The Lifeguard Hates You (Completed)

July Chapter 24

Yesterday, Jay had shown up in the guard office and asked me to call Rory.

It was the first time he had asked me to do that, ever. Even when she was missing he didn't ask any of us, or me to call her. I did call her while she was missing, or at least I tried to, she just didn't answer.

I mean, your best-work-friend goes missing you make calls, you know? Even if you are annoyed with her for faking a relationship with Jay for what is still unknown reasons. Can you tell I'm still bitter that she hadn't called me, her self-proclaimed-best-friend, in her time of need?

But Jay had a good reason for wanting me to call her. He let us in on the whole Fablehaven debacle. He told us about how apparently Fablehaven was keeping us afloat, and that Fablehaven wanted us because we had Rory.

Except we didn't have Rory anymore and, since she had run off to Toronto, Jay reasoned that she probably wasn't with Polished Elite either.

This was another thing that I was upset about. Why, out of all the times we talked about going to Toronto for a party or a day off, or a long weekend, did she not mention that she had a freaking house there? What kind of friend does that?

This morning, Lacey had gone off to Polished Elite where the Fablehaven CEOs agreed to meet. They chose Polished Elite only because it had the bigger and better conference room. When she left, Jay remarked that she seemed oddly calm. I found this interesting as Lacey panicked about the silliest things, so something this big should have really sent her into a tail spin.

Now we were all just waiting for her to return and tell us whether or not we would be keeping our jobs. Shawn was already looking up new places to go to. Other spa's farther down the lake. Because there was no way and hell we'd defect to Polished Elite.

I was guarding when I spotted Lacey walking past the front desk and to the stairs that lead to her office. I sort of thought that someone had followed after her but I couldn't be sure, I was too busy signalling the boys so that they'd send the part-timer's out to guard while we went after Lacey.

Once they had switched out with me, we all stalk over to front desk. Except we don't make it to her office because Lacey is already on her way to us.

"What happened?" I ask her.

"Are we closing? Are we loosing our jobs?" Shawn cries a little shrilly. So much so that he's gained the attention of all in the pool. He might start mass panic if he keeps this up.

Lacey turns a patient smile to everyone in the pool, being sure to tell them that everything was fine. She then turns a strained smile onto us. "Let's talk about this in the guard office."

So, we all walk back there but Lacey doesn't talk to us until we're all sitting down. "I need all of you to calm down, no one is losing their jobs."

We all let out our breaths in a collective sigh of relief. Well that was good. "Did you convince the Fablehaven CEO's to stick with us then?"

"Sort of."

"What does that mean, Lacey," Jay snaps.

"It means I convinced Fablehaven to sign us exclusively."

I can feel the confusion and excitement in the room. The confusion coming from us, and the excitement coming from Lacey who was grinning at us like we were supposed to understand how she managed that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited too but like... she was useless, so how... how did she manage this?

"How... how did you do that?" Jay asks.

"Well, I had to pull some tricks out of the box. But I created a new position and hired for it. So, we have a new Specialty Permit Instructor that they approved."

"You hired someone... someone new? And you promoted them too, over us!" Jay cries voicing all our concerns so very eloquently. Shawn would have just sworn while I would have just raised my voice.

She doesn't even look concerned, like she has no idea that we're mad that she did it.

"Mhmm, and they're moving in now as we speak."

"Into Rory's room?!" Jay practically shouts and then she has all of us up at her throat asking a million questions, mostly about what she was thinking. Sometimes we forgot that she was the boss, mainly because she was so shit at it. And Jay did most of the work.

It's hard to see someone as a boss when they were rarely the boss. Now Jay, Jay was basically our boss, only because Lacey kept having him do all her work.

"Guys, guys, calm down. You'll love her, I promise."

"Her?" I ask cause I would love a new girl, one maybe my age, so I wasn't surrounded by teenie-boppers and men.

"Hey guys! Miss me?"

We all turn and there she is. She looks different but maybe that's because she looks more like herself. Rory's hair is still glossy bright red but she's dressed normally, black leggings and a baggy graphic tee. She smiling happily at all of us and I realize that Rory's back for good. She's the one who got the promotion, she's why Fablehaven agreed to sign us exclusively.

She waves at us, waiting for some sort of reaction other then bare shock. It's Jay that regains his composure first. He stalks towards her and she questioningly says his name.

Then he just... hugs her.

For a second we're all surprised, even Rory. Because, I mean, Jay never wants to touch her and there he is. Hugging her. Holding her.

Maybe they are in a secret relationship, cause he looks super happy to have her back. I'm happy too, I can't wait for him to stop hugging her so I can hug her.

But Jay quickly goes back to normal. As quickly as he had hugged her, he hoists her up over his shoulder. At First Rory just squeals his name, but once she realizes where she's going, she's screaming it. And she continues to scream until he gets the pool, but nothing stops him from hurling her into the deep end.

When she resurfaces, she screams his name once more, but Jay has stormed out of the building, leaving us alone.

Well it looks like things are finally going to go back to normal.