Faith

Chapter 1

‘This is not what I thought it was going to be like,’ I frown, fanning my face heavily with the pieces of paper that contain the information about me being picked up.

I am sitting in the scorching heat, waiting for my mother’s best friend to pick me up for the summer. Something has occurred and I need someone to look after me, despite my protests that I am seventeen and plenty responsible to be home alone. Apparently not.

Whatever the reason is that I am here in Cayucos, California, it didn’t matter. Only the heat matters. I could’ve sworn that the ground had a high chance of suddenly setting alight.

Compared to the cold and rain of England, this was torture.

My eyes drift up to stare at the bright blue, cloudless sky. My journey hadn’t been the best – a stuffy flight stuck next to a forty-year old man with a huge belly and a cough that he seemed unable to contain. And then I got lost after getting off the plane - I didn’t even know that was possible.

I sigh and stuff the paper into my rucksack. The only thing it had succeeded on was making my right arm tired and bright red – definitely not a good look.

A Volkswagen camper van draws up and a female head pops out, “Hey, are you Carrie?”

I open my mouth, prepared to answer, when she flings open the van’s door and gathers me messily into a hug that smells of herbs and chlorine. “Carrie, you’ve grown so much! And your hair is so golden and beautiful! Oh you look so much like Jenny, I mean your mother. I just-”. She cuts herself off, grinning widely at me, her hands gripped firmly on my arms. Slowly, I take in her brown wavy hair gathered in to a messy plait, the big peacock feather earrings, and her vivid green eyes.

“Hi, Josie,” I smile politely and shrug. Josie was my mum’s quirky best friend who I was spending the next six weeks with. Well, I say ‘spending with her’, but in reality, it’s going to be a lonely summer at her cabin whilst she continues with her career of YouTube videos. Yep, Josie’s YouTube famous.

I was so certain that making friends would be impossible and that I would be alone for the whole summer, that I’d bought a ton of revision.

People would already have their life-long friendship groups and probably wouldn’t want to spend the summer with me, the new, slightly crazy and sociably-awkward girl. Most people usually just back away from the sight of me – frizzy, curly blonde hair that I had no hope of controlling. Ever. And then my grey eyes (I mean seriously, what sort of soppy genes did I receive to gain these boring babies?).

Josie tugs me towards the campervan (which was electric blue, for those who must know), picking up my suitcase along the way. Chucking it in the back, she gestures for me to climb in whilst she jumps in herself, jabbing the key in the ignition and slamming the door shut all in one movement. I, on the other hand, trip in, get my shoelace caught in the door when I shut it and then bang my knuckles together in the fight to re-open the door.

“So,” she comments, not noticing my nervousness, “England. What’s it like these days?”

“Grey. Rainy. Same as usual”.

Josie had moved to California purely for her YouTube career. After she made it big with UK viewers, she had decided to aim for a wider range in the hopes of more attention.

It had worked ridiculously well and by now, everyone had heard of JosieAndTheMeerkat. We had asked her various times why she had that username, but apparently she didn’t even know.

“Ahh, the sun of Cayucos – so beautiful”.

I wrinkle my nose. To me, the sun of Cayucos already had me drenched in sweat and too lazy to lift a finger.