The Summer Trip

Anna

It was the beginning of the summer and Anna was headed south with her family. The family had been planning this trip for almost two years. Their end destination?  Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Anna Glenndale grew up in poverty. The youngest of 5, she had never had anything new. She did not mind her second hand lifestyle as her mother raised her to believe in repurposing everything. Being homeschooled, Anna made art and math projects using all sorts of used products. She learned to count with bottle tops and how to divide with milk jugs. She painted with her mother and sisters' old make-up. She built sculptures with rocks and dirt. Anna had a huge imagination and the earth was her endless canvas.

Saving up for this trip had been a full family effort. The children all had jobs in which they contributed most of their paychecks to the Summer Trip Fund. A majority of the rest of their paychecks often went towards bills and groceries. They did not mind as their mother taught them the values of money, how to budget, and how to save. She also taught the children about investing their savings money and earning interest. Little did the children know, their mother secretly had been investing almost all of the money they contributed into five separate investment accounts. While she could have used that money for the bills and the groceries, she wanted a better life for the kids when they grew up and especially when they had littles of their own.

Anna was 14-years-old young when it was time for the Summer Trip. Had she gone to public school, she would be going into the 10th grade. Instead, she was two months away from finishing her schooling. Anna was much smarter than her siblings, having succeeded since a very young age. Anna had 4,572 dollars, exactly, saved in her atm machine that she bought from the local toy store when she was 8. What did she plan to do with the money? Well, invest of course! Anna's mum had taught her so much about investing that she was excited to do more. However, she wanted to be fully knowledgeable first. Anna planned to go to school for Accounting.

The family would be traveling from the state of Washington, a cross country trip. Mum and Pop had not yet told them how they would be traveling to their destination. Would they take the old minivan? It barely had enough space for them now, let alone also full of luggage... Or a train? There would be so much space for the family and food! Maybe even a plane? Anna had never been on a plane. Her eldest sister, Isabella had. Isabella's fiance took her all over the continent.

"ANNA!" yelled Maria, the second oldest of the Glenndale siblings. She had been talking to Anna for a few minutes before realizing that Anna was completely lost in her thoughts.

"Yeah?" replied Anna, as if she had not been zoned out for several minutes. She was overwhelmed with the excitement of the Summer Trip. She had been dreaming about it for what seemed like her entire life.

"Which dress should I pack?" Maria held up a maroon sundress with white daisies on the lower half and a plain yellow sundress. Maria had a very beautiful olive skin tone, light brown hair, and eyes the color of the sky.

"Easy, the maroon one" Anna rolled over away from her sister to face the window.

Anna was a humble girl but she sometimes could not help being a little jealous of her older sisters. Anna, unlike the other siblings, had very fair skin, strawberry blonde hair, and gray eyes. She resembled her father while the rest of her siblings resembled her mother.

Anna stuck to a dark color palette while her siblings often were seen in light to medium color palettes. Due to this, most of Anna's clothes came from their neighbor, who also preferred a dark color palette and ran one size bigger than Anna. Anna sometimes mixed and matched her outfits with dark and light colors. She was known for being different and she was not afraid to show it.

"Annabear! Annabear, time to go!" called Anna's father from the bottom of the stairs. Annabear was a nickname that only he used and one he had called her since she was born.

Anna grabbed her iPod, earbuds, and bookbag and rushed downstairs. Anna was gifted the iPod and earbuds (which had been sanitized first) by her best friend, Marilyne on her 14th birthday. Marilyne's parents had bought her an iPhone and gave her the permission to give her iPod to Anna since she would be using the iPhone instead. Anna was the only one of her siblings to have an iPod and she never let it out of her sight. Anna had a love for music, mainly the lyrics. She knew the lyrics to every song on her iPod by heart. Anna's bookbag came from Mrs. Makinar, the town's librarian, who had knitted it herself. Anna spent most of her time at the library reading many different genres.

All of the Glenndale siblings were lined up on the porch; youngest at the front, oldest at the back. Mother did a quick headcount before shuffling all of the children into the minivan. It was a very tight fit with luggage crammed in every free spot. Anna hoped they were headed to the train station or the airport. If not, they were in for a very long ride. As everyone settled in, Anna placed her earbuds into her ears and pulled her first book of the journey out. Mrs. Makinar sent Anna with 8 books, assuring Anna that 8 would be plenty as she would be busy exploring and having fun.

Anna's first book, a favorite of Mrs. Makinar's, was called Tuck Everlasting, written by Natalie Babbitt. All of the books were by female authors, Mrs. Makinar's attempt at showing Anna that women are successful too. Mrs. Makinar was always encouraging Anna to defy the gender stereotypes of their neighborhood and quite frankly, the world.

To Anna's sadness, the minivan did not stop at the train station or the airport. It would take the family almost two days to travel from Austin, Nevada to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Almost two days of fights, bathroom breaks, and stopping to see beautiful sights. Mother was a photographer and had easily taken over 100 photographs on the drive alone. By the time the family arrived in Horry County, Anna had finished the second book on Mrs. Makinar's list and listened to every song downloaded on her iPod.

Anna stared out the window, watching as they passed by the beautiful landscapes of South Carolina. She knew this was going to be one of the best weeks of her life.