One Hot Summer

Chapter 3: Palm Springs

Brett insisted on driving to Palm Springs and Melissa was okay with that this time around because she and Cami brought water bottles filled with White Claw that they pre-gamed with on the short trip there.

Cami was nervous, she wasn't a social person and she didn't know Kaleigh that well. In fact, she didn't know her at all. She and Melissa had chemistry with Kaleigh, but she'd never talked to her. She only listened to Kaleigh from two seats over, blabbering on about her weekend house parties that Cami was never invited to.

Sometimes Cami wondered why Melissa bothered hanging out with her.

I'm so boring, Cami thought.

But that was actually the one thing that Melissa really enjoyed about Cami. She wasn't attention seeking or in your face. She was simple. Or as Cami thought of it, boring. Nothing felt forced like it did with all of Melissa's "friends" from the pom squad. Cami and Melissa could sit in Melissa's bedroom, silent, scrolling through their phones, and it didn't feel awkward. They didn't feel obligated to make small talk. With all of Melissa's extracurriculars and social efforts, sometimes it was nice to have the comfort of someone around without the pressures of entertaining or conversing. Just bumming out and doing nothing.

"Are we almost there?" Brett asked from the driver's seat.

Melissa looked at her phone, which was navigating them to the Palm Springs house, a White Claw in her other hand.

"It says we're ten minutes away."

"Thank God."

The sun had fallen and the sky was black. Nighttime was upon them.

"Are we going to sleep there?" Cami wondered.

"Yeah. I mean, we don't have a choice."

Cami was nervous what her parents might think if she texted them and said she wasn't coming home. They had her tracked on her phone, which was already nerve-racking. They were super strict, especially compared to Melissa's parents, who didn't care much what she did as long as she brought her brother along.

Cami didn't bother mentioning to her parents that she was going to Palm Springs, she figured it was better to just get there and once they figured it out, it would be too late...

The three teenagers pulled up to a large house with white pillars. Despite the darkness, it was completely lit up.

"This is her house," Melissa said.

Brett stopped the car in front of it.

"Damn! Kaleigh's rich," Brett said.

"It's rude to talk about people's money," Melissa said.

"Whatever. Don't be so prissy."

"I am not prissy!"

"Kind of. Cami, isn't she prissy?"

"Stop, bringing Cami into it!"

"I'm just saying."

As the two siblings bickered in the front seat, Cami sat in the back, debating if it was too late to turn back somehow. Maybe she could just get an Uber and go home. Her mom would freak out if she found out she took an Uber alone. She didn't want to go inside. She didn't want to socialize. She would probably know everyone's name and who they were and they didn't even know she existed. That was the worst part—knowing that her presence for the last year in school was that of an invisible person.

Her heart melted into her stomach and suddenly butterflies were fluttering around. But not the good kind.

Melissa opened up her door and before Cami could get her own, Brett had opened it for her. Cami wasn't expecting that.