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A social klutz and certified bookworm, Autumn Lyne is content with having just books as companions--that is, until her extrovert of a sister drags her out to meet her band. But nobody has expected that this would mark the plot twis...
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On Saturday noon, Nate's pickup truck rolled in front of the house. Mom recited her speech about our belongings and taking care of ourselves once more before Clover and I kissed her goodbye and headed out the door.
My stomach flipped over when I saw a familiar person in the passenger seat. Evonne, the girl from the diner and Nate's older sister. She was checking out herself in the side mirror, and when she saw me approaching the truck, she nodded at me as a greeting. I tried to return a nice smile. I didn't know why she seemed like impending bad news, but I didn't want my day to be ruined, so I tried to brush off the negative feeling.
The rest of the group sat in the truck bed, not wanting to miss the view. Everything went great for the first hour of the trip. While Rose and Clover chattered, I busied myself watching the pine trees and tiny hills in the distance. They looked like charcoal sketches blending with the navy watercolor sky. I shut my eyes, relishing the wind in my hair and the sunlight on my face.
Of course, a road trip would never be perfect without music. We sang the songs while Michael strummed the guitar for us. The rhythmic clapping was uncoordinated, the voices were intentionally out of tune, and the lyrics were all jumbled and wrong, but we sang as if we just had our newfound freedom.
Several miles later, we finally reached Esterbridge—a much bigger place compared to where we lived—but our journey didn't end in the heart of the town. We headed to the south, driving past the pastures, and made a quick stop at the house of Nate and Evonne's relatives.
The place was loud and crazy. Five hyperactive, jumper-wearing kids. Hilarious aunt and uncle. Lots of organic snacks here and there. They talked about many things as we munched on the biscuits. I was silent but had a good time listening to their stories.
At one point, their uncle Chuck asked Evonne if she had brought her boyfriend along with us. The group knew this was a joke, but for one second, I deemed that every force of the universe was working against me when they pointed at the easiest and most obtainable target around: Michael.
Everybody cheered on him and Evonne as if they were newlyweds. I pretended like I wasn't bothered, but the truth was, I could have crushed the drinking glass in my hand if it had been made of brittle material.
"Enough of it, people," Clover said, glancing at me. "Someone's getting jea—"
I shoved a biscuit in her mouth and hissed, "Shut your trap, sister."
After we finished our meal and said our thanks, it was time for us to roll on to our final stop. We headed to the truck carrying plastic bags of fruits, which once again was an extremely generous portion. From a distance, Chuck shouted to Evonne, "Be sure not to lose your boyfriend, Eve! The young chap is worth keeping."
Evonne laughed like she was being tickled and, to obey her uncle's advice, happily linked her arm around Michael's, tugging him closer to her. Appall sunk into my eyes.
