Finding Willow

Amber's POV

(A/N: How this book is going to work, is every chapter is going to be from a different point of view and is going to start with a diary entry from that person. Following the diary entry will be in the format of your average book; first person view. I had to include this author's note because I wanted all of it to make sense. Happy reading <3)

Dear Diary,

Oh, where do I even begin? So much has happened in the past couple of days, and the majority of them, I got to do with two of my best friends; Brooke Miller and Madelyn Moore. I wouldn't trade the summer I've had so far, for anything. It's hard to believe that we've already done so much in just the last week of summer break. Like last week, when we invited our own pizza (The Pizza-Con-Carne: Consisting of a spicy beef, red chilies, chili powder, beans, tomatoes, green bell peppers, and a stringy cheese - NOT the best combination), and when we had 'Wet T-Shirt Relay Race', an overnight movie marathon, buried Brooke in the sand, had a watermelon eating contest, made our own music video on Madelyn's iPad, and last night - when we slept in the hammock next to the pool in Brooke's backyard.

And aside from all of the wild summer activities we've done, the weather has been astonishing. I mean, we live in a small town in Texas, you'd expect it to be a toaster-oven during the summer, but the weather has only been warm outside. The wide open fields hold the freshest soil and the greenest grass, the trees are in their greenest stage, the ponds are clear as a crystal, and the flowers are in bloom. I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the number of times I've just laid across the grass, arms resting on my chest, knees tucked, and hands writing in a rapid motion in this diary.

Although, there have been some bad sides to the summer. No school, means Autumn is home for a while. Autumn is my older sister, she's a freshman in college. I'm not going to lie, although I do miss her - part of me was really enjoying her being away at college. That meant that she couldn't boss me around, steal my clothes, invade my privacy, embarrass me in front of my friends, or, worst of all - read my diary.

But, now it's summer - which means Autumn is here, with me, mom and dad, and my younger sister, Abby. I was more than relieved to have her back for the summer, but I was also nervous because I knew that the first thing she was going to do when she got here was boss me around and steal my stuff - which is exactly what she's doing. Like earlier this morning...

I was digging through the hamper in my closet. I was so sure that I had left my brand new, royal blue blouse, that I always wore with my pale blue tank top, on top of my dresser - but I was wrong. I couldn't find it anywhere. It wasn't on top of my dresser, it wasn't folded and placed neatly on any of my closet shelves or bins, it wasn't in my drawers. The only other place that it could be was in my dirty clothes hamper that I kept underneath the bottom shelf in my closet next to the dresser. At first I thought that I had dropped it in there by mistake the night before while changing into my nightgown. I steadied myself on one knee and pushed myself off of the hardwood floors. Of course I was mad, not just because it was my favorite article of clothing in my closet, but also because I knew mom would be mad at me because it was really expensive and I had only had it for about a week. At that point my mom called me down for school, only then did I catch a glimpse of a blue blouse wedged between Autumn's mattress and her bedframe. I ran over and tugged it out, only to find it wrinkled and housing a big, brown blotch that stretched from the translucent collar to the tiny pocket next to the second button down.

I was less than relieved. Yes, Autumn and I used to share a room before she moved out, but now she's back which means I have to put up with her for the rest of the summer. I guess that's just the way sisters work.

Today, though, I'm meeting up with Willow, Brooke, and Madelyn at the dock down by the river that rests peacefully at the end of the wood. I wonder what we'll do down there. Maybe the old man that lives in the house at the edge of the wood will let us borrow one of his canoes for fishing. Nobody knows what the old man's name is, then again, maybe nobody has asked. He has a white beard and always wears a blue Rangers baseball cap with his big, heavy, brown rain boots. He's a very nice man, to me anyways, but he doesn't like it when we swim too close to his house - his privacy is very important to him.