Little Sister Song (Wynter Wild #1)

Chapter 10: Things To Do at the Mall

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A distant alarm woke Wynter. It was still dark outside. She was used to getting up in the dark at this time of year, so she dressed and meticulously made her bed. She wasn't by nature a tidy or well-organized person, and many of the adults at the ashram hadn't particularly cared—the rooms where the kids lived were much dirtier and messier than Caleb's house. The dorm, though, was always spotless because Miss Althea was in charge of it.

She peeked out the door. The house was dark, too, except for the far end of the corridor where one of the two closed doors had a crack of light under it.

She sat on the edge of her bed, waiting.

A few minutes later, Jesse walked past and stopped in her doorway.

"Up already?"

"I heard the alarm."

"That was just for me. I gotta get to the bus station in case Joy's on the 4:35. Did you... did you make your bed?" He stepped in for a closer look, incredulous. "Caleb's gonna give you a medal for that."

Good to hear. She didn't want to fall short of expectations on her first morning.

Jesse was looking at her oddly yet again. "So... why are you just sitting there? I'll make you more toast, if you're hungry."

She was famished, but Jesse was supposed to be getting to the bus station. She shook her head.

"Won't Caleb want to see the bed?" she said.

"Is that what they did at the ashram? Checked your hospital corners every morning?" He chuckled, cutting himself off as her face heated. "Well, there are no bed inspections here, I promise. You don't have to do that. I mean, you can make your bed—that's great. You can make my bed or it won't get done. But you don't get graded on it."

Wynter smoothed the quilt defensively.

"Go back to sleep, okay?" Jesse said. "It's not natural to get up at four in the morning."

He walked away and she heard the front door open and close, and the truck driving off.

Wynter managed to fall asleep again. She woke to weak morning light filtering through the drapes and drew them open. Outside, a low fence ran alongside the wall of the house, close to the window, with trees and bushes on the other side blocking the view of the neighboring house. The sky was overcast, the hidden sun lighting up clouds low on the horizon. More often than not, mornings in Arizona had been clear other than during the monsoon season. The sun here in the north was supposed to be kinder, and she was looking forward to seeing it. She remade her bed and took Jesse at his word that she didn't need to wait for Caleb to approve it.

Outside her room, she almost tripped over a tiny girl in bright pink leggings and a blue sweater with mouse ears and whiskers on the front. The little girl looked up at her, startled, and toddled off to the front of the house. Wynter followed to find a woman in the kitchen with Jesse, who was adding powder to a big plastic tumbler of milk.

No sign of Joy, which meant she hadn't been on the bus Jesse checked earlier.

Jesse grinned at Wynter like he'd known her forever. "Morning again. This is Beatrice. Bea. She's Caleb's girlfriend. She's brought over some clothes for you."

Bea smiled and said, "Hi, Wynter. Come see what I've got."

Wynter followed Bea into the living room, aware of Jesse watching her like he might find something else to laugh about. On the couch were plastic bags with clothes spilling out. The child stared round-eyed at Wynter.