Seeded: Day 5

Word Count: 30,099

Summary of Events:

Suppertime was nearing, so Lark went to help set out the salads, including doing the final bit of preparation on the salad that she'd contributed to the selection before joining her friends in the line for the meal. Brandt and Brandon made their way through the line a little behind Lark — for which Brandt was glad, as that meant Lark would be seated before him, so he could find a way to sit close to her — and Brandt was texted by his dad, who was finally wondering where he was, and why he was inclined to miss supper, but Brandt ignored him and found a place behind Lark, where he sat and admired her as Brandon went to get them drinks…

Excerpt of the Day:

She had her hat off now, revealing that her two braids were done in the same kind of unusual French style as her redheaded friend’s single braid was. Brandt wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen braids where what was braided against the head stood out like it was just resting on top of the hair covering the scalp, but it looked rather pretty, if he was honest.

The rest of her outfit complimented her golden hair well, as if her hair was the sun that was causing the coloured rays of her plaid shirt, which he could see up close now was made up of orange, pink, purple, and blue stripes intersecting with one another.

He saw that she was eating the same salad he’d taken, so he took a forkful of mostly peppers and ate. He grimaced a little bit at the peppers, but he was willing to tolerate them more than he was willing to tolerate lettuce.

Brandon returned in a few minutes with two cups of lemonade. Brandt nodded thanks because his mouth was full of peppers, and accepted his cup from Brandon, who set his own down by his plate before sitting down beside Brandt.

“Who were you texting in line?” Brandon asked.

“Dad,” Brandt replied. “He was wondering where I was.”

“He’s obviously fine with you being here?” Brandon asked.

“I just told him I was with you,” Brandt replied. “I didn’t tell him where we were.”

“Why not?” Brandon asked.

“I don’t want him to come here and get me,” Brandt replied. “Besides, it’s not like I really like having what they’re having for supper.”

“What are they having?” Brandon asked.

“This,” Brandt said, fetching out his cell phone and showing Brandon the picture Dad had sent.

“That looks kind of tasty,” Brandon said.

“I don’t like it,” Brandt replied. “I mean, I’ll eat it, but out of all the camping trip menu staples, it’s my least favourite. Grandpa, Dad, and Uncle Milton really like it, though, so it’s not coming off the menu anytime soon.”

“The picture looks like it belongs on a food blog,” Brandon added.

“Veronica probably took it,” Brandt said. “Dad isn’t really great with the technology.”
“That still surprises me,” Brandon said. “My parents both took computer classes in school, and my dad’s not that much younger than him.”

“I think computers class was one of the ones Dad chose to skip,” Brandt said. “Uncle Maynard has told me all kinds of stories about how they skipped school and got up to shenanigans, yet still managed to get grades that were more than just skin-of-the-teeth passing.”

“You wouldn’t think he would’ve skipped computers, though,” Brandon said.

“Well, maybe he saw computers as a city thing for office jobs, but not as something that would be useful in farming,” Brandt said.

“Maybe,” Brandon agreed.

Brandt took another mouthful of food and looked up at the girls. All of them were pretty in their own way, he wouldn’t have been opposed to have made the acquaintance of any of them, but Lark seemed to stand out from the rest of them, and he couldn’t even put his finger on why.