At two minutes to the hour, with me pacing the dock, Leo came strolling up, holding his guitar. A group of grungy guys trailed after him.
“Nice of you to show up,” I said.
“You said eight. I’m two minutes early.”
“I said seven thirty but whatever. I’m glad you’re here. Come on.”
Leo raised his guitar in the air like I’d just praised him somehow and climbed aboard. Just in time because Patrice was walking up the stairs.
“You ready?” she asked me.
“We’re ready.”
“This band stinks,” I said to Blaire. I sat down next to her in the back of the big room. I slipped off my wedges that were too high, dropped my car keys inside of them, and shoved them under the table. It was the first time I’d sat down all night. I’d been busy checking on food and answering questions about the yacht and my money and my new hair. Everyone wanted to talk to me.
“They really do suck, don’t they? Tell me you didn’t pay them,” she said.
“I paid them. I practically begged them to sing.”
She laughed and I did, too. It didn’t seem to matter, people were still having fun. There were groups all over the boat—dancing, lounging in chairs on the deck, leaning against railings and enjoying the view. The ocean was relatively still tonight and the rocking of the boat created a calming effect for me. I leaned my head against the wall and let out a happy sigh.
“Where’s Elise?” I asked.
She pointed and I followed her finger to Elise, who was in the middle of the dance floor dancing with a guy I didn’t recognize.
“I swear, I don’t even know half these people,” Blaire said. “Do you?”
“No. I think people invited friends from other schools.” I paused. “Not that I know everyone from our school.”
“But everyone knows you.” She circled her finger, indicating the entire boat.
Past Elise, I saw someone I recognized but couldn’t place. “Who is … ” I trailed off as my mind put her in context. Rachel from the zoo was here.
“Who is what?” Blaire asked.
My heart stopped. Rachel from the zoo was here. How did she find out about this? Was she going to tell Seth about my party? I needed to talk to her. Find out if she knew this was my party. If she knew about my lottery win. Chances were, if she was here, she did.
“Will you watch my stuff for a minute?” I asked Blaire, pointing to my shoes and car keys.
“Of course.”
I pushed through the crowd and tapped Rachel on the shoulder. She turned around and the words that were about to come out of my mouth stopped.
“Hi, Maddie,” she said.
It wasn’t Rachel. It was another girl who looked kind of like her, a lot less like her up close, actually. “Oh, hi.” I didn’t know her name.
“This is so much fun.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” I was obviously getting paranoid about Seth finding out about my win from someone else. I needed to tell him myself and soon. Too bad I’d waited so long that now I had to think up the right way to do it, make it a big production.
I pointed over my shoulder. “I better get back.” I turned around and nearly ran Trina over.
“You should do a party like this every weekend,” she said, waving her cup of punch.
I laughed. “This is my one and only, so enjoy it.”
“What else are you going to do with all that money?” she asked.
“I’m going to save most of it.”
She nodded slowly like she thought that was the most boring answer in the world. It was.
“What would you do with it?” I asked her. I was learning that people loved this question. They always had an answer ready. I wouldn’t have had an answer ready, had someone asked me that before my lottery win.
“I would buy a plane and fly it around the world,” Trina said.
“As in you would fly it yourself?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a pilot?”
“I’ve never flown a plane before but fifty million dollars would be a good motivation to learn. I’d want to do something I’ve never done before. It’s like a chance to redefine yourself.”
I nodded. “Can’t you do that without money?”
“Money makes it easier.”
“I guess.”
“Let’s say you couldn’t save the money. That you had to spend it. What would you do?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Maybe you should find out.”
That sounded an awful lot like Seth’s challenge—live a little. It made me wish Seth were here, at this party … dancing with me. No, not dancing with me. I shook my head and looked over my shoulder to where Blaire sat, her chin resting in her palm.
“Let’s go talk to Blaire,” I said.
“Um … sure.”
Trina’s hesitation made me remember how Blaire had refused to tutor her. Maybe it would help them both to get to know each other a bit.
Before we could walk back to Blaire, though, a girl with brown hair and a worried expression grabbed me by the arm. “Maddie! I have to show you something. Quick.”
“What is it?”
“Dylan Matthews is taking bets on if he’ll jump overboard.”
My heart was in my throat. I raced up a set of stairs and reached the open deck on the bow of the boat. She was right. Some kid, one foot on the seat of a patio chair, one foot up on the railing, both hands in the air, was yelling to the crowd that had gathered. One sudden move of the boat and he’d go over without even trying.
“How much will you pay me to jump?” he was shouting.
And the idiots in the crowd were actually yelling out amounts.
Dylan caught my eye from up there on the chair. “Maddie! Now we have big money,” he told the others. “How much will you pay me?”
“Nothing. Will you just get down? Go eat food. There’s lots of food.” It wasn’t a very tall yacht so I didn’t think he’d get hurt jumping off. But he might get lost out there in the dark water.
“I will get down if you give me a hundred dollars.”
“No.”
He lunged toward the railing.
“Okay! Yes! Deal. I’ll give you a hundred dollars.”
A triumphant smile took over his face and he jumped off the chair. He came over to me with his hand out.
My heart was still in my throat from the panic. “I don’t just carry cash around.”
“Maybe you should start,” he said. “Buy your friends.” He held his hands out wide, gesturing to the boat around him. “Oh, wait, you already did.”
My heart beat hard and I found myself wanting to push him overboard for free.
“I’ll collect my hundred dollars on Monday.” With that, he walked away and the rest of the crowd dispersed.
“Don’t listen to him,” Trina said. She had followed me up to the deck. “He’s an idiot. He always has been.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“You’re cool and everyone likes you.”
“Because of the money?”
“No, that’s just what gave you notoriety, made people sit up and pay attention. But now they’re looking and they like what they see.”
“Thanks, Trina.”
“I mean it.” She squeezed my arm. “Now, can we tell the band to take a break? They’re awful.”
I laughed. “Yes, I’ll go talk to them. Do we have any backup music options?”
“I have a pretty awesome playlist,” she said.
I held out my hand and she placed her phone in it. Then we headed downstairs.
Leo and his band were still going strong. It sounded like the same song as when I left but maybe that’s because every song he played sounded the same.
“There’s a small room over behind the bar area that has a sound system inside. Do you want to hook this up?” I asked Trina, holding up her phone.
“Absolutely.”
I couldn’t get Leo’s attention. He was singing with his eyes closed, the microphone against his lips. I jumped up onstage and tapped him. He didn’t stop playing, which was impressive. He just looked at me.