Camp Zero: a Novel by Michelle Min Sterling

Author:Michelle Min Sterling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

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When Rose first arrived at the Loop for her hostess interview, she felt incredibly self-conscious in the old jeans and T-shirt she wore, no makeup or heels, just green rubber boots and unwashed hair. This was a mistake, she thought. She clearly didn’t belong here. She rose from the bench, but the security guard was already walking toward her.

“Avalon likes what she sees,” the guard said. “You can follow me upstairs.”

“She saw me?” Rose asked, looking around. No one had entered the lobby since she arrived.

“She sees everything.” The guard pointed to the glass ceiling where the green dot of a surveillance camera pulsed on and off steadily.

She followed the guard upstairs. The bedroom he left Rose in was small but elegantly appointed. A low teak bed, neatly made with cream linen sheets, was positioned against the wall. Two egg-shaped chairs were clustered in the corner next to a table set with champagne flutes and a bowl of prickly dark red fruit. Like the rest of the Loop, the floor was reflective white tile, the oval windows fashioned out of tinted glass. In the garden below, two women reclined nude on sun loungers in the shade. One of them languidly applied sunscreen to her shoulders, and then turned onto her stomach. They seemed to exhibit no shame in lying exposed for anyone in this building to see.

Suddenly, her clothes and boots, even the loose elastic in her hair, felt uncomfortable and heavy. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw a peninsula girl, dressed in utilitarian clothes, worn at the knees and elbows from work. A girl who never allowed herself to dwell on beauty in the real world, only the beauty she found in the pages of books. She thought of the women who worked in the garret house during the high season, how they seemed to have formed a bond with each other but didn’t remain tethered to a place because they left when the season ended. She could take this job for a short period to see if she liked it, and then decide what she would do with her life.

She pulled the elastic out and smoothed her hair with a hand. People rarely remarked on her appearance, and she had always assumed it was because they thought her odd-looking. Her black hair, which she rarely combed or cut, was thick like her mother’s, and her face was dotted with freckles. But she had her father’s physical stature, tall and strong, with a tendency to hunch her shoulders to compensate for her height. Now she stood up straighter as she examined herself in the mirror. She pulled off her clothes and left them in a grayish pile on the marble floor. Already she felt lighter.

The room’s closet was filled with gauzy dressing gowns, shimmery cocktail dresses, and sets of sheer lingerie. She touched a pale green gown. The material was cool and impossibly soft. She took the gown off the hanger and held it against her body as she stood, still wearing her plain cotton underwear and bra.

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