Lightweight

Finally it was summer. Annie had just graduated from high school and was looking forward to the best summer ever. College didn't start until August so she was completely free from worries, school, and drama for three good months. She planned on catching some rays by the pool of the hotel that her grandfather owned and focusing on her boxing.

A few things should be established before I continue with this story. Annie is my older sister and while I wasn't there for most of this story, Annie told me everything so I think I can do the recalling of this tale justice without too many mistakes or embarrassing too many people, well not a lot anyway. But back to Annie; she had just graduated from high school and was finally free. High school was hard for my older sister. For a good part of it she was overweight and insecure. She didn't have many friends because she was so shy. Then she found boxing, or more like it found her and never let go. She started boxing and found out she was actually really good. She became addicted and from her passion came confidence. The pounds started melting off of her and she formed muscles in places I didn't know existed. To say the least, I was proud. That's when the guys started to notice her. My sister is no dummy though and knew why she was suddenly getting so much attention from the opposite sex. She never paid the guys any attention, to tell you the truth, I don't think she trusted them; for years she had gone to school with these boys without them even so much as noticing her, or worse noticing her and making fun of her. I don't think she ever got over that. To be honest, my sister was eighteen years old and she had never even had so much as held a guy's hand before, and forget about having a boyfriend. When it came around to the time that boys were interested in her, she had her mind set on something else. When I said my sister was good at boxing it was a bit of an understatement, she was a machine. She never lost, seeing her in the ring I was terrified and proud beyond words for my big sister and best friend. She was on her way to becoming pro. She got a full ride to a prestigious university for boxing. Needless to say with all of this the girls at school were terrified and intimidated by her, so I am basically her best friend (don't tell her I told you, she will deny it).

So for the summer, Annie's plan was to train and in between that do nothing but relax. Our grandfather owns a fancy hotel in North Carolina so Annie went there for the summer. She had a big match at the end of the summer that she had to train for but the rest of the summer was hers. Now, let's get to the story, and believe me, it's a good one.

Annie sat poolside in her bathing suit, soaking up the rays. It was the first time in years that she was wearing a bikini, she finally had the body for one, she had worked so hard for it. But she was still glad that there wasn't anybody else at the pool to see her stomach. Her skin was bronzing up nicely, the hard contours in her stomach and arms looked nice with a tan. She popped in her ear buds and blasted Never Shout Never and started reading Moby Dick. She had a flashback to when she was in high school, sitting at the lunch table by herself, eating her feelings, hating herself and reading a good book. Books were where she escaped, where she became a beautiful warrior fighting off the bad guys, now she did it in real life. She didn't know what drew her to start boxing but she can't imagine life without it now. How much nicer clothes fit, even though she didn't really care about clothes, and all of the looks she got from the guys at school. Those stupid guys, shallow and superficial, she couldn't be bothered with them. She would much rather be in the company of the weathered pages of a good book, like she was at that moment.

The hotel she was staying in for the summer was one she could only dream of. She had no idea that Grandpa's hotel was a huge estate of fancy rich people who took all of it for granted. She had never seen it before last week when she moved into her permanent room on the top floor for the summer. She couldn't help but be amazed at the sheer size and amount of people it took to run the establishment as smoothly as they did. Annie remembered her first day there and meeting all of the staff, how they expected her to be stuck up and spoiled like the rest of the Hotel tycoon heirs of her time, and then how surprised they were to see how quiet she was until she opened her mouth and something snarky came out. In a matter of minutes they were in love with her and she had no clue why.