*Chapter one*
I knew it was a bad idea to go to the championship basketball game with him. Well, for starters, I knew nothing about basketball, but I decided to go anyway because I thought he was attractive and I had nothing better to do.
I knew I shouldn't have gone. I forgot my phone at home so I couldn't call my aunt for help if I decided to back out. I shouldn't have even left my room! Why did Mathew Anderson even want me to come?
I'm not anything like the other girls he's dated. (Well we weren't really on a date, he told me he had an extra ticket and when I was about to decline, my aunt told him I would go!) And here I am sitting next to Matt, on the jumbotron, trying not to blush as the crowd cheers "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
We really weren't very good friends either. That makes me wonder why he even asked me to come. We had only met three weeks ago and didn't even talk that much.
Beaufort was a small town, but he has other friends.
I just moved to South Carolina after I heard that my parents had died in a tragic car accident back in LA. My aunt Maria was the only person I could go to since my only other relative was (a) living in Europe and (b) a crazy alcoholic!
I walked into her huge house and tried to take it all in. After I took a few steps down a wide hallway, I saw a huge living room straight ahead with a perfect view of the beach. To my left, there was a giant kitchen, and to my right, was a hallway and a flight of stairs. I could only imagine what was upstairs. I walked up the stairs of Maria's house to a hallway with a bunch of doors to other rooms. I didn't have the slightest idea of why she needed such a big house. It was only her and her boyfriend, Charlie.
"You can pick any room you want." She said to me and motioned down the hallway. I chose the last door on the left and decided I had made the perfect choice as soon as the sunlight hit me. I had the best view of the beach and a walk-in closet and an attached bathroom!
I've never had my own room before. I've always had to share with my sister because we never had enough money for a three-room apartment. Now that my sister was in college somewhere in Idaho, I didn't have to worry about her taking up half my space in my room.
I got myself dressed as I prepared to make some friends at the party Maria was dragging me to that night. I honestly would rather just lay on the beach with a good book, but maybe actually having a social life in Beaufort would be more interesting.
A few minutes after I finished deciding that I wanted my hair down for the night, I slipped on some jean shorts and a white tank top.
"Sarah, honey! It's time to leave!"
I quickly put on some white flip-flops and ran down the stairs to meet Maria and Charlie by the front door. We walked out and I noticed the family across the street was doing the same.
"Hey Deb!" Maria called. I didn't see any signs of a woman across the street and was confused on who this "Deb" was. As if she read my mind, a woman who looked like she was the same age as Maria stepped out of the light green house behind her husband. Then, a little girl, dressed in a little pink dress came out of the house, probably three years old.
"Hey! Are you going to the party?" She shouted across the pavement.
"Why wouldn't we?" Maria said sarcastically. We got into the car and Charlie started driving us to this "party" that I was not looking forward to.
*****
We arrived at the party in a light purple house and I already knew that this was one of those "adult parties" The ones where all of the adults talk to each other the whole time and you just stand by the food awkwardly until your parents decide they've had enough.
"There is a bonfire outside for people more your age" Maria told me when she saw how annoyed I looked when we walked in. Thank God. I was not about to sit through another boring talk-to-your-parent's-friends party.
I walked outside to see at least a hundred teenagers standing around a huge fire on the beach. Now this is more of a party! Now was my chance to make some friends, and hopefully a lot of them. I walked into the crowd and found a girl who looked about my age.
"Hi. I'm Sarah. I just moved here from California, any chance we could be friends?" As soon as I said it I wanted to take it back. I knew I sounded like a weirdo and the girl gave me a weird look before answering me.
"Hey. I'm Jennifer, you can call me Jen. You look familiar, do I know you?" I looked at her for a few seconds before replying.
"No I don't think so, Maria is my aunt though."
"Oh. Well, nice to meet you then! I'll introduce you to some more people!" She pulled me through the crowd and then stopped in front of a blonde girl wearing a purple sundress. "This is Anna." Jen said pointing to the girl, "Anna, this is Sarah. She's from California."
"Hi Sarah! Nice to meet you! I'm from Cali too!" Anna practically yelled. (She had to, the music was so loud I could barley hear her)
"Really? What city?" I asked, excited that I had just made a new friend.
"San Francisco."
"I'm from LA."
"Cool!" She actually sounded like she cared. Then, three boys came up to where Anna, Jen and I were standing and just about knocked all three of us over.
"Hey!" I started to yell, but then I realized that Anna and Jen knew the boys and they were just messing around.
"Sarah, this is Caleb, Jake, and Matt." She gestured to each one of them as she said their names. Jake immediately turned to Anna and gave her a big, long kiss. Ok then. Way to make things awkward.
"Nice to meet you!" Caleb said, "Why haven't we ever met you?"
"I moved here from California yesterday." I told him, noticing his muscular body structure.
"Cool." He suddenly grabbed Jen's waist and gave her a quick kiss. So much for liking him. I looked at Matt, waiting for him to say something, and then saw how tan his skin was and how blue his eyes were, almost like the ocean. I then thought about how the other two guys had girlfriends, standing right in front of me and guessed he had one too. Matt and I made eye contact for a second but I quickly looked away, waiting for his girlfriend to come up beside him.
But there wasn't a girl to ever come up next to him the whole night. Well not one that he would stop everything he was doing to give her a quick peck on the lips. I started to wonder if he even had a girlfriend. By the looks of it, he didn't and I could like him.
And I did. I had a crush on him for about 15 seconds before he talked to me like I was an animal.
"Go get me a drink, would you!?" He sounded almost angry.
"Why would I want to do anything for you?" He glared at me and I knew that we wouldn't become friends. I knew that he and I would never even want to be in the same room alone. Even tough he had those perfect blue eyes, hair that was arranged perfectly on his head, and don't even get me started on those lips, he and I could not get along.
"You know you want me."
"Excuse me?"
"Just go get me a drink, sweetheart." He smirked at me and I glared at him. It was like we were having a private staring contest until Jen stepped in between us.
"Ok, I'm sure you guys will get along soon enough." She smiled at both of us but I knew she didn't believe what just came out of her mouth.
The rest of the time I was a the party, I tried to stay as far away from Matt as I possibly could. I met a few more people and I decided that living in Beaufort wouldn't be so bad. School would start up again in August and being at this party helped me make some friends that hopefully would keep in touch with me for the next two months.
*****
As soon as we got home from the party, I went straight up to my room and fell into a deep sleep. I woke up the next morning feeling well rested and ready to take on the day.
I got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast and saw a note from Maria:
I'm having a spa day with Debra! Charlie is golfing today. I'll be back in time for dinner! Have fun!
Wow. I had the whole house to myself and I didn't know what to do. I decided that I would ask Jen and Anna if they wanted to go to the mall. I really needed some new clothes and I didn't have anything better to do that day so I thought why not?
As I was walking to Jen's car I noticed a boy who looked familiar across the street.
No way.
This is not happening to me right now.
Matt lived across the street from me. Of all people. Matt?
Are you kidding me? Ugg.
I tried to make all the way to Jen's car without him seeing me but of course Anna, being the loud girl she is, yelled to get his attention.
"Matt! Did you know you live across the street from Sarah?" He looked up and I got into the car hoping he didn't see me, but it was pointless because Jen just turned the car around so we could talk to him easier.
He looked as surprised as I was. "I didn't know you were Maria's niece." He said almost sounding surprised. I guess he convinced Jen and Anna because they kept chatting away. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with him all summer.
"Well, we better get going! The mall is only open for another 11 hours, and you know how girls are!" Jen said, starting the car again. They talked for at least half an hour and every once and a while I had to pitch in so I didn't look like I hated Matt (even though I did).
"Since it's Sunday, the mall closes at 10." Anna explained to me as we pulled into a parking spot.
"You guys do not seriously shop for 11 hours straight, do you?" I asked, actually concerned for my feet. I was wearing sandals that were meant to be walked in for only a couple of hours, not eleven!
"No!" Jen almost shouted. "On Tuesdays it's open all night and we like to stay here the whole time." I looked at her like she had two heads.
"She's kidding," Anna decided to chirp in. "We can leave as soon as we find what we need." I sighed in relief that I wouldn't have to walk around for eleven hours straight.
I came out of the mall with four shirts, two skirts, and three pairs of shorts. Jen and Anna had the almost the same amount as me and we all decided that we had accomplished a great trip. It was almost 3:00 and we were headed back to Maria's house to just hang out.
When we got back Matt wasn't in his front yard anymore, thankfully. And I didn't see him for a whole week. I was happy for that until I had to actually talk with him because he was my friends' friend.
Jen, Caleb, Anna, Jake, Matt and I had gotten together to go to the beach. Before I left to meet them there, Maria suggested that I carpool with Matt. That was the last thing I wanted to do because (a) we haven't talked in a week and (b) we weren't the best of friends.
He showed up in my driveway looking just as annoyed as I was and I got in, not saying a word to him.
The ride to the beach was awkward, considering we didn't talk to each other unless it was a sarcastic comment about my swimsuit cover or an equally rude comment about how dirty his car was. I could not wait to get to the beach and avoid him again.
When we got there I practically fell out of the car instead of stepping out like a normal person. In my defense, I wasn't exactly expecting Matt to grab my butt right as I opened the door. I stood up and glared at him. He just smirked and got out of his side of the car. I saw the others and we all met up in a spot on the sand. We laid out a blanket big enough for all six of us and brought out the food for our picnic.
We finished eating and Anna wanted to get in the water. Everyone thought it was a good idea to cool off and we all ran over there in our swimsuits. I tried not to stare when Matt took off his shirt and revealed his six pack. I didn't even know he noticed until he chuckled at me and I imimeatily looked away.
The water felt good against my burning hot skin and I planned to just jump over the waves and not get my hair wet. When it got wet, it got tangled and the last thing I wanted was to have a bird's nest on my head. I put my blonde hair into a messy bun on top of my head and as soon as I was done, I felt it get wet.
"Really?" I knew it was Matt who splashed me. "You're going to pay for that." I splashed him back, making sure to get his face wet.
"Oh it's on!" He said as he continued to splash my face and hair. Eventually I decided to put my hands in his shoulders after I splashed him right in the face. I pushed him down under a wave but I guess I didn't plan that right because he grabbed on to my waist and pulled me down with him. We came up gasping for air and laughing at each other. Was I actually having a good time with Matt? I looked at him and when we made eye contact I looked around and noticed that all of our friends were already back to our blanket drying off and setting up a volleyball net. I also noticed how close we were and took a step back, before starting to get out.
I got out of the water and I could hear Matt behind me as we walked up to the court. I hadn't played volleyball since I was eight. Being seventeen now, that's kind if a long time. We played until the sun went down and I actually had a good time. Matt and I drove home and it wasn't as awkward as the way there, because we were starting to get along a little bit more.
"So did you have good time today?" He asked, trying to break the silence.
"Yeah. It was really fun."
"We should do it again sometime." I looked at him, confused, he wasn't asking me to go somewhere with him alone... Was he?
"I mean with everyone." He quickly said as soon as he noticed I was looking at him. "I wouldn't want to go with just you, that would be boring." And there goes the friendship I almost thought we were forming.
"You would have to pry me out of my bed to get me to go anywhere alone with you." I said. I didn't know I could think of a comeback that quick, even though it wasn't that good.
"You mean like I get to touch you?"
I glared at him and he just smirked at me. We were finally home and, of course, I went straight to my room and fell asleep. I had a long day at the beach.
I don't see Matt again until he showed up at Maria's house with two tickets to the basketball game.
"I know you said you didn't want to go anywhere alone with me, but my mom said I had to offer." He said, still standing in our porch. Just then Maria came over to where I was standing. "I have an extra ticket so if you want to go to the game-"
He was cut off by Maria graciously accepting his offer. "She would love to go!" She sounded too excited. Maria quickly let Matt inside and pushed me upstairs to get ready. I was surprised by Maria's reaction and I wasn't ready to go. I didn't know what to wear to a basketball game.
After five minutes, I decided I would wear a yellow tank top, my jean shorts, and my gold sandals. I put on a little bit of makeup so I would look good in public and let my hair down. I came down the stairs still seeing Matt in the house, clearly annoyed that Maria said I could come with him.
So here we are, on the kiss cam awkwardly trying to ignore the crowd around us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Matt get hit with something and I turn to look at him and I can't hold in my laugh. Someone had thrown a half full cup of soda at him yelling "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" I knew what would happen next so I turned to him and he knew that we needed to kiss before my new shirt was ruined.
We rolled our eyes at each other and he started to lean in. I wasn't ready for him to kiss me and I wasn't expecting him to actually do it. But when I felt his lips on mine for only a second, I knew he wasn't ready either. We kissed but the crowd wasn't pleased. We looked around thinking that was it, but we both saw the jumbo tron still on us. We looked at each other again and this time we held our lips together for at least ten seconds. By the time we pulled away the camera wasn't even on us anymore.