Reality Gold by Tiffany Brooks

Author:Tiffany Brooks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dunemere Books
Published: 2018-04-08T20:41:16+00:00

19

When we got to camp, I gave Porter a hurried—and reluctant—goodbye, then ran to the cabin to grab the satellite. As I headed for my spot in the woods, I noticed Maren in one of the hammocks on the beach. She was staring out at the water. I nearly didn’t recognize her. She didn’t have her black lipstick or heavy makeup on, and her hair was pulled into a loose knot on top of her head. When I got close, I could see brown roots at her temple, which was interesting. Forget the purple tips—not even the black part of her hair was real. Her sketch pad was facedown on the sand with her box of pencils.

I had wrapped a sweatshirt around the satellite so no one would wonder why I was bringing my “makeup” into the woods. I looked at it for a second, weighing my options. I was going to need to talk to Maren sometime to make things right between us. Despite my rush, now would be a good time to do that, seeing as how we might be voting later tonight.

I had this whole speech prepared in my head, but I didn’t say any of it when I saw her. She took her earbuds out when I approached.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hay is for horses,” she said absently. I waited for something more biting to follow, but nothing came.

“You look . . . relaxed,” I said.

“Yeah,” she agreed. She was still staring at the water. “I used to go to the beach a lot when I was little. I forgot what it was like to spend all day in the sand, just hanging out.”

I waited for her inevitable reminder that I was spoiled, that I took beaches and trips for granted, but I was wrong.

“I guess I wanted to take a day off, and just . . . I don’t know . . . be.” She looked at me and I nearly died, because she was actually smiling. “I know. So cheesy.”

“Well, maybe a little,” I agreed, somewhat cautiously.

Maren seemed to suddenly realize we were being nice to each other. She frowned at me. “What are you looking at? Take a picture, it’ll last longer. Are you here to give me a report on the day or what?”

I told her about the cave, the shrine, and the carvings.

There were a few seconds where we bonded again over the excitement of our find.

“We really might find the gold and win that money,” she said, morphing back into the nicer version that had slipped out a few minutes ago. Predictably, though, she flipped back quickly to her old self when she realized that some Sol members had been there for such an important discovery.

“I told you it was a bad idea to let them come,” she snapped. “No one ever listens to me. Now we’re stuck with them, the same way I let myself get stuck with you.”

She put her earbuds in and leaned back in the hammock. Fine with me.

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