The Summer of Secrets

Chapter One

Nothing ever happens.

I'm thinking that as I am laying down on my bed, reading a book that I just got a couple of hours ago. It's the beginning of a series that everyone has been raving about on Goodreads, one in which a girl meets a small town boy in the middle of summer, and they have to deal with different events happening in their lives while trying to make their relationship work. Everything about it is perfect. On the cover, a boy looks into the girls eyes tenderly with his hand on her face. They are on the beach, a place that I love being near. The title is printed in neat cursive- "The Summer to Remember." I was in the middle of the first page when I got word that this book was turning into a movie. As I continued to read it, I started to countdown the days until the movie came out.

Already so many things have happened to these two people. Millie and Tom seem to be perfect for each other, matching just like puzzle pieces. I'm 100 pages in, and in it, a month had already passed, with the two lovers going to the movies together and getting to the point of making out under the stars. I turn the page and read on, my jaw dropping when Millie says that she cannot see him anymore because of his mother. Yeah, like something like that will ever happen to me. My life is way too boring for anything to happen in it, even if I wanted it to.

I am the person that always is careful about what she does and what she says. Everyone calls me a "Goodie two shoes", something that even though I am going into my senior year of high school, I cannot seem to shake off. My school is a one in which everyone goes to parties on the weekends, except me, it seems like. I stay home and study or read a book with my favorite nighttime tea. But, since it is summer, I don't have any excuses for not going out and having fun - except that my parents would kill me. Wait, make that yell at me and then kill me. I've never had a boyfriend, never kissed anyone, and never have tried smoking anything. Yes, I have been around people that were smoking, but I got really, really light headed to the point where I almost fainted.

That's why I love reading romance books. I seem to be transported into another world - one that I am the person that is getting all of the hot guys, the one that knows how to make someone's heart race, the one that knows how to make out in the way that makes guys want more. However, when I close the book, I'm just me. Plain, boring, goodie-two-shoes Sasha. The girl that is always late to school, the one that appears to be tired most of the day, the one that always needs to have her coffee in hand or else she won't function. Nothing will ever happen in my life that is as eventful as this book.

My phone buzzes, distracting my reading. I reach over and smile at the text message that pops up on my screen.

Hey Sash, we still on for tomorrow?

The person on the other end of the conversation is my best friend, Josie. When people say that opposites attract, it describes Josie's and I's friendship perfectly. I am shy and reserved, never wanting to experiment or do anything and Josie is the partier, always having spare condoms in her car ("They come in handy here" she once told me with a wink), and knowing how to flirt with guys to make their heart race. While her skin is always tan to match with her thick and curly blond hair and green eyes, I have pale skin that burns way too easily with thin brown hair and blue eyes. She gets all of the boys looking at her without a single effort, and always tries to get one for me, even though I don't really want a boyfriend at this time. She is also one of the most down to earth people that I know, always wanting to do things that I want to do and making sure that I stay the way I am and that none of her party attitudes rub off on me. Josie is the one that is always offering to take me to parties, even though I always refuse. It's a tradition we have had since the 8th grade when we were having a sleepover and she snuck out to go to a party just down the street. I can remember it like it was yesterday.

"You wanna come?" She asked me, her hand outstretched towards me.

"Nah. I have a test tomorrow and I don't want to bomb it" I replied, opening my textbook.

Josie smiled.

"Come on Sasha! It will be fun! Maybe you will even get that kiss from the boy who keeps looking at you during gym."

"Josie, he is just looking at my ass," I say, which is true.

"Well, I can't deny that It's like a ripe grapefruit."

"Josie!" I say, startled, but laughing.

"Oh well. Have fun studying." She starts to climb out of my window when I say to her,

"What happens if my parents come in?"

She smiles her Josie smile and says calmly.

"Tell them I'm in the bathroom. That is where I am going to be coming back in. Just lock it, turn on the light, and for the love of God keep the window open. I will be back in like an hour." Then she disappeared.

An hour later she stumbled out of my bathroom, smelling like cigarettes and beer. I helped to disguise the smell by spraying some of my Bath and Body Works perfume on her - I didn't want my parents to think that I had been doing those things. I would be grounded right at the first whiff. She tells me about it, how girls were kissing boys and grinding up against them and how she got to make out with that guy from my gym class. It sounded disgusting to me. But ever since than, whenever she asks me if I want to go, I just say "No, have fun.", and she takes off into the night.

But lately, I have been thinking about, going to one of those parties. It's just one of those thoughts that have been in the back of my mind. I'm 17, I should be able to enjoy myself once in awhile. My phone vibrates again.

Bitch you still there??

Shit, I forgot! I text her back quickly, my fingers flying.

Yeah, hi!!! I just have to make sure my bikini is clean and then we will be all set to go! So excited :))

She responds in an instant.

Okay. Should I pick you up?

Sure! Just don't smoke when i'm there. I'm starting to get a cold and don't want it to get worse.

Don't smoke pot or cigarettes? ;)

Neither. Can't wait, see you tomorrow.

Josie and I have a yearly tradition that in the beginning of the summer we go to the beach and make our plans for the summer. We plan so many things with each other, but as we got older, we can only fit each other in at certain times due to other commitments. Like this summer I'm starting a job, and Josie has an advanced science class she is taking at a nearby college. Oh yeah, Josie is really good at science, something that I usually struggle with. But the trip to the beach is one of the rare things that we have kept the same and that we haven't changed at all. It's also something that I always look forward to, but I have a feeling about tomorrow, that it's going to be a day to remember forever.

I turn my phone off and look out the window. It's now dark, and Josie is probably at another party, living the life that I wish I had the courage to live.