Endless Summer (emison)

1

When you first arrive in Cape May, New Jersey, the first thing you see is that old town sign that the town says that they're going to replace every summer but never do. It's blue paint is peeling and the once white letters look a bit yellow now. The lighthouse logo on top of the letters has the date that it was made carved into it, but even that is hard to make out. For a town that is so popular during the summer, you would think that the town would fix its sign to that people have a good first impression when they first enter the town.

Alison DiLaurentis isn't bothered by the old and worn sign, even though those sorts of things normal annoy her. Passing the sign each year when they entered Cape May was a ritual now, officially starting her summer. Each year her family would pack up their things in their Rosewood house and drive to New Jersey for the summer only returning a few days before the start of the school year. Alison always loved going to Cape May because her life in Rosewood would basically be on pause. When you're in Cape May, nothing there reminds you of Rosewood to a point where you almost forget that it exists. The only thing that reminds Alison of Rosewood is Noel Kahn, some Rosewood students that are irrelevant to Alison but she still recognizes them, and the days that her best friends visit her.

In Cape May, there was no worrying about keeping a database of everyone's secrets. The other people her age that also had beach houses in Cape May lived in different parts of the US, so knowing their secrets were a waste of time. It was a nice break from 'reality' almost, which is what summers should be like. There was plenty to do and her parents aren't breathing down her neck all the time since they were up to their own things. It was almost as if Alison had an unlimited amount of freedom, unlike in Rosewood.

This year was going to be different though. It was the summer before her senior year at Rosewood High School and this year, she could drive. This added more to her unlimited freedom to do as she pleased. Now she could get places in Cape May faster than before since she would have to get a ride from someone older or walk there. Both were a hassle because the people that did pick her up always wanted something in return, and walking hurt her feet after a while. Even though Cape May was a fairly small town, going to places in the surrounding towns was a bit of a trip. But at least now, her parents wouldn't think twice about her taking her car to Wildwood and go to Morey's Pier.

Another plus of this year was that her creep for a brother Jason, decided that he was only going to come for a few weeks and spend the remainder with his best friends Garrett and Ian. Things only seemed to be going up this summer, nothing was going to spoil this summer. Alison spent many of her last few days of her junior year, day-dreaming about the things that she was planning on doing in Cape May.

Finally, the day was now here and the long car trip from Rosewood to Cape May was making Alison grow more and more impatient with every second she spent in the car. The Kahn family had left the night before, Noel in fact left for Cape May right after school was let out for the summer. He, his parents, and his brother Eric, were already all unpacked out at their beach house in Cape May. Like his house in Rosewood, Noel's beach house in Cape May was probably one of the nicest houses in the town. Noel's life in Rosewood was now basically on pause as well, there wasn't any of his famous parties happening this summer (much to the Rosewood students displeasure) because this was Noel's first time staying for the full summer. Normally, he would come up from the end of June to the middle of July. This year though, his parents decided to stay for the whole summer (not that Alison was complaining.) When Noel used to leave Cape May in the middle of the summer, Alison was left with befriending the other teens there that didn't meet her standards; until her friends showed up at least.

An hour into their car trip, Noel had already sent Alison a picture of him out on his yacht which he took out occasionally during the day, usually bringing along Alison and a few other people. There they would go out and swim, drink, and hang out. During the summer, Alison and Noel would go a lot of places together (with about six or seven other people as well of course). They would surf, have beach bonfires at night, go to Morey's Pier, which had an amusement park, parasail, go to the zoo, go to drive up movies on the beach, and just about anything else. Although they were incredibly close, Alison and Noel never had feelings for each other, other than friendship...well at least Alison didn't. Sure, they made out a few times, but who doesn't make out with their guy friends every once in a while?