The smell of the ocean came threw the crack in my window, and I breathed deeply. "How close are we?" I asked, looking out at the boats as the car flew passed them.

"Should be there any minute, pumpkin," Dad replied. He drove quickly, as he normally did when we were on our way to our vacation home in Ocean Isles.

I watched as the people passed by, probably just as happy about the start of summer as I was. The sun was high, the air was warm, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"I'm hungry." My younger brother, Sam, rubbed his stomach for emphasis.

"You're always hungry, sport," Dad answered, looking back slightly to smile at him before turning back to the road.

"We haven't eaten in an hour!" Sam complained.

I tuned them out as Dad began to explain the "three meals a day" concept for the third time today. I rolled my window down even more and felt the heat from the sun on my face. I made a vow to have a good summer. I would meet up with Jenni, my summer best friend, and we would have a great time staying out late and having fun.

I was fairly positive that she had a boyfriend, but not one hundred percent. She had always been the one about guys, but I had just recovered from a recent heart-shattering relationship, and I didn't want to deal with another one. I had thought Paul was perfect; oh boy, was I wrong!

Either way, I wanted to have fun. Maybe a few hook-ups or just hanging with Jenni. Anything was better than staying at the house all day and night.

Dad finally pulled up into the driveway of what my mother had called The Dreamboat (yeah, cheesy) and parked. I opened my door and climbed out, eager to stretch my legs. I raced to the side of the house and lookd out at the ocean. Since before I could remember, we had always had this part of the beach sectioned off for privacy, considering that The Dreamboat was located in a private neighborhood.

I could see a small figure running towards me in the distance, blonde hair flying everywhere. Jenni. I shouted her name, and a large smile spread across her face, which I could see when she got closer. "Sorsha!"

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Weird name. I thought so too, but when I realized that practically no one else had the imagination my parents had had when it came to names, I came to terms with it.

"Hey, Sorsha! Unpacking then socializing!" Dad yelled from behind the van, pulling out some suitcases as he talked.

"Oh I can help, Mr.M," Jenni breathed, trying to catch her breath from running. Her blonde hair looked even lighter than I remembered, and she looked thinner, if that was even possible for a girl who was a size two the summer before. She was three inches shorter than me, but she definitely made filled out a lot better than I had.

"Now, Jenni, you know we would never let-"

"Sam!" Jenni was already walking towards my brother and picking him up, completely ignoring my dad. I laughed and grabbed a suitcase from the truck, lugging it to the ground.

"My, how tall you've gotten!" Jenni fake gasped, holding a hand in front of her mouth.

"I'm more than three feet!"

Jenni and I exchanged an awww-look, and she picked a bag out of the trunk. "To your room!" she exclaimed in the same manner than a knight would say "To war!" or something of that nature.

We bounded up the steps, and I unlocked the door with my key. The sense of home hit me instantly, leaving me happier than I had been in months. The walls in the foyer were white with a gold trimming around the bottom and tops, much like the outside of the house. A balcony was placed high in the air above us with two staircases leading up from the right and the left. Straight on there were two French doors that led out to the deck area.

I ran up the left staircase, knowing that my room was at the end of the hallway on that side. I passed the bathroom I would be using and entered what had been my room since, I think, before I was even concieved.

See, the walls are this beautiful blue that only I could love as much as I did. The walls were basically windows, which I would always leave open at nigth and let the sounds of the waves sing me to sleep. There was a TV on the right wall, not too big, but not tiny either. A small doorway in the right corner led to the bathroom, and a doorway on the backwall near my bed led to what was soon to be my full closet.

I tossed my suitcase on the bed, and Jenni did the same.

"Gosh, I can't believe it's already summer again!" she shrieked. She said this every summer, but I always believed her.

"Is that a bad thing?" I joked.

She shot me her classic dumbass-look. I giggled and went to the front window in front of my bed, opening it when I reached it. The salty sea breeze wafted in, and I inhaled deeply.

"Geez, a stranger would think you were trying to get high off that putrid air," Jenni commented. That was one thing about Jenni that I didn't understand. She lived in Ocean Isles all the time. She ahd access to the beach all the time. What was her problem with it?

"You're making the face," she told me, which basically meant that she had read my thoughts. "You get sick of it all after awhile. I mean, down here is great, but I live in the tourist area, and it's always packed."

"I could live with it," I replied, watching the ebb and flow of the ocean.

"Yeah? Well, you haven't had enough experience to form an opinion." Her face suddenly changed from annoyance to questioning. She smiled and asked, "How have you and your man been doing?"

"Done." Itw as the only word I had ever told anyone when people asked about Paul and I.

"What?! You mean he's not coming down to go double dating like we talked about?!"

Yep, boyfriend suspicions confirmed. I felt a pang of pain in my heart but refused to let it get to me. I had cried enough. I needed to get on with my life. "Boys aren't everything," I said, swallowing back tears.

"Oh, baby..." She started towards me, but I stopped her with a hand held outward.

"I'm fine," I tod her, and I meant it. I was done worrying over some useless boy.

She looked at me for a moment, then smiled. "Know what? You are fine. I mean, you totally could have some cleavage with a push up bra."

I ignored her comment and unzipped my suitcase. "So, what all have I been missing in this wonderful town?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Tourist season comes, and most kids get jobs."

"But not you," I guessed, even though I knew that I was right. Jenni would never work unless forced, and with the kind of money that her family had, she was not forced.

She shivered at the thought. "Ugh, never. But," she sighed, sitting down on my bed,"we did get a new family down here."

This was genuine news. Sure, there were tons of families that made Ocean Isles there vacation spot of choice, but not many people ever moved here for good, or even purchased a summer home. "Name?"

"Brooks. Mom, dad, and two kids. There's something wierd about them though," she told me.

I began stringing my t-shirts up on hangars. "Yeah? What's that?"

"Well, I know that they live in the fishing village part of town, but they never seem to leave there. I mean, I've seen their kids like, twice."

I finished putting up my shirts and moved on to my shorts. "No school?"

"Homeschooling, apparently," she said as though it was some dirty word.

"Well, maybe they just like being left alone. Ever think of that?" I asked.

She sent me her look again. "There's no such thing as privacy in Ocean Isles. At least, not really."