My Sweet Summer Romance

Chapter 8

Nick

"Wake up, bro! We're going at the beach today, so you better be ready when I leave or else I'm leaving without you!" Kate has such a... gentle way of waking people up. I know, her words are gentle. But she's jumping on my bed right now, and she knows I hate it. That's why she wakes me up that way every single morning.

I walk slowly to the kitchen to pour myself a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. That's before hurricane Kate (pun obviously intended) bursts in the room with too much energy to spare.

"Today will be such a perfect day to hit the waves, get a tan, and maybe go para sailing! Ah, I love days like that who start so well and you just feel like the world is ours and-"

It wasn't long before I interrupted her. "Stop talking already! Can't you see I am still tired, I don't need all this jibber jabbing!" She looks at me, surprised.

"Well, sor-ry if a certain someone can't stand others in the morning and has to ruin their day like that! We're leaving in ten!"

"Ten minutes?" I ask.

"Seconds," She laughs a little. "of course, minutes!" She goes back in our room to prepare herself. Again. So now I can't use the room. Again. I sigh, discouraged. This will be a long day. Except if I get to see Serena at the pier today. I am a hundred percent sure that she'll be there; after all, I am very persuasive and she really seems to like me. I hope. As for me, I'm not sure. I've had a few girlfriends, but that was before the change. My parents aren't my biological parents. They adopted us, Kate and I, two years ago when we were in a foster home, waiting for a real family to take us. Our father was, and maybe still is, an alcoholic. I haven't seen him since I was seven and I hope I won't ever see him again. He used to hit my mom, Kate or myself when he got drunk, which meant pretty often. He and my mom divorced not long after that and we still see her at Christmas, but we refuse to see dad. I think the reason seems pretty obvious.

"Leaving in two! Get prepared, slowpoke!" she chanted.

"Hey," I replied, "but you just got out! You didn't leave me time to get in the room and now you leave me with almost no time! That's really unfair!"

"Remember what mom used to say," she reminded me, "fairness doesn't mean everyone gets the same, fairness means everybody gets what they need, and, you're a guy. So you need less time to prepare. Chop chop, get ready!"

"You know, big sisters are a pain in the-"

"Hey, be nice," she interrupted, "without me you would have been alone with no shoulder to cry on in that foster home."

Whoa, what a conversation stopper! I love her, I really do. But I hate when she reminds me of those years where we were weak, it's not like I'm proud of it.

"Who's the slowpoke now? Is it too hard to keep up the pace, sis?" I said. She shot me those killer eyes, again.

Totally out of breath, she replied, "Fine, I'm sorry! Wait for me now!"

"What's the magic word? I didn't hear it!"

"Can you PLEASE wait for me?"

"Okay, now that you asked correctly, I'll wait for you... at the beach! Bye!" On these words, I started running as fast as I could to the beach. I had time to cool down until I saw her arriving, panting.

"I. Will. Get. My. Revenge. Ugh! My lungs are killing me!"

I chuckled and said, "I seriously doubt that. Come on, if you want a nice spot on the beach." It seems like nothing has changed since last year. The sun is shining, and the sound of the waves hitting the shore is beautiful, as always. When I walk on the sand, my feet do a little quacking sound- pretty hard to describe but it's just one of the few little things that make me smile.