Chapter 7

Wednesday 20thAugust 2014

I pause in the entry hall for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. They're scattered all over the place and I know that no matter what Mom's verdict is, it's going to be a very restless night.

The sound of raised voices drifts from the direction of the sitting room. Frowning, I place my stuff down at the base of the stairs and quietly head further down the hall.

"Honestly, Jayda. You would think there were monsters around every corner, the way you're carrying on." Saraiyu's exasperated voice is the first I hear clearly as I inch towards the open door.

"There may as well be! You know perfectly well why I'm so worried." Mom sounds stressed, and I imagine her pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. "What am I supposed to say to her? There's only a week and a half until she leaves for the Academy. That's not nearly enough time to adjust!"

I can just about hear Saraiyu roll her eyes. "Just get it over and done with! If you hadn't moved – and I was against that from the beginning – she would have grown up knowing everything, just like the others."

I frown. It sounds as though they could be talking about me or Sky, but none of it is making any sense. I hear the sound of air leaving a cushion in a huff – Mom must have sat down.

When she speaks next she sounds dejected. "Are you even sure that it's going to happen to her? Maybe it skipped them both." I hold my breath. What the hell?

"With Skylah there's no telling until she's fifteen or sixteen and you know that. But Luca Hale swears that the very first time he saw Serenity he knew immediately that it wouldn't be long. Her birthday is only a couple months away, you know as well as I do how these things work."

What does she mean by Luca being able to know it wasn't long? Long until what? They are definitely talking about me now, and I'm not any closer to working out what any of it means. It's beyond frustrating.

"Are you sure he even knows what he's talking about? He's barely a boy himself." The distaste Mom has for him is obvious.

"Luca has been an adult since he was five. He takes part in every council meeting and has never shirked any of his duties. There's no one better than him to take on the role that he has."

I knew Luca and Cloud's parents aren't around anymore, but I didn't realize the two were so young when they died.

Defeated, Mom changes the subject to the garden they're trying to revive out in the back courtyard.

I slip away quietly, barely daring to breathe lest they hear me. Gathering my bags I take them upstairs. No matter how many times I replay the conversation in my mind, I can't work out what they had been talking about.

All I know is that there's something serious that they're not telling me.

About to walk into my room, I see Sky poking her head out of her bedroom door. Since we've been here, we haven't really spent that much time together, and it's starting to eat at my conscience after we used to be so close in Cali.

"Hey Sky, I got something for you while I was in town," I say with a wide smile, trying hard not to give away my unease after what I heard downstairs.

She looks at me with a blank expression for a moment, then steps back and waves me into her room without saying a word.

Puzzled – surely this can't be entirely normal behavior for fourteen-year-olds these days – I enter her room. I don't think I have ever been in here before, and there's no telling what it used to look like before we moved in.

Now, it's almost entirely covered – every possible surface – with her stuff. Most things are varying shades of pink or cream, which would have been overwhelming in any setting. Pair that with a shitload of cushions and pillows on her bed, a huge super-fluffy rug, a couple of plush bean chairs and what seems like her whole wardrobe's worth of clothing scattered all over the place, and it looks like a unicorn threw up in here.

Recognizing a couch similar to mine under a few piles of clothes and shoes, I make a beeline for that as Sky closes the door behind me.

Trying not to be too judgmental, I shuffle some stuff out of my way and sit down, rustling through the shopping bags.

"I got some cute shorts that I thought you might like," I say while trying to locate them.

"They've been talking about us ever since you left this morning, you know," she says quietly.

I look up, surprised. She sounds so… sad, that I hardly know what to do. Then I wonder if she had heard similar conversations to the one I had. "I heard them talking when I got back just now, but none of it made any sense."

Sky sits cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch across from the one I'm sitting on. It hardly looked comfortable, but she doesn't seem to mind.

"I think it has something to do with that school they're sending you to, and I heard something about how things wouldn't be the same for you after your birthday," she's frowning as she speaks, probably trying as hard as me to make sense of it.

"I probably just need to ask them what's going on, but we both know what Mom's like, and it'll take her months to beat around the bush long enough before telling us something substantial… Saraiyu's our best bet," I muse. Sky nods her agreement.

I change the subject by finally finding the shorts and it's nice to see her smile in response to them.

I deposit my stuff in my room – well, I chuck the bags in the door and close it again – and trot downstairs. I have two bones to pick with Mom, but one has to take priority.

I find her in the kitchen, helping Saraiyu prepare dinner. While a little uncomfortable broaching the topic, it has to be done.

"Hey Mom, grandma," I greet them.

"Oh honey, I've told you just to call me Sarai. I've never been a big fan of all that 'grandma' stuff," she says, flapping a hand at me.

I grin, kinda relieved. After thirteen years of not seeing her, it's weird to think of her as a grandma, especially with how lively and strong she is. It makes me sad knowing she was sick.

"Hey sweetheart, did you just get back? I didn't hear the door." Mom frowns. She's probably thinking she's losing it.

"About ten minutes ago. I couldn't hear you guys, so I went to put my stuff upstairs and said hello to Sky. I bought her some shorts in town today." I'm babbling slightly and I know it. I can't help it: I'm so nervous to know what they will say about my staying at the lodges.

Mom arches an eyebrow at me in that way she does when she sees through my façade. "That's great, but what is it you're not saying?"

I glance between her and Sarai, trying to gauge their moods. Maybe I should have left this a little longer, until their argument wasn't so fresh. No going back now. Better to plunge in feet first.

"Well, I had a great day and everything. It was Jesse's birthday today so he requested we go to Hardee's to eat, and while we were waiting for our food they were talking about this thing they do each year where they go to the lodges," I pause to wait for their acknowledging nods to continue, "and well I wasn't really listening at first, but then they invited me to join them there." I suck in a deep breath when I finish as I wait for it to sink in.

Sarai is already smiling happily, and I know she's all for it.

Mom's expression, on the other hand, is worryingly blank. I can see the cogs ticking over in her brain, but I'm left sitting there fretfully, almost positive she is either going to say flat-out no, or freak out and storm off, which would also be a no.

"When would they be leaving on this trip?" she asks carefully, her voice not giving anything away.

"Early tomorrow morning. I'm supposed to text Cloud tonight to let him know," I say quickly, hoping that the fact she hasn't already said no is a good sign.

It takes her a moment to reply, focusing on her task of peeling potatoes. At this point I'm just about ready to start tearing my hair out. Sarai winks at me as she pours me a glass of lemonade. It's icy cold, and I sip at it while I wait for Mom to say something.

"How many of them are there going to be?" Sarai rolls her eyes at Mom's question, and I get the feeling that she already knows, but is asking to see if I'd lie.

I'm almost offended, but suppose it's only fair for her to be worried. I add quickly in my head, and was almost surprised at the large number: when they were all together, some tend to fade into the background while others are the center of attention.

"There's ten, including me." I hope that by including myself will help her see that I see myself as one of them.

She thinks it over for a moment. "And how many of them are boys?" is her next question.

I flush bright red. I should have known this would be a question. "Five. But Mason is dating Victorie; Avery is too self-absorbed to notice anyone else half the time; Jesse is too hyper and immature to notice the difference between a girl and a rock; Luca I think is with Reina; and Cloud…" What excuse was I going to give for him? He wasn't dating anyone that I was aware of, and he definitely knew I was a girl. "I think Cloud could be gay, but I'm not entirely sure." I internally wince, seriously hoping that he would never find out I said that.

Mom seems to accept this, albeit reluctantly, but I see Sarai raising her eyebrows at me. I try silently telling her just to play along. I should have thought of something a lot more plausible than Cloud being into guys. Sarai would have heard of something like that if it were true.

"Well, I suppose I can't really stop you," Mom says with a sigh, putting down the peeler to level her gaze at me. "But I really hope you remember the talk that we had a couple years ago if any of those boys try anything."

I know she's deadly serious, but I can't help but snort. There's no way I would get with any of them after only a few days of knowing them. How whore-ish would that be? "That's not going to happen, Mom. I'm not that type of girl."

My words seem to pacify her on the topic. "As long as you know that, then I hope you enjoy yourself."

I jump up and give her a massive hug. I have never been so excited for something in my whole life. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaim before releasing her and racing back to my bedroom.

I upend the shopping bags on my floor, scrabbling through the stuff until I find the scrap of paper Cloud slipped in there. It's wrinkled, but his writing is neat and my heart flutters a little when I see he had drawn a little smiley face next to the digits.

Trying not to dwell on that, I type his number into my phone, triple check and save it, then begin a message.

Serenity: She said yes! – S

I probably sound like I'm way too excited by this, but this is a monumental leap for me. The first time I will actually get to spend quality time with people my age, and there aren't any parents just down stairs to tell us to quieten down.

I stand in the middle of my closet, staring at my suitcase. I have no idea how many clothes I will need, let alone what type, and I don't want to look like an idiot if I get it wrong. I'm saved from the dilemma when my phone rings.

My heart skips a beat when I see it's Cloud. I had just expected a text! Taking a deep, calming breath, I answer.

"Hello?" My voice hitches a little, and I mentally slap myself.

"Hey, I got your message," Cloud says. Somehow over the phone his voice sounds like thick honey, and it makes me shiver. Maybe I had just never noticed before. "I thought I would call because we didn't really give you much info about what to expect, so I assume you have questions?"

Is he telepathic or something that he knows exactly what my problem is?

"I was actually just standing here wondering what to pack, so you guessed correctly." I sound totally normal this time, thank god.

He chuckles a little and I bite my lip as my breath catches in my throat. That was probably the sexiest sound on the planet. Snap out of it Serenity! Why are you drooling over bothof them?!

I can't believe myself. I have never ever been attracted to anyone before in my life, and here I am turning to jelly whenever I talk to these guys. And they're brothers, just to top it off.

I'm pondering whether it could just be their genes when he speaks again. "Well it is next to a lake, so we'll be swimming pretty much every day."

Awesome. I'll get to stand in a bikini next to runway perfect Mai and Victorie, that'll be great for my self-esteem. I decide to worry about that when it comes to it.

"Um, this might potentially be a silly question, but would a suitcase be okay to bring?" I ask tentatively.

I can hear the smile in his voice as he replies. "Bring whatever you want: Victorie has a tendency of bringing at least one suitcase for each day that we're going to be there."

I laugh, as much at myself for worrying as for the mental image his words bring to mind. "Okay. Suitcase is fine, bikinis preferable… what next?"

By the time we get off the phone forty minutes later, I have a neatly packed and well-prepared but singular suitcase. I packed some of the clothes I bought that afternoon, thinking it was a perfect time to break them in.

While fishing was also part of the trip, Cloud assured me it wasn't mandatory, but said if I wanted to give it a go I could borrow some of his gear and he would show me the ropes. The prospect is exciting, and was most definitely something I will be dreaming about tonight. Maybe it's a weird fantasy, but I'm going to take advantage of it.

Cloud is going to pick me up in the morning, and is going to call when he's out the front. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, and I can barely contain myself.

The conversation at dinner is a welcome distraction from my tremulous thoughts and feelings, but all too soon I'm off to bed, with Mom's voice trailing after me telling me to wake her when I leave in the morning.

I can hardly sleep, a mixture of nerves, excitement and anticipation swirling through me. When I finally do drift off, my dreams are filled with woods and sparkling clear water.