Sunkissed by Kasie West (popular e readers .txt) 📕

through my veins now. I pulled up the flashlight on my phone and turned in the opposite direction. I didn’t want to see her for a while. I wasn’t sure what stupid thing I’d say if I did.

Five minutes later, I found myself standing in front of the pay phone. Before I could talk myself out of it, I picked up the handle and dialed Shay’s number.

A monotone voice came through the earpiece. “The call you have made requires a coin deposit. Please hang up momentarily, listen for a dial tone, deposit coin, and dial your call again.”

“Deposit coin?” I hung up the phone and shone my light around. On the top was a small slot next to some weird lever. Beneath that a blue strip said .50. Another sticker with red letters said: Collect calls dial *11. What did that mean?

“Fifty cents.” I patted my shorts as if some money had magically teleported into my pockets. They were, of course, empty.

I glanced back down the trail. Lights shone from the employee cabins all along the path. I found myself walking to a porch and knocking on the door. It swung open and Tia stood there in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a tank.

“Avery,” she said. “Hi.”

“Hi, is Maricela here?”

“Hey, babe,” Maricela said from the background. “Come in.”

Tia opened the door wider and I stepped inside. Maricela cleared a space on the extra bed and I sat down. “What’s going on? You look like your dog just died.”

“No, I was trying to use the pay phone.”

“You need some quarters?”

I nodded.

“It also takes cards,” she said, walking to the dresser and opening the top drawer. She dug through it.

“I don’t have a card either,” I said.

Maricela walked over to me, change in her open palm. She picked up my hand and dropped four quarters into it.

“I only need two.”

“Most out-of-area calls take four.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you so much.”

“No problem. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah…” I took a deep breath. “Did you hear about Ian?”

“The concussion?” Maricela said. “Yes, that sucks.”

“He’s leaving.”

“He’s leaving?” Tia asked, surprised. “For how long?”

“For the rest of summer.”

“So no festival,” Maricela said, catching the implication right away. “Brooks must be torn up. He’s been going on about signs and how the stars all aligned for him this summer.”

“Yeah.” My stomach twisted with guilt again. I clenched my fists, the quarters pressing into my palms. This was not my problem to own. Why was I feeling guilty? “Anyway, thanks for the quarters.” I stood. “I better go make that call before it gets too late.”

“Okay, good luck with that.”

“Good night.”

Back at the pay phone, now that my anger had subsided to the less motivating emotion of frustration, I wasn’t sure I wanted to make this call. Why did I think talking to Shay would help anyway? Because she knew my sister and would talk me through this? Did being angry at my sister make me less angry at Shay? I pressed my back against the brick building and looked up at the sky.

The stars were exceptionally bright tonight, and it took me a while to realize it was because there was no moon. I stepped out from under the eve of the building and searched every inch of sky I could see through the dark trees.

My heart thudded twice in my chest and I ran back to Maricela’s cabin. The light was still on so I tried the handle. It gave and I flung open the door. Maricela was by the mirror on the wall, tucking her hair into a sleeping cap. Tia was sitting on her bed reading a book. They both looked at me in surprise.

“It’s a new moon!” was my only excuse.

A slow smile spread across Maricela’s face, and she dropped the sleeping cap on top of her open suitcase.

“What’s that mean?” Tia asked.

“It means we need to take a trip across the lake.”

The group was eerily quiet as we sat, knees touching in the circle. The water lapped against the shore behind us, where we’d left a couple canoes. Maricela had collected several people as we had made our way to the docks—Clay, Brooks, Kai, and Lucy, a girl I’d seen around but had never officially met.

There was still a marked tension between Kai and Brooks. They had come across the lake in separate canoes and now weren’t sitting by each other. Much to my disappointment, Brooks wasn’t sitting next to me either. I hoped that didn’t mean he was mad at me. I tried to catch his eye but his focus was on Maricela.

“Welcome,” she said from where she sat on my right.

Tia, on my left, giggled, then put her hand over her mouth to stop. I wondered if she was nervous. I found myself a little nervous, sitting in the dark, only a single flashlight pointing at Maricela’s face. She looked like a ghost.

She shot Tia a look, then continued. “For those of you who weren’t here last year, this is our moon circle. As you can see, there is no moon in the sky, which makes it a perfect time for renewal. Tonight is like a fresh start. Or just a time to think about what you really want and to remotivate yourself. Everyone hold hands.”

Kai was on Maricela’s right, and I watched him take her hand. I wondered if her speech had softened him. If he and Brooks would make up. Brooks was next to Tia and as I linked hands with her, so did he. I reminded myself that jealousy was not a good emotion to bring to a night of renewal.

“Now, everyone close your eyes,” Mari said, switching off the flashlight and then taking my hand.

It was so dark I almost didn’t need to close my eyes. I could barely make out my own crossed legs. But I closed them anyway.

“Let go of the things that are holding you back,” Maricela said. “And fill your mind only with the things that will take you forward.” She