“Not until we get the shot.” She turns to me. “You. Photo girl. Did you get it or not?”
Photo girl?
Seriously?
Most of the Inn’s guests are charming, but this woman makes me want to throw something into the lake. Maybe her.
“Uh…” I look at the photo again. I want to set the girls free. They’re both tugging at their dresses and shifting from foot to foot, staring at the lake wistfully. I understand their pain.
Unfortunately, my answer doesn’t come fast enough.
“Girls. Stop. Moving.” She orders and the girls both sigh dramatically. “Take one good photo for your dad and then you can do whatever you want.”
The woman whips back around to continue her conversation and the girls cross their arms, glaring at the camera. Clearly, they want to be here as much as I do.
“Okay, kids.” My voice is small as I paste on a friendly smile. “Just one more and then you’re free to go to the lake.”
My words do little to change their attitudes. They both have perfectly sour looks on their faces and I frown, trying to think of a good way to cheer them up.
“Hey kids, check this out.” The voice belongs to Jonathan.
The girls’ frowns disappear.
Their eyes go wide.
And a slow-motion montage of terror plays out.
First, something light lands on my head. Something with distinct, pointy legs.
Next, my hand slams down on the top of my head and my fingers contact a fuzzy, round, fat creature.
I shriek so loud the mountains wince.
“Get it off! Get it off!”
I dance around, trying to get the thing off of me. Where is it? Did I get it? Is it dead? Is it caught in my hair? Please, oh please, let it not be a spider!
After a hectic storm of movement, I slow down, realizing the creature — whatever it was — no longer appears to be on my body.
What the?
I stand straight and look around me wildly, my hair flying around my face and my loose T-shirt crumpled around my torso.
Jonathan has the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. He’s looking through his camera, taking photos of the twin girls who are now cracking up. Their laughter and smiles are infectious. Jonathan’s getting every single moment of it.
If steam could come from my ears, I could power a frickin’ steam boat.
My cheeks turn bright red as I spot the girls’ mother, and a bunch of other guests, staring my way, completely shell-shocked. The silence is deafening, save for the laughter.
“Sorry, all,” I manage, smiling sheepishly. “False alarm.”
After a few hesitant moments, the happy chatter returns. Whispers and mumblings travel through the crowd, and the occasional guest looks my way. My face will be permanently red with embarrassment after this debacle.
As soon as the girls hurry away to jump into the lake, I march over to Jonathan and smack him on the arm.
“What was that?!”
“What?” His face is the picture of innocence.
“You know what! Why did you do that?”
Then, from behind his back, Jonathan pulls out the creature. It’s a spider with eight spindly legs, eight black eyes, and an abdomen the size of a walnut. It’s also made of rubber.
His eyes are wet and he can barely breathe.
IS HE SERIOUSLY LAUGHING SO HARD HE’S CRYING?
He’s able to contain his laughter just long enough to get out a single sentence:
“Long… live… the queen.”
22
Jonathan
If I could whistle, I really would.
Kiara’s expression when I pranked her with the fake spider was immensely satisfying. Looking into her eyes was like looking into a raging bonfire. And her face? Even tomatoes don’t get that red.
I stroll down the path towards the Inn, looking through my photos. The guests have all gone in for lunch and it’s our staff lunchtime too. There’s a great photo of the twins hugging each other and jumping up and down while they laugh.
It’s perfect.
On top of trying to keep up with Kiara this week, we’re in a side war to see who can get the most photos posted to the Inn’s social media accounts. Kiara is currently winning — all the photos posted so far have been hers — but one of these might just do the trick.
I need to show Delia soon. I make a mental note to catch up with her once the day is done. I have a feeling one of these photos will be the winner today.
I catch up with Noah and Wes in the staff room, taking a seat by the windows. I let them in on the prank I pulled on Kiara and they both burst into laughter.
“I can’t believe you did that, and in front of the guests.” Noah laughs, giving me a fist bump. “Kudos, bro.”
“Anaya was saying that Kiara hates bugs. I’m sure that was real fun for her,” Wes pipes in quietly, a smile on his face.
Fernando is serving up sandwiches today and I dig into mine hungrily, chomping through it in two bites. Wes and Noah both stare and I shrug.
“Pranking people really takes it out of you.”
We finish our lunches and are about to grab some Oreo cookies before returning to work when none other than Kiara Garcia approaches our table. To my surprise, she looks vulnerable, staring down at the floor.
I’ve never seen anyone look so defeated.
“Golden boy,” she says, a resigned look on her face. She has the energy of a neglected puppy. “I wanted to apologize. You were right. I do need to have some fun.”
This is a surprise. I sit straight in my chair, waiting for her to continue. It’s brave to apologize like this in front of Wes and Noah.
“Seeing you laughing and joking around with those kids opened my eyes to something. Sure, the Inn is a place to work. But it’s also a place to play.”
She lifts her face, and her eyes meet mine. She looks so sincere, so genuine, and I soften to her words. Are we really laying down our weapons? Is Kiara the Queen holding up a white flag?
“So I’m sorry. I’m hoping we can be friends.”
I blink a few times to make sure this is reality and not, in fact, a dream.
“You serious?” I want to believe her. It is Kiara the Queen I’m talking to, but she looks so… sad.
“Very serious.”
I nod slowly. Is our rivalry over? Can I forgive her for what she did last fall? I look her up and down, trying to assess whether I’m ready for our rivalry to end.
Kiara’s eyes are gentle and kind, I’ve never seen her so vulnerable.
“So, friends?” she asks, holding out an Oreo.
I look into her eyes once again. After everything that’s happened between us, can we really be friends?
I’d like to try.
I smile gratefully and take the Oreo, accepting her peace offering. Without taking my eyes from hers, I bite into the cookie.
There’s a satisfying chocolate cookie crunch.
And then there’s…
There’s…
A blast of horribly intense mint.
I cough and chunks of cookie fly onto the table. I try to talk, but the horrible mint taste makes it impossible to do anything but cough.
Kiara’s face transforms. A wicked half-smile comes across her lips and her eyes sparkle in devilish joy. Behind her, Anaya, Stefi and Bree are cracking up. So are Wes and Noah.
“It’s a new flavor of Oreo,” Kiara says, backing away as I cough again. “I believe it’s called Crest Extra Whitening?”
The potent, overpowering minty taste of toothpaste fills my mouth. She replaced the icing with toothpaste.
Kiara curtsies in front of everyone watching, and the traitors all applaud.
She grins at me. “As you said, Jonathan. Long live the Queen.”
I try to respond, but instead of a scathing comeback, I cough out a piece of Crest Extra Whitening Oreo.
This.
Means.
War.
23
Kiar
a
“Girl, that was crazy!” Bree says as we hurry out of the staff room. Stefi and Anaya have already rushed back to work.
“It was all you! You were my inspiration,” I say. My stomach hurts from laughter.
Bree hushes away the compliment. Always so modest.
“Okay, but seriously,” she says. We descend to the garden. “What’s next? What’s your master plan?”
I stroke a pretend beard and gaze out over to the lake. “I have a few things planned — assuming that golden boy doesn’t immediately wave the white flag of surrender. I have a feeling he’s got a couple pranks lined up himself, so I’m going to lie low. But when he strikes, I’ll come back even harder.”
Bree and I snicker wickedly, plotting his demise.
“Garcia.” A familiar voice calls and Bree and I jump apart. Speak of the devil.
“Nice move.” Jonathan says, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He’s got a tiny speck of white at the corner of his mouth and some absurd part of me wants to wipe it off.
“I’ll accept your surrender now, if you want,” I say, smirking.
He leans in close. So close I can smell his aftershave. He whispers, his breath warm against my ear. “You’re right, you know. I do have a couple things lined up for you.”
I hold my breath, frozen. He’s so close, his chest is almost touching mine.
“Sleep with one eye open.” He straightens and steps out of the garden, looking back at me and gesturing with two fingers to say, “I’m watching you.”
“Dude’s intense.” Bree’s voice breaks the spell. She squeezes my arm. “See ya later, Ki. I gotta get back.”
I’m still standing there in the garden a moment later, holding my camera. Something very weird is happening. Some familiar, but entirely unwelcome, stirring is happening in my stomach. Dare I say… a lone butterfly?
No. Kiara, no. You’re being ridiculous. Jonathan Wright does not give you butterflies, just a case of mild nausea.
Ugh. I roll my eyes and breathe through the sensation. No point in dwelling on it.
I turn and skip out of the garden, trying to regain the happy feeling I had but moments ago.
24
Jonathan
A musical tone intertwines with my dream, and I come rushing out of my peaceful sleep. My alarm might be on its quietest setting, but it feels like it’s blaring.
“Rawwg!” I grunt as I hit snooze. I roll over, blinking my tired eyes open. “I thought I’d have a break from this over the summer.”
It’s 5:30am, and the world is just waking up. In a matter of minutes, I’ll be wide awake and ready to go — my body has been trained to fare well with early mornings. But I’m not used to doing early mornings in combination with late nights.
It’s been a week since I arrived at Legacy Inn and the last few days have been hectic. To keep up with Kiara, I’ve been staying awake with the last of the guests, hanging around in the evenings to take advantage of any photo ops. But, in keeping with Kiara’s crazy schedule, I’ve also been up early a few times to capture the guests’ sunrise paddles or breakfasts in the garden.
It’s exhausting. Kiara could give my coach a run for his money.
I’d never tell her this, but I admire her dedication. She’s so intensely committed to photography. She’s not at all afraid to be honest and open about her dream. She’s just unapologetically… herself.
I walk out to the bathroom block to brush my teeth, looking for light over the horizon. It’ll be sunrise soon, my chance to capture the next photo for the Inn’s social media accounts.
I’ve had fun this week competing with Kiara to get the most photos posted on social media. She’s two photos ahead of me, so the photo posted today needs to be one of mine.
I look in the bathroom mirror, rub my hands over my stubble — there’s been no time to shave — and smile.
Kiara is unlike any girl I’ve known. She roasts me almost as badly as Troy does, but it always makes me laugh. Her face breaks into this cute little half-smile when she thinks she’s really got me. And she’s so witty, her intelligence challenges me.
So, as you’d expect, our pranks this week have only escalated.
After her prank with the cookie, I knew I had to hit back harder — and fast. I hijacked one of her morning bagels and put a healthy layer of horseradish under her cream cheese. She took a big bite and her face practically glowed from the heat.
Meanwhile, I almost fell off my chair laughing.
Her retaliation came sooner than expected. That same evening, I returned from the garden party, opened my door, and there was a loud blare that gave me a minor heart attack. I checked behind my cabin door, and sure enough, she had rigged an air horn so that it would sound off when the door opened. Once my hearing returned, all I could hear was Kiara’s incessant snickering from her tiny balcony.
Stefi and Cooper Monroe, son of the famous actor Kade Monroe, aided my next prank. They passed along a stack of his dad’s headshots, and while Kiara was out taking photos, I strategically covered her entire cabin with them. The shot was perfect, too — it was Kade Monroe, topless, carrying an anaconda over his shoulders, with a look of pure intensity on his face.
I lingered in my cabin until I heard her climb the steps to hers. Kiara opened the door, and a scream punctuated the silence.
I stepped out onto my balcony. “Something on your mind?” I drew out the “s”.
She was already on her balcony, glaring towards my cabin. Her face was red, and I could see she was holding back a smile. She grumbled under her breath and returned to her room before her angry face broke into laughter.
But, while I was celebrating my victory, she was scheming. And her last prank? It was a doozy.
We were taking photos in the garden as the guests went in for lunch.
“Wow golden boy, your photos are blown out. Haven’t you tried adjusting the exposure?” She had my camera in her hands.
“Yes?”
She gave me a skeptical look and her brown eyes met mine. I couldn’t keep a smile off my face. Kiara has a weird effect on me these days.
“Hey Jonathan, mind giving me a hand?” Randy called to me from across the garden. I turned to find her trying to lift a keg by herself.
I jogged over to the bar to give her a hand while Kiara adjusted the settings on my camera.
Randy, who it turns out is the outdoor bartender, needed the help. She had not one but three kegs that she was trying to lift and fit into their proper positions at the bar.
“Wow, Jonathan, you’ve got a knack for setting kegs up.” Randy gave me a high-five.
“Don’t ask.” I laughed before walking back over to Kiara.
She’d finished experimenting with my camera.
“Here.” She handed the camera back to me. “And, check it out, it’s the perfect time to get photos of the flowers. Nath’s done such a magnificent job.”
I took the camera and fit the neck strap over my head before following her to a different area of the garden. Kiara raised her camera and began taking photos.
I lifted my camera to take a few shots when I found myself staring into the bulbous eyes of a small, slimy, purple snail.
“Agh!”
I immediately dropped my camera, and it fell heavily into the neck strap. Somehow, the snail survived the ride, clinging onto the top of the camera for dear life.
Behind me, Kiara erupted in laughter.
I glared, carefully urged the snail onto my finger, and placed it comfortably into the grass.
“You might want to be careful with your camera,” Kiara said, her eyes tearing from laughter. “They’re pretty expensive.”
She thinks she’s so funny. I grin, check my reflection in the mirror one more time, and then pack up my toothbrush and walk out from the bathroom block. I can’t wait for the next prank.
Kiara stands a little ways from the cabins, looking out over the lake. She’s wearing shorts and a hoodie, and her hair is in a high ponytail.
She looks good with her hair up. I noticed it immediately when I saw her at the first garden party earlier this week. Her shorts and hoodies look great too, but I couldn’t believe how hot she was in the black dress. She just seemed… effortlessly confident. I’ve never seen that side of her before.
I rush into my cabin and grab my camera. The sky is already starting to lighten and I need to get my head in the game.
“The Queen’s up early this morning,” I call out as I approach her.
She sighs dramatically. “It’s the price I must pay for being a royal, I’m afraid.”
I’m about to spend another day with Kiara, and as much as I’m loath to admit it — I don’t hate the idea.
25
Kiara
How is the water so still?
The calm surface of the lake reflects the mountain peaks perfectly. In fact, everything around me feels quiet and unmoving this morning. I freeze, barely breathing, pretending that I’m one with this still image.
It’s 5:30 in the morning and I’ve resolved to climb the mountain beside the Inn.
Jonathan and I were packing up last night when the idea came to me. We were down at the gazebo, and the last guest had disappeared for the night. It was just he and I, under the fairy lights I’d so carefully strung up days before.
“Well, Garcia, I’ve got to hand it to you, you’ve got the fairy lights down,” Jonathan said, staring up at the doily shape.
“They almost came down when I was trying to put them up.”
I immediately regretted my words. We hadn’t talked about our first encounter at the Inn. I was holding my breath, wondering if Jonathan would clap back with a snarky comment.
“You’re lucky I was here to save the day!” His denim eyes danced.
“Lucky, was it?” I laughed as I put my camera away.
He chuckled as he took a stand at the end of the gazebo, looking out over the lake. “So, what’s your top bucket list item while you’re here this summer?”
Chasing Sunrise: A Sweet YA Enemies-to Lovers Romance (Inn for the Summer) Page 7
