Unconventional

Chapter One

As the sun beams onto my clothed body, I secretly observe the world around me. Today is the last day of summer and it seems as if there are a million people on the beach. The beach is filled with different voices, laughter, and soon to be memories. I smile as I witness two little girls getting swallowed by a huge wave only to emerge and shouting, "let's do it again."  

Suddenly a burst of wind travels across my face and my long brown hair attempts to fly. I quickly search for my hair tie in my bag; however; a young couple catches my eye and I pause. My mind and body feel incredibly envious as the two people share an intimate kiss. They pull away and look into each other's eyes telling one another untold sentiments. I force myself to look away and just concentrate on my sand covered feet and the book in my hand.

"I knew you would be here." Someone plops right next to me. Usually I would be scared by the idea of a stranger next to me but I know this boy. His voice is the first dead giveaway and the second is his presence.

"Of course, I would be here Nate. Where else would I be?" I ask him while I take in his attire and I do an eye roll. Leave it to Nate to show off his god-like body. He is wearing blue board shorts, flip flops, and aviator sunglasses. I can already tell that he didn't take time out of his day to fix that curly mess of hair. But in all honestly, it looks good on him. Of course, I will never tell him that because he already has a big ego--no need to turn his ego from big to massive.

"I don't know Allie.." He tilts his head and bites on his bottom lip, "I figured you would be getting into some kind of trouble. When your mom told you weren't home I knew you would be here. But I assumed you would be doing something way cooler than..Are you freaking kidding me?" He snitches the book out of my hand.

"Come on! Give it back to me. This is the last book on our summer reading list." I try to reach for it but he playfully pushes me down.

"No. No. No. We had a deal! At the end of our sophomore year before summer we had an agreement. No books Ms. Darwin! You little rebel. This is contraband." He checks my bookmarked page and makes a dramatic face, "You are on page 215 out of 390. This is just unacceptable. I punish you to the great pacific ocean!" He points at the body of water in front of us.

"But this is my first offense! Don't I get a written warning or a phone call to my mother for my bad behavior?" Once again, I fail at attempting to grab the book from his hand. I am practically in his lap now.

"Nope cause according to your confession you-"

"Wait a minute! I didn't confess to any sort of crime."

"Oh yes you did." Nate has a smug look on his face. I have known him since I was six and every time he has that look--let's just say nothing good comes out of it. "You said 'This is the last book on your reading list.' And if I remember correctly we had fifteen books on our reading list."

I silently crawl out of his lap and push up my eyeglasses. I keep myself busy by packing up my snacks and water bottle, "Fine.. you caught me red handed but can't it be a different punishment? I don't even have a swimsuit." I look down at the clothes I am wearing: ripped jeans, a sweatshirt, and flip flops.

"Nope. A deal is a deal. But to make your life a little less gruesome I'll go with you." He kicks off his flip flops, "Besides, you always have the option of just going skinny dipping." He wiggles his eyebrows in a perverted way.

I try to hold in my laughter and shake my head, "Yeah cause that's what Allie Darwin does. She shows off the goodies every chance she gets!"

"You said it not me," Nate takes off his sunglasses and grabs my waist lifting me up as if I am weightless. My eyeglasses fly off my face while I am in midair.