The Daughter In the Corner

Promise of Summer

The girl scowled at him, all goodwill disappeared from her eyes. “I’m not fat!” she retorted.

Hunter cleared his throat quickly. “I didn’t say that.” He quickly got off his knees and sat next to her. Pushing his round glasses up on the bridge of his nose he extended a hand.

“Hi! I’m Hunter Sinclair. I came with my family to welcome you all here. What’s your name?”

The girl pouted but shook his hand anyway. “I’m Amara Roger.” In a low voice, she murmured begrudgingly, “Thanks for helping me earlier.”

Hunter looked around excitedly. “There are so many books here. Do you like to read, Amara?”

Amara nodded. “Yeah. My collection is still in a box outside. Daddy said I can have a corner of the library.”

Hunter got up and extended a hand towards Amara. “Come on! I’m a professional reading spotfinder! I’ll help you find the best corner!”

Amara took his offered hand and pulled herself off the floor. They walked side by side towards the spiral stairwell that led down to the first floor. Amara glanced at the door and cleared her throat.

“You said your name is Hunter Sinclair?”

“Mhm,” Hunter grunted, completely focused on his current quest.

“Is Derrick your brother?”

“Hm?” Hunter paused and frowned. “What was that?”

Amara blushed. “I asked if Derrick is your brother?”

Hunter raised a brow. “Yes… how do you–” He cut off as he recalled Derrick mentioning a possible new playmate, a cute girl. His eyes widened as he finally realized his book fairy was not his alone.

He watched in dismay as Amara lowered her head shyly.

“Where is your brother?”

Hunter bit his lower lip, refusing to answer but Amara was looking at him with expectant eyes.

Hunter sighed. “Come on, let’s go find him.”

He turned and led her back out of the library.

***

Derrick roamed the halls but he never even saw Amara’s shadow.

“Did I see wrong earlier?” he mumbled.

“Derrick!”

Derrick turned and saw Hunter walking with Amara trailing a little behind him. Derrick broke into a wide grin.

“Hunter! So I see you’ve met Amara!”

Derrick walked up and leaned over slightly so he was level with Amara’s eyes. “Hello. Amara!”

Hunter pushed his glasses up on his nose and remained sullenly quiet, watching from the side.

Amara blushed to her ears. “Hello,” she whispered.

Derrick chuckled and swept his hair back. “Hey. Our parents are all talking downstairs. Do you want to go exploring with us?”

Amara nodded shyly. Derrick raised a hand and turned to walk down the hall.

“Great! Follow me!”

Derrick walked excitedly down the hall with Amara following him. Neither of them noticed Hunter who lagged behind a few steps, trailing at a leisurely pace.

***

Summer break went by quickly– the three children were inseparable. They climbed trees, ran around, and explored the wild nature beyond their properties.

At dinner one night, Nina smiled at Hunter. “I am so glad the Rogers moved into the estate next door. That little girl is doing you a lot of good! You look so much healthier now that you are spending more time outside.”

Hunter hummed and kept his head down, continuing to eat in silence.

Nina glanced at her husband and they both chuckled and resumed eating.

Derrick, who wasn’t paying attention to the dinner conversation, ate voraciously. He was a growing boy and all the running during the day took a lot out of him.

“Speaking of which, I have an announcement,” their father, George, said.

The family looked up from their meals.

“I’ve enrolled you boys in the St. Agnes Private Boarding School this upcoming semester.”

“What?!” Both boys burst out in unison.

George looked at Hunter in bewilderment. “What’s wrong? I thought you would be happy. Didn’t you say you wanted to go there because of their expansive library?”

Hunter groaned, “That was last year! I like it here now. The Rogers let me read their books whenever I want. The school here is good too.”

The corner of Nina’s mouth raised in a teasing manner. “Hm, who was it that said the curriculum here was too easy and insisted on going to St. Agnes?”

Derrick glared at his younger brother. “You and your big mouth!”

Hunter slumped in his chair with a defeated look.

George ignored his two son’s dismay and continued, “Regardless of whether you want to go or not, you’re going. It’ll be good for the two of you. Besides, you’ll be back here every summer. It’s not like Amara is going anywhere. You’ll be starting school next week so you should take some time to say a proper goodbye.”

Derrick and Hunter kept quiet and started poking at their food imagining the awful conversation they would be having tomorrow morning.

***

“You’re going away to school?” Amara looked distraught as the two boys broke the news to her the following morning.

“But… I don’t know anyone here.” A single tear spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

Hunter felt a stab in his chest and he reached out but Derrick was closer and had already wiped the tear from Amara’s face. Hunter balled his hand into a fist and let it drop to his side and as usual, quietly stood to one side.

“I’m sorry, Amara. We’ll be back to play with you every summer!” Derrick cooed softly.

Amara sniffed. “You promise?”

“Pinky promise!” Derrick extended a pinky and Amara quickly hooked hers against it.

Amara then turned to Hunter. “You’ll be back to play with me too, right?”

Hunter nodded curtly. “Of course.”

Amara smiled and gave both of them a hug. “Okay. Let’s exchange phone numbers before you go so we can keep in contact.”

Derrick and Hunter pulled out their phones and they recorded Amara’s number.

“Well, no use crying about it. We still have a few more days before you both leave. Shall we continue exploring the woods today?” Amara suggested.

The boys nodded and the three of them ran off on another adventure. Little did they know that their promise would be broken so soon.

***

Hunter had worked hard for the past year. In another month, school would end and he would be able to see Amara again. He grinned from ear to ear.

“Hey, Hunter! What are you so happy about?” A classmate called out to him.

Hunter smirked. “Nothing much, just excited for summer break.”

The classmate ran up alongside him. “Hey, we still need another team member for the engineering competition. You sure you can’t stay? We really need you.”

Hunter shrugged. “I’m sorry. I made a promise to–”

He cut off as his phone vibrated with a text, he had it silenced but there was one contact that he set as priority. He quickly dug his cell phone out of his pants to look at the message.

Amara: Hey guys, I won’t be at the estate this summer.

Hunter: Why not?

Amara: My parents are planning to send me abroad for a summer camp in France.

Derrick: Oh! Thanks for telling us in advance. I wanted to join the polo team here and they have summer training.

Amara: Wow! That’s cool. Hunter, will you be doing anything?

Hunter: There is an engineering for youths competition, I think I will focus on that.

Amara: That’s amazing! Well, keep me posted on everything!

Derrick: Sure!

Hunter: Okay…

Hunter sighed and pushed his phone back into his pants pocket. Turning to his classmate he said, “So about that open spot…”