Fun in the Sun (Spotlight Sprinkles) - Softcover

Heart, Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1665984821 ISBN 13: 9781665984829

Verlag: Simon Spotlight, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

A girl’s spring break gets complicated by an unexpected love triangle in this latest installment in the tween middle grade rom-com series, Spotlight Sprinkles!

At first, Anna thought spending spring break with Grandma Gina would be a total snooze fest, but her grandma’s friend Lillian has the cutest grandson—Mason! Anna and Mason get along great, until Grandma Gina’s neighbor brings over her chatty grandkids, Daniella and Daniel.

How can Anna figure out if Mason feels the same way she does if every time they’re together, Daniel keeps trying to get her attention? Is it possible that Daniel and Mason like Anna? How does she tell Daniel that she likes someone else? Oh no, what if Mason is trying to tell Anna he likes someone else?!

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Lee Heart has always been a hopeless romantic and looks back on her middle school days fondly. Now, she spends her time writing about middle school tween adventures in her beach house, where it feels like summer all year long. When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading, collecting seashells, perfecting her secret s’mores recipe, making crafts with her BFF, and looking for shooting stars.

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Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1
My name is Ana Miller and at this very moment, I’m trying to block out my friends by staring and poking at my salad with a fork. Normally I love talking with my friends at lunchtime, but today it’s just making me depressed.

“And our resort has its own private beach,” Jessica brags, practically jumping up and down in her seat. “So we can just walk out of the hotel and right onto the sand. And the temperature there right now is eighty degrees! Isn’t that awesome? I am so tired of the cold,” she says.

“And the snow,” Emily adds, glancing toward the nearby window. Mounds of winter snow are piled up in the middle school parking lot and along the walkway. Icicles drip from the bare tree branches and snowflake flurries swirl around in the freezing wind.

“It’s Chicago. It’s supposed to be cold in winter,” I point out, repeating something my dad says often. It never actually makes me feel better about the weather, though. I love the summer, when it isn’t necessary to bundle up every day. The summer sun just makes everything feel happier.

“Well, I love the snow,” Ava says. With her jet-black hair and blue eyes, Ava always looks like a snow princess from a fairy tale. “I can’t believe we’re finally going skiing in Colorado! It’s going to be awesome.”

Emily frowns. “We’re not going far at all. Mom’s taking us to Mammoth Lodge. It’s kind of lame, but at least they have an indoor pool.”

Jessica turns to her attention to me. “So, are you guys doing anything?”

Ugh. I sigh. “You know we never do. My dad says this year I can help out in his office and make some extra money.”

“That’s pretty lame too,” Ava remarks, and Jessica shoots her a look as if to say, Don’t be so rude. “I don’t mean that Ana’s lame. I mean her dad is lame, you know, for making her work,” Ava adds, correcting herself.

“It’s okay,” I reply glumly. “You’re right. It is lame.”

“It’s not all that bad,” Jessica says, trying to cheer me up. “With some money, you can finally buy those great earrings we saw at Sparks.”

“Yeah,” I say, dropping my eyes and poking at my salad again. Jessica is super sweet and a great best friend. But there’s nothing she can do to get me out of this mood.

It’s just not fair! I’m pretty sure that my family is the only one in the whole school who never goes anywhere during spring break. Things get awfully complicated for my family in March and April.

For one thing, even though it’s “spring break,” it still feels like winter in Chicago. My mom is a pediatrician, and this time of year she’s bombarded with kids coming down with the flu.

And it’s not like my dad can take us anywhere alone. My dad is an accountant, which means he has to help dozens of people do their taxes before April fifteenth. So he can’t take off work either.

My mom’s go-to response is, “We’ll make it up to you in the summer,” and it is true—we always go on a nice vacation in the summer. But our last vacation is a distant memory, and in two weeks all I have to look forward to is filing folders in my dad’s office, watching the snow fall outside.

“Well, the week goes by fast anyway,” Jessica says.

Emily takes a break from scrolling on her phone to show us her screen. “Hey, I forgot that Mammoth Lodge has horseback riding! Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.”

Ava looks at all of us and leans in. In a hushed voice, she says, “Okay. If you could go on spring break with any boy in our class, who would it be?”

“That’s easy. Aiden Jones,” Emily replies. “He’s so cute.”

“No way!” Ava squeals. “I was going to pick him!”

“Well, I think I would want to go with Evan Davis,” Jessica says a little shyly.

“Him? He’s so nerdy!” Emily laughs.

Jessica blushes. “That’s why I like him,” she says.

Ava turns to me. “What about you, Ana?”

I shrug. “I don’t really know.” Which is true. I have never had a real crush on a boy yet. Sure, there are some nice, cute boys in my class, but I would never think of, like, dating any of them. “Besides, it doesn’t matter, because I’m not going on spring break anyway,” I respond.

Finally the lunch bell rings. I’m so glad the conversation is over, but I already know that spring break will be the only thing on my mind all day.

I’ll keep working on Mom and Dad, I think as I grab the rest of my books for my afternoon classes. There has to be some way to save spring break! I’ll wait and bring it up at dinner tonight.

It’s Thursday night, which means that Mom gets home late, and Dad decides to make something easy for dinner. Tonight it’s spaghetti with cooked meatballs from the freezer. I’ve been told to make the salad. My twin brother, Adam, is in charge of garlic bread, and we both have to set the table.

When I walk into the kitchen to make the salad, I find a pot of boiling water. My dad is infamous for starting things in the kitchen and then wandering off to make a phone call or check something on his computer. My mom gets so mad—because of the whole you-can-burn-down-the-house thing. Usually we all yell at him when this happens, but tonight I just take the big yellow salad bowl out of the cabinet, get the vegetables out of the refrigerator, and then put them on the counter. Next I take out the box grater so I can shred the carrots into the salad, just the way my dad likes it. Normally I just chop them up because I’ve always been a little afraid of using the grater, but tonight I have to keep my dad’s spirits high.

Adam comes into the kitchen while I’m grating the carrots and stops when he sees me.

“So what are you asking Dad for?” he asks.

I’m not surprised that Adam can tell that I have ulterior motives for grating the carrots. It’s one of those twin things. It’s not like we can read each other’s minds or anything, but sometimes I just know what Adam is going to say before he says it, and vice versa—stuff like that. Or I can usually tell just by looking at Adam if he’s worried about something, or keeping a secret, or coming down with a cold.

I peek over my shoulders and around the room before explaining. Parents have a way of popping up behind you when you least expect them.

“I really want us to go on spring break,” I reply.

Adam nods. “Me too. But you know we can’t go.”

“But there’s got to be some way,” I point out. “Mom can’t be the only doctor in Chicago who treats the flu. She could find someone to fill in for her.”

“Yeah, well, what about Dad?” Adam asks.

“He could have a working vacation,” I reason. “He does half of his work here on his computer anyway.”

Adam...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Simon Spotlight
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1665984821
• ISBN 13: 9781665984829
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 160
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande