One Summer, One Goal

t w e n t y

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping in the air. My eyes adjusted to the warm light, my stomach churning and yearning with hunger.

Quickly, I stepped out of bed in my matching pajamas, and my hair messy as ever like every morning.

Turns out I didn't wake up to chirping birds but the chattering of Maddy and Erika by the cupboards where our cereals, and granola bars are.

Madison had her hair in a morning updo as she fed on a bowl of cereal while sitting on the counter. Erika on the other hand, had her hand on her hip as she chewed on her breakfast bar.

"Morning," I grunted, helping myself to a blueberry, strawberry granola bar. I was still kind of sleepy from last night's Uno Friday,"Where's Zoë?" I looked around the room before tearing out the wrapper of my healthy breakfast.

Erika shrugged, "She's somewhere, I suppose," She said, "And why did Sleeping Beauty wake up at this time in the morning?"

"You two are chatting boisterously," I pointed out stiffly, eyeing my bed desperately.

Maddy blinked, "Oh, sorry 'bout that. We were just talking about... stuff," She said after a high pitched cough.

Changing the subject, I asked, "So what are your plans for today?" I crumpled the wrapper of my snack, "Do you want to go to the camp library or something?"

"I heard Sam is going to make a grand announcement today," Erika muttered, brushing her hair to the side, "And it's coming out in a few hours, so I can't wait..." She shared excitedly.

Blinking, I questioned, "Huh. How come I've never heard of that..?"

Maddy replied, "She just told us a few minutes ago when you were still asleep. Erika and I were having a little walk when we came across Sam and told us about it. After that, we could barely get any sleep," She explained, finishing up her bowl of cereal.

"Well that explains that small murmurs I heard earlier today," I said thickly and putting a hand on my hip, "But how come you didn't tell me to wake up to hear it?"

"We didn't want to ruin your good dreams," Erika winked at me, giving me the good old stink eye.

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I decided, "I'm going to look for Alex after I freshen up," I said before proceeding into our joint bathroom.

~~~

"So you heard about the good news?" Alex cocked a brow at me after strumming the guitar strings of his instrument.

Nodding, I told him, "Yeah, have you heard of it? It's been racking in my head for the past hour...which is pretty weird since Erika could get all juicy details within a second," But this one seems hard to crack.

Scoffing, Alex muttered, "I have as well," He said smugly but in a dark tone, "Although I would have preferred if I didn't hear of it..." He shook his head.

My eyes widened in amazement, "Oh? So you know the story?" Scooting over closer to him, I said, "Tell me..."

"How about no?" He grasped out without making any eye contact. Based on the cold shoulder I was getting, the good news must be a bad one in reality.

I folded my arms across my chest, "C'mon, how bad is this good, Cooper...?" I challenged him with my mocking face.

Breaking the cold tension, he confessed, "I mean... it's good for you and the girls but not for me, actually."

Now I was really curious. I just want to poke the truth out of him.

"Then what is it?" I sang with enthusiasm and giddy, staring at his hesitant and crumpled features.