Misfits, Inc. Read Free Page A

adventurous
guests surfed with boogie boards on moderately tame waves.  Further out in the
water, guests rode the waves on jet skis.  Since it was the beginning of
off-season, the beach wasn’t nearly as crowded as it was at its busiest and
made for a relaxing atmosphere.  Maximum capacity for the hotel was one
thousand guests, but there were no more than two hundred guests during the slow
season.  Mel and Hailey walked along the beach carrying their large, fruity
drinks with the standard, colorful umbrella straws.  Mel had changed into
proper beach attire, which included a conservative bikini and sarong.  Despite
their visit being work related, Hailey was certain Mel intended to make the
most of her free time, which would undoubtedly include finding her own bronzed
cabana boy.  Hailey remained dressed in her business skirt suit, looking out of
place among the beach dwellers.  Mel was obviously disappointed with her
friend’s choice in beachside attire. 
    “I wish you’d reconsider lying on the beach with
me,” Mel pouted.  “I need to work on my tan, and I hate not having someone to talk
to.”
    “I’m far too tense for something so relaxing,”
Hailey replied.  Unlike her friend, Hailey had business matters with which to
attend and couldn’t take the rest of the afternoon off.  “We’ll worship the sun
all afternoon tomorrow, I promise.”
    “I’m holding you to that.”
    Hailey suddenly stopped and stared at the woods’
edge across the beach.  There was a trail leading into the forest, which oddly
reminded her of the path in her dream on their journey to the island.  Mel was
talking to her, but she no longer heard her friend.  She listened to the sound
of her own heart beating as the nightmare returned to her in full horror.  She
could almost hear the woman’s scream.  The sound of a woman’s scream startled
Hailey from her daze.  A young woman wearing a flashy, tropical bikini
bodysurfed out of control on a boogie board and nearly collided with them. 
Hailey and Mel jumped out of her path just in time to avoid being run down. 
The young, bikini clad woman, Desi, flipped the board near them, taking more wet
sand than ocean into her ample cleavage.  She laughed as she dizzily stood and
eyed the pair with which she nearly collided.
    “Sorry,” Desi announced cheerfully.  “I didn’t mean
to nearly wipe out on you.  These things have a mind of their own.”
    Mel eyed the short board Desi picked up from the
sand.  “That looks like fun,” she remarked.
    “Complimentary from the surf shack,” an out of
breath Desi announced.
    Two more women also in their early twenties, Amy
and Penny, approached them.  Amy, a short blonde-haired girl, wore a more
conservative tankini swimsuit with a swim skirt, while Penny, a tall
auburn-haired beauty, wore a slightly more revealing bikini in hot pink. 
Hailey wasn’t positive from the front, but she was almost certain Penny was
wearing a thong bottom.
    Desi looked at her approaching friends then back to
Hailey and Mel.  “I’m Desi and these are my friends, Amy and Penny.”
    “Mel and Hailey,” Mel announced, her eyes
automatically drawn to Amy’s black rose tattoo creeping out of her bikini top
on her left breast.  “We just arrived.”  She indicated the tattoo.  “That’s an
interesting tattoo.”
    Amy looked at her tattoo peeking out from her
bathing suit then met Mel’s gaze and grinned.  “My boyfriend wanted me to get a
yellow rose,” she announced then casually indicated the black rose.  “After I
dumped his sorry ass, I had the artist change it to a black rose.”
    “Acht,” Desi loudly announced and pointed a warning
finger, “we’re not discussing ex-boyfriends on this trip.  We’re here to have
fun and do our own prowling.”
    Amy looked at Hailey and Mel with enthusiasm on her
face.  “Oh, you have to join us tonight in the lounge,” she chimed in.  “After
the piano man retires, the old fogies go to