A Sugar Summer

Chapter 1

The alarm clocked blared out loud pulling the girl from the wonderful sleep she was just having. After a minute of searching, the wandering hand felt the annoying electronic bump the side of her palm and her fingers climbed onto the top in order silence the noise.

"Oh good you're awake dear." Grams whispered as she poked her graying head inside the darkened room. The black out blinds were drawn, not that it mattered. The clock on the now silenced alarm taunted the groggy girl with its red numbers. Five o'clock was way too early to wake up.

"I've got breakfast downstairs for you and your brother." Grams offered a small smile before closing the door with a soft click.

With a groan, Callie's face met the pillow again as she thought about what the rest of the day would bring. For the past six years, Callie only ever had to get up this early to bid farewell to her brother, Ryleigh as he left for his summer job at a camp he mentored at. This year would be different. Her brother was making her go with him for the summer. She guessed the camp needed all the help they could get. With a little bribing of volunteer hours, which she needed to graduate high school, Callie reluctantly agreed to go to the one place she really had no desire to visit.

Callie imagined her last summer in high school to be more relaxed. A nice warm breeze wafting off the ocean as she dropped her petite frame on a beach towel all summer long. When her brother left for the summers, Grams and Callie's books kept her company for many of the days. Especially after last summer. Callie promised herself the upcoming summer would be stress free, drama free and boy free. She clenched her eyes shut at the painful memories that left her more raw and bitter than she cared to admit.

Light blue eyes swept over the clock numbers again and with a sigh, Callie rubbed the palms of her hands against her eyes. She willed her body to sit up and retracted her legs from the warm depths of the blankets pooled around her. With a little hop off the mattress, Callie changed into the short mesh shorts and band t-shirt she had laid out the night before. If she was going to be driving for hours, she at least wanted to be comfortable.

Sighing again, Callie took another look around her room for any last minute things she might need at the camp. After shoving her phone charger and a couple more books into her small suitcase, she exited her room with the wheels of the suitcase sounding too loud in the quiet hallway of Grams' house.

"G'morning Callie. Eat up, we have to get going. No time to waste." Ryleigh was already up and out of his seat, bringing his dirty dish to the sink by the time Callie had reached the kitchen table.

"You should not be this perky this early. Please tell me this camp isn't the kind of place that wakes us all up at the crack of dawn." Callie fell into her seat besides Grams who watched the girl over her steaming cup of tea. 

"We don't have to get up too early." Ryleigh's chuckle met Callie as he finished drying his dishes.

She studied her brother for a few seconds before sighing heavily. "God, you're way too excited to see your girlfriend." Callie rolled her eyes as she slurped the milk from her cereal bowl before digging her spoon into the honey sweetened rings.

"Leave him be Callie. One day you might be rushing around to see your sweetheart too." Grams patted Callie's hand that rested by her glass of orange juice.

The small smile that lifted Gram's slightly wrinkled face was tinged with sadness. She knew last summer had drastically changed Callie's outlook on relationships. Besides the time when Grams found out Callie and Ryleigh were being abused by their father, Callie had never seen her grandmother more livid. She just wanted to forget, but the dull ache and insecurity that moved into her heart after last summer made her incredibly angry. She hadn't found a way to deal with it yet and that frustrated her even more.