Prologue
My foot was asleep.
I knew that any sudden movements would trigger the attention of my adoptive brother, Luke. I liked Luke, don’t get me wrong. He was an OK guy. The whole Hemmings family was pretty nice, actually. I mean, instead of adopting a cute little toddler, they adopted me; bitter-ish, hormonal, moody, then-fourteen-years-old Holly Marie ________ (fill in blank of foster family). If you don’t have the patience of a saint, why would you do that?
It didn’t take a crazy long time for me to assimilate into my new family role as Holly Marie Hemmings. I started calling it “my room” after about six months, “my house” after a year… and soon after those milestones, Andrew became “Dad” and Liz became “Mum”. For the first time since I was placed in foster care, I had a true family. As opposed to the years past, I was happy. But, as all families do, the Hemmings and I had a bit of a… well, a rift.
I wasn’t Luke. Luke was Mr. Popular, Mr. Social, Mr. Perfect, Mr. IDGAF But I Still Succeed In Everything I Try. I was Mr. Perfect’s socially awkward little ‘sister’, the one who eats lunch in the library and writes Harry Potter fanfiction and whose best friend is her mother. And in my case, not even my biological mother.
Luke was crowned Homecoming King? I hadn’t the faintest idea homecoming was that week. Luke got a detention for talking during class? Classmates ask the teacher who I am when they’re my assigned partner, because I like to sit in the back and not talk during school. And should Luke ever have friends over at our house? Well, let’s just say that I’ve been asked if I’m Luke’s girlfriend more than once.
Subsequently, my 18-year-old brother gets to go 22 hours away from home this summer to go and volunteer at Clearwater Creek Summer Camp in Queensland with some of his best friends? I’m being exiled from my room to go and try to make friends at Clearwater Creek Summer Camp in Queensland, which is 22 hours away from home.
I think my family expected me to take after Luke’s example. They wanted me, once I was comfortable in my new setting, to be more outgoing, make friends, actually enjoy the company of the general public. But after being that one kid who bounced around in foster homes for six years straight and couldn’t hold down friends for longer than the duration of my foster stay, I wasn’t too keen on being social. It was ingrained in my brain that I could have to back up and leave at any time.
Well…
I did have one friend.
George Weasley.
Oh my God. I shipped myself with him so hard. My OTP was always George and Hallie Diggory (Hallie is a shy and sweet but super smart Ravenclaw George falls for during the Triwizard Tournament but then her brother Cedric dies and then their relationship gets a bit trickier), and I had been in the process of writing my beloved fanfiction “Attachments” for almost a year now. It had over 10,000 readers from all over the world, and well… they counted as friends, right?
But back to my foot.
Tentatively, I tried wiggling my toes around in my spacious Converse, and almost instantly, that weird shivery sensation shot up my leg. Involuntarily, my leg went rigid, shooting out into my foot space and whacking the compartment above my legs with my knees. My iPod slipped off my thigh, jerking my headphones out of my ears and landing on the floor with a muted THUD.
Muthafuck, that was not subtle.
“She’s alive?” Luke exclaimed next to me, and I groaned at the unadulterated joy in his voice. He was truly excited about the fact that I wasn’t dead. “I thought you’d blacked out on me for a second there!”
“I’m fine,” I sulked, looking out of the window. We had been in the car for almost an hour… we had to be close, didn’t we? The view I was seeing was nice, though. We were winding down a curvy road surrounded by a huge forest with skyscraping trees. Through the woods, I could see glimpses of a glittery, shining river. It was really pretty, honestly. But then I remembered I was 22 hours away from home. That changed my perspective again. “How much longer?”
“Well, we’re in Clearwater now,” Luke answered happily, fiddling with his lip ring with his tongue. That was another unfairness; Luke had a lip ring. I wanted double ear piercings, but noooooo. That would make me too ‘alternative’, considering I was already adopted and all. But you know, Luke can get a lip ring and no one looks twice. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE OH MY GOD I- “…It should only take about five minutes before we’re in the driveway.”
“Great,” I mumbled, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the headrest. Five minutes until my longest streak of having a home (2.8 years) would be broken. For two and a half months, I’d get to live with strangers, make macaroni necklaces, and sing Kumbaya around a freaking campfire.
“It’s not so bad,” Luke mumbled, and I cracked my eyes open to look at him. At least he looked properly abashed. “It’s just for people our age. Like school. Except… better. You get to spend your whole summer in the wilderness with friends. It’s like… an outdoor party!”
“Luke, I’m going, there’s no need to advertise it,” I grumbled. Next to me, Luke sighed.
“Fine,” he mumbled. “If you want to spend your entire summer resisting any kind of fun, be my guest. I don’t care. But honestly, maybe if you tried having fun, you could actually have it. I know you’re weird about the whole friend thing, but seriously Holly… we’re not going to kick you out on the street the second you get comfortable. So get comfortable, yeah?”
“Maybe,” I said indifferently, resuming staring out the window.
“Awesome,” Luke decided. “Now, you get priority parking since I’m an employee technically, so I’ll help you get your bags to your room.”
“OK,” I said.
“Dinner should be starting at six, but tonight’s this big campfire, so really, just come down whenever you like.”
“Or not at all,” I whispered.
“Huh?”
“What?” I asked innocently, spinning to look at him. He sighed.
“Nothing,” he mumbled, and I went back to my apathetic gaze, my eyes glossing over as I stared out the window again.
“Alsoyouhavetoshareyourroomwiththreeothergirls,” he forced out all in one breath. Now it was my turn to look at him, confused about what he was saying.
“Huh?” I questioned. “I didn’t catch that.” Luke gulped, avoiding my eyes.
“You kind of sort of have to share your room with three other girls,” he said really soft and slow.
My mouth dropped.
Oh no. This was not going to be a good final minutes in the car…
…for Luke.
“WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING HELL IS THIS SHIT LUKE?”
The Things We Did That Summer.
