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CHAPTER TWO - A New Girl in Town

That evening, Dawson was sitting by the side of the creek. He loved sitting outside in the evenings, while the sun went down in the sky. He was thinking. He was a little sad about Pacey leaving his job at the video store. Pacey was a good friend. And friendships with guys were so much easier than friendships with girls!

“Friendships with girls whose names begin with the letter ‘J’ are especially difficult,” he said to himself. “I need to find a new friend this summer.”

Dawson still had his video camera with him. He held it up to his face and he looked through the viewfinder. He looked at the houses next to the creek. He looked at Jen’s grandmother’s house, then he looked at the Barclays’ house. The Barclays lived two houses from Jen. They had two young babies who had been born at the same time - twins.

As Dawson watched, he heard a noise. It was the sound of a door opening and then closing. Someone was coming out of the Barclays’ house. A moment later, Dawson was looking at a girl. He could see her clearly in the camera’s viewfinder. She was about the same age as he was - or maybe a little older. Her red-blond hair was longer than Joey’s. And she was beautiful!

“Hey, there’s a new girl in town,” he thought. “Tomorrow, I’ll find out who she is. Maybe she’ll be my new friend.”

Early the next morning, Jen was looking out of the window of her bedroom. She saw Pacey coming towards the house. He was carrying two cups of hot coffee. Jen ran downstairs and joined him in the street.

“We’ll walk to the pool together,” Pacey said. “I got you some coffee.”

Jen drank some coffee from the cup.

“This is great,” she said. “It’s the kind of coffee I like best. How did you know that?”

“Well - Dawson told me,” Pacey said. He smiled. “Dawson used to talk about you all the time.”

“You remembered and I’m happy,” Jen said. “Thanks, Pacey. But I don’t want to talk about Dawson any more.”

“OK,” Pacey replied. “Let’s forget about him.”

As they walked towards the town pool, Jen was thinking about her life.

“I want a peaceful vacation this summer,” she told herself. “I don’t want any boyfriends. I don’t want to make anyone unhappy. I just want a peaceful, happy vacation.”

At the same time, Joey was saying goodbye to her sister. Bessie was going to work. This morning, Joey had to look after her sister’s baby son, Alexander.

Life was difficult for Joey and her sister. Their mother was dead and their father was in jail. Bessie and her boyfriend, Bodie, lived in the family house with Joey. They were good people and they tried to take care of Joey. But they all had to work hard. Some of the neighbors said unkind things about Bessie and Bodie and Alexander. They said unkind things because Bessie and Bodie weren’t married. And because Bodie was black. There weren’t many African-Americans in Capeside. Some of the older people there didn’t understand why Bessie and Bodie loved each other.

When Bessie left the house, Joey took Alexander out into the yard. After a few minutes, she heard someone calling her. Her eight-year-old neighbor came into the yard. Clarissa Cummings was a pretty little girl and she loved Joey.

“Joey, will you do something for me?” Clarissa asked. “My family and I are leaving town tomorrow. We’re going to Europe for our vacation. Will you take care of my pet when I’m away?”

“Oh, no!” Joey thought. “I’ll have to spend most of my summer vacation working at the cafe or taking care of Alexander. I can’t take care of a pet too.”

But before Joey could speak, Clarissa went on.

“His name is Howard,” she said. “He’s not an animal. He’s a virtual pet.”

Clarissa gave Howard to Joey. Howard was made of pink plastic and he looked like an egg. On the front of the egg there was a small video screen.

“Well - taking care of Howard won’t be difficult,” thought Joey.

Then Clarissa put a book into Joey’s other hand.

“That’s Howard’s manual - it tells you how to look after him,” the little girl said. “It’s very important. If you don’t read every page, you’ll do something wrong. If you do something wrong, Howard will die!”

At the pool, Pacey was not enjoying the lifeguarding class. When he’d first arrived, he’d looked around at the other students. There were some good-looking girls in the class. There was one with lovely red hair. There were two very pretty blond girls who were twins. Pacey wanted to make friends with all of the girls. And at first, he was happy because none of the other male students were very handsome.

But then the instructor had arrived. He was a handsome, middle-aged man. His body was suntanned and muscular. All the girls looked at him and smiled.

The instructor blew a whistle loudly.

“Listen to me!” he shouted. “My name is Tim. I’m going to teach you to be lifeguards. It will be hard work. You have to be serious about lifeguarding. Any boy who has joined the class to look at girls in swimsuits must leave. And any girl who has come here to find a boyfriend must leave too. We’re here to protect the people of Capeside and the visitors to the town. We’re here to save them from danger. Do you all understand?”

After that, all the students had to take a test. Each of them had to swim five hundred yards. Then each of them had to dive down to the bottom of the pool, pick up a heavy stone, and bring it to the instructor. Several people failed these tests. They had to leave the class immediately.

When the class finished at twelve noon, Tim spoke to the students again.

“On the other days, we’ll work for much longer,” he told them. “And the work will be harder each day.”

Then he gave each of them a book. “This is your life- guarding manual,” he said. “Read the first chapter this afternoon. Tomorrow, I’ll give you a test on it.”

Dawson was bored at the video store. Pacey wasn’t there, and only a few customers had come to the store during the morning. Dawson had nobody to talk to, so he was reading. He looked up when he heard the door open.

The person who entered the shop was the lovely girl who he had seen the evening before. She had a baby carriage with her. The Barclays’ babies were lying inside it.

“Hi,” the girl said. Her voice was unusual. She didn’t speak with an American accent. “I want to rent a video for this evening.”

“Hi,” Dawson replied. “Are those the Barclays’ new twins?”

“Yes, that’s right,” the girl said. “I take care of them when the Barclays aren’t at home. I’m the children’s nanny. My name is Sheila Billingsley.”

“OK, Sheila. I’m Dawson Leery,” Dawson said. “Welcome to Capeside. You’re not American are you? Where are you from?”

“Thanks for the welcome, Dawson. I’m from Australia,” the girl said. “Now, for this evening I want to rent a film that’s fun. I don’t want a horror film, or a film that’s too serious. I want something to laugh at!”

“I’ll find you a good one,” Dawson told her. And he started to look through the shelves of videos.

But after a moment, one of the twins started to cry. Then the other one started to cry too.

“I’m sorry about this,” Sheila said. “I need to take these babies home and feed them. I’ll come back for the video later.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Dawson said. “I’ll choose a movie for you and I’ll bring it to your house this evening. I’ll bring it when I finish work.”

A minute later, Dawson watched the girl leave the shop.

“Yes! She’s the answer to my problem,” he told himself. “Sheila is beautiful and she’s friendly. And her name doesn’t begin with a ‘J’. It’s going to be a great summer!”

That afternoon, Pacey was at home, trying to read the lifeguarding manual. It was a long book. There were a lot of things to learn. But Pacey didn’t want to stay in the house reading. The first chapter of the manual was about the kind of person a lifeguard must be. It was about the serious attitude that a lifeguard must have.

“I don’t need to learn this,” Pacey told himself. “This chapter won’t help me save anybody’s life. And it’s really boring. I’ll be good when we have to save people - I know that. I’ll be great at the pool tomorrow. All the girls will want me to rescue them!”

A few minutes later, he was outside in the yard, playing basketball with his brother.

When Dawson finished his work at Screenplay Video at six o’clock, he was feeling excited. Quickly he chose three movies for Sheila. He was going to pay the rental charge himself. But he wasn’t going to tell Sheila that.

When she opened the door of the Barclays’ house a few minutes later, he gave her the videos.

“Hi, Sheila. These are a gift from the store,” he said. “They’re a gift to welcome you to Capeside. You don’t have to pay the rental charge for them.”

Mr Barclay was standing behind Sheila. He invited Dawson into the house.

“My wife and I are going on trip for a week,” Mr Barclay said. “We’re going to leave soon. Sheila will stay here with the twins. Please stay as long as you want to this evening. I’m happy that Sheila has found a friend in Capeside already.”

Dawson sat next to Sheila while she fed the twins. When they started to cry, she sang to them.

“You’re really good with those kids,” Dawson told her. “You’re really great with them. Tell me something. Why did you decide to come to Capeside? Why did you choose this little town to work in?”

“Well, I really love kids,” the Australian girl replied. “When I saw an advertisement for this job in a newspaper, I had to come here.”

“But where did you see the advertisement?” Dawson asked. “Did you come here straight from Australia?”

“No,” Sheila replied. “I stayed in Boston for a while before I came here. I saw the advertisement in a newspaper there.”

“Boston is a great place,” Dawson said. “Did you have fun there?”

“Yes,” Sheila replied. Then she changed the subject quickly. “Hey, Dawson, will you stay and watch one of these films with me this evening?” she asked him. “I can’t go out again, and it will be good to talk to someone.”

“She doesn’t want to talk about Boston,” Dawson thought. “That’s OK.” He smiled at the pretty Australian.

“Yes, I’d really like to watch some movies with you,” he said. “Movies are great. Movies are my life. You’ll love the ones that I brought for you.”

The two young people watched one of movies. Then Sheila put the twins in their beds. Dawson helped her. After that they talked for a while. They talked about the movies that Dawson had made. Sheila was very interested. Dawson was sad when it was time to leave.

“She’s a great girl!” he told himself as he walked home. “She’s intelligent and beautiful. She’s easy to talk to. And she’s a great nanny. She’s wonderful with those little twins. I really want to know her better!”