True Genius

Anitha Sharma

Description

In this novel, a pair of siblings stumble across an unexpected mystery involving their family’s past and learn new things about themselves and each other.
Siblings Sameera and Sahil Chacko, at thirteen and eleven years old, are expecting a great summer, having the time of their lives at the summer camp and doing what they love. Sameera is going to science camp, and she’s excited to try new experiments and learn new things. Meanwhile, her brother will be out on the fields for sports camp.
But on the first day of camp, Sameera learns crucial information about her father, whom she doesn’t know. She and Sahil go on an adventure with twists and turns that they never expected to take in search of their father’s story. But when Sahil goes missing, Sameera realizes something is fishy. As she attempts to uncover the mystery and grapple with everything that’s going on in their life, she discovers a shocking truth that will change her life forever.
In this novel, a pair of siblings stumble across an unexpected mystery involving their family’s past and learn new things about themselves and each other.

Sujets

• Univers ado
• Suspense
• Suspense
• Young Adult Fiction
• True
• Secrecy
• Mystery
• Summer
• Father
• Family
• Parent
• Lies
• Secret
• Genius
• Camp
• Fiction
• Science
• Suspenso

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663247469
• Langue: English

Extrait

TRUE GENIUS





ANITHA SHARMA










TRUEGENIUS


Copyright © 2022 Anitha Sharma.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.





iUniverse
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-4745-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4747-6 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4746-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022920372



iUniverse rev. date: 12/14/2022



CONTENTS
Prologue
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Part II
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24

Epilogue
Author’s Note



PROLOGUE
Ring! Ring! The alarm rang.
“Come on, Sameera! Wake up. Today is our big day,” Sahil yelled.
“Just give me a minute,” I said in my sleepiest voice.
“Make it quick. We’ll be late!” Sahil shouted.
I slowly got up. My hair was totally messed up. I just got it curled yesterday. Ugh! “What is Sahil talking about? Why is it our big day?” I asked myself. I yawned and stretched my arms. I looked at the alarm clock. It read 8:00 a.m. “Oh shoot! Today is our first day of summer camp, and I’m late. Well, I better get ready quickly.” I stumbled out of bed and into my bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth and tried to fix my hair, but my hair wouldn’t stay the way I wanted it. “Ugh! This is so annoying.”
“Come on, Sameera!” Sahil called from downstairs.
“I’m coming!” I called back. I just left my hair the way it was and went downstairs.
Sahil said, “Finally, you’re here. Did you forget about summer camp? Mom is going to drop us on her way to work.”
“Oh yeah. Summer camp is going to be so much fun!” I exclaimed with joy.
Sahil raised his eyebrows. “I’m all ready to go, but you don’t seem like you’re ready at all. Look at your hair, and you haven’t had breakfast yet. Geesh. I’m going to go get in the car with my stuff. Bye!”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t rush me.” But he was already out the door.
I am Sameera Chacko, and Sahil Chacko is my younger brother. He is eleven years old, while I’m thirteen years old—almost fourteen. He is always the first one to wake up. I don’t know why he’s an early bird, but I’m the total opposite. I am a night owl. I go to bed late and wake up late in the morning. Sahil and I signed up for summer camp this year. I signed up for a science camp, and my brother signed up for a sports camp. I’m a bit of a nerd, and my brother is the best at sports. If you talk about any sports, he is always ready to try them out. He’s not the kind of person to use his brain to do useful things. He acts very dumb, but you won’t believe what happened to him. It’s a good story and let me tell you all of it.



PART I



CHAPTER 1
“See you kids later. Have fun at camp!” Mom exclaimed as she dropped us off at the front gate of the YMCA building.
“Bye, Mom. love you,” I said as I got out of the car. Once we got our belongings, Mom waved to us and drove away. I looked around and saw a bunch of children around Sahil’s age running excitedly across the grass with their backpacks on. I said, “Sahil, do you know where we are supposed to be?”
“I don’t know about you, but I think the sports camp must meet on the fields. I’m going to go follow those kids. See ya!” Sahil said and ran off.
I called out, “Wait, Sahil! Help me find my area!” He just ran off, ignoring me. I murmured to myself, “What a brother I have.” I looked to my right and saw what looked like a newly painted playground. The colors of the slides, swings, and seesaw were so bold I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
Just then, a man wearing a brown hat approached me. “Can I help you?”
I said, “Do you know where the science camp meets?”
“Of course, young lady. I know where they meet. In fact, I lead that camp. Come follow me,” the man said.
“Oh, that’s great,” I said and followed him.
“You seem very excited,” the man said.
I replied, “Yes, I am super excited for summer camp this year because I had so much fun last year. By the way, what’s your name?”
“My name is Chris Troop. And yours, young lady?”
“My name is Sameera.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said and shook my hand.
He eventually led me to a side of the building that was completely covered in jade green and had patches of graffiti stuck to the sides of it. He opened the door for me, and I walked in. He led me to a classroom that was very noisy. “All right, all you campers, listen up!” Mr. Troop screamed, catching everyone’s attention. Everyone became quiet and sat down at desks. “Welcome to science camp. My name is Mr. Troop.” Blah, blah, blah. He explained everything about the labs and equipment. It was boring, so I kind of zoned out. Then it became more interesting. “So now we will get into groups of three and perform a popcorn experiment. Each lab table has a set of instructions to follow. I hope you guys learn something. Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!” All the students scattered to different lab tables.
I slowly walked around to find a group. I was surprised to see two people I thought I recognized standing in the far-left corner. I quickly ran over to them. Meg turned around and recognized me. “Omg. Sameera? I didn’t know you were going to be at this science camp.”
“Same! I’m so happy to see you!” I exclaimed. Meg had been my best friend ever since we were five years old. She was kind, smart, talented, and really mature for her age. We met in preschool, and at first, I didn’t like her because she seemed like a showoff, but as we spent more time together during playdates and sleepovers, we grew to be best friends. Her real name was Megan, but everyone had been calling her Meg ever since she was young.
“Hey, Mackenzie! So great to see you too!” I said and hugged her.
“Great to see you.”
Mackenzie was my other best friend, and I met her in kindergarten. She was friendly, generous, and funny. She loved jokes and pranks. She and my brother were alike in some ways. I became friends with Mackenzie after an incident happened in kindergarten and she cheered me up. We were on the playground for recess one day, and one of the immature boys pushed me down the slide so forcefully that I fell and hurt my knee. I sat there crying for a few minutes, while the boy stood there laughing at me. That’s when Mackenzie came to me and helped me up. Then she said, “When something goes wrong in life, just yell, ‘Plot twist!’ and move on.” That got me to laugh and forget about my pain. Mackenzie and Meg have been my best friends ever since. After summer, the three of us will be going to high school.
“So, I guess we’re a group. Shall we go and make some popcorn?” Meg asked.
I smiled. “Let’s do it!”
We had so much fun and such a crazy time with the popcorn lab. Meg did most of the popping, and I helped a little, but I couldn’t stop goofing around with Mackenzie and eating all the popcorn. Meg said, “Come on, guys. You’re supposed to be helping me make popcorn, not having a competition to see who can eat the most popcorn.”
“Sorry, Meg. You know how it is with Mackenzie. She’s all about fun and games, and it’s hard to be serious around her,” I said.
Meg and Mackenzie both laughed. Mackenzie said, “All right, fine. No more goofing off. I’ll help with the lab.”
After the lab, Mr. Troop passed out some candy. “Mmm, yummy. I’m going to take some Skittles,” I said.
Mackenzie said, “Me too! I love Skittles!”
“Same. I’m totally getting some. Let’s be Skittle buddies,” Meg suggested.
“Ha-ha! Cheers!” we all said.
We got to share our experience of the lab with the class, and we also got to give Mr. Troop some suggestions for future labs. The day went by so quickly. Mr. Troop said, “Great job today, everyone! I hope you had fun. Tomorrow we will be doing a Coke and Mentos experiment to learn about chemical reactions.”
“Awesome! Don’t you think Mr. Troop is a nice guy?” I asked Mackenzie and Meg. They both looked at each other and laughed. “What?” I asked.
“You like him?” Meg asked.
I replied, “Yes, of course! He’s nice. He helped me find this room.” They both laughed again. “What’s your problem? Why are you guys laughing? Do you not feel the same way?” I asked.
“No, it’s not that. Nothing, it’s nothi—” Meg started and then continued laughing.
“Let’s just tell her why we’re laughing,” Mackenzie suggested.
“Yes, please tell me so that I can laugh with you guys,” I begged.
“We’ll tell