CHAPTER 23
Friday afternoon the Huckabee girls had a home volleyball game against Miramar, and Bo, Jimmy, Adler and Mackie sat in the stands watching.
"What I don't like about regular volleyball," Jimmy was saying, "is the positions. You have your blockers up front, your diggers in the back and your setter. They all have, like one job. Two-man beach is much better."
"I see," said Bo. "This is something you've thought about a lot, then."
"I'm just saying," said Jimmy, "in beach you're all over the place. Setting, spiking, diving. It's a more all-around sport."
"What I don't get," Adler said, "is how you guys can be so upbeat after what happened yesterday."
"Dog, things happen," said Jimmy. "You have to go with the flow. Wow, look at that jump serve from Jen! Ooh, I can't believe they got it back."
"To be honest, I woke up around 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep," Bo said. "So I turn on the TV, start flipping around, and they're showing this thing about a family that takes a wrong turn in the mountains and gets stuck in their car for ten days in the snow. I start thinking, losing a gig's not the end of the world."
"Course what eats at you--what I'm trying very hard not to think about-- is who we lost it to," Jimmy said.
"But at least they had a few days of aggravation before they got the gig back," said Mackie.
"Whoa, the Mack-man coming alive, throwing down his two cents," Jimmy said, smiling.
"Walter, you got your performance figured out?" Bo asked.
"Not really."
"Good, though--because 'not really' means at least you've decided to play," said Jimmy.
"Mr. Riggins pretty much made me feel I didn't have a choice."
"So just get up there and crank something out that you've got memorized," Bo said.
"That way, even if you did have the problem again with the glasses--which you won't--it doesn't matter."
"I don't know. I feel like people might be laughing or something when I play classical."
"I've never heard any of that," Bo lied, "but if you're worried about it, then play something pop or rock or jazz, or whatever. You've got the weekend to work it out."
"Maybe," said Mackie.
"That's game," Jimmy said. "And match. Pretty sure we beat 'em three-zip. Anyone hungry? How about we see if the girls want to get a bite somewhere?"
"Sure, thanks for offering to treat us again," Bo said.
"Now that," Jimmy said, "was so funny I forgot to laugh."
By Monday things were pretty normal. Bo wasn't thinking about the band much, so he therefore could turn his attention back to just how boring school was.
Some song lyrics started to take shape in his head, to go along with the ones he'd written in Mr. Hacker's English class:
"I sat there in history, checking out El Salvador...
"I sat there in science class, breaking down some CO2...
"I stood there in PE class, trying hard to barely move...
"I sat there in algebra, fractions jumping all around..."
At four o'clock, Bo was sitting in The Box with a pad and pencil when Jenny and Melissa showed up with Adler.
"You just stop over for a visit?" Bo said. "Or you thought we had practice?"
"I guess we're kind of used to the routine of coming here every day," Melissa said.
"Well, now that you're here," Bo said, "Nick, could run you up to my room and get my acoustic guitar? I was afraid of trying to get it over the wall by myself."
"Walter said he had to practice for tomorrow," Jenny said. "He seems quite nervous."
"I got something here," Bo said. "A long shot, but maybe it can become a song."
Adler handed up the guitar and climbed over.
"What's it about?" Melissa asked.
"A kid in school. He can't take it, he wants to be the heck out of there. You know, be at the beach or something. I have a rough melody for the verses, which goes something like this."
Bo played the first verse, with the lyrics from the English class.
"Interesting," said Adler.
"Wow, cool," said Jenny. "You wrote that?"
"I'd love to hear more of it," Melissa said.
"Thing is, I'm stuck on the chorus," Bo said. "I need surfing words."
"You mean the slang and what not?" Adler asked.
"Exactly. How about you guys throw out whatever words come to mind and I'll write them down?"
"Okay, well first of all there are the boards," said Jenny. " 'Shortboards', which are 'new school', and 'longboards', which are 'old school'."
"Okay, good," said Bo, taking notes. "How about some of the moves?"
"Let's see now--you 'cut back', you get 'locked in' and if you switch your feet you're riding 'goofy foot', right Jen?" said Melissa.
"Right, and you have your 'tail slide', your 'swallow tail', your 'bottom turn', your 'cross step'--let me think what else," Jenny said.
" 'Endless Summer' might work as a general expression," Adler said.
"Oh yeah-- you have 'in the soup', 'close out', 'caught inside', what else..." said Jenny. "Oh, also 'slash turn'."
"You guys are beautiful," Bo said. "What about places now--the names of surf spots?"
"The Pipeline is one of the most famous, right?" said Adler.
"It is, it's in Hawaii," said Jenny. "Around here, you have Malibu and then Huntington of course, which they call 'Surf City'. Dirk Lefroni was saying Capitola's pretty good, up north."
"Lefroni? What was he doing up there?" Adler asked.
"How should I know?" Jenny said. "And don't forget about Manhattan. We take it for granted because we go there all the time, but people come a long way to surf there."
" 'Manhattan' doesn't sound right in the lyric though," said Bo. "You got anything else?"
"How about Laguna Beach?" said Melissa.
"Laguna...yeah, that might work," said Bo.
"Work for what?" It was Jimmy, dropping over the wall.
"Hey, dude," said Bo. "It's a serious struggle, but we might miraculously be coming up with our first Z Street Band original song."
"There's still a band?" Jimmy said.
"Well, not right now, but there will be," Bo said, "probably."
"Hey, definitely!" said Jenny
"It was not a good a scene today," Jimmy said.
"Ooh, that's right, Fancy Freeze," said Adler.
"Our boys were having a good old time, all stretched out with their feet up on the table, their two hundred dollars in their pocket," Jimmy said. "They know about us, too."
"You're kidding!" said Adler.
"How could they?" said Melissa.
"Ah, they're not stupid, and word gets around," Bo said. "They're not going to bother us though. They got the last laugh."
"Let's hope you're right," Adler said.
"He is right," Jimmy said. "Dude, if they were going do any bothering, I seriously don't think I'd be standing here all comfortable, chatting with you right now."
"Which might not be the worst thing," Bo said.
