CHAPTER 23: Wine is my favorite way of eating grapes

A whack.

No effect.

Double whack.

No effect.

A kick and a punch.

I still love my eyelids, Maddie.

I do admit that I'm half-awake due to Maddie's good but still not effective waking up techniques. But my sleep still pulls me down on the bed I am and the blanket I'm draped in cozily.

But...the high-pitched Mariah Carey scream that followed next...was well ear-piercing.

Legit.

I groan and turn around to see Maddie flaunting her evil grin which was perfectly reflected by the black crop top she is dressed in. Knowing she won't give up on trying her very best to get me out of bed, I sit up straight and rub my eyes.

"Why am I not even surprised that you aren't awake?" Maddie starts off ranting and looking at me with strictness in her eyes. I shake my head and bend a little, my hand reaching for the treasure under my bed. I pull out a wine bottle and grin.

"Look at the time- Summer! What the hell? Why do you have...a wine bottle under your...bed?" She looks at me with horrified eyes and I simply shrug, opening the bottle and taking a sip.

"This is my breakfast in bed, Maddie."

"But...but...but...Summer!" she screams and startles me, causing some wine to spill on my oversized t-shirt. Thank god not my sheets or blanket.

"Stupid Maddie!" I glare at her and she tries snatching the bottle out of my hand but I quickly stand on top of the bed and give her a sarcastic smile.

"I thought breakfast was something like pancakes, waffles, fruits, coffee, and blah blah blah. Doesn't that make your mouth water?"

"Mm. Let me think about it...NO! This is the perfect breakfast I could wish for." I smile at my bottle, even though I'm aware of how deranged I look, and take a huge sip from it.

"No, no, no, no. Ugh. I was supposed to come here and find you dressed with your bags all ready for a holiday mood. Little did I expect a sleepy ass girl already planning to get drunk and ruin that simple holiday ambiance I wanted." She narrows her eyes at me and says, crossing her tiny arms on her chest.

"One, it's not a holiday. Get your head out of it. Two, you know I can never get drunk on wine. Unless we are talking about four to five bottles here. Ah. Splendid."

"Ah. Splendid." She mocks me by trying to imitate my voice, "My ass, splendid-

"It's not." I grin and jump on the other side because she was about to push me down.

"Shut up! Summer! Please, please, please leave that wine bottle and go freshen up. You look like a wreck." Maddie stands up and takes off her bandana.

I look at the mirror, grimace for a second and then shrug. "I'm always like this, darling. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to brush." I begin walking to my bathroom before Maddie unexpectedly stops me.

"With the wine? Give me that." She tries snatching the bottle out of my hands but I whine and pull it back like a child.

"No! I'll enjoy that during my bath." I smile and tell her.

"Summer, you don't have a bathtub. And that's definitely not for the shower I know." She gives me a don't-mess-with-me-right-now look and I sadly hand in the bottle.

Tragic.

"Good. You're abnormal. Normal people eat fruits to be healthy. And you're hell-bent on becoming unhealthy. Does Coach know you have a wine addiction even?" She asks me as she walks off to put the wine bottle. I grab my brush and start off brushing just as Maddie walks back in the room.

"It is not unhealthy, you thick skull. Wine's quite good for you, FYI." I roll my eyes at her and finish brushing, pulling my hair into a bun.

"Not more than fruits." She shoots back, leaning on the door frame.

"Wine is my favorite way of eating grapes, okay? Now get out of my hair." I shut the door and proceed on getting in the shower.

"Real creative, Summer. Keep ignoring what I tell you."

"Always," I yell and smile at the never-ending lectures Maddie has for me whatever time of the day she gets.

After getting out of the shower, I open the door to Maddie's murderous eyes and within the same second, I shut the door. Quick as a bolt, aye?

"Summer Marie Jones! How many times did I remind you last night to pack your damn bag?!" She shouts and bangs the door. I flinch and facepalm myself for being such a forgetful idiot. I didn't bother acting upon her several texts in the middle of the night because of my attractive sleep, come on.

Besides, I don't pack. I don't know how to pack.

I sigh and quietly open the door, smiling when I see her turning around and glaring at me. She huffs and goes back to opening a small bag pack, putting in my necessities first.

"What would I ever do without you?" I grin and pat her head but she slaps it away. I yelp and squint my eyes at her.

"Exactly! I'm always the one doing all this. The stupid girl can't even do anything." She mutters the last part and I laugh at how worked up she gets at the simplest things.

"Hey! I'm just making you practice at being a good mom. And what can you say, voila! The best mom for her kids!" I grin and clap my hands, before pulling out a pair of black sweatpants from my dumpster closet.

Even the greatest OCD people will give up and faint at the sight.

"Mom my foot! The only kid I have is you! Look at your closet, Summer!" Maddie continues mumbling inaudible words under her breath and I shake my head, leaving her to do all the packing.

"You don't even have clothes! What the bloody hell am I supposed to pack?" She shouts from the room as I pick an apple from the counter.

"Ready?" Jason comes into view and his strong cologne hits my nostrils, almost causing me to gag.

"Almost. Do you just shower in that shit?" I get up and go towards the couch, throwing my arms around to get rid of the strong scent.

An abnormal fact: I hate perfumes.

"No, normal people put these on. You need a shower." I flip my middle finger at him and continue biting on my apple.

A few minutes later, Maddie emerges from my room with my bag in her hand. Uh...what?

I thought packing takes like ages to be completed.

"All done." She smiles creepily and takes a seat next to me, taking the remote and switching on the TV.

"Really, Summer? She had to do this, one simple job." Jason says as he drinks his usual black coffee.

"Give me a break, people. It's literally 10 am. I'm supposed to be in dreamland. Yesterday, I was...busy. Sleeping, whatever. But she still did it, right? In a few minutes, that too! Come on, Jason. The girl's got magic and talent in her hands. Good time we make use of it, right Maddie?" I grin at her and ask her. She smiles and nods her head.

"You're just using her, poor girl." I push my head back on the couch to see Aaron walking from his and Jason's room. We have three rooms in the apartment – mine, Draven's, and Jason and Aaron's. Both hated the fact that they had to share a room but they had to agree with Draven and I who luckily got our own rooms.

Sometimes, I thank god I'm a girl. Just by the name, okay?

Paying for rent is kind of a task considering Draven's part-time job provides him with a salary that fully pays the rent. The rest of the expenses have to be used from our savings and the money Dad left us with. At times, even granny sends us money. Speaking of, I miss her so much nowadays, I don't even know why. I haven't seen her in 7 months and the idea of visiting her, later on, strikes my mind.

"You shut up. We all know who uses who." I shoot back at Aaron who plops on the couch and glares at me. Maddie passes the remote to him and he switches on to his favorite show. Of course, Baywatch.

After ten minutes of Jason busy with his phone, Aaron engrossed deeply in his show and me slapping Maddie whenever she starts ogling at Aaron, we finally kick back from our lazy modes. We all walk out of the door with our bags, Aaron shouting at Draven to lock the door as we get out.

The campsite is somewhere near a lake, as I heard, and I was kind of looking forward to a peaceful trip without any rowdy boys ruining it for me. I think back to what Maddie said about us not having a good time since long. It's true. We haven't gone on such a trip ever since dad... well, me to be specific.

My outings, socializing, everything else reduced or stopped immediately dad left us. As we left for the lakeside camp, a strange feeling settles in my stomach and I'm deeply intrigued as to what it is.

My heart almost leaps out of my mouth as the car stops and a small group of boys and girls comes into view. My eyes widen and I feel Maddie's hand on top of mine but I'm not able to look at anyone except...him. And her.

Caleb will be there – I had an idea of that. But what I didn't know is that he also brought a date. My nightmare actually.

Forget about the peaceful trip I talked about. This is an absolute...catastrophe.