Beauty Queens Part 27

"But ..." Tiara seemed torn. "I don't mind."

"She doesn't mind," Captain Sinjin said. He batted his lashes at Adina.

Tiara looked from Adina to Sinjin and back again. She jogged in place like a kindergartner who needed a bathroom.

Finally, George raised his hand. "I'll go with you to get it. I get him stuff all the time since he's the captain."

"Thanks!" Tiara beamed, and she and George walked hand-in-hand toward the coconut storage.

Adina threw up her hands. "Right. Just forget everything. Hey, maybe they have some laundry they need done, too," she grumbled. "I'm going to go check the fishing lines."

"Great idea, luv. I'm crazy about fish," Captain Sinjin called after her.

"Unbelievable," Adina muttered.

Good G.o.d! All you had to do was introduce the scent of testosterone and perfectly capable, together girls were reduced to giggling, lash-batting, hair-playing idiots. She hated it when girls did this. When they got all goo-goo-eyed over Y chromosomecarrying creatures instead of taking care of themselves. It's what her mother had done her whole life, cater to some man instead of looking after herself. Or Adina.

She thought about this as she walked toward the lagoon to check the fishing lines. She was still thinking about it and muttering to herself as she b.u.mped headlong into one of the pirates.

"You should watch where you're going," she snapped.

"I was," he answered in a raspy voice that tickled her insides and made her look up. "I was afraid you'd miss me, though, so I had to maneuver at the last minute."

He was grinning. He had the audacity to grin. It was a h.e.l.l of a grin, too - slightly naughty, with teeth that were just crooked enough to give his mouth character. He was tall and lanky with a bronzed, sharp-boned face; his green eyes were twinkly, like he'd just gotten a joke someone had told him earlier. Tawny, sun-streaked hair fell in waves to his tanned shoulders, which were bare and freckled. There was a small star tattoo on the left one.

Adina had the disconcerting feeling that the ground beneath her was not as solid as she imagined. "I-I have to check the fishing lines," she said, squeezing past him.

"I'll come with you," he said and fell into step with her as she marched toward the lagoon.

"You don't have to."

"I know." He flashed her that grin, the one that made her borders feel unprotected. "I'm Duff, by the way. Duff McAvoy."

Adina didn't answer.

"This is usually the part where you tell me your name."

"Why?"

He nodded, thinking it over. "Interesting name. Were your parents overly inquisitive people?"

"No. Why should I tell you my name?"

"You don't have to."

"Adina. Adina Greenberg."

"Nice to meet you, Adina." He stuck out his hand and Adina shook it warily before turning her attentions to the tangled fishing lines.

"It's pretty amazing what you've done here."

"What, did you think we'd lie down and die?" She waded into the water, untwisting the lines as she went.

"Um, that was a compliment."

"c.r.a.p," Adina said.

"It was a c.r.a.p compliment?"

She cupped a hand over her eyes and looked out at the water. "No, I mean, c.r.a.p, the line's stuck on something out there. It took forever to get these working. This one's probably going to break from the strain and we'll have to start all over again."

"Let me help you with that."

"I don't need your help," Adina called, but Duff was already wading into the water. This was the problem with men. They just a.s.sumed. They just took action. It was infuriating. And reductive. And slightly thrilling.

The wet clung to Duff's pants as he strode into the surf, and she could see the curve of his a.s.s. Man, he was fine.

"Stop it, Greenberg," Adina said. She walked back to sh.o.r.e and busied herself with rearranging the HELP stones.

Duff took a deep breath and dove under. He was under for a count of ten, and Adina found herself worrying. Another few seconds went by and he popped up. "Got it! Give it a try!"

Adina tugged on the line and it moved easily. Duff trudged back through the waves. His body glistened in the sun. Why was her heart speeding up? It was an autonomic betrayal. Stop it, she told her senses. Stop being so dumb.

"All better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem." He shook off the excess water like a big dog and sat down in the sand. "It's brilliant here. Peaceful."

"I'd trade it in a heartbeat for a night at a hotel with room service."

"Understandable. But it is kind of romantic. Like the island version of Waiden Pond."

"You've read Th.o.r.eau?" Adina managed.

"Surprised?" He gave her that smile, which was both sweet and a little dangerous. "I've been watching you. You're not like the other girls, are you?"

Adina made a show of looking down at her body. "Really?"

"Oh. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that you don't seem like the typical beauty queen type."

"Gee. Thanks."

"No! I didn't mean ... wow. I'm really striking out here." He took a deep breath. "What I meant was that you don't seem like someone who would go out for a Miss Teen Dream Pageant. You seem like someone who'd be, I don't know, playing in a band, hauling your equipment to gigs."

"I ... I do play in a band," Adina said, unable to keep her cool. "I'm the ba.s.s player."

"Ba.s.s players are brilliant! John Paul Jones, Flea, John Entwistle, Tina Weymouth ..."

"Seriously? You just named all my favorites in one breath."

"I have more breath. I could try to say more things to make you like me."

His eyes were very green. Adina got up to check the fishing lines even though she'd just checked them not five minutes before.

"So, rock-star pirate," she said, with a bit of sneer. "What instrument do you play on the show?"

"Well, I don't like to brag, but I am a virtuoso at the spoons."

"Really."

"Yes. My musical cutlery skills have landed me in the top concert halls of Europe. The Queen yelling out, 'Spoon solo!'" Duff played a mock spoon solo against his thigh, then made crowd sounds. "Of course, there was that tragic spork incident at the Hollywood Bowl. We don't talk about that."

"You don't play anything, do you?"

"Not a thing. I am completely and utterly useless."

Adina could feel herself starting to warm to Duff. "So, what, they just hired you for your good looks?"

"You think I'm good-looking?"

He gave her a shy smile, and Adina's cheeks pinkened.

"That's usually a requirement for being on TV," she said, dodging the question.

"Well. Maybe when we get back, you can teach me to play the ba.s.s."

"If we can fix your ship, we can get out of here. Oh my G.o.d. Do you know what I would do for a burger and a bed?"

"Hey - you fancy a trip to the ship?" Duff laughed when Adina raised an eyebrow. "No. Nothing like that. There's food on board. It's mostly pretty naff - soy protein bars and freeze-dried noodles and whatnot. But it's a change from coconut and fish for you."

"It's not a burger, but I'll take it."

When the morning fog burned off and the sun was high, the beauty queens and the accidental pirates trudged through the waters to the beached ship to a.s.sess the damage. She had taken on quite a bit of water and listed to one side. A big, jagged hole snaked along the starboard side near the bow.

"We're going to have to drag her ash.o.r.e if we have a hope of fixing her," Ahmed said.

"How do we do that?" Nicole cast a glance upward at the tall sails.

"If we cut down the rigging and use the ropes to pull her, I think we can do it."

"Worth a try," Nicole agreed.

Mary Lou could barely contain her excitement. A real pirate ship! Once on board, she stepped behind the large wooden wheel and pretended she was Josephine on a run through the islands, escaping from the British navy. "Ahoy, me hearties," she growled to herself. She wished she could tell Tane about this, and that thought gave her pause. Where was he? What had happened? Maybe he wasn't any better than Jacques-Paul or Billy. Or maybe the girls were right and he was some strange fever dream brought on by the island, a prince mirage.

"ML!" Shanti waved from the crow's nest. "How b.i.t.c.hin' is this?"

"Awesome!" Mary Lou called back. She wouldn't think about Tane. She was a pirate queen, and pirate queens had more important things to do.

Alongside the pirates, the girls climbed up the rigging and cut down ropes, dropping them to the deck. Down in the water, Petra and Sosie helped secure the ropes to the sides of the ship for the eventual haul.

Jen and Chu went belowdecks to examine the hole.

"Do you think she'll sail again?" Jennifer asked Chu, who wore a Pharma41 T-shirt.

Chu put his entire head through one section. "Don't know. They didn't teach us anything about shipwrecks in pirate camp. Mostly, they wanted us to work out and get cool haircuts."

Jen chewed at her bottom lip. "Got any tools on this ship?"

"Besides the captain?" The pirate's smile was sheepish. "Dunno. Not really tool savvy. But I can do one hundred crunches in two minutes. Check my abs." He raised his shirt.

"Little clue: wasted on me."

"What?"

"I'm into girls."

"Oh. Oh!" Chu said. "Right. Got it. That's cool. I've got a cousin who's gay. Amy Liu. Know her?"

Jennifer laughed. "Oh, sure. I'll just look her up in the Big Book of Lesbians. We get a copy of that with the purchase of our first flannel shirt."

"Really?"

Jennifer stared. "No. That was a joke. Come on, dude. Let's find those tools."

The rest of the girls went from cabin to cabin, taking stock of the situation as if they were preparing for a pageant, evaluating the good and the bad. The computers had taken on water and were nonoperational. (Bad.) The guys had, in fact, smashed the radio. (Bad and stupid.) Much of the food had spoiled or gone overboard in the storm. (Bad.) However, the cannons were fully functional. (Good, they supposed. Or at least not bad.) The sails, while torn, had mostly survived and were definitely mendable. (Good.) And there were packages of Top Ramen, tins of sardines, crackers, protein bars, oranges, and chocolate. (Okay, good, good, very good, good, and totally awesome.) "We can fix this if we really work hard," Shanti said, and the girls felt a renewed sense of hope that they might at last get off the island.

"All right, everyone!" Sinjin called. "Time for the old heave-ho!"

"It's like the biggest tug-of-war contest ever," Tiara said as they formed two lines on either side of the ship, dug their feet into the sand, and took up the ropes.

"One, two, three!" Sinjin called. They grunted and groaned, pulled and yanked. It took hours, but finally they dragged the wounded boat ash.o.r.e.

For the better part of several days, everyone worked together. Using two of the girls' rescued suitcases, they bailed as much water as they could and then sc.r.a.ped the hull of barnacles. Petra and George, whose mother was a seamstress, mended sails. Using the machete, Nicole, Ahmed, and Sosie took turns cutting a tree into lumber. Jennifer had found a tool kit with a hammer and a collection of mismatched nails and was ready to go.

"The wood's not dry enough yet," Adina said. "Trust me. I'm from New Hampshire. You've got to let that season a bit or it'll be useless. It'll just splinter right up on you."

"How long?" Duff asked.

"Not sure. In this sun, maybe a few days. Maybe a few weeks."

The girls' shoulders sagged. There were groans.

"Now, Miss Teen Dreamers," Petra reprimanded in her best Taylor tw.a.n.g. "I cannot believe y'all are grumblin'. I once went an entire year without any wood at all."

Nicole sputtered. Adina fell in the sand laughing.

"What?" George asked.