Alphabet Girl

Chapter 4

Paisley loved long road trips. Headphones on. Music on blast. Streets zoomed past her eyes in a blur. She could get lost in the sight, in her imagination. Carrie would usually fall asleep with her head resting on Paisley's shoulder. A few minutes before Carrie fell asleep, they would play a game on their phones. Their favorite? Random Words. Carrie always had the bigger vocabulary, so she always beat Paisley.

It took an hour to reach Willosmith if her brother didn't ask for a pit stop. This year would be the first time Paisley would go on the road trip without Carrie, and she wasn't ready to deal with Caleb alone. The boy made a road trip playlist with songs that were so annoying and loud that even headphones blasting at a deafening point couldn't block it out. The sad part was Mom wouldn't turn off the stereo.

"Caleb asked if he could pick out the music for the road trip," she said. "You can make the one for the way back, though."

Mom clearly forgot Paisley wouldn't be coming back because of camp, but she didn't dare say anything.

So ten minutes on the road, and Paisley was about ready to throw herself out the door. Her head hurt. The sun was blinding her. The stupid playlist was driving her crazy. Caleb kept poking her when he heard his favorite song line. She felt car sick. And her phone was dead.

Carrie could be calling her, and she wouldn't know it. Normally, Paisley would have her convertible charger on her, but she forgot she put it in one of her suitcases rather than her purse, and she didn't know which suitcase she put the charger in.

A song ended. Before the next one could start, Paisley shot out of her seat, in between the chairs of her parents, and turned off the stereo. "No more," she breathed. "Please."

Dad coughed to cover a laugh, and Caleb huffed in his seat with his arms crossed; Paisley leaned back sit on the cushioned seats. The rest of the ride was spent in pure silence. She had her head pressed against the window and couldn't wait to start Art Camp.

"Okay, sweetie. We'll see you in four weeks. Be good." Mom kissed the top of her head.

Dad rested his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me, Lee. No partying. No drinking. No wearing inappropriate clothes." Overprotective as ever it seemed.

"I promise," she said.

"BYE, LOSER!" Caleb called from the car and laughed. She simply waved back.

Mom and Dad climbed into the car and pulled out of the parking space. After one awkward road trip, the Ashtons arrived at Willosmith. They checked Paisley in, saw her dorm, had lunch, and eventually had to leave so new campers could meet the returnee. She went to her dorm to plug in her phone.

A boy was seated on the bed closest to the door with a sketchpad on his lap when Paisley arrived. He looked up at her. "Oh. Hi. Did you want this bed?" The boy didn't look like one of the returnee she knew. His eyes were hazel, his hair was an auburn, and his skin was rather tan as if he spent most of his June out on the sun.

She threw her purse to the bed she claimed a long while ago and opened one of her suitcases to search for her charger. "This is fine," she said, and reached for a new bag.

"Don't move." She froze. "I wanna draw you real quick. Is that okay?"

Paisley rolled her eyes but nodded. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead." She remained in the same pose for five minutes, her legs slowly started to quiver under her; she wasn't used to squatting.

"Done!" He held up the sketch. To say the least, he drew her pretty well. The right amount of freckles were on her face, and he caught the length of her hair perfectly since most people at camp always got it wrong. "What'd you think?"