Chapter One

 Clear, blue waves crashed against my tan, carefully painted toes. The pure, white sand below my feet made me feel like I was standing on a cloud. Not that I really knew what clouds felt like, considering I’ve never technically touched a cloud before. And, by what I’ve heard, you can’t even really feel clouds; they’re just clumps of fog that float around in the sky. But, to make a long story short, the sand was soft. Very, very soft.1

My eyes shifted from the sand to the entire area around me. The island. The beautiful, majestic, awe-inspiring island. The island named Serendipity… My island. After everything I’d been through while living on Serendipity, it was only right that I call it my island.2

“Ma’am, would you mind taking a photo for my wife and I?” I turned around and spotted a man in his late 30’s shoving a cheap, disposable camera into my hands. They were tourists, no doubt. Serendipity had quite a few tourists during the summer season. Definitely not as many as a place like, say, the Bahamas, but we had tourists, nonetheless. 3

“Of course.” I smiled at the guy. The number one rule for Serendipity’s citizens was to always be nice to tourists, no matter what. Even if they were making you do something you really didn’t care to do. 4

I took the camera, snapped a quick photo, and turned back to the horizon as the couple slowly retreated to the large condo complex a few feet behind the shoreline. Most tourists stayed there, mainly because the only other shelter we offered was a small hotel miles away from the beach. But I was glad most tourists stayed close to the area I lived in. It gave me the chance to meet different kinds of people every day. It was truly amazing how different us Serendipity folks lived compared to people from other parts of the world. 5

“Hey, Elle. You’re staying at my house tonight… you’re dad hasn’t shown yet.” Skye, my absolute best friend, appeared behind me, her eyes full of emotion. I turned and faced her, looking into her eyes. Immediately seeing that she was giving me pity, I quickly averted my eyes back down to the tiny grains of sand.6

“Yeah, what else is new?” I muttered, letting out a bitter chuckle as I did so. My dad hardly ever came home on Friday nights. He usually went off and did who knows what, so I spent practically every Friday night over at Skye’s.7

Skye patted me on the back, and we walked to her house, ready for another typical Friday night in our lives.8

~~~~~~~~9

“So, Mrs. R., Skye tells me you’re heading to the U.S. soon for a vacation… which state are you planning on visiting? I was born in Maine, and from what my mom used to tell me, it was a great state.”10

This was the typical small talk that went on at Skye’s dinner table. Updates on our lives, what we did that day… stuff like that. It was Mrs. Rhodes’ job to act like my mom, considering I didn’t have one. Nor did I have a responsible guardian, considering my dad had a habit of breaking the law. He never got caught, though, which was why he wasn’t put in jail and I wasn’t put in foster care. And although I wished my dad different, I was glad he wasn’t put in jail. If that were the case, I could be put in a home with some strangers somewhere in the world. Somewhere that wasn’t Serendipity. And I couldn’t leave my island. This place was all I had.11

“Do you think he’ll show today?” I didn’t usually mention my dad to anyone, even Skye. But, it was Monday. I hadn’t seen my Dad since Friday. Things like that just got me thinking that the same thing that happened to my mom could easily happen to my dad. And, being a fifteen year old girl, I didn’t really want to deal with something like that again. 12

“Maybe… it’s always possible,” Skye answered my question in a positive, upbeat voice. Her smiling face turned to me, and her bright eyes lit up instantly. She probably had another one of her so-called “great” ideas, which almost always involved talking to the main lifeguard, Dave, whom she was practically in love with.13

“Why don’t we go to the beach? I think Dave’s on duty this morning!” She clapped her hands and giggled lightly, her face turning the lightest shade of red.14

A free Monday in the summer, during which we could do anything we wished to do, and Skye wanted to spend it flirting with a lifeguard. Of course. 15

“Why not. I’ve got nothing else to do,” I replied a bored tone. Truth be told, I could think of a million other things I’d rather do than go and watch my best friend make a fool out of herself. But I just didn’t really feel like being alone that morning.16

Skye smiled at me and skittered off to take a shower. I headed to the upstairs bathroom, planning to take a shower myself. Just because the lifeguard wasn’t quite my type didn’t mean I wanted to look like a character from an old horror movie in front of him. That would just be stupid.17

~~~~~~~~18

“So, I hear you’ve been a lifeguard for years!” Skye giggled, trying her best to grasp Dave’s attention. This had been going on for a total of two hours. Skye kept making stupid little remarks, and Dave usually replied with an uncomfortable smile. Sometimes he just nodded. He clearly wasn’t interested in her, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her. 19

“Hey, Skye, I’ll catch up with you later, alright?” I was starving, which was reasonable, because it was already far past noon. She gave me a slight nod, but her eyes were locked on Dave the entire time. I decided I would definitely find a way to make Dave like Skye. She really liked him, and I obviously wanted the best for her, being her best friend and all. 20

I began absentmindedly walking up the narrow path that led to my house, forgetting that it was locked until I was standing at the front door. My dad, of course, wasn’t home, and the only key I owned was at Skye’s house, where Skye’s mom was currently hosting an Avon party. 21

My stomach immediately began growling, unfortunately reminding me of my intense hunger. I was just going to have to eat lunch at one of the many various cafés and restaurants that were scattered all over the island. The closest one, Enema’s, was an adorable cafe, and Enema, the owner, was a great woman. She used to be a close friend of my mom’s, so she was always super sweet to me. 22

Deciding against the idea of going back to ask Skye if she was interested in coming, I got to Enema’s as fast as I could, and sat down at the front bar area. 23

“Nice to see you, sweetie,” Enema said in a friendly voice, beaming at me.24

“You too.”25

“Your usual?”26

“Yes, please.”27

The lady disappeared into the back kitchens, and I was left, sitting on the insanely tall stool, to sit and play with my fingers.28

A mere five minutes later, Enema was walking towards me with a small plate holding a single hamburger and a few french fries in hand. This place was different from most of the other cafés around here, mainly because it served American food. It seemed as if all the other places to eat around here contained only assortments of seafood.29

I picked up the hamburger and immediately started eating it in silence. The place was pretty full, but there was no one sitting at the bar area other than me. 30

That is, not until a boy probably around the age of sixteen sat in the stool right next to mine. Out of all the other stools (there were nine), he had chosen that one.31

“Hey.” And he was trying to talk to me. Great.32

“Hi…” 33

“How are you?” What an incredibly boring conversation starter!34

“Swell.” And I just replied to the incredibly boring conversation starter with an extremely lame word from the 60’s. Wonderful. 35

I glanced out of the corner of my left eye, trying to get a good glimpse of his face without making it look too obvious. 36

“You can just look at me… you know that, right? All you have to do is turn your head a little bit. It’s really not that hard.” His voice was full of amusement.37

“Why would I want to look at you?” 38

“Personally, I have no idea. But you were trying to look at me a just a second ago.”39

“No, I wasn’t.”40

“Yes, you were.”41

I turned towards him, and actually got to see what he looked like. His dark brown hair was a bit wavy, and it wasn’t too short or too long. His eyes were the color of that really pretty blue-ish green sea glass that was super rare to find.42

“Was not.”43

“Were too.”44

He smirked, obviously loving the fact that he was annoying me.45

“Was not.” 46

Surprisingly, he didn’t add anything after that. He just smiled. And I think I might’ve smiled back.