Paradise Blvd. Year One

Chapter Two

Saturday

She shuffled her scrambled eggs for a while before she put her fork down. "I'm going to the community pool."

"You barely ate your breakfast, Tulip," Mr. Moore noted with his scruffy voice.

"Can I come with you?" Tulip's younger brother asked with a mouthful of food.

Tulip shook her head. "No." She turned to her father. "I'm not really hungry and you know I can't swim immediately after eating. I don't wanna wait."

Mrs. Moore walked into the kitchen and rubbed her hand on Tulip's shoulder. "Honey. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, mom." Tulip cleared her throat. "I just wanna go swim. This could get me into varsity, remember? I could get a scholarship."

"If you're going, you're going with your brother," said Mr. Moore.

Tulip sighed. "Jonquil."

•

With Jonquil in the kiddies' pool, Tulip made her way to the short course pool. She was wearing pink shorts over her white PHS swimsuit. She looked inside the clear pool, standing near the edge. The community pool was still empty; it got busy around midday.

"You're gonna get in?"

Tulip turned to a topless Marion, who had his arm in a sling and his prescription sunglasses on. "Marion!" She gasped. "You're back?"

"No one told you? Well, they're not to blame - I should've told you," said Marion. "Nice to see you, too."

Tulip sighed. "Nice to see you. Really. How was Saltwater?"

"It was a'ight." Marion shrugged. "I kinda dislocated my arm, so that's a thing that happened. You're not here for fun, are you?"

Tulip brushed her hand through her hair as she shook her head. "No. Next year, the school's gonna be filled with sponsors handing out scholarships. I wanna see if I can get one doing what I love."

"That's really noble and inspiring and so damn corny, I'm sorry." Marion chuckled. "But it's you and I can respect that. I'm gonna leave you to do you, so talk later?"

Tulip nodded. "It's a date."

Marion croaked. "Um...no, it's not."

•

"That was so awkward," Troye remarked when Marion joined him.

"It wasn't," said Marion. "Was it? Anyway, how's the prep going?"

Troye frowned. "Prep?"

"The talent show?"

"Shit." Troye looked at his wristwatch, before sighing. "Oh! I'm only fifteen minutes late. I'm gonna soak some sun up, then go to the Town Hall in ten."

"You should be taking this seriously, man. A lot of people are," Marion stated.

Troye sat down on his towel. "Really? Like who, exactly?"

"Like him." Marion pointed at Forest who was walking towards them, wearing a snapback and sunglasses.

"What is this?" Troye scoffed. "A Marvel movie?"