The Arrival

The Arrival is the first chapter of You Bring The Summer.

Summary
James receives a letter from his pen-pal, Luna Loud, from Starlet City, Colorado, and writes back inviting her to come to Winter City with her family for summer vacation.

Story
One day, the local postmaster, Tom Tipper, drove up to James' house in his truck, went up to the front door, and rang the doorbell. James answered.

"Morning, Mr. Tipper," said James.

"Morning, James," said Tom, "I gotta letter for you."

Tom reached into his bag and took out a purple envelope, which he then gave to James.

"Thanks," said James.

Tom tipped his cap and left while James went inside and examined the envelope, and beamed when he read the return address.

"It's from Luna," said James, "I wonder what she has to say."

James carefully opened the envelope and extracted its contents, which was a letter that said:
 * "Dear James,
 * How've you been? I heard from your friend Edward in his recent letter to my sister Leni about the terrible accident you were in. I really hope you're okay. On top of that, this is my last week of school before the summer. Frank and Joey are still deciding on where to go for our vacation. I was wondering if you had any ideas. If so, please write back with your suggestion. I look forward to hearing from you!
 * Your friend,
 * Luna
 * P.S. Wouldn't it be nice if we could meet each other in person?"

When James read the letter, an idea burst in his funnel. He grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper and wrote:
 * "Dear Luna,
 * I'm doing much better, as a matter of fact. And I do have a suggestion for your ::vacation. How would you like to come to Winter City for the summer so we can finally meet each other in person? I mean, if that is okay with Frank and Joey. If it is, that'd be great! I've been dying to meet you in person ever since we first started writing to each other! I really hope to see you soon (that is, if Frank and Joey approve if this).
 * Signed,
 * James."

When James was finished, he put his letter in a red envelope, put a stamp on it, wrote Luna's address and his own on the envelope, then took it to the post office, where he put it in the blue mailbox outside.

"Now all I have to do," said James, "is wait."

The letter didn't take too long to reach its destination, and a week later, James was checking his email when he noticed something new in the inbox. Curious, he clicked on it and it turned out it was an email from Luna. The email said:
 * "Hey, James!
 * Guess what? Frank and Joey said yes, and we're leaving tomorrow!
 * I'm really excited to meet you!
 * -Luna"

James' eyes and mouth popped open with glee when he read the message. He quickly typed back with "Great! See you then!" and sent it, then hooted loudly out of joy.

"This is gonna be the best summer ever," James hollered.

James then raced to Totally 60's, where Edward, Donald and Douglas were waiting for him.

"Hey," asked Donald, "what took ya so long?"

"Aye," said Douglas, "we were beginnin' to think ya weren't comin'!"

"Now, hold on, you two," said Edward, "I'm pretty sure James has a pretty good explanation for why he's late."

"Guys," asked James, "you remember me telling you about that Luna Loud girl I'm pen-pals with?"

"Aye," said Donald, "go on."

"Well," said James, "I invited her and her eight sisters last week to come to Winter City for a vacation if it was alright with her guardians, Frank and Joey Hardy."

Edward and the Scots were surprised.

"Ya mean they live with two of the lads from The Sensations," asked Donald.

"Yup," said James.

"Nice," said Edward, "So, what'd they say?"

"It's a green light," said James, "They're leaving their home tomorrow."

"Nice," said Donald.

The next day, James was pushing an open carriage and a luggage car to the station when he saw Percy, who was on his way to the Steam Works with a delivery of paint.

"Hey, James," said Percy, "what are you doing with that carriage?"

"I'm just picking up a friend of mine who's coming for the summer," said James.

"Nice," said Percy, "hope you two have fun."

"Oh, I'm sure we will," said James.

Soon, James arrived at the station, where he waited for Luna. While was waiting, he played Bejeweled on his phone. Eventually, he heard a whistle and watched as a teal streamlined steam engine pulled into the station. When the engine stopped, Luna Loud, who was a fifteen-year-old brunette girl who wore a purple t-shirt with skull, a light purple skirt, a white belt, purple boots, and earrings that looked like paper clips in her ears, disembarked with her companions, who were her eight sisters, Lori, who was seventeen years old, had blonde hair, and wore a light blue tank top, tan shorts, blue slip-on shoes, and pearl earrings, Leni, who was sixteen years old and had blonde hair like Lori but in a different shade and wore a turquoise frilled dress, white sandals with turquoise bows, white sunglasses on her head, and red hoop earrings, Luan, a brunette who was fourteen and wore a white shirt with gag flower, a yellow skirt, yellow socks, brown shoes with gag flowers, and braces in her teeth, Lynn, a freckled brunette who was thirteen and wore a red and white jersey, red and white shorts, white socks, and black cleats, Lucy, a pale-skinned eight-year-old who wore a black and white striped shirt, a black dress, black and white socks, and black shoes, Lisa, a four-year-old brunette who wore Black glasses, a green turtleneck sweater, red pants, and brown shoes, and six-year-old blonde twins Lana and Lola. Lana wore a red cap, murky green shirt, blue overalls, white sneakers and Lola wore a black wire tiara, pink princess dress, a light pink sash, a white pearl necklace, light pink gloves, and pink high heels. With them were two young men. One of them was Frank Hardy, who was a black-haired twenty-one-year-old and wore a red polo shirt, blue jeans, and red sneakers, and the other was his blond-haired younger brother, Joey, who was nineteen years old and wore a yellow polo, jeans, and white sneakers.

"Hi, folks," said James, "Welcome to Winter City!"

"Thanks," said Joey, "you must be James."

"The one and only," said James, "well, just step right on."

With that, the Hardys and the Louds boarded the carriage while his driver helped load the luggage into the luggage car.

"Where to," asked James.

"Do you know how to get to the nearest hotel," asked Frank.

"Yup," said James.

"Great," said Lori, "can you take us there?"

"Can do," said James.

With that, James took the gang to the Winter City Grand Hotel, but on the way, he noticed Lynn was just sitting by herself slumped to one side and looking kinda sad about something, while the others were all sitting together.

"What's up with her," asked James.

"We don't know," said Leni, "she's been like that ever since we left home."

"Gee," said James, "maybe she's upset about something."

"That could be it," said Frank.

"Whatever it is," said James, "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

"Me too, James," said Joey, "Me, too."

End of Chapter 1