Page 35 of Our Darkest Summer

Almost half an hour later, I realized I wasn’t going to find anything. No footprints were left on the ground, and there was nothing on the walls either. Whoever was here either knew what they were doing or was just very lucky.

I retreated into the house to get some water, when a noise robbed my attention from the other side of the front door. I froze and listened, until it came again, this time followed by loud laughter. I turned around and peeked out the window, shielding my eyes from the blinding sun. Two forms stood on the pier before one of them jumped into the lake, landing with a big splash. Another laugh followed. Without getting my shoes on, I hurried out the door and down the stairs of the porch.

“Kinsley!” a low voice shouted, and it was followed by another howl of laughter.

I covered my eyes again, trying to block out the sun, but it was too bright, and I still couldn’t see anything.

“You finally woke up.” A voice I recognized; it belonged to Connor, and that was enough to know the guy with him must’ve been Kevin.

“Kinsley,” he greeted me, coming my way, unraveling himself from the sunlight. Now I knew for sure that he was the one who had excitedly shouted my name just now. I waved back to him, watching the water drip from his short, dark hair.

“Come swim,” Connor called, from where he stood in the water.

“I would rather stay here for now,” I answered, considering I wasn’t wearing a swimsuit.

The two boys shared a suspiciously mischievous look and I took a step back as Connor rose out of the water, climbing up to the pier.

“HUUUUU!”

My heart missed the beat at the howl, and I twisted around just in time to see Braxton Lee sprinting in my direction. I shifted out of his way, and he ran past me, plunging himself into the water with a big splash.

“HUUUU!” he shouted again when he broke the surface, then leaned back floating within the dark waves with a relaxed smile on his face. “’Sup, Converse Girl.” He grinned, tipping his head, and I snorted beckoning back to him.

I had no idea what was going on with this many boys here. Where were the girls to balance things out?

“Well, this is officially too much masculinity in one place for me,” I joked, turning back toward the house. “Call me when there are girls here.”

Kevin laughed and Connor ran after me.

“Come on, Kins. Just relax a bit,” he said pointedly, and I swallowed hard, because that was exactly what I wanted. “You deserve it,” he beamed as I looked up at him.

Before I could answer, I heard the sound of a car approaching, and at first, I thought Thomas arrived back from town, but then a light blue Jeep came into view and parked down on the pebbles next to the house. Aaliyah hopped out of the passenger seat, her bright yellow bikini catching the sun like a dare. She raised a hand and waved.

“My favorite city girl,” she called, her grin wide.

What was going on? Shouldn’t have we been in the house trying to crack the case while making sure no one broke in again? I left the boys behind and walked up to the girls as Cora climbed out of her car, in a light pink bikini.

“We brought cookies,” Aaliyah squealed, raising a covered tray.

“What’s happening?” I asked as I reached them, helping Cora with the beach bags.

“We’re having a party, silly,” Aaliyah smiled, closing all the doors while me and her girlfriend carried the bags down to the shore.

“A party?” My eyes landed on Connor. “I need someone to get me up to speed,” I said as he approached us, taking the bag out of my hand.

“Well,” he started, playing with the edge of his green swimming trunks. “I thought you needed to relax a bit, you know…we all do. I mean I sure need to?—”

“Yes,” I cut him off, giving him a wide-eyed look, before he said something he shouldn’t have.

“So, I spoke with Kevin first,” he went on after a moment. “And then I checked the weather, which,” he gestured around, “as you can sense is very hot, then I talked to Thomas about it, and?—”

“We’re grilling.” Kevin cut Connor’s explanation short.

“We are?” I asked, wrinkling my nose while looking around, searching for any signs of a grill.

There was none.

“Yeah,” Aaliyah shrieked, fixing the colorful clips in her shoulder-length curls. I only noticed then that she wasn’t wearing her usual braids.