‘ Clever strategy.’

‘ I thought so.’

I shook my head. ‘ It’ s hard to believe anyone would ask that much of a fourteen-year-old. When do you get to have fun?’

‘ This is it.’  Her voice was grim, making it evident how short our outings fell from her definition of fun. ‘ And it’ s only because that lady Rose from the Big Sister program told my mom that I’ d freak out and turn into a ho or something if she didn’ t give me a break once in a while. Like, go wild with any freedom I might get. I overheard them talking. It was the first time anybody ever made Mami feel bad. About anything.’  She slurped again. ‘ Rose is pretty funny. She totally gave my mom shit. Said my life needed changing and that she was going to do it.’

At hearing that, I nearly dropped my box of Whoppers again. Of all the nerve! Rose Morales wasn’ t helping me achieve my secret goal of crossing an item off my list after all. The wily minx was competition!

Trying to set the record straight-if any life changing was going to happen here, it’ d be me doing it-I said, ‘ I know I’ m not as good as having a friend your age, but I’ m glad that you and I get to do things. I hope you’ ve been having an okay time.’

She shrugged agreeably. ‘ Sure. It’ s good.’  She eyed the Whoppers. ‘ You gonna open those?’

After the movie, I suggested we sneak in a little extra time together to hit the M.A.C cosmetics counter, where I bought Deedee a tube of liquid eyeliner. At eighteen dollars, it was cheaper than the movie snacks and-judging by the squeal of delight she gave when I handed over the bag-a much wiser investment toward purchasing her affection.

‘ So how about next week we skip the movie and go to the beach instead?’  I said as we scurried to the car. She was supposed to be back by four, and it was already five minutes after. ‘ I’ ve been wanting to go boogie boarding.’  (Which of course was ridiculous-anyone who knew me at all would realize I’ d never want to go boogie boarding. It was just a task from the list. But since Deedee didn’ t know about the list-and never would, since she was essentially a task on it, too-I was relieved that she seemed to take my comment at face value.)

‘ All right. I can work on my tan. But ain’ t no way I’ m going in the water. It’ ll be freezing this time of year.’

‘ I prefer to think of it as refreshing,’  I countered.

‘ Yeah, right.’

Okay, so I’ d brave the waters alone. At least we’ d be doing something other than staring at a movie screen. After I got on the road, I asked, ‘ Will you be in trouble for being late?’

‘ Probably. But maybe not. My mom will be mad at you, not me. I’ m supposed to watch Prince Ricky.’

‘ Your brother, I presume?’

‘ You can’ t believe what a pain in the ass he is, and my mom thinks he’ s so perfect. It’ s always Ricky this and Ricky that. I don’ t even exist except to watch him. You have no idea.’

When we reached a red light, I turned to her and said, ‘ Feel the back of your head.’  She looked at me as if I’ d gone insane. ‘ Go ahead, do it.’  With a look that said she was simply humoring me, she reached up a hand and ran it over her head. ‘ Notice how it’ s nice and curved?’  I leaned toward her, still keeping my eyes on the stoplight. ‘ Now feel mine. See how it’ s flat?’

She did and said, ‘ Ew. It is kinda flat.’  She felt hers again to compare.

‘ That’ s because when I was a baby, my parents used to spend their time chasing my brother around. He was hell on wheels. I was an easy baby, so they left me lying in bed all day by myself. Baby’ s heads are soft, so mine eventually flattened.’

Deedee thought about it. ‘ You’ re lucky you got all that hair. It covers it up. I’ d never have known you had a flat head.’

‘ My point is, you’ re not alone. I understand what it’ s like to lose out because of a spoiled brother.’  And I had the deformity to prove it.

THE SANTA MONICA beach near the pier was packed-I remembered too late that there was a big environmental fair and beach cleanup going on. Even though it was off-season, the beach was filled with rows of tents with booths set up on the sand. Music from the sponsoring radio station, K-JAM, blared from speakers-top forty pop and hip-hop music, which I would’ ve enjoyed a lot more if I hadn’ t had to pay seven bucks to park. Deedee carted a beach bag, and I carried towels and a boogie board borrowed from Susan, which I slung over my shoulder by its leash in the smooth manner of Sinatra holding a raincoat.

The day was clear but windy. Waves broke along the shore as if detonated. Although the air was warm, the water temperature in March would definitely be icy. The surfers wore wet suits (something I should have looked into), but the fact that a few swimmers braved the water in ordinary swimwear gave me hope.

Since we had to pass the fair to get to the water, I figured I could drag Deedee to check and see if there was an L.A. Rideshare booth-while I was at it, say hi to Elaine, the woman who worked weekend events for us. It occurred to me that my sudden interest in my co-worker Elaine might have had something to do with the size of those waves. I knew I’ d go through with the task before me, but I sure wasn’ t in any hurry.

We wandered past a couple of rows of booths until I saw the Los Angeles Rideshare banner. Brie was there alone, and she waved when she saw me trudge up with Deedee. She stood behind a table filled with various brochures as well as key chains, pens, antenna balls, and other cheap, crappy plastic items with our logo on them.

‘ What are you doing here?’  I asked, surprised to see her.

‘ Elaine got that flu that’ s going around. I’ d told her any time she wanted me to fill in for her I’ d be glad to. I get paid time and a half.’

Just then, who should walk up to join Brie but Martucci-carting a box, which he set with a thud on the table. ‘ Hey, Parker,’  he said, looking me up and down. ‘ You here to work?’

‘ Do I look like I’ m here to work?’  I wore an oversize shirt as a swimsuit cover-up and was still holding the boogie board.

‘ How the hell would I know? But if you’ re here to work, I’ ve got more boxes that need hauling. Brie here’ s afraid she’ ll break a nail.’

‘ I just got ‘ em done,’  she explained, holding up her nails, which were each painted with tiny flowers.

‘ Sorry to disappoint you,’  I said without sincerity to Martucci. ‘ I’ m just stopping by.’

When I introduced them to Deedee, Brie exclaimed, ‘ So this is your Little Sister! We’ ve heard so much about you. Hold on-’  She reached into the box Martucci had brought to hand Deedee a logo pen with a tip like a lava lamp that changed colors as you clicked it. ‘ This is for you. I’ m only giving the good stuff to friends.’

‘ Cool,’  Deedee said, clicking. ‘ Thanks.’

Brie turned to Martucci. ‘ How about you go get that box with the T-shirts? I’ ll bet this girl would like one of those.’

‘ Jesus, you women think I’ m a plow horse,’  he groused. ‘ You know, Elaine pulls her own weight when she’ s working with me.’

‘ That’ s because she doesn’ t have my skills. My job is to attract customers,’  Brie said. ‘ I can’ t do that if my nails are all nasty.’

He looked wearily at Deedee. ‘ What size you want?’

‘ Large?’  she replied.

He left, muttering something under his breath. When he was out of earshot, I said, ‘ Forget time and a half. If you’ re forced to work with him, they ought to pay triple your hourly rate.’

‘ What-you don’ t like Martucci?’

‘ You do?’

‘ He’ s all right.’

‘ I just hate the way he sucks up to Lizbeth. And that rattail braid of his is so gross. He’ s always feeling it.’

‘ He’ s probably scared it might’ ve crawled away,’  Brie said. ‘ Anyway, I figure I can get him to pick up hoagie sandwiches when he gets back. All this standing here is making me starved. You want a hoagie?’

‘ I’ ll pass.’  Although it occurred to me that if I ate something big, I’ d have an excuse to wait thirty minutes before going in the water.

Brie turned her attention to Deedee. ‘ So, hon, you got yourself a boyfriend?’

I couldn’ t believe she’ d ask her such a prying question right off. I expected Deedee to do the clamshell imitation I knew so well, but she made a noise like pbbbbt and rolled her eyes as if to say, Boys.

‘ I know that face,’  Brie said, nodding wisely. ‘ Go on, tell Mama Brie all about it. Who’ s the bum, and what’ d he do?’

‘ Carlos,’  she answered, as if saying ‘ dog turd.’

‘ Mm-hmm& ‘

‘ And he all says he likes me, that I’ m hot and all that& ‘

‘ I know that one.’

‘ And then I find out he’ s going out with& ‘  She paused because it was clearly too awful to say. ‘ Theresa.’

I cut in. ‘ Theresa from the movies?’

‘ Yeah. He was there that day, which she conveniently forgot to mention.’

Brie shook her head in disgust. ‘ You don’ t want Carlos anyway. He’ s a fool, going for a skank like Theresa. You know what I think?’  She leaned over and pulled the oversize tank top Deedee wore snug against her. ‘ You got a cute little figure there. You oughta dress real sexy and show that Carlos what he’ s missing. I got some clothes that I don’ t wear anymore. They’ re small on me, but I’ ll bet they’ d fit you real nice. How about if I give them to June to pass on to you? You can keep anything you like and throw away what you don’ t.’

Deedee wearing Brie’ s castoffs? Her bright and tight Lycra and spandex? That was good for a laugh! That was about as likely as-

‘ Sure.’  Deedee beamed. ‘ You got stuff like what you’ re wearing now?’

‘ This old thing?’  Brie wore a fuchsia tank top over matching short-shorts. ‘ Oh, way better.’

Well, isn’ t that swell? In five minutes she’ d managed to do more bonding with Deedee than I had in over a month. Although it was nice to see Deedee open up, even if it wasn’ t to me. At least it was in my general vicinity.

‘ Hey, I almost forgot,’  Brie said to me. ‘ That traffic reporter guy stopped by to see if you were here. Trey& ?’

‘ Troy Jones?’

‘ Yeah, that’ s it. He said he’ s here with K-JAM helping with the beach cleanup. Oh, speaking of that, watch this.’  She crumpled a brochure and tossed it into the sand. Within seconds, two children holding trash bags ran up and began to fight over who got there first to pick it up. ‘ Works every time! I guess they got more people showing up to pick up trash than they got trash.’

Deedee appeared delighted, but I was busy looking for Troy Jones. Hopefully he was gone by now. I didn’ t need him nosing around while I attempted to check a task off the list-especially one that required so little clothing on my part. ‘ I hope Martucci gets back with that T-shirt soon. We should get going,’  I said.

Brie eyed the boogie board. ‘ Looks like you’ ve got some fun planned. By the way, we still on for tomorrow night?’

‘ Yep.’  Brie was going to accompany me to the Oasis bar so I could cross off another task.

‘ You still buying?’

‘ Yep.’

We chatted a bit longer until Martucci returned, chucking a box onto the sand this time. Then he rifled through it and tossed a T-shirt at Deedee. ‘ There you go,’  he said. ‘ Wear it proudly.’

‘ Thanks.’  She held it up to inspect it. ‘ It’ s cute.’

‘ You think that shirt’ s cute,’  Brie said, ‘ you ought to see what I picked out for June to wear for tomorrow. Hoo-ee, it’ s nice. The top’ s this silvery blue, real shiny, you know? And it’ s got these sparkly things right along the-’

‘ Okay, then!’  I interrupted, not wanting Brie to elaborate in front of Martucci as to the location of those sparkly things.

Too late. ‘ Along the what, exactly?’  he asked a bit too innocently, his gaze dropping to indicate he was making a pretty good guess.

‘ We’ ll be leaving now,’  I said, trying to ignore him, but Brie, clueless, gestured across her chest as an answer.

‘ Nice,’  Martucci said. ‘ So what’ s going on tomorrow?’

‘ Girls’  night out,’  Brie replied. I began to worry she might start talking about the list, but she simply said, ‘ We’ re going to this bar called Oasis. That’ s the name of it, right, June? Oasis?’  I nodded, and she continued, ‘ Anyway, the guys there are going to have to pick up their tongues off the floor when June here walks in. She’ s definitely going to be& ‘  She paused to give me an exaggerated wink. ‘ The hottest girl there.’

Okay, shoot me now. I wasn’ t sure who was more amused by Brie’ s carrying on about me being hot, Martucci or Deedee. Luckily, an actual customer approached, preventing Brie from inflicting any further humiliation. I grabbed our beach stuff and said a quick good-bye, and Deedee and I started the trek to the water before I lost my nerve.