Sun Kissed by J.K. Rock

Chapter Two

Trinity

"You're going to catch flies if you don't close that thing," my bunkmate Jackie drawled beside me.

My mouth clamped shut, but I kept my eyes on the tree line where Seth Reines had just disappeared, willing him to come back. Despite the light breeze, perspiration dotted my forehead, and I lifted my long dreadlocks to cool off my neck. He'd really been here. As in, not an astral dream but reality. Though with his gorgeous blond curls, topaz eyes, and golden skin, he resembled some fae king of the summer court. If only he wanted to make me his fairy queen.

I sighed, refitted the arrow on the string, and lifted the bow.

A girl could wish.

I tried to slow my racing thoughts, but they sped along anyway. Seth had been carrying one of my yellow-tipped arrows. Was it a sign? Cupid's attempt to bring us together? If only. I'd crushed on Seth for years, even before my former cabin mate Lauren saw Seth as more than a guy to swap comic book trivia with. But I'd sensed they were into each other and didn't speak up. It was bad karma to betray your friends. So I'd stayed on the sidelines, telling only my diary about my secret crush, until Lauren's mistake exposed it to the entire camp...including Seth.

It would have been mortifying, but, a part of me had hoped it would make Seth see me in a new light. But our stars had been determined not to align, even after he and Lauren broke up.

"I heard he's doing some volunteer work to rebuild the old gazebo out by Crystal Falls, where we used to picnic," I heard Jackie say to Yasmine, the new girl in our cabin this summer. "Some of the Wander Inn guys are signing up to help him during their free period."

My pulse pounded. How had Jackie known Seth was here, and I hadn't? I hoped she was right, that he was sticking around for a full, summer-long stay. A thrill shot through me, sending my thoughts in a million directions.

"Cool," Piper, another member of our group, said as she stretched her arms over her head. "It's great to re-use those building materials. It's just been sitting in a heap for years." Kind of like my broken heart, I thought.

But she was right about the gazebo. It had still been in use the first couple of years I'd attended camp, but then they declared it unsafe and had roped it off. Over the last two years, the roof had fallen in.

"Ladies!" Mr. Barry shouted, calling me back to the archery exercise. "Ready! Aim!"

As I sighted the shot, I wondered if anyone could sign up to help Seth with the gazebo. I had worried I would never see him again, and now he appeared out of the forest like I'd dreamed him back to Camp Juniper Point. What if our stars were finally in sync? My fingers itched for the feel of my tarot cards to do a reading and see for myself. What a crappy time to have taken a break from divination. Why had I let my art teacher get under my skin with his crack about me being too interested in the supernatural? That my art wasn't grounded in the real world and wouldn't get me accepted into art school.

"Fire!" came the command.

The air reverberated with the collective release of our arrows, and I sighed, wishing I'd been able to express myself better to Mr. Slater. But what if he'd been right when he said I wasn't a "serious artist"— whatever that meant. I'd never shied away from fanciful subjects, embracing Chagall so tightly I wished I could fall right into his bright paintings filled with myth and mysticism. But maybe I wasn't showing enough range. A sigh escaped me as I imagined painting boring fruit bowls or flower arrangements.

I was trying like hell to be a Real World Girl this summer, and it sucked.

"I can't believe he's working here." I shook my stinging hand and tried to sound offhand, like I didn't care either way anymore. As if Seth hadn't gotten even hotter now that he was an older guy, a college guy, and way out of my league. "Isn't it weird that he's staying so close to camp, but he's not hanging out with us?"