Summer Happiness

Chapter 1

SUMMER 2009

Summer 2009 was probably one of the best summers, simply because I was thirteen years old and no longer considered a 'child'. We all dream about becoming an adult and doing 'grown up' things and I was sick and tired of being looked down on. I woke up that morning bouncing with excitement; it was time to leave London and make our way to Ireland for the start of an amazing summer. I had this feeling that things were going to be different. We'd arrived at our summer house at around eight in the evening which left plenty of time to unpack and clean the house a little. I galloped to my room and flopped down onto my bed. My room here was perfect. It had wooden floorboards and cream paint which coated the four walls. There was a massive walk in wardrobe built into the wall with my queen sized bed perched just opposite. A cream desk took up space in one corner of my room and the other corner led to an average sized en-suite. Pictures, medals and trophies lined the shelves from my swimming and horse riding competitions. I preferred to keep them here instead of back home; they belonged here. I walked over to my window seat and carefully unclasped the window. Whilst I gently pushed it open, I searched for the pebbles I kept in a jar nearby. Once I'd located them, I began to hurl them at the opposite window; Niall's window. Late at night we would hang out our windows chatting til the early hours of the morning. His curtains twitched and then a grinning face appeared. I watched him delicately open his window, concentration marking his face. Once he'd eventually unlatched it, he swung his legs out the window, smiling from ear to ear.

"Well, well, well. Look whose arrived!" His thick irish accent pierced through the silence, I could hear the smile through his voice.

"Niall, how many times do I have to tell you, don't hang out your window, it's so dangerous!" I proclaimed, my eyebrows furrowed together in worry.

"Seriously Luce, you worry too much, meet you down by the beach in five?"

"Sure." He stumbles back into his room and draw the curtains while I lean my head against the cold surface of the window, attempting to cool down the hot flush which had suddenly spread to my cheeks. I slipped off the seat and opened my suitcase, trying to find something a little warmer for tonights excursions. The light outside slowly began to fade as I pulled on some skinny blue jeans and a white t-shirt. I tugged my thick brown hair into a high ponytail and slid my feet into a pair of Jack Wills flip flops. As I began to walk out my room, I glanced at myself in the mirror, checking I looked okay. Wow, since when did I care if I looked okay? As I took in my reflection I wondered what I must look like to other people. I guess you could say I was pretty, but I was basically ordinary. Ordinary eyes, ordinary nose, ordinary mouth. I had a few freckles which were dotted across my cheeks, but you could barely see them, however, the sun usually bought them out. My eyebrows were perfectly shaped and plucked and I had long brown hair which cascaded down my back. Personally, I think my figure is perfect. I don't mean that in a vain way as I am far from it, but I'm the perfect weight for someone my age. Dragging my attention away from the mirror, butterflies began to form in the pit of my stomach as I thought over tonights events. What is happening? Niall has only ever been a good friend, nothing more nothing less. I slowly made my way through the house and down towards the beach where I could already see Niall waiting for me.