Page 79 of Riverside Reverie

“Good!” Violet exclaimed. “I had an epic pool party for my birthday. It was so great that people are still talking about it!”

“And I just got back from sleep away camp. Officially finished with my required volunteer hours!” Azalea grinned.

“I thought you finished those a while ago?” Jasmine teased.

“I did. But I wanted more! I now have two thousand and four hundred volunteer hours on my record. That’s more than you!”

“You beat me by double,” Jasmine chuckled, smiling warmly at her younger sisters. “That’ll look great on your university applications.”

Azalea seemed to glow from Jasmine’s praise. Each of Jasmine’s sisters had always looked up to her, and it was so sweet to see. It reminded me of a simpler time before Brinley decided I was her nemesis.

When we were little, we got along. Mostly because I’d go out of my way to make sure Brinley got her way, but still. There was a time when she didn’t look at me with seething resentment and hatred; a time when she didn’t plot to hurt me.

“Azalea has a boyfriend now, too,” Violet reported, earning a glare from Azalea.

“I do not!”

“Then why does that boy keep calling you?” Violet retorted with a sneaky grin.

“Stop spying on me!” Azalea snapped, irritation making her cheeks flushed. “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s a guy I met at camp. We like talking.”

“Oooh, where is he from?” Jasmine pressed, getting in on the razzing.

“North Bay,” Azalea answered, her cheeks heating. “But he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Mmhmm,” Jasmine said, sounding like she didn’t really believe that.

Azalea let out a growl and stomped back to her room, slamming the door.

“It’s not nice to spy on your sisters, Vi,” Jasmine lectured, though her smile said she wasn’t mad.

“I know, but I’m so bored, it’s hard not to! Azalea hardly ever hangs out with me anymore,” Violet sighed.

“Well, you’re both growing up. Azalea’s going to feel the age difference a little more right now, and that’s okay. Distract yourself with your friends. Plan another epic end of summer pool party.”

“Ooh! Yes! Good idea,” Violet grinned.

“You do that. Lux and I are going to go to my room and hang out.”

“Can I come?” Violet asked, her eyes hopeful and wide.

“No, we’ve got important adult things to discuss,” Jasmine ruffled her littlest sister’s hair, and Violet darted out from under her hand with a scowl.

I felt a little guilty for sending her off, but my heart still felt raw from everything happening with my sister. Seeing their easy bond stung like rubbing salt in the wound, because I didn’t have that easy bond with Brinley and likely never would.

“Is Camellia here?” I asked as we made our way into Jasmine’s bedroom.

“Not yet, she’s still in Ottawa. She’s doing a summer internship at the House of Commons, but she took a few days off for her birthday. She’ll be arriving tomorrow morning,” Jasmine answered, walking into her room. She waited until I entered to close the door. Camellia attended Carleton University in Ottawa, where she was taking Communication and Media Studies.

I set my overnight bag down, taking in Jasmine’s room. It hadn’t changed since high school—the same photos still decorated her mirror, mostly of us. Her queen-size bed still had the same soft lavender bedspread.

“Have you talked to Theo yet?” Jasmine asked, sitting down on her bed.

“I told him I got here safely…but no, I haven’t filled him in on everything that happened in the short eight hours I’ve been back.” In fact, I hadn’t really talked to him at all, aside from answering his text message so that he wouldn’t worry.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to bombard him with all the drama,” I sighed, sitting beside her. “You’re not supposed to go into a new relationship with a heaping pile of baggage, and I feel like I’m doing that.”

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