Under the Summer Sky by Michelle Stone (jenna bush book club TXT) 📖

and wearing a bright green sundress came out of nowhere and immediately started chatting with Brady. I wasn’t really paying much attention to them except when I caught bits and pieces of their conversation like “I’m glad I came.” And “My friends are super excited to meet you.” I finally looked over at Brady who then pointed to me and said “This is my sister, Myra.” The girl looked me up and down and then smirked at me. “My name is Sandy.” She said as she stuck her hand out to me. I just looked at it like she was insulting me when I saw Brady behind her giving me a death stare. I lifted my hand and met hers as she shook it quick and light. Just like a snob I thought.
Brady and Sandy walked away as I just stood there when this girl with bright red lipstick and a braid hanging down the left side of her face, walked over to me. She handed me a cup of warm keg beer and said “I see you met Sandy.” I looked at her more closely and noticed she had a small mole right above her lip and her jeans are naturally ripped unlike the expensive kind that already comes like it. I took a sip of the beer and it reminded me of my freshman year back before we moved.
I replied “Yea, she’s great isn’t she.” The girl then looked at me and nodded her head sarcastically.
“I’m Myra” I said looking at her. “Star.” I just looked at her and tilted my head. “Don’t bother asking about it. I’ll just tell you. My mom was a big hippy when she had me. She decided to name me after something that will always keep shining whether we can see it or not. Way lame, I know. You don’t have to tell me.” She looked back at the party after finishing. “I like the name Star. It’s pretty.” I said. “Really? You don’t think that it’s a stupid name?” She turned and looked at me. “No, it’s really pretty. I wish I had a cool meaning behind my name except for my mother likes it.” I said to her. We both looked back at the party when finally she said. “Thanks.”
Star and I sat on the outskirts of the party, only moving when one of us needed another beer. Finally I looked at my cell phone and saw that the little white numbers read 2:32am. My head shot up and I instantly started looking around for Brady. I finally found him five minutes later in the back of someone’s pickup with his shirt off, passed out next to Sandy who was completely naked. I hurried up and covered Sandy up and started to wake Brady. I finally shoved him hard enough to where he woke up looking around confused. “Brady! Wake up; we have to go.” He, without his shirt, started looking around frantically for his favorite t. He finally got dressed after some help from me.
Me and Brady hurried and ran back to the house. We got to the front porch when I decided I needed a cigarette. I stopped at the chair on the porch and sat down. Brady sat down next to me looking at the sky. I pulled out my pack of smokes and noted that I only had two left. I pulled one out and lit it. I looked over at Brady who looked back at me. “Please don’t say it.” He said. I looked at my lit cigarette and replied back “What? That I saved you once again?” He looked down at the floor and said “I told you not to say it.” I looked back at him with his head slouched.
“Brady. I’m sorry.” I paused for a second listening to the waves come in and out softly. “I didn’t mean it like that.” I looked back at Brady who looked at me “It’s alright. I know you didn’t. But, thank you Myra. For saving my ass once again.” I looked at him and then stubbed out my cigarette and put the last half of it back in the pack. I stood up and said “I’m going to go to bed. You should come to bed too. It’s late and dad will probably get us both up early and yell at us.” He stood up and walked in the door first. We both started climbing the stairs when a light flicked on downstairs. We both looked at each other, and slowly started descending the stairs. When I reached the kitchen where the light was on I saw my mother sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a book. She looked up at us startled.
“What are you two doing? Did you just get in?” She asked still sitting down. I looked at Brady and then said “Me and Brady got back at like 11 30 but I woke him up like a half hour ago because I heard something banging around outside.” I heard Brady finally exhale. “Oh, well, Go back to bed we have an early morning.” Mother said looking back at her book and taking a sip of her coffee.
I got to my room and pulled my laptop out. Facebook was my homepage and I was already logged in from earlier. I clicked on the status box and wrote ‘First night at the cabin. It's going pretty well.’ And then pressed enter. It popped up on my screen just below it. I closed my laptop and put it back under my bed.
Almost immediately as I put my head onto the pillow my eyes closed and I drifted into a deep sleep.
The Next morning, like promised, my mother woke me and Brady up at 10. We both slugged our way into the kitchen to get some breakfast. We sat down and started eating. I consumed my entire plate of Sausage and Pancakes almost as soon as it was put in front of me. Brady with the same idea consumed his a couple seconds before me. I got up and stuck my plate in the sink and started walking back upstairs. A nice shower will be the perfect thing to wake me up. I walked past Brady’s room where he was back on his bed going back to sleep. Wow I thought. I took my basket of all my hygiene products into the bathroom. I turned on the hot water and let it steam up the entire bathroom. After it was steamy enough I turned the water to warm and stepped in. It was so soothing and relaxing. I sat in there for about 20 minutes just loosening my muscles.
After I got dressed and ready for the day I closed my bedroom door and pulled out my laptop. I already had 5 new notifications. I rarely ever had one. I opened up the tab and saw that I had 4 people like my status and 1 more commented it saying ‘I wish I could go to a cabin for the summer. That would be so much better than sitting around here and doing nothing.’ It was from one of my friends back home, Tina. She was super petite but a complete bitch to people for no reason. She’s always known for the money her parents have and the concerts she’s been too. I wonder why she isn’t having a good summer. I thought about it then decided to look for Star. I don’t know her last name so it was really hard. I gave up on that and shut my laptop again and put it back under the bed.
I got up and walked over to my vanity and sat in front of the mirror. I put a little eye liner and mascara on and walked downstairs. My mother and father were both sitting on the front deck reading. The sun was almost directly overhead. I looked back at my parents when I asked “Hey mom, can I get the keys and take a drive with Brady?” she looked up from her paperback book and thought for a second. Finally she replied “I really need you to pick some things up from the grocery store for me, alright?” I nodded and she walked inside.
I went upstairs and woke Brady up. “Brady, Get the fuck up and come into town with me.” He opened one eye and looked at me. Next thing I knew both eyes were open and he was sitting up rubbing his face. “Alright, but get out so I can change.” He said.
Finally came downstairs and looked like he was the most well rested person out there. That’s how Brady and I differ. He can wake up and change a few things and it’s as if he spent hours getting ready. I wake up and spend hours getting ready when it only looked like I spent a few minutes.
We got uptown and I pulled up to a liquor store and gave Brady a ten. He looked down at the money like I was crazy and I told him “Marlboro Red 100’s”. He grabbed the money out of my hands and walked inside. He came out a couple minutes later with my pack of cigarettes in his hands.
We stopped at the grocery store and got the things that my mother told me to. Which consisted of Hershey bars for smore's and buns for hamburgers tonight. I decided that I wanted to hang around town for a bit first. I drove over by the pier. I parked and we both got out. “Where are we going?” Brady asked out of curiosity. “I just want to walk to the pier. It’s so beautiful out.” Brady and I walked over to the pier I just looked out. I saw a couple boys play catch on the beach. I loved softball. When my dad used to take me out to park and play catch. It was probably one of the only times he took time out of his schedule to spend time with me.
Brady looked at me and asked “So, why did you change?” I looked at him confused as the sun was high up in the sky beating down on my pale skin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said as I looked back out at the boys playing catch. “Yes, you do Myra. It’s ever since the last time dad got transferred you’ve become this person who doesn’t talk, who sleeps all the time, and just reads.” He looked down below at the water and continued, “I just want to know, what happened.” I looked at him and then dug into my pocket and got a cigarette out of the pack and lit it. I puffed on it and he said “I’m being serious. When did you start smoking? What made you want to?” I took another drag. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. Maybe later.” I gave him a little half smile and the started walking back up to the car with my cigarette dangling between my fingers.
I stomped it out and got