Annabelle Jackson (On Hold)

Chapter 1.

His name was Dean and he was undoubtedly the most beautiful guy I had ever laid my eyes upon. He had soft blonde hair like the beach sand, a tan that showed how much he loved to be outdoors and muscles that rippled across his chest and reached out towards his arms. He was a god, or at least something sent from heaven. And there I was drooling over him like an infatuated school girl.

I wondered if it was possible for somebody so handsome to ever have eyes only for me. It sounded silly even in my mind. But how could I not want his ocean deep blue eyes to look at me? How could I not want to swim in their depths? I seriously needed to get a life.

I watched as he ran across the sand and into the water. I basked in the sun up on the sand, not daring to go any closer. My snug fitting bikini was giving me tan lines. It was the last day of summer holidays. My family had just moved to the west coast of Australia. I wasn't looking forward to school all that much. People tended to ignore me. It wasn't the best way to live out my high school years but education had always been important to me and I always got good grades. That is how my life was.

Tired of sitting on the sand, I packed up my things and began walking back up to my house. The one good thing about moving so far away, my parents had bought a huge house across from the beach. My dad was a suit, one of those guys who owns big corporations and gets to sit around in a big office and tell all the little guys what to do. Well at least that's the way I thought of it. Mum had always been the one that was around, while dad was always busy working. My mum worked as an assistant manager at a pet store, which is where I had seen Dean the first time. Working behind the counter one day when I had been in to visit mum. He was as hot today, if not hotter than the first time I had seen him.

"How was the beach?" Mum called out as I walked through the front door.

She was cleaning, which wasn't unusual seeing as it was her day off. She liked things to be neat around the house.

"It was fine mum." I didn't bother waiting for a response as she was enthused in her work.

That left me alone in my room to ponder what I was going to do with myself until school the next day. I was going into twelfth grade which meant that everyone in school had already had four years to form their cliques. But I already knew where I was going to fit in and I sure wasn't going to be with the popular group. It wasn't because I was ugly, well at least that's what I thought. My eyes were a gentle sky blue and I have hair that flows in soft waves of summer blonde down to my waist. My body is slim and I stand around a hundred and eighty centimetres tall, but I was never the girl that was invited to all of the parties or the one that the boys wanted to take out on a date. In fact, if I were being brutally honest, I would have to admit that the most I had really done was kiss a guy when I was playing a game of spin the bottle in the eighth grade. And I don't even think he enjoyed it very much. I sighed and hoped this year was going to turn out better. I was determined to make a good name for myself and to hopefully at least get a boyfriend.

Time just seemed to disappear and before I knew it the first day of school had arrived. At least there was a mandatory uniform policy which meant I needn't bother being self-conscious about what to wear to school. Even if the burgundy skirt and white top weren't the most flattering clothes I had ever worn. As I walked into the kitchen there was a note from my mum who had obviously already left to go to work. I read the words wishing me luck at school then threw it into the bin and grabbed an apple before walking out the front door towards school. The school was a good half an hours walk away which meant I had to leave the house around eight o'clock. The walk to school was set to be a good one though.