I Never Liked Summer Anyway

Okay. I think to myself, it'll be ok, nothing's going to change.

New house, check.

New 'Dad', check.

New freaking loaded 'Dad', I should say.

I'm not kidding. Compared to the house me and my mum used to live in, this place is a mansion... It's close enough, anyway.

For example, my new bedroom is the size of my old living room and kitchen combined, and that's not to mention the ensuite.

So we're rich now. Apparently.

That's what you get when your mum unwittingly starts dating a surgeon I suppose.

Hah. Nothing's going to change, huh? I couldn't have been more wrong.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep.

"Noooo" I groan to myself as I lazily reach out for my alarm clock, eyes still closed. I find it and hit it a couple of times to silence it.

I just drift off again when I hear the familiar buzz of my phone. Again I reach out until I've got it,

Then I drop it in my face.

I hate it when that happens.

Swearing quietly to myself I scrabble to answer it before it stops ringing.

"Hello?" I say, internally congratulating myself for getting there in time.

"Tessa! I'm waiting for you outside! please tell me you're almost ready."

Crap, crap and crap again.

Today I'm supposed to be helping set up a surprise party with Lucy.

"Uh... Yeah. One moment." I say, hanging the phone up.

Ten minutes later, I've manage to navigate my way out of my own ridiculously large house. Lucy's old black Volvo sitsf on the drive. When she sees me she shakes her head in exasperation. I jog over and climb in.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" I pant as I dump my bag and grab my seatbelt.

She gives me a look that could wither flowers.

"I can't believe you overslept, again!"

I contemplate lying, but I don't think she'd believe anyway.

"I'm ready now, aren't I?" I give her a winning smile and she rolls her eyes and starts the car.

"You're something else Tessa" She snorts, tossing her red hair.

"Amazing? Funny? The best human being ever to exist?"

"Nah, that would be me." She says, her dark eyes focused on the road ahead of her.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"Tessaaaaaa!" Lucy shouts excitedly from the stairs.

"Whaaaaat?" I shout back, mocking her.

"Come down, everyone's here apart from Chloe and we need to hide!"

I trudge downstairs. We did a pretty good job decorating the place. Balloons float around on silver strings and there's a banner with a big silver 18 on it. I can't take the credit though, Lucy wants to be an events organiser and uses occasions like this to practice. She's pretty damn good, too.

Then I remember that I'm supposed to be hiding, because Chloe is supposed to be coming through that door any second.

I feel someone tap me and swivel around to face a boy. A boy I've never seen before. To say he was cute would be an understatement. Dark brown wavy hair tousled to perfection, dark blue eyes and those hipster ray ban glasses that actually really suit him.

"Are you going to hide or not?" He asks, raising one dark eyebrow.

I open my mouth to speak when suddenly I hear voices by the front door...

Shit. I'm going to ruin everything.

"Come on!"

The boy grabs my arm and gently pushes me into a cupboard under the stairs, following behind me before swiftly shutting the door.

My heart races in the dark as he whispers "Sorry, took an executive decision there."

We're so close I can feel his warm breath on my face.

Unsure of what to say I nod awkwardly, then remembering we're in the dark I say,

"Um, don't worry about it, in fact thanks for saving me from ruining the surprise."

We listen intently as the lock clicks and the door creaks open.

"What the-"

"SURPRISE!"

Everyone except cupboard boy and me shouts, in the confusion we forgot to listen for the signal Lucy must've given...

"Crap." I mutter as the area outside the cupboard bursts into chatter and laughing.

"Oops." Cupboard boy says. We're so close that I can feel his body shake as he chuckles silently.

He opens the door and light bursts in, blinding me for a second. As the boy moves I get a waft of his deodorant or aftershave or whatever it is. All I know is that it smells heavenly.

People now fill the hall where Chloe stands, surrounded. A few people stare at cupboard boy and I as we exit the confined space.

"This doesn't look to great for us." Cupboard guy mumbles as his eyes scan the room.

"You think?" I say sarcastically.

"Good thing the party's only just started." He says turning back to me.

"Otherwise this would look much worse."

I nod, at a loss for words again now I can see his face. Smooth, Tessa, so bloody smooth.

Wow. He's cute. Or hot, I can't decide which.