Joy's Summer Love Playlist by Piper Bee

Author:Piper Bee [Bee, Piper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781734949209
Published: 2020-06-19T16:00:00+00:00

TRACK 16 - RAINBOW CONNECTION

JULY 19TH

It would be an understatement to say that I didn’t sleep well, because my dramatic, thumping heart didn’t really let me sleep at all. What a pain!

It would be an understatement, then, to say I “woke up” early. Or is that an overstatement? Really, I got out of my borrowed pullout bed around 5:50 AM, praying that no one else would get up at such a crazy hour and I could finally be alone. I cannot sort through my feelings and socialize at the same time. Apparently.

When I was a kid, my family came to Victoria Lake for almost 3 weeks. For an eleven year old from the most boring part of Oregon (other than Boring, OR), the mid-summer break from life at a lake resort might as well have been years in a magical hidden kingdom. We memorized every trail, counted a hundred ant hills, learned how silly we could make campfire stories if there was enough Pepsi to keep us awake.

One thing I remember vividly is the Secret Pond. It might more accurately be a secluded pond with a waterfall, since I doubt the only people who discovered it were a couple of kids. But it’s off the beaten path, enough that I doubt anyone will be there this early. So, now’s as good a time as any to find it.

After putting my bathing suit on under gym shorts and a baseball tee, I pack my mustard yellow Fjallraven backpack with a towel and a water bottle. I’m planning to bring some snacks, and then I’m gone for a couple of hours.

Alone. The only way to sort my heart out.

I head upstairs into the fresh dawn coming in through the massive windows.

The fridge door closes and my heart throbs. Now I remember that there’s one other person who gets up this early.

Jin.

He stares at me, holding an orange juice carton and glass. “Good morning,” he says, looking like a deer in the headlights.

“Morning.” I try not to make conversation as I head to the sink to fill up my water bottle. The granola bars are on the counter behind him and so I’m, um, not gonna pack those.

“Going somewhere?” he asks.

“Yeah. Going on a hike. Be back before breakfast, probably.” I purposely use as few words as possible. I’ve already spent way too much time with Jin on my mind. Like, his face, or the way his voice sounded, or his stance when Cale kissed me.

He downs a glass of orange juice faster than my water bottle gets filled.

Get out before he says something!

“Bye!” I say. I walk fast, trying not to seem like I’m escaping. Probably failing at that. Oh, well.

I hit the pavement and try to find peace in the quiet drum of my sneakers. What brings it is the birdsong and sun rays that warm up the leftover coolness of night.

There’s the sign. CAPER TRAIL. Carson once said it was named after an unsolved mystery involving stolen jewelry they found buried here.

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