Seashells

Chapter 1: Call Me Maybe

"Hey, I just met you,

and this is crazy,

buy here's my number,

so call me, maybe?"

-from Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen

Under the summer sun, with waves crashing in the distance, I perched on my new powder blue bicycle and took a lick of a frosty orange popsicle. Mmm- hmm. I thought. This is the life. I was finally here, at the beach, and here to stay for the entire summer. I glanced at my watch and groaned. I was supposed to meet my mom in five minutes. I hopped back on the bike and quickly pedaled back on the bike to the house where my family was staying. Allowing me to bike by myself to the ice cream shack was the most freedom she had given me yet this summer. The first two weeks, I spent most of my time building sandcastles and splashing in the foaming waves with by adorable-but-goofy eight year old brother, Andy, while our mom watched us with the stare of an eagle. I pulled the silver jingly keys out of my pocket and let myself into the big, white house. My dad and I had wanted to rent a rustic, charming beach cottage, but my mother insisted on this newer house by the village. Just then, my iPhone buzzed. It was Jamie, my first friend here, a girl with fiery red hair and a bubbly personality. We met about a week ago when our little brothers got into a splash fight. "U up for going to a real beach today. We will see boyz XD!" read her excited text. My mom probably wouldn't be too keen on me going to the beach with just Jamie, but it was worth a shot.

"Hey Mom!" I called into the living room. "Can I go to the beach with Jamie?"

"Well," she began slowly, emerging from the other room, "I've really appreciated how you played with Andy so much these last two weeks, and Jamie comes from a nice family... so... yes."

"Thanks Mom!" I squealed, rushing up and giving her a hug before dashing up the stairs to my room to change. "Beach- YES!!" I texted Jamie.

The sunlight poured through the little window of my room, illuminating tiny dust specks and shining on my yellow bikini I had laid out earlier on the pale pink floral bedspread. I put it on under my jean shorts and white polo, threw my phone, some money, and a magazine into my silver tote and flew down the stairs, almost forgetting my flip-flops.

"Don't forget to call me!" my mother called as I headed out the door, headed for the freedom of the promise of true summer fun.

Jamie and I met outside of the ice cream shack where she gave me the scoop. "So it turns out we've been going to the wrong beach the whole time," she explained. "We've been going to Seagull Beach, the 'family beach', but actually we need to go to Seashell Beach. That's where all the high schoolers hang out. And that's why we haven't seen anyone!"

"Ok. Let's go!" I said.

"I got this all from my older cousin, Grey," Jamie continued as we pedaled along. "And he has some really cute friends!" I laughed; Jamie was totally boy crazy. I was too, but more on the inside. Finally, we arrived. I could hear the waves crashing and the seagulls' squawks just behind the wall of dunes. Bikes and golf carts were everywhere, and I locked my bike together with Jamie's hot pink one. "Come on!" she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up the stairs onto the boardwalk over the dunes. I took in the scene: teens were everywhere- tanning on the beach, in the waves, on the dock. Someone was blasting pop music from a boom box. Jamie and I found a vacant patch of sand, took off our cover ups, spread out our towels, and soaked up the sun. I gave Jamie a nudge.

"There's one." I pointed to a cute boy walking up the beach. We were playing our new favorite game: Spot the Attractive Boy. It was really difficult at Seagull Beach, but now it was easy.

"Mmm-hmm. That one's yummy," she said.

"How about that one?" I said, pointing out a tall blonde guy.

"That's my cousin, silly!" Jamie laughed. "Come on, let's go talk to Grey." She led me accross the beach to a circle where her cousin was standing and gave him a hug.

"Hey cuz!" he said.

"Hey, I'm Meg," I said to the group. Grey, his girlfriend Alyssa, his friend Turner, Turner's brother Chase, Chase's friend Kevin, and Kevin's sister Courtney all introduced themselves.

"Hey there," said Chase, giving me a wink. I shot him a smile.

"So who's up for some beach volleyball? We were just about to play," said Grey, twirling a ball on his finger.

"Me!" Jamie and I said in unison.

"Ok, I'll pick the teams. Losers have to get dunked! How about Jamie and Kevin versus Chase and Meg."

"I hope you're good at volleyball," I whispered to Chase, "because I'm terrible."

"Nah, it's ok, so am I," he said. We walked over to the net set up in the sand. Jamie served the ball across to Chase, who jumped up to hit it but missed and fell down face first.

"Real smooth," I said laughing. This time, the serve came to me. I didn't want to jump and fall like Chase did, but I waited too long and the ball hit me in the stomach and I fell down backwards.

"Smooth yourself," laughed Chase. He offered me his hand and pulled me up. The rest of the game didn't go any better for us. Chase kept on trying to spike it while I just tried to avoid the flying blue and white ball. In short, it was an epic fail. Finally, the game ended. Jamie cheered and gave Kevin a hug. Chase flipped his sandy chocolate brown hair and gave me a fist bump, his warm brown eyes sparkling. "Good game."

"Good game yourself," I said. I sat down in between Chase and Jamie on the beach while Grey and Alyssa played Turner and Courtney. Grey, who I originally caught sight of in Spot the Attractive Guy, had the tall, dark, and handsome look going on, while Turner and Chase were more baby-faced adorable, and Kevin was the blonde jock. "So, what sports do you play?" I asked Chase.

"Lacrosse. You?"

"So you're a lax bro," I said. "I play tennis." I already found out that Chase was sixteen like me but going into elenventh grade, while I was a rising sophomore. We were kind of alternating being awkward and flirting. Just then, Courtney scored the final point and beat out Grey and Alyssa. Then they played Jamie and Kevin and quickly beat them.

"Dunking time!" shouted Turner, sprinting for the ocean. We all followed, eager to feel the cool water on our skin, even if we were about to be dunked. Turner pushed me under as I was splashing Chase. The salty water filled my mouth, but we all just bobbed in the waves for a while. Chase and I body surfed back to the shore.

"Ugh, I left my towel way over there," I complained, starting to walk back.

"Wait, you can use mine," Chase said, running over to get his towel. He draped it around my shoulders.

"Thanks." Just then, "Call Me Maybe" came on. I started singing along; I loved this song, even though it's over played. "Here's my number, so call me maybe?" I sang. When the song finished, Chase was looking at me. Feeling brave, I asked, "Hey, do you want my number?"

"Sure," he said grinning, "I'll go get a pen." I scribbled my cell number on the back of his hand.

"Just wondering, Chase, why did you bring a pen to the beach?"

"Oh," he said embarrased. "I like to write poetry."

"That's really cool!" I said. Cute, sporty, nice, and artsy? Chase was shaping up to be the perfect guy. Jamie walked up, waving bye to Kevin.

"Text me!" she called. "Meg, I think we've got to go."

As we walked away, I turned and called to Chase, "How long are you staying?"

"The whole summer," he said.

"Me too! See ya!" This was going to be a good summer, I could feel it.