Chapter 20

A full moon floated over Summer Lake on the final Sunday of the season, reflecting in the dark lake waters as it glowed powerfully over the lodge. The hotel was fully booked for the Labor Day weekend and there been had an afternoon concert at the bandshell. The annual Summer’s End Gala was winding down in the main ballroom, with the brass band playing their final number and then the elderly guests who’d made it up that late slowly making their way to the elevators.

Below, on the staff level, Abby was changing into her competitive one-piece as Nicole, wearing a black bikini that covered everything up, watched her from where she relaxed, sprawled out on her girlfriend’s bed. Abby tried to put her hair in a ponytail and frowned. “Lacey, can I borrow a scrunchy?”

Nicole sighed. “Geeze a party in swimsuits is the easiest one to dress for, why are you being such a girl?”

Lacey, wearing a less conservative pink bikini, went over and helped Abby, who was frustrated with how her mess of curly red hair was looking in the ponytail. “Awww it’s the last thing we’ll do this summer, at least that’s any fun. I’m just glad she’s not wearing swim trunks and a T-shirt,” Lacey said.

Abby elbowed Lacey playfully, and Lacey apologized with a laugh.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Abby said, “They’ve been bullying us even worse lately now that they know they won’t get in trouble for it. And Laura will be there, probably egging them on and letting them know they can get away with anything short of killing us.”

“Aww where’s the girl who told me to eat her pussy when I bullied her at the start of the summer?” Nicole asked.

“Yeah I thought you fought back against the bullies, Abby,” Lacey said as she put her friend’s hair into a high bun. “I mean even I’m going to this party. You can’t pussy out.”

Abby sighed. “Yeah, you’re right,” she said, “I just feel like this is going to be rough. If we show up at the lifeguard party it’s gonna be full-on war. They really don’t want us there.”

“All the more reason for us to show up with smiles on our faces,” Nicole said, “We can’t let them win now can we, Abby?”

“No,” Abby said, feeling her familiar old fighting spirit rising up in her. “Can we really fight them flat out, though?”

“What do we have to lose at this point?” Nicole said, “Uncle Mitch is busy with all the Labor Day Weekend stuff, and our last day is tomorrow. We’ll go work somewhere else next summer anyway probably.”

Abby swallowed. She knew it wasn’t anywhere near that simple, with as powerful as Nicole’s family was, and with her own family’s sensitive situation but she tried to set it aside for now.

Just then there was a knock at the door. “It’s open,” Lacey said.

Eric opened the door and came in, wearing just his big blue swim trunks. Abby glided over and hugged her huge brother.

“Ah, it’s our secret weapon, the Bully-Basher 9000,” Lacey said in her trademark style. “Did Esmie just give you a haircut? Your flat top looks unusually flat.”

“Yeah,” Eric said with a goofy grin.

“Thanks for coming Eric,” Abby said, breaking the embrace. “Sorry to drag you away from Esmie.”

Each lifeguard could only bring one guest to the party, so Abby would bring her brother and Nicole would bring Lacey.

“Well she didn’t really want to come anyway,” Eric said, “She’d like to be a lifeguard one day but the current crop are so mean to her.”

“Anyway we were discussing how we’re going to the party to stick it to those jerks,” Lacey said. “I’ve worked here for two years now and those people have been nothing but awful to me. Except you Nicole.”

“I’m not one of them anymore, but I’m sorry for what I did when I was with them,” Nicole said, and Lacey nodded.

“But yeah, we’re going to ruin their party!” Abby said, “It’s what they get for being bullies. Sometimes the victims can fight back.”

Eric shrugged. “Well, if you’re sure, but I’m not Superman. I can’t beat up all the dude lifeguards.”

“Yeah we’d need Nick for that,” Lacey said, and everyone laughed at the suggestion. Her boyfriend, who weighed less than she did, had offered to come but they didn’t have an invitation for him and he looked relieved when Lacey had told him to just hang out with his sister for the evening.

“Oh relax, it won’t be a melee,” Nicole said. “You’re just there so the boys don’t hit me and Abby. By and large they’re all pussies, the girls don’t want to fight me and Abby by themselves, and the boys would rather not fight you, Eric. They’re all pretty-boys and athletes, they don’t want to go home with a broken nose or busted knee. But if it was just us girls, the boys would come after with us and we can’t have that.”

Eric looked incensed to hear Nicole describe such cowardly behavior and he put on a scowl. Abby felt uneasy about the idea that they’d be pushing things far enough that the male lifeguards would attack her and Nicole. However, she’d never backed down from a fight in her life. The actual reason she didn’t want to go was that Laura Ballard would be there. She’d told Laura’s father they would work with them to not influence Nicole into coming out of the closet and rejecting Stanford. It made sense at the time, and it let them have these last few glorious weeks of summer, but now she was quite aware of what would happen if Nicole found out about their deal with the devil.

They went to the landing lounge to call for an elevator car up to the lobby, which was normally a no-no since staff was supposed to use the stairs, but Abby figured this might be the least of their infractions tonight.

The whole reason staff wasn’t supposed to use the elevator was to avoid pulling guests down to the staff level. Guests had to get in the elevator then not push any buttons for that to happen so it seemed like an academic point until that very moment when the elevator doors opened revealing an elderly couple – the man in a stiffly starched tuxedo, the woman in a beautiful ankle-length blue sequinned dress. They looked decidedly out of place on the grungy employee level landing with its indoor/outdoor carpet and plastic couches.

“Where are we, Barbara?”

“Oh dear, we’ve never been here before!”

The teenagers were all standing in their bathing suits awkwardly.

“Um,” Nicole said, stepping in when no one else immediately said anything, “Sorry, folks. You can hit the close door button and then the button for your floor, we’ll get the next elevator.”

“Nonsense!” the old man said, a skinny and tall guy with a bald head. “Come on kids, we’ll take you up with us.”

The group hesitated at first but Lacey stepped forward and they all followed her.

The door closed and the old woman, Barbara, said “Edward, you just wanted to look at these beautiful young ladies in their bathing costumes, didn’t you?”

“Why, I would never do such a dastardly thing!” Edward said, “But now that you mention it, it is a lovely view.”

Abby tensed up and Eric turned his head around halfway.

“Relax, sonny, when you’re 83 years old you’ll be looking at pretty teen girls in bikinis too, every last chance before you kick the bucket. Which could be any moment now!”

The elevator door opened and the group walked out into the lobby in confusion.

“Well now Edward you’ve really outdone yourself! I’m going to have to give you a spanking!” Barbara sad as the doors closed and the elevator began ascending to the guest floors.

“Oh my god,” Nicole said, laughing, “Did that really just happen?”

“It’s the full moon, baby,” Abby said with a laugh.

“Jesus, you’re not kidding,” her girlfriend replied as they walked through the lobby, which was largely deserted now with the guest events finished for the night. Maintenance was shutting things down in the ballroom, and evidently Edward and Barbara were among the last of the guests to go up to their rooms. Which was just as well, Abby knew that the whole idea of holding the lifeguard party so late was that no guests would be around.

She and her friends walked out onto the sprawling concrete terrace and headed toward the pool. Laura Ballard was at the gate along with their soon-to-be-former boss, the aquatics director, and a small number of guards were already in the pool area behind them.

“You’re really going to subject yourself to this, Nicole?” Laura said heartlessly as they approached.

“Abby and I are lifeguards, we’re entitled to go to the lifeguard party,” Nicole said flatly, glaring at her cousin.

“Oh of course, you’re entitled to a lot of things,” Laura said. “And these are your guests ... your date is Abby’s brother, and Abby’s with Lacey now?”

“They’re not our dates, they’re our guests,” Nicole said.

Coach Fleetwood looked at both girls with annoyance, or maybe even disgust, Abby thought. Abby and Nicole still had to officially deny that they were a couple, at least to guys like him, as they couldn’t have it spreading around competitive swimming circles that they were admitted lesbians. That all felt pathetic to Abby, but she knew that if they were openly gay that was pretty much the end of their Olympic dreams. This was the real reason she didn’t want Nicole’s family to turn on them and spread those destructive rumors. The Ballard’s were significant financial backers of the national team. Still, Abby felt like their summer coach had already made up his mind and was through with both of them.

“Sure, guests, well, come on in then,” Laura said, breaking the tense silence. Coach Fleetwood sighed and headed for the employee cabins already, leaving Laura in charge. Much of the appeal of the lifeguard party was the minimal supervision. “Well, enjoy your last night as a dyke, cousin,” she said openly now, with a gleam in her eye that scared Abby.

Nicole scoffed. Abby wondered how much her girlfriend knew about what possibly lay in store for her. But it occurred to her that Nicole probably did know most of what they’d do to her if she didn’t renounce lesbianism and go to Stanford like a good heterosexual in 24 hours. And here she was still scoffing and acting defiant anyway, Abby was so proud of her.

Laura let them in and at least that nastiness was over with for now. The pool was well lit and some tables were set up with snacks and non-alcoholic drinks (at least, they started the party as non-alcoholic). At another table, Todd the lifeguard was behind Nick’s audio equipment, playing some music. Nick had to set it up earlier in the evening, so it sounded good, but he’d wanted no part of actually playing music for the lifeguard party as he knew they’d all mess with him if he was at the DJ booth.

“Damn, I don’t like this DJ at all,” Lacey pouted.

“He’s one of the guys who was bothering you in town that night,” Eric said with some anger in his voice.

Lacey sighed. “Yeah, if it comes to it, will you give him an extra punch for me, Eric?”

“You got it.”

The party so far was reminding Abby quite painfully of the low points of the summer. Todd the DJ, the cool lifeguards all in a huddle on the other side of the pool, giving her and her friends dirty looks, Summer Lake management turning a blind eye to it all. But nothing much was happening so far, half the lifeguards weren’t even there yet.

Abby laid out on a lounge chair, her friends standing around her. It was strange to hang out like this by the pool with the night sky overhead, the pool only lit by the big moon and artificial light on the terrace. It gave it a forbidden feeling that was fun for now. But it also felt like the calm before the storm.

Eric had never been to a lifeguard party. It started out boring, like any party before the full crowd arrived, with the DJ blaring music and the kids milling about awkwardly off in their groupings, waiting for things to get exciting. He missed Esmie already, but his sister needed him tonight.

More and more lifeguards arrived, many bringing guests who were invariably hot girls or attractive guys from other departments. Eric only saw one guy from landscaping, a guy named Craig who he got along well enough with. The cool kids seemed to be ignoring Craig and only tolerating his presence since he had one of the girl lifeguards on his arm.

Some of the girls started jumping on a large trampoline by the pool.

“Why is there a trampoline here?” Eric asked. He’d seen it there before but never questioned it.

“Some competitive divers use it for training,” Nicole explained.

“Oh, cool,” Eric said.

Just then the girls jumped as high as they could and dove into the pool dramatically.

“Well not like that,” Nicole explained, “They’re just fucking around tonight.”

Some boys started doing their own jumps into the pool off the trampoline, a few dives, but also flips, and can-openers to make big splashes. After a few minutes of that, someone ran into the trampoline and pushed it into the pool. Eric looked over to where Laura was sitting on a deck chair at the gate, expecting her to put a stop to it, but Laura seemed completely unconcerned.

“Uhh is this really okay?” Eric asked.

“We spend all summer enforcing rules,” Nicole explained, “The lifeguard party is our chance to break every rule and go wild for one night. It’s Summer Lake tradition.”

The focus moved to the diving platforms now. Even if this night seemed bound to descend into anarchy, most everyone here was quite athletic and they couldn’t resist showing off before they started getting destructive and crazy. At first everyone was doing real dives and flips off the highest platform, and some were quite impressive.

“Hey Eric, go show them your move,” Abby said.

Eric liked that idea and went to climb the ladder. A male lifeguard stood in his way but Eric just walked right at him and he stepped aside. Eric was starting to like the rule-less nature of this party. He climbed the ladder and stood atop the ten-meter platform without any particular fear. He was no competitive diver, but he was an athlete and had gone off a board like this before many times due to hanging out with his sister at pools so much over the years.

He walked down the platform and heard the lifeguards and their guests chanting “Belly flop! Belly flop!” and clapping. He was no choke artist though. He walked casually off the edge and did a tight, disciplined cannonball, hitting the water hard. It was his “move” as Abby said, which between his commitment to holding the form and his bulky frame was enough to produce an impressive splash, far greater than the skinny male lifeguards with their can-openers. He felt the water whooshing around him and knew it was a big one as he went under.

When he came up, most of the guards were booing but he heard his friends cheering and he swam over to them, feeling pride when they explained that his splash was unbelievably large and put the other ones to shame.

He climbed out and relaxed on a lounge chair with his friends. After a few more dives by girls, some of them quite well executed with flips and twists, things began to go off the rails. At first, it had nothing to do with Eric and his friends, and he actually enjoyed it. A lanky guy jumped off the springboard onto the trampoline, which had been pulled out of the water, and from there he was propelled up and into the pool.

That seemed reckless to Eric, but it was soon outdone by a lifeguard who jumped off the springboard onto a raft in the water. Then someone bigger jumped off the platform onto the raft, sinking it to the bottom of the pool. Then someone road a bicycle off the high platform into the pool. Then someone tried to ride the bike off the high dive onto another raft but missed. A female guest stood atop the high dive and flashed her boobs and the boys hooted below. Eric felt guilty for looking, it was the first time he’d had horny thoughts about a girl other than Esmie all summer.

Eric was enjoying the wild antics, especially as the DJ was playing fun music, all mainstream stuff that would have made Nick bitch and moan, but Eric liked it. Lacey got them drinks and snacks and they ate and enjoyed themselves. He’d never been to a party this crazy. He and his friends were actually having fun.

Maybe this wouldn’t be a disaster after all.

Lacey was having fun too. She’d heard about the lifeguard party many times over the course of her two years working at Summer Lake. It was quite legendary for exactly the sort of antics taking place now: all these athletic lifeguards were turning the orderly Summer Lake pool into a bonkers madhouse for one night.

Now they were trying to jump off the diving boards through hula hoops in the water. This was not particularly reckless compared to jumping onto floats or riding bikes off the springboard, or when boys had played “king of the hill” atop the diving platform, but when someone screwed up and landed on a hoop it was hilarious and looked rather painful. For the most part though the jumps were graceful and impressive, as many people at the party were competitive divers and the rest had spent half their lives in pools.

Lacey decided to take this opportunity to have some fun while things were still relatively calm, so she climbed the platform. She was not the bravest girl so jumping off this always made her heart pound, and it was fun in the way that a roller coaster was. She stood at the end of the platform and of course some guy below yelled “Show your tits!” One girl actually had flashed already, and Lacey knew her old pathetic self would have succumbed to the desire to please people and done it, but now she just gave the crowd the middle finger and jumped. She didn’t try to dive or flip or anything, she just kept her body straight and tried to aim for the hoop, but missed it rather badly, probably landing at least five feet away. Apparently jumping into a hula hoop was harder than it looked. She thought it was funny herself though so she laughed with everyone as she got back out of the pool.

Abby and Nicole were not graceful divers, their strength was long, brutal swimming races, but they had a go at the target practice. They went up together for safety. The party was just hitting its stride and there were a lot of teenagers at the pool, seemingly everyone had brought a guest. Many people didn’t really care, but the cool crowd was definitely upset that Nicole and Abby had shown up. Some chicks blocked the ladder to the high dive, but the two strong girls were able to push them out of the way.

It was even worse once they stood atop the springboard together. Two people up there on a diving board at once was against the rules, of course, but that’s not why the lifeguards cared tonight. A few people yelled “dykes!” at them, and then there were some muffled yells, wolf whistles, all the predictable stupidity, but mostly it was various terms for gay girls.

Lacey never got the hatred for lesbians. She’d shared a room with Abby for three months now and that girl hadn’t done anything weird at all because Lacey was straight and not sending out any signals. Then Abby met a lesbian and instantly they were having a steamy relationship. It seemed pretty obvious that lesbians didn’t bother straight girls, but that hardly seemed to matter to most people. Lesbians were different and vulnerable, and everyone seemed to love punching down, especially at Summer Lake.

Nicole dived first, going straight through the hoop. Lacey and Eric cheered, and Abby did too on the high dive, and a few neutral parties clapped politely for the bullseye, but the cool clique booed her. That was the saddest thing, those people kissed Nicole’s ass at the start of the summer but as soon as she started being nice to the outcasts they hated her guts. For all they knew she and Abby were just good friends, it’s not like they kissed or even held hands in public. But the rumor was that they were lesbians, and most people accepted it without any proof.

Abby went next. Taller and lankier, and honestly not as graceful, Abby perhaps should have tried to do a basic jump, but she felt compelled to emulate her girlfriend and do a dive. Nicole treaded water by the hoop so no one came and moved it, but Abby came down on it with her shoulder, breaking the hoop in two and causing her to land in a painful sounding back flop.

Naturally, this brought out the worst in the crowd, who were booing and jeering when Abby came up. She said something to Nicole who shook her head, so Lacey figured Abby must have thought someone moved the hoop. Lacey felt so bad for her friend, not that a perfect dive would have made the bullies suddenly start being nice, but now she’d embarrassed herself and given the jerks fuel to get nasty.