Spain or Shine by Michelle Jellen

Author:Michelle Jellen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

The next afternoon, Alita and Elena were sitting at the kitchen table working on their homework when she got a phone call from her family.

“Hi, honey,” her mom said. “We miss you.”

She never thought she’d be so happy to hear her mom’s voice. “I miss you guys, too,” Elena sighed, settling back into a chair at the table. “What’s going on there?”

“Well, the back-to-school dance was last Friday. Gwen went with a big group of friends. Let’s see, what else? Caleb has a new band—they play punk music, I think. He gets mad because I always call it the wrong thing.”

Elena laughed.

“Have you contacted your great-aunt yet?”

“Not yet, Mom. I’ve just been so busy.”

“Elena, please don’t wait too long to make plans.”

“I know. I won’t, Mom.” Elena breathed out sharply.

“Well, Jeremy’s here. He wants to talk to you. Hold on.”

There was a scratching sound as Elena’s mom passed the phone to Jeremy.

“Hey, Lanie,” Jeremy’s voice boomed through the receiver.

“Hi, Jeremy. What’s up?”

“Not much. I’m just starting to pack. I’m heading back to L.A. next weekend,” he said. “What about you? Is Mom still bugging you about visiting Aunt Elena?”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t really have to pressure me. I want to go. It’s just that I’m still getting used to San Sebastián—I don’t feel like I’m ready to head off to Barcelona yet, you know?” There was a barely discernible pause as Elena’s voice rippled over an ocean and a continent to Jeremy’s ears.

“Totally. I’ve heard Barcelona is awesome, though.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

‘And I think Great-Aunt Elena is pretty cool. I mean, I sort of remember her.”

“What do you mean?”

“She visited Mom when I was in kindergarten.”

“She did?”

“Yeah. You were really little, obviously. I don’t remember much about her, but I know I thought she was really fun. She would get down on the ground and play with me. And I remember spending hours drawing with her. I think she’s some kind of artist or something.”

“What, like a painter?” Elena had always thought she was the only one in her family with any artistic impulses.

“Uh-huh. Actually, I think she might be sort of famous. Well, famous in Barcelona anyway.”

“Hmm. Sounds interesting.” She wondered why her mom hadn’t mentioned her aunt’s painting. Elena was definitely more intrigued by her now.

“Yeah. Hey, Gwen’s bugging me to hand the phone over,” Jeremy said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Jeremy handed the phone to Gwen, and she immediately began filling Elena in on the back-to-school dance. Then Elena gave Gwen the rundown on Jenna, Alex, and all her new friends in Spain. She even managed to slip Miguel’s name into the conversation, but she tried to keep her voice even and casual, to play it off as if he was just some guy she’d met. Gwen wasn’t buying it.

“Oh my God, you love him,” Gwen blurted.

“I do not,” Elena insisted. “I just like him a tiny bit, hardly at all actually.”

“Since when do you like someone a tiny bit? What about Robbie Bowers back in seventh grade? The first day of school you came home and told us all that you had met the love of your life.

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