If the story's going too fast, please let me know. And reviews are always appreciated, please!

Chapter 2: Summer Plans

It was 7:30 a.m. on the first official day of summer vacation. I yawned and looked out the window, quickly recoiling and shutting my shades. The sun was already rising in the sky, sending a blast of light right into my window. Momentarily blinded, I sat until my retinas readjusted themselves before getting out of bed.

Mom and Dad had already left for work, so that meant it was me and Alex. We had our own separate routines, and didn't really interact during the day. Alex usually went out with his friends, though I have no idea why. Austin, Texas isn't exactly the best place to be in the summer; temperatures can climb to over 100 degrees, and that's on a good day.

Anyway, since I hadn't found a paying job, I stayed in the air-conditioned house and amused myself with the TV and my ceiling-tall bookshelf. That first week went by without conflict. Day after day after day, nothing really changed. It was fun for the first couple of hours, but it soon got really old. Not that I don't love reading or anything, but since I didn't have my license (and I'm NOT getting into that, mind you), I couldn't go to the library or anything.

I think my mom could tell I was bored. She suggested I go over to Peyton's house, since she only lived two blocks down. But Peyton was never home because she babysat for five obnoxious children every day of the week. And their mother, being the overprotective woman that she is, refused to have her children's schedule "upset by disorder". The bottom line: I couldn't visit.

So I spent another week in the same, listless way I had the week before. But one fine Wednesday afternoon, right after a rousing episode of "Go, Diego, Go!" (in my defense, it was the only thing on, and I like having noise when I'm the only one at home), my mom called for her daily afternoon check-in. And she had some news for me.

"I was just about to call you, when someone called my work phone," she told me. "And you'll never guess who it was."

"You're right, Mom, I probably won't," I said dryly.

"Come on, Beatrice! Don't spoil my attempt to make you smile."

"Mom…" I groaned, feeling a grin spread across my face.

"There it is, I can hear it!"

"So who called?"

"Your Aunt Louise."

"Oh, God…" I pushed a strand of brown hair out of my eyes. "Are you serious? How does she even know your number? Isn't her house out in the middle of nowhere?"

"That's exactly what I thought. Anyway, she called and asked how things have been going for us and…"

"Since when is she interested?" I cut in. Aunt Louise was never interested in anything other than her camp.

"I don't know, but we talked for a few minutes, and it seemed like she genuinely wanted to know. But…"

"Of course." There was always a condition with Aunt Louise. Always.

"Then she brought up you and Peyton."

Suddenly I knew where this was going. I knew why my aunt had bothered to look up my mom's number. I knew why she had called.

I desperately hoped that my mom wasn't going to say what I thought she was going to say.

"No," I said feebly.

"Sorry, sweetie. But she wants you guys to visit her."

There it was.

I collapsed in a chair in the living room, utterly annoyed. I had been to Camp Green Lake twice before: once the previous Christmas, and once the previous spring break. Aunt Louise had insisted that Peyton and I go to help her out with inventory or some lame excuse, but I knew why she wanted us there. Since she was still on bad terms with my dad and Aunt Suzie, the only way for her to make amends with them was by using the kids; she'd bring us to camp to show us how "wonderful" she was doing, and then have us report back to our parents. And since Peyton and I are the oldest nieces in the family, we were the first targets.

"You told her no, right?" I asked hopefully.

The other end of the line was silent. I already knew the answer to that.

"Mom, you didn't…"

"Honey, what was I going to do? If I said no, she'd keep calling all summer and running up the phone bill, like last Christmas. Besides, I think it'd be good for you to get some fresh air."

"That camp is in a desert," I reminded her. "The only shade for miles is those two ugly trees outside that tiny cabin. I'm going to fry! Not only that, but it's, like, a bajillion degrees out there!"

"Oh, no! The little starfish is sad!" came Dora's voice from the TV.

I mentally cringed, turning down the volume. If there was one thing I needed right now, it definitely wasn't Dora telling me the painfully obvious.

"Sweetie," my mom continued, "I know you don't like it there, but it'll be a good excuse for you and Peyton to spend time together. That'll be fun."

"Yeah, but Mom-"

"Beatrice."

"What?"

"Just…do it for your dad and I. Please? Dad doesn't like this idea any more than you do. He was about ready to say no. He hates that your aunt is manipulating our family through you and Peyton. But he knows that your aunt is persistent, and that if he refuses…well…she has ways of being persuasive. So could you do it just this once?"

"Just this once? You said the same thing the past two times you asked!"

"Please, Beatrice?"

My mother had turned to begging. That was unlike her. She never did that unless she was desperate.

Which I guess she was.

I knew I didn't have a choice now. My mom needed me to oblige. My whole family did. Aunt Louise could be conniving when it suited her, and although I had no idea how a woman who hardly showed her face and never called could be in any way threatening, I hated to think about what would happen if we didn't do what she said. That Christmas morning and the past two trips to Camp Green Lake had shown me that she could get angry very fast.

"Fine," I said after a minute. "But just know that I'm not happy about this."

That night, Peyton called. I knew before picking up what she was going to say.

"I can't believe her!"

"Hello to you, too," I said, flopping down on my bed.

"I swear to God, that woman is insane. She honestly thinks she can just whisk us out to that desert whenever she wants?"

"Peyton, why are you complaining? You actually like it there."

"Okay, just because I've made friends with some of the boys, doesn't mean I like it there."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you have any idea why our parents are giving into her, anyway? I mean, all my mom said to me was that she doesn't want the phone bill to be as ungodly high as it was at Christmas."

"My parents won't say anything about that, either. You'd think they would ignore her after all these years." There was a pause, and I knew the wheels in Peyton's head were spinning.

"Peyton..." I said. "Don't tell me you're thinking about..."

"You know what? I'm glad we're going." I could almost hear the devious smile in her voice. "This will be the perfect opportunity for us to do some digging. Not only for why our parents continue to send us, but also why Aunt Louise continues to stay at that camp."

I shook my head. "And how are you proposing we do that?"

"We'll figure it out as we go."

"If by 'we', you mean 'you'." I sighed. "Peyton, I would love nothing more than to stay out of our family's bizarre feud, and I'm planning to keep it that way. If you figure it all out, then that's great. But I'd rather let sleeping dogs lie."

"Trix, come on! This could be our chance to finally figure it all out! Our parents have never told us anything, and I doubt they'll start now. Haven't you been a little bit curious about Aunt Louise?"

"Not really. And, for the sake of argument, why didn't you think of this the last two times we were there?"

Peyton grew quiet. "I was...distracted, I suppose."

I laughed. "By boys, right?"

"It doesn't matter. The point is, I'm not going back home without discovering something. At least it'll give me something to do than sit inside all day."

I knew she was trying to get me to loosen up, and I hated to admit it was working a bit. But I wasn't about to let her know that.

"Whatever you say, Peyton. You let me know how that goes for you."

After a few minutes, we hung up. I spent that whole night thinking about my Aunt Louise, Camp Green Lake, and all the secrets my parents were keeping from me.