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“Why don't you join us?” Bean suddenly asked.

Jillian stopped. “Oh, I couldn't.”

“Sure you could” Bean said. “I mean, have you had dinner yet?”

“Well, not really.”

“Then let me fix you a plate.” Bean was on his feet getting her a plate of food before Spazzy's sister could protest. But even with a plate of food in her hand, Jillian looked uncomfortable. Kai was pretty sure she couldn't see herself sitting on the sand. Bean seemed to sense that, too.

“Over here,” he said, and led her toward a large gray driftwood log lying in the sand a dozen yards away. Jillian followed and soon they were sitting together on the log, eating and talking. Kai couldn't help thinking that for a tall, nerdy, long-boarding undertaker-in-training with a Fu Manchu mustache and a black braid that reached down to the middle
of his back, Bean was definitely in control when it came to the opposite sex.

Shauna leaned toward Kai. “He really has a way with the ladies.”

More than you could imagine
, Kai thought, remembering the secret trips to Sun Haven that Shauna's cousin Pauline had been making. “I guess looks aren't everything.”

“No.” Shauna gazed dreamily at Kai. “But they sure don't hurt.”

Over on the log Jillian laughed out loud. Spazzy actually lifted his head and blinked, not from a tic, but from astonishment.

“Was that my sister?” he whispered.

“Must've been,” Shauna said.

“Wow,” Spazzy said. “I can't remember the last time I heard her laugh. I mean, except in a movie theater.”

They sat on the beach eating lobster, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes. The thin strips of clouds had vanished, and the sky was a vast, flawless blue. It was unusual for the wind to remain calm all afternoon on such a hot day, but as a result the ocean was as glassy as the surface of Spazzy's pool, broken only by a pod of fish splashing on the surface as they chased bait.

The sun was just starting to set, but the beach was far from empty. It had been a hot day and people seemed reluctant to leave. Had there been fewer beachgoers, Kai might have noticed the trouble that was approaching them.

“
A
w, cute. Look, it's a cookout.”

Without even looking up, Kai knew it was Sam. Runt, Everett, Derek, Lucas, and a couple of girls including Lucas's girlfriend, Deb Hollister, were also there. Kai was struck by the realization of who was driving the ATV that had passed them earlier. He should have known it was Runt.

Kai and his friends stood up. Spazzy was twitching like crazy, and some of the girls with Deb Hollister stared at him with horrified expressions on their faces.

“Cute bibs,” Runt taunted.

Meanwhile Derek went over to the grill where the man with the ponytail was cooking.
With his bare hand, the tattooed, pierced guy picked up a chicken leg and thigh right off the hot grill and took a bite.

“Excuse me,” Jillian said. “That's not for you.”

Derek chewed on the chicken and looked at her with an almost blank expression. Kai couldn't figure out whether there was a lot going on inside the guy's head. Or nothing. Both possibilities were kind of unnerving.

“Don't you guys have anything better to do than crash our parties?” Booger asked. “Why don't you have some parties of your own?”

“We have plenty of parties,” Runt shot back. “We just make sure you don't know about them.”

“Then, why don't you pretend you don't know about this one?” Spazzy said.

Runt glanced over at Lucas as if awaiting orders.

“I guess I'm just thinking about your philosophy of sharing,” Lucas said to Kai. “You want us to share our waves with you. How come you don't share your parties with us?”

“Maybe I would have,” Kai said. “But this isn't my party—it's Spazzy's.”

It was a dumb mistake and Kai knew it the second it left his lips. He forgot to call Spazzy by his real name. Kai glanced at Jilian, who was suddenly wearing a massive frown.

“It's okay,” Spazzy said to his sister. “It's just what everyone calls me. I don't even care. I mean, I'm so used to it, I don't even notice anymore.”

But between Derek taking the chicken and Kai calling Spazzy by his nickname, it was clear that Jillian had had enough. She took Spazzy aside to speak to him in private, but Kai and the others could hear every word she said.

“What's going on here?” Jilian asked her brother.

“Nothing, really, they're just some guys we know,” Spazzy said.

“How?” Jillian asked.

“Just from hanging around,” Spazzy said.

For a moment Spazzy's sister was silent, but Kai could see that her brother's answer was not going down well. Jillian turned to Lucas. “You're Lucas Frank. I've seen your picture in the local paper. You're a surfer.”

“That's right,” Lucas said.

Jillian studied Lucas's crew. “You're all surfers?”

Sam, Everett, and the others nodded. Jillian turned to Kai. “And you and your friends?”

Kai nodded. He could almost see Jillian putting it together in her head. All these kids were surfers. How in the world could her brother know them? Where would he have met them? Spazzy's sister turned to Lucas again. “This is a private gathering. I would appreciate it if you would leave my brother and his friends alone.”

Lucas glanced at his crew and jerked his head, then started down the beach. The crew followed, except for Derek, who went over to the grill and picked up a cob of corn for the walk home.

When Lucas and his friends had gone, Jillian stared for a moment at Spazzy. Then she turned and walked back toward the house.

U
p to that point Spazzy had been in a really good mood, but now he grew quiet. They finished the cookout talking about movies and TV and music. Everything, it seemed, except surfing. The sun was starting to go down, and they began to hear the pops and cracks of fireworks.

“Time pretty soon for the bonfire,” Bean said.

An awkward silence passed.

“Hey, Spazzy,” Kai said. “Maybe you could get Jillian to come?”

Spazzy twitched, licked the back of his hand, and sniffed it. Stuck a finger in his ear. Blinked. Shook his head. “Thanks, Kai, but it's
not happening. When I go back in the house, it's gonna be the fricken Spanish Inquisition.”

“The what?” Booger asked.

“I'll explain it to you later,” said Bean, then got up. “We still have to thank her for the party.”

With Bean in the lead, they walked up the beach, across the walkway over the dunes, and around the swimming pool. Through the sliding glass doors they could see Jillian inside, sitting on a couch, reading a book. Spazzy slid open the door closest to her. She looked up with an expression that was just a few degrees warmer than icy. A mask.

“Everyone wants to say thanks,” Spazzy said.

Jillian nodded.

One by one, Kai and his friends told Spazzy's sister how much they appreciated the party.

“You know, if you'd like to come down to the bonfire,” Bean said.

“Thank you, Larry” said Jillian.

“It's Bean, really It's been a long time since anyone called me Larry.”

“Bean,” Jillian said flatly.

“And everyone calls me Booger,” said
Booger. “I mean, it doesn't have anything to do with my nose or nothing. It's because I bodyboard.”

Jillian nodded, but said nothing. It was pretty clear that she understood they were saying that they all had nicknames. The others backed out through the sliding door, but Kai stayed a moment longer. He put his arm around Spazzy's shoulder. “I just want you to know that we think your brother's a cool guy. It doesn't matter what syndrome or nickname he has. He's always welcome to do stuff with us.”

Jillian nodded again.

“And you, too.”

Jillian blinked. As if hanging out with a bunch of scruffy local surf rats was something she'd ever do.

Kai rubbed Spazzy's head. “Catch you later, dude. And thanks again.”

With the sky turning blue-gray, Kai, Shauna, Booger, and Bean went back over the dunes and started down the beach, preferring to walk back along the water. While Kai had been inside with Spazzy and Jillian, Bean had been explaining the Spanish Inquisition to Booger.

“She's not really gonna torture her own brother, is she?” Booger asked.

“Of course not,” said Bean, “but one way or another she's gonna find out that he's been surfing without telling her. And that's probably just as bad, because for Spazzy, not surfing is gonna be torture.”

“What a you-know-what,” said Booger.

“Wait,” said Shauna. “She threw that whole party for him. She can't be that bad.”

“I don't think she's bad at all,” said Bean. “She just feels super-responsible.”

“She's got to let the guy live,” said Kai.

“See, that's the key to the problem,” Bean said.

“What do you mean?” Shauna asked.

“It's the Fourth of July,” Bean said. “The whole world is out at parties and sitting around bonfires and watching fireworks. What's she doing?”

“Reading a book,” said Booger.

“Exactly. So sure, we all know she's got to let Spazzy live,” said Bean. “But first someone has to show
her
how to get a life.”

They passed half a dozen bonfires and dozens of groups of people sitting on the beach, watching the fires and fireworks. In the distance
one fire burned more brightly than any other.

“Bet a quarter that's Lucas's fire,” Bean said. “Any takers?”

No one took him up on the bet. Fireworks were going off constantly now, like small arms fire in some war, with larger artillery shells now and then tossed in. The sky crackled and glittered with bottle rockets and roman candles. The red-hot embers rising above the bonfires added to the show.

By the time they reached Screamers, Lucas's bonfire rose up in front of them like a flaming volcano. There were probably three dozen people around the fire, enjoying a full-blown party. Kai spied Buzzy filling a red plastic cup from a keg. Near him Dave McAllister handed out rockets and cherry bombs from a suitcase stuffed with fireworks.

“I didn't think fireworks were legal in this state,” Kai said as they passed behind the fire and the party.

“They're not,” Bean said. “Except when you're Buzzy Frank and it's the Fourth of July.”

Bang!
A loud explosion went off a few feet from them. Kai and everyone else jumped.

“You think someone threw it at us?” Booger asked once they'd calmed down.

“Maybe,” said Kai. “But it could have been an accident.”

They stopped at Bean's pyre, still dark and unlit. Bean kneeled in the sand and took a box of matches out of his pocket. “Let us all now pray to Kahuna, the great god of surf. That he may provide us with big beautiful swells, steady offshore breezes, freedom from harm or surf-related injury, and peace among all surfers.”

He reached into the pile of wood and pulled out a plastic bottle of isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Fires near the water were often hard to start because of the dampness, but newspaper, twigs, and an old rag drenched in alcohol usually did the trick. Bean poured out the alcohol and lit a match. Ignited by rags and newspapers at the base of the pile, the fire began inside the stack of wood.

Bean backed away and sat with Kai, Booger, and Shauna on the sand, expecting to watch the fire grow inside the pile of wood and eventually envelope it.

Ka-boom!

K
ai remembered the flash of bright white light inside the pile of wood, and the explosion—probably the loudest sound to ever strike his ears. He remembered being knocked backward to the sand, and the sharp clatter of wood falling onto wood. And then, through the ringing in his ears, he heard the sound of laughter. He opened his eyes and saw the silhouettes of a crowd backlit by Lucas's bonfire. They were the ones who were laughing. Still trembling with surprise, Kai looked around to make sure Bean, Booger, and Shauna were okay. Like him, they were all in the process of pushing themselves up from the sand. They looked stunned and wide eyed, but okay. After the explosion
the pile of wood had collapsed in on itself, snuffing out the fire.

Even though Kai wanted to get up right away, he stayed down for a few moments, gathering his thoughts and waiting for the shaking to stop. By now he knew what had happened. Someone had stuck something inside the pile of wood. He rose to his feet. Bean and Booger were also starting to stand. Shauna was still sitting, her knees pulled under her chin, her hands over her face. She was crying.

Kai reached down and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Come on, let's go.” He helped her up. She was also trembling from the shock and surprise.

“Probably two or three M-eighties bundled together,” Bean was saying.

“Someone could've gotten hurt,” said Booger, his voice shaky.

“They probably figured the wood would contain most of the blast,” Bean said.

Shauna was on her feet now, sniffing and quivering, but not really crying anymore.

“You okay?” Kai asked her.

She nodded.

Kai led her toward Bean in a way that meant he wanted him to take her. Then Kai
started toward the crowd at Lucas's fire.

Most of them had laughed at first, but had now gone quiet. Not because Kai was approaching them, but because they'd seen the shocked looks on Bean's and Booger's faces, and heard Shauna's sobs.

Buzzy Frank stepped out of the crowd to face him. Kai stopped. He could feel the pulse in his forehead pounding. The sudden burst of adrenaline from the blast was still throbbing through his veins.

“It was a joke,” Buzzy Frank said with a forced grin.