Lodestones by Naomi Mackenzie

Author:Naomi Mackenzie [MacKenzie, Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, LGBT, Romance, Young Adult
ISBN: 9781941530719
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2015-09-08T04:00:00+00:00

Eight.

9:15 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

“See, the flyers worked great,” Dabne says. From their vantage point on a little incline, a knoll where they’re perched to dry off after a swim in the lake, they can see all of the people who have assembled. It’s getting to be a large group. Partygoers started arriving in twos and threes, and now at least sixty people are scattered about. And it’s still early. These people are just the first wave.

“For now,” Christa tells her. “It’s just past nine. Things could still go south.”

“South, west, north—I don’t give a damn where things go as long as this party rocks. My summer has been a bore trapped here without you guys,” Dabne says. She pokes at an ant with her roasting stick.

“Dab, we might want to use that again,” Kate complains. She snatches it away and puts it with her own stick on the grass.

“Speaking of roasting things,” Jaia says.

“We all used sunscreen,” Kate says and rolls her eyes. “No one’s getting skin cancer, Jaia. And besides, the sun is going down.”

“That’s terrific news, but not what I was going to say. Just that those buffoons down there are cooking something and throwing it at each other.”

Christa zeros in on the group near the bonfire just in time to see a burnt marshmallow fly into the air and land with a splat on a big hairy guy’s bare thigh. He howls like a wounded animal. “Wow, look at Einstein and his unpaid interns.”

Jaia snorts a laugh. “Good thing I haven’t cut into my special watermelon yet. In case we have to drive one of those space cadets into town to the emergency room.”

“Not happening,” Dabne says. “They can suffer.”

“Oh, Dab, you are the most caring gal in the whole world, you know that?” Kate laughs when Dabne sticks out her tongue.

“What a waste of marshmallows,” Dabne says mournfully. “And burned to perfection, too.”

Christa studies the people who have arrived. She recognizes a few of them, but she doesn’t actually know anyone. Is this evening’s party experience going to be akin to every night she’s been out since October of her first year, when she made friends with her ragtag crew? They will be the only other people she talks to all night unless she comes out of her shell a little. Or unless Robin shows up.

“I hope some other people we like actually show up here tonight,” she muses aloud. “Or else we could have spared ourselves all the work and just gone camping at the Pine Tree campground. They have two pools.”

“And Wi-Fi,” Jaia adds.

“We don’t need Wi-Fi and pools,” Kate says. She swishes her hand through the air as though presenting the wonders of nature.

“Well, Wi-Fi will be handy when we need to look up burn remedies when those idiots set themselves on fire.”

“Or we do with those fireworks,” Christa adds. She’s not sure she’s okay with lighting those things. But since she’s the only one who doesn’t plan to eat any of Jaia’s watermelon, she’ll probably be in charge of them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.