Ocean Eyes

Chapter Two

"The world needs more love at first sight."
-Maggie Stiefvater

“How much did you have to cough up to get this place?” I asked Aunt Theresa as we stood in front of her immaculate three-story beach-front house.

“It was just a few hundred thousand dollars,” she said. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? Jeez, this place is freaking fantastic!”

She laughed. “Good, good.” She pushed me forward. “Explore a little bit, claim your room. My husband, Willis, doesn’t get home until late on weekdays, so there isn’t anybody else around. Dinner is ready at six every night, and that’s about it for rules. I don’t like parties and alcohol is a big no-no. But other than that, go crazy!”

It should have been every high school girl’s dream, right? Given such loose restrictions in a place where your family wasn’t present. But all I felt was this pit of loneliness deep in my stomach, because the people I had always had around me, my whole life, were nowhere to be found. I supposed it was just something to get over.

“You’ll be starting school at Poolside High tomorrow,” she voiced, entering the house behind me. I snorted.

“Poolside high? Why not beachside?”

Aunt Theresa shrugged. “I didn’t decide the names.”

Apparently the bedrooms were on the second floor, all accept for the guest bedroom, which was mine, which was on the first floor. The kitchen and the living room were also on the first floor, the study on the second, and various empty rooms through the rest of the beach house. It was homey despite the eccentricity of it all. There was nothing about it that resembled my pack, but I could feel it maybe becoming a second home.

“Who’s our neighbor?” I asked, referring to the only house for about a mile.

“The Landings,” she told me, and then lowered her voice, although I didn’t know who from since we were alone. “But they are weird people,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t get mixed up with them if I were you.”

I lifted an eyebrow and planted a hand on my hip. “Are they werewolves?”

Aunt Theresa’s brows furrowed. “Well . . . I don’t think so . . .”

“Then I’ve known weirder. Can I check out the beach?”

My Aunt opened her mouth to reply, but just then the doorbell rang. She walked over to it and peeked out the curtain. She recoiled, eyes wide. “Oh, God. It’s them.”

“Who?”

“The Landings!” she started biting her nail, glancing nervously at the door. “Or, at least, three of them.” I rolled my eyes and stepped forward, yanking the door open. In front of me stood a couple that didn’t look freaky or scary or weird. The father was in board shorts and sandals, and the mother wore a simple orange sundress, though oddly long-sleeved. There was a girl with them in a bathing suit that looked about fourteen.

“Um, hi?” I greeted awkwardly, never one for meeting new people. I twirled a strand of dark brown hair around my finger, a terrible habit I could never get over.

“You must be the new girl! We heard someone was moving in with Theresa, here,” the father announced. I cast Theresa a wary look out of the corner of my eye. She shrugged. “You can call me Phil.” I shook his hand.

“I’m Maria,” the mother stated, giving me a warm hug. “And this is our adopted daughter Gemini. Don’t be rude, Gem.”

The girl stared at me with a bored face. “Hi.”