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

I might’ve been relieved at this announcement but the more we walked, the more she seethed. I could feel it in her angry breaths and her stomping walk and her pointed glare. By the time we entered the lodge, my nerves were shot. And seeing Mom and Dad standing there in a tight circle with Janelle and D didn’t help at all.

“I’m here!” I said. “I’m here.”

Mom turned first and relief washed over her face. She gathered me in a hug that was quickly joined by my dad, and I immediately felt terrible.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Where have you been, Avery?”

I thought I’d be done lying after today but there was no way I could tell the truth right there in front of Janelle and D. Not when Brooks’s job was on the line. “I went on a hike and got a little lost. I would’ve left a note but I thought I’d be back before you were done at the spa.”

Lauren scoffed from where she stood ten feet away, her arms crossed. D noticed, her gaze going back and forth between Lauren and me.

Janelle clasped her hands together. “I’m glad you’re safe, young lady. You should always use the buddy system when going on a hike.”

“True,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking. Sorry for the scare, everyone.”

Mom kept hold of my arm as we said our goodbyes and left the lodge. It was darker now and the cicadas were chirping from the bushes and ground cover, highlighting the fact that none of us were talking. I really just wanted this to blow over.

“How was the spa?” I asked when we were halfway back to the cabin and nobody had said a word.

“Oh, honey,” Dad said. “It was great. Thank you for sending us.”

“Ask her why she sent you,” Lauren said.

I shot her a look.

“It doesn’t feel good to be betrayed, does it?”

I had turned Lauren into an enemy, and I realized now, too late, that had been the wrong call. I should’ve made her my ally. She had the power to ruin it all and I hoped she wasn’t going to use it.

I tried to ignore her. “I’m glad you had fun,” I said. “What did you do?”

Mom spoke now. “Let’s see, we did this mud bath thing, which was a little gro—”

“Avery went to Roseville today with a guy who works here and tried out for a music festival! That’s why she sent you to the stupid spa! She’s been lying to you,” Lauren spit out in an angry rush of words.

My shoulders slumped. I had just thought she was mad, but she was more than mad, obviously; she was hurt. And now she accomplished her goal of payback, because I was hurt too. I couldn’t believe she was doing this to me. Mom and Dad exchanged a look that must’ve said, Let’s wait until we’re back in the cabin because neither of them responded until the door was unlocked and relocked behind us.

Then Mom asked, “Where were you today?”

“Roseville,” I said quietly.

“Not on a hike?”

I shook my head.

“Trying out for a music festival?” she asked.

I nodded.

Dad looked at me with a mix of disappointment and anger.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve told you, but—”

“You absolutely should have told us,” Mom said. “Who? Who did you go with? Some stranger? You got in a car with some stranger?”

“No! Of course not. He’s a friend. We’ve known him since we got here. Lauren was making a documentary of his band.” I pointed at her, my insides on fire.

“Exactly!” Lauren said, patting her chest. “I was making a documentary of his band here at camp and then she completely cut me out of it!”

“Well, I’m sorry your fifty viewers are going to miss out on a thrilling documentary.”

“Fifty? Fifty! Try over six thousand! Glad to know you’ve actually looked at my channel before, sis.”

I flinched. Six thousand? When had that happened? Obviously when I was busy not caring. But my shame at that revelation wasn’t enough to overpower my anger. “I guess we’re both screwed, then, because we actually made it today.”

Lauren’s eyes immediately went from hard and angry to shock, then something like regret, letting me know that from the second she’d heard what I’d been doing today, she assumed I had failed. She sputtered a little before saying, “Well, if you had told me—”

“Girls!” Dad said, the first thing he’d said since the revelation. “That’s enough! There will obviously be some consequence for you. Your mother and I need to discuss what that will be.”

“For just me?”

“Yes, your sister has done nothing wrong.”

“I just told you she’s been sneaking around making a documentary with employees. That’s perfectly fine with you?”

Lauren narrowed her eyes at me.

“We obviously wish you wouldn’t have lied, Lauren, but—”

“But?” I asked, my eyes burning and my throat raw. “There’s a but after that? Her lie is somehow different from mine because hers makes her so creative and full of potential and mine just makes me a liar?”

“Avery, where is this coming from?” Dad asked.

“It came from you, Dad! Straight from your mouth where you were bragging about your amazing daughter.” I pointed at Lauren, then moved my hand to my chest. “And just happy your other daughter could obediently walk the path chosen for her. Well, Dad, I guess I’m not obedient after all, so what’s left to be proud of, right?”

I was positive I was making this worse as I rushed through the living room, heading for my bedroom, but I couldn’t stay there any longer.

“We aren’t finished!” Mom yelled after me.

“I am!”

Lauren joined me in our room seconds later. We were both breathing hard and now glaring at one another.

“I hate you so much right now,” she said.

“Ditto,” I responded, even though I didn’t mean it. In fact, all I wanted to do at this point was fix this.

“Ugh,” she groaned, and stomped