not banking on much. She'll choke."
"Nah, you're not giving her enough credit," Luke defended her, glancing up at her and smiling, encouragingly. If you wanted to be encouraging, you shouldn't put your finger on your nose, she thought.
Reggie took Alex's boombox from his bike basket and switched it on, adjusting the dial until he found a radio station that was playing You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall & Oates. The song was halfway through, but Reggie turned the volume all the way up. He had the world's most mischievous look on his face. "You gotta remember, sing loudly and clearly," he told her.
"And if you get nervous, everyone's potatoes," Luke nodded.
Georgie didn't know why one of them couldn't sing, after all they were the ones in a band. They would draw in a crowd, they'd be able to make some buck. But she really didn't get a chance to duck down, the radio jockey chimed in with a message that they were in for another gloriously hot day and he was going to play some Springfield to get them through it, the opening riff playing of 'Jessie's Girl'.
Everyone was staring at her, the boys in front of her with smiles on their faces, Bobby's eyebrow raised and just waiting for her to fall on her face, to choke and prove him right. The smugness on his face made her want to hit him.
She took a deep breath, tapping her thigh as the song started properly. Don't let your voice break, she thought, singing the opening lyric. As she slipped into, "She's watching him with those eyes," Alex began to clap along, keeping time and helping her stay on beat. It paid off having a drummer for a cousin.
Much to Georgie's surprise, she was drawing in a crowd. A couple came over, bobbing their heads to the music, but no one put their hands in their pockets. Reggie took her cap from Alex, dancing around the crowd that was forming, practically lost in the music. He held the cap out, not pushing anyone to give them any money, but after a smile or wink at a couple women, a couple coins were thrown in.
Jessie's Girl only lasted a few minutes and Georgie thought, finally, she could jump down, but she was sorely mistaken. Whitney Houston was announced on the radio and Luke pounced up beside her. "Just keep singing," he told her.
"I don't have Whitney's range!" she exclaimed, as How Will I Know began playing.
"No one will care, just enjoy yourself," he insisted, clicking his fingers along with the song, before clapping his hands to get the crowd to join in. And they did. They really knew how to command a crowd, better than she could. But, she put blind faith in them to keep the crowd interested, singing the song.
No, she didn't have Whitney's range, but she knew the song, it wasn't as difficult as her others. She really got into it, Alex had also really got into, abandoning his cousin on the block with Luke, dancing through the crowd and getting others to join in. But Bobby, ever the sour one, seemed disgruntled that she was enjoying herself and she could actually sing.
She had her own personal background singer, Luke chiming in at the call and response. And in the crowd, Reggie was calling out as well, so did Alex. She didn't really care if she sounded good. The people listening were enjoying the show, singing along, dancing, and even putting money in the baseball cap that was going around.
After a few more songs, they were told to wrap it up by some guy Georgie thought was a traffic cop. If he noticed that Reggie had a cap full of money, he didn't say anything about it. He did walk away humming the song he'd interrupted.
Finally off of her stage, with a hand from Luke, she could barely contain her laughter. She'd figured out by now this must have been some kind of initiation. She wished they'd told her because she'd have prepared herself better. But it was fun.
The group congregated beneath a large tree on a nearby grassy hill with a shadow big enough for the five of them to sit under. Bobby, however, sat closest to the edge, one shoulder out in direct sunlight.
"So, how much did we make?" Georgie asked, gladly taking a snowcone from Alex. The guy at the snowcone stand had given them to the kids for the show. He had apparently missed the boys. She had thought about hitting her cousin for not telling her they could get a freebie just for showing up, but cooling down was more important.
"Not 'we', Georgie Porgie, you," Reggie told her as he emptied the money out on the grass, handing her back her cap.
"Yeah, had we known you had pipes like that, we would have brought more hats," Luke joked with a laugh, leaning back on his elbows. "We thought you'd maybe sound like your old man. Your dad…kind of has the voice of─"
"Oh, he's tone deaf and sounds like someone threw a cat into a meat grinder," confessed Georgie, knowing that she did not get her voice from him. She probably got it from her momma, because she was a singer. Well, when she worked, she was a singer. "I am fully aware."
The laughter through the group made it feel like she'd known them for years. Bobby acting like the poor cat from her comparison was his and they had actually thrown it into a meat grinder soured the mood. He was more sour than an unripe lemon, doused in lime juice. She was beginning to wonder if that was just how he was, because none of the others said anything about his attitude.
"Okay, so, the grand total was─drumroll, please?" Reggie stated, Alex using his thighs as drums. "$78.92. Wow! Adding this one to the record."
"Record? Do y'all do this often?" she asked him, catching a sliver of ice that dripped down her chin. If they did, was this their way of promoting their band? It was interesting, to say the least. She imagined that they would do a whole lot better than a measly $79.
"Not too often," Luke said as he crushed the paper cone in his hand, his snowcone finished. Maybe it melted. Hers was doing the same. "We put anything we make toward band stuff, like instrument repairs, travel to gigs."
Georgie knew that her aunt and uncle, Alex's parents, weren't too supportive of his dreams or the band. He'd told her enough times for her to remember. But she hadn't thought that the other guys would be in the same position. Why wouldn't a parent support something that their child was passionate about?
Not everyone could have a mother like hers, she was lucky and unlucky, it all depended on what you focused on. But she imagined her momma would support her if she wanted to be a musician or an actress, or something in the creative industry. Her dad, on the other hand, would not. She didn't need to go over the variables in her mind, questioning if maybe he would, she already knew that he wouldn't.
"Well, call me an investor," Georgie told them, nodding to the pile of money. She didn't need to worry about cash, she'd saved up enough over the last year from working odd jobs. She was saving up so that she could buy a car when she turned eighteen, however, she sometimes dipped into it. She always replaced what she used, though. "Put that toward your next gig. As long as I get a front row seat."
"Georgie, you don't need to." Her cousin was shaking his head, so was Luke, but Reggie's eyes were wide. He looked ecstatic. "You sang, you earned this."
"Well, Reggie collected, you hyped the crowd, and Luke was basically my background singer," she rationalized. She'd somehow make sure they kept it, regardless, but she knew how Alex felt about money. If he didn't earn it, he didn't want it. "I'm just paying my crew."
"You would make it far in the business world," Reggie nodded, rolling up the notes.
"Reg, you know the rules," stated Alex.
"Well, I make my own rules," Georgie prodded her cousin's shoulder. She didn't like rules all too much anyway. "Besides, if I head home with $79 that my dad did not give me, he'll think I stole it or something and I'll get grounded. So, y'all would be doing me a favor by keeping it."
Alex tried to argue more with her, but it wasn't a winning argument. Not for him, anyway. He knew that Georgie could argue the day away. She wasn't going to let him or anyone else tell her what she could or could not do with that money. As he'd said, she sang and 'earned it', so she insisted she should get to decide what to do with it.
Sitting with her legs stretched out underneath the tree, Georgie watched as Alex and Reggie ran back forth from the ramps, messing around on the skateboard. She wished she hadn't hurt her knee or her back. It sucked just sitting around. But at least she had Luke to keep her company.
"I can't skate to save my life," Luke told her, wincing as Reggie fell off of the board. He waved his arm in the air, shouting to them that he was okay, while Alex laughed at him. "Sorry about, you know, busting your knee." Georgie glanced down at her knee, the rip in her jeans showing a little bit of a bruise that would no doubt get bigger over the next few days.
"Don't fret, it doesn't hurt that much," she insisted, but Bobby, who had retreated further under the shadow of the tree, prodded her knee and she cursed at him. Her hand swiped at him, smacking his shoulder. "Why did you do that?"
"You said it didn't hurt," he shrugged.
"I said it didn't hurt that much, not that it didn't hurt at all, jackass," snapped Georgie, glancing at Luke, laughing at the two of them.
"You'll want to properly stretch it later on," said Luke, inspecting her knee for a brief moment before reaching behind her and shoving Bobby, making him tumble to the side.
She may have been playing it off, insisting it wasn't that sore, but she couldn't bend her leg. It would get stiff and hurt more if she didn't bend it, flex it and use it properly, but she didn't want to cry. But Georgie was good at pretending, she could pretend that it wasn't as sore as it was, to save face in front of the boys. She'd deal with it back at the house and if she needed to cry, she could do that in the safety of her new room.
"Does anyone know what time it is?" she asked, checking both boys' wrists for a watch. Luke had a silver watch on his left wrist and he held it up so she could check the time. "How long does it take to get back…damn it, I don't know my address. Alex!"
"You don't know your address?" both Luke and Bobby asked at the same time. Georgie smiled awkwardly at both of them. It was a rather odd thing to state, but it was true. She knew the house number but not the street name.
"Well, I just moved in," she retorted. That was a good enough reason not to know the address, wasn't it? Alex trailed up the hill, out of breath and looking sweaty from both running around and it being so hot. "How long does it take to get back to my dad's from here?" she asked her cousin.
"Dude, she doesn't know her own address," Bobby informed Alex, absolutely concerned by it. "What street does she live on?"
Maybe Georgie should have been more concerned herself. She didn't think it was that big of a deal, because Alex knew where her dad stayed and he'd make sure she got home fine. But Bobby listed off reasons as to why she should at least know the street name. What if they had to head home and Georgie had to make her own way home? What if she got lost?
"I know my dad's number, I can ask someone─"
"What, ask a perfect stranger, hey can I use your phone inside your house to call my dad please?" Bobby's concern was starting to creep Georgie out. "You don't know that person isn't going to be a serial killing rapist, and you fit his perfect victim type."
"Bobby, seriously, stop watching Dateline," Alex cut him off before he could say anything else. "It won't take long to get back from here. When do you need to be home?"
"Melinda said suppertime." That was usually around 5pm. It was going on 3:30pm. She didn't want to cut it too fine. She wasn't sure if they'd eat on the hour or after. "But I don't want to rock up bang on the dot."
Alex stayed quiet for a minute, before he grabbed Luke's wrist to check the time. Georgie didn't like the look on his face, too quiet while he thought. "Okay, so…we might have a slight problem," he said, letting go of Luke's arm. She didn't like the sound of that, not one bit. "It'll take like forty or so minutes to get back to yours from here, which is fine for you to get back for 5pm, but─"
"But…please tell me that's a good 'but'," she begged. However, she had little faith in the fact that it was.