Emerald Cove

Chapter 1

PART I

Charlotte's POV

"You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your family!" my daddy yells at me as I chase my older brother through the house. This is a normal day for us: daddy is at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and grumbling about something, momma is washing the breakfast dishes, and my older brother, Mark, has done something to piss me off enough to want to kill him. Mark's life goals are to aggravate me to the point of me snapping and murdering him.

My name is Charlotte. I'm 17 years old and today is my first day of my senior year of high school. My parents own a fishing charter company that my grandfather started. Mark went to work for them right out of high school. I have other plans though. Mark never was the book smart one. He was the type that working with his hands just comes natural to. He gets it from our daddy. Between the two of them they can fix anything. My momma has always been a homemaker. She graduated high school at the top of her class, but my father was her high school sweetheart and they got married two months after graduation when they found out they were pregnant with my brother. When I graduate I plan on going to college. I don't know where yet and I don't know what I'm going to study, but I will be the first person in our family to go. I'm terrified, but excited.

A horn blows outside and I kiss momma goodbye before turning to my daddy and giving him a hug. "You'll be home tonight?" I ask him. He shakes his head. "No we are behind on quota because of that storm last week. We should be home in a few days." I pout, but hug him tighter and tell him to be safe. I throw a magazine at my brother and tell him to take care of daddy out there before running out the door.

Outside I am greeted by none other than Mr. Adrian Lucas Swanson himself. Luke is the boy next door of every girls dreams. He is smart, handsome, star athlete, and the Boy Scout type. It is rumored that his family founded the town we live in. His father owns a law firm with Mr. Middleton. They have a small office in our small town, but there main office is about 45 minutes away in the large city of Pine Hull. His mother is the head of some sort of organization at the country club. She's constantly in the newspapers community column about some project she's working on. Luke is beautiful. He has brown hair and big brown eyes. He keeps his hair trimmed short and always in place. All the girls swoon after him. He's been my boyfriend for about 6 months now. My momma loves him and even Mark and daddy approve of him.

He leans across his jeep and pushes open his passenger down. "You look amazing, Charlie!" He says grinning at me. I blush and wonder if he's lying. It is early August and we live on the gulf coast of Alabama. I'm not sure if you've ever been to gulf coast of Alabama, but in August the temperature are above 100 degrees with 200% humidity. Thus, I took zero effort to get dressed this morning. I threw on a light yellow summer dress and sandals and pulled my long, thick hair into a bun. Luke, however, looks like he just stepped out of a magazine with his gray shorts, baby blue polo, and his hair perfectly in place.

I love spending time with Luke. He's funny and kind. Honestly, he's my best friend. I tell him everything. However, sometimes it feels like something is missing. I feel so selfish. What else could I possibly need or want? He's handsome, funny, smart, kind, and he comes from a wealthy family. I know that if I marry him, he would be perfectly fine with me staying at home, going to the country club, and doing whatever I want. His mother was this way. She never had to work. She didn't even have to do housework or raise her kids. She had a nanny and a housekeeper for that. But that's not what I want. I want something more fulfilling. What am I talking about? Of course I don't want to marry him. I'm in high school. I have the rest of my life in the palm of my hand!

Every school has cliques. Ours is no different. I have my friends and Luke has his. When we get to school Luke kisses the top of my head and we head in separate directions to meet up with our individual friends and go to our home rooms.

Unfortunately, meeting up with friends was not what life intended for me on this particular morning. As I rounded the corner I ran straight into some jackass who wasn't paying attention. Normally that wouldn't bother me, but this jackass happened to be drinking a hot cup of coffee and spilled it down the front of my dress. I'll spare you the strand of curses that came out of my mouth. So here I am on my first day of my senior year and my yellow dress now looks like I rolled in the mud and I'm sticky and dripping coffee all over the floor.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry!" say the jerk who spilt their coffee all over me. She grabs my arm and pulls me into the nearest girls restroom. Instantly she starts shoving power towels in my hands as she turns on the cold water and submerges a handful of paper towels. I'm brought out of my stupor when she starts patting my chest with dry paper towels. I realize she's trying to help me dry off. Suddenly she stops patting me and starts laughing.

"What could you possibly find humorous?" I demand. I do not find this situation humorous in the slightest and she's really starting to piss me off. "Your dress is ruined! God today isn't starting off to great is it? Here I am rubbing all over your breast trying to dry you off and it's just not going to work." she stammers between fits of giggles.

I officially hate her. I hate Katherine Middleton!