Sunkissed, Kasie West [best authors to read TXT] 📗

“Everything okay?” Mom asked. “You’re not feeling sick, too, are you? You look a little pale.”

“What?”

Mom studied my face.

“No, I’m fine.” Was that my favorite word today?

The side door flew open and Lauren’s phone appeared first. “There’s no service,” she said, sliding in.

“Huh,” Mom responded, handing Lauren a water bottle. “Well, we are in the wooded mountains.”

“There’s going to be service at the camp, though, right?” she asked, pulling the door shut and buckling her seat belt.

“A summer without cell service wouldn’t be the end of the world,” Dad said.

“What?” Lauren gasped. “What do you mean? What does that mean?” Each question got increasingly louder.

“It said right on the website I sent both of you months ago,” Mom said. “No Wi-Fi. A chance to disengage from the world.”

“You think we actually read that?” Lauren responded.

Mom shrugged. “Maybe you will next time.”

As my sister’s words finally sank in, my chest tightened and my eyes slid to my phone. Sure enough, there was a red triangle next to my text. It hadn’t sent. Maybe I should’ve been happy that the lack of cell service was fulfilling my fleeting wish of giving Shay the silent treatment, but instead I felt worse.

“I have a channel to maintain!” Lauren whined. “My viewers are counting on me! I promised a summer of updates! This is completely and totally unfair. You have to warn us about stuff like this.”

“Maybe this is the best thing for both of you,” Mom said, exchanging a look with Dad.

I slid my half-charged AirPods into my ears and turned on my only downloaded playlist—Emos Need Love Too. Most of my song catalogue was stored online. So much for my perfect summer.

Despite the fact that Bear Meadow Camp apparently resided in the last century, it was quite beautiful. Nestled in the pine trees sat a huge multistory lodge, a warm beacon of yellow light in the darkness. And behind it, the sky was a confetti of white stars. I could get used to a summer of this view.

Dad pulled into a parking space in front of the lodge. “Here we are. Everyone grab your things and let’s get checked in.”

My sister, for once, was speechless as she stared out the window at the building in front of us. It didn’t last long. “A place like that has to have Wi-Fi…right?” she asked me under her breath.

“Or at least a suggestion box,” I said.

“What?”

I pretended to write on a little note. “Please add Wi-Fi. Thank you.”

She blew air between her lips and climbed out of the car.

I pushed my door open and stepped out as well, joining my parents. The air had the sharp, tangy scent of pine needles and a crisp chill had me wondering if I should dig through my suitcase for a hoodie.

“It’s cold here,” Lauren said from the other side of the car. “Is it going to be this cold the whole summer?”

“Just after the sun goes down,” Dad said. “Isn’t this so exciting, girls?” He gave me a side hug.

“Think of the potential!” Lauren said in a deep voice, quoting what Dad always said at the beginning of every summer trip. Sometimes I wondered if my dad was more excited about what a trip could be than what it actually ended up being.

“Exactly,” he responded. “Our last summer together before everything changes.”

“Are you getting a new family?” I asked, pulling out a joke before he made this too serious. I still had a whole year left of high school before college. Plus, if everything went as planned, I’d be going to UCLA and would probably live at home. Exactly how much did he think would change? I had a feeling nothing would and I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or disappointed about that thought.

“Maybe I can trade you all in here for younger models.” He popped open the trunk.

Mom shot him a look as she clutched her pillow to her chest.

“I didn’t mean you,” he said. “I meant the kids because they’re growing up and leaving us.”

“Yeah, yeah, nice save,” Mom said.

We unloaded the car and trudged up the paved path to the tall wooden doors of the lodge. My backpack was full of summer homework for my fall honors classes, and my suitcase was at max capacity because two months away required a lot of clothes. Dad held open the door and we all made our way inside.

The lobby was just as beautiful as the outside had been. A large oak tree sprung from the middle of the circular room, its branches reaching toward the skylight above. Everything else was wood—the floors, the desks, even the ceiling, almost as if we had walked into a tree.

Music drifted from a hall on the opposite end of the room.

Lauren sank to the bench that circled the tree as my dad went to the check-in desk, where a girl who didn’t look much older than me sat ready to help. A big letter D adorned her green polo shirt. Was that her name or her initial?

“Hello! Welcome to Bear Meadow,” she said in an overly friendly voice. “Last name, please.”

I let my heavy backpack slide off my shoulder and onto the ground next to Lauren, abandoning my suitcase there as well.

“Young,” Dad said.

“Welcome, Youngs.” D typed something into her computer and then opened a tri-fold pamphlet in front of my parents. “We’re here at the lodge. This is where the action happens. Movies on Friday nights.” She pointed to the hall where the music was coming from. “Bingo nights on Wednesdays.”

“I think I could get into bingo,” Dad said.

D gave him a wide smile. “We also have dance lessons and crafts. Basically, something happens every day in this building.”

“That’s great!” Mom said, waggling her eyebrows at us. Lauren rolled her eyes.

“On the lawn area behind the lodge there’s Grass Games—badminton, volleyball, and such—then we have our tennis courts and pool.”

“We heard you have a supersized Slip ’N