Over the Summer

Chapter One

Above: Sonora Grace Mitchell- 19

My eyes fluttered open to the mid-morning sun streaming in through the open window. I grimaced as I stretched my back, stiff from the old mattress in the beach house. Gulls chattered outside the window beckoning me to join the day. I sat up and stretched and pattered across the cold tile floor to my bathroom. I look in the mirror to see my chestnut brown hair falling out of the bun I wound it into last night. My green eyes squint at the pink tinge of sunburn under my freckles from the day before. I commence washing my face when a sudden CRASH against the door makes me jump. I roll my eyes. That's the end of my quiet morning. "Ash!", I scream. "It wasn't me,"she whines. "It was Trevor!" Oh my god, both of you stop! I just woke up! Can't we have a little peace and quiet around here?" "Hey guys, let's not antagonize the teen beastie!" I hear their cacophony of giggles and I know that my dad has threatened them with tickles. "Run along outside and play." (Tap, tap) "Sonora? If you hurry the waffles will still be warm." "Thanks, daddy. Be out in a minute." Good old dad.

I take the stairs two at a time and appear into the light blue kitchen below. The white subway tile next to the farm sink is splattered with dad's waffle batter right now. A pile of steaming waffles covered in a red and white gingham napkin sits waiting for me on the butcher block island. Helping myself, I wander outside, still barefoot, in my pajama shorts to watch the waves while I eat. Mom is already outside with a mimosa and an empty plate. "Morning, Sonny." she chirps. "Morning mama." I kiss her on the cheek and settle down with my food on the opposite side of the round patio table. The shade from the umbrella makes it the perfect spot to sit unobserved and enjoy the scenery. Some places here in Wilmington, North Carolina, the forest butts up against the rocky beach. My family owns about 40 acres of beachfront and forest. The beach house, the boat house, and the docks are only for us. The huge picnic grounds, patio, and stage area on the other side of the inlet, we only use for very special occasions, but we often rent it out. I watch annoyed as a group of roadies sets out sound equipment. "Ughhh!" I groan audibly. "Mmhmm," says mom. "It won't be that bad. They'll stay over there and we'll stay over here." "Still we'll have to hear them." I reply. She shrugs. "Just try to ignore them. There's no sense in letting it ruin our first week here." I shrugged, unconvinced, and went back to my breakfast.

I headed back upstairs, slowly this time, tired again now that I'm full.  I pull on an old sundress over my new swimsuit. I laid out on my small private balcony and looked up at the clouds floating lazily across the clear blue sky. "There's nothing like the sound of the ocean," I think to myself. You can almost feel it in your soul. Like there's an ocean within you that longs for the one outside. My breathing has calmed to match the sound of the waves. The sun glistens off the highlights on my chestnut waves. The back of my hair becomes sticky on the back of my neck and a bead of sweat trails down my shoulder. That's my cue to get up. I throw my sandals off the balcony and grab onto the rope on the tree outside that swings to the ground. I go way out past the tree and have to go back for my sandals. I carry them for a while, enjoying the feeling of the sand in between my toes. I heard somewhere that if you could walk on the beach every day you would never need a pedicure, and it's stuck with me. I never wear shoes on the beach. Soon, however, I come to the grassy part where the beach turns into rocks and butts up against the forest and I have to slip on my shoes. I walk for some way just enjoying the day when I hear the familiar sound of children's laughter. My baby sister Ashton and my cousin Trevor are flying kites in the wind just on the other side of the boulders. They're jumping and dodging around each other, trying to get as close as they can without tangling their kites. They're almost cute from this distance. My Aunt Tess lounges on the sand in her monokini. She's going to regret that suit on the walk home. I don't want to walk over yet and have to join in their game, so I pick a medium sized boulder that's almost as tall as my hip with a flat top and crawl up to watch them and the waves. A sudden gust of wind in the wrong direction jerks Trevor's kite towards Ashton's and they immediately wrap around each other and fall into the ocean. "Trevor!"she screams, in that high pitched way that only girls under 10 can. I sigh and start to get up. I might as well appear now and come to their rescue. As I stand up, I see a surfer float by and stop near them. I watch carefully. I see my Aunt Tess sit up to watch him. He waves to her and says something to the kids. He spends about 15 minutes untangling the lines and gets them both back up in the air before paddling off. "Huh." I say out loud. That was a surprisingly decent thing to do. With the kite drama over and Trevor and Ash now playing calmly in the sand, I walk over to sit with Aunt Tess.

"Hiya, Sonny girl!" she says. "Hey", I plop down next to her on my stomach and lay out. "You're gonna get funny tan lines in that suit," she says. I look up and glare at her, "You're gonna regret that suit when you have to walk home with sand in your butt!" She laughs and kicks sand on me. I wiggle my butt to shake it off. The sound of music wakes me up about an hour later. "Ugh," I groan out loud. I guess they're set up and testing now. "Looks like they've got a DJ booth," my aunt says. "Cool," I groan flatly flipping over on my back. "Owww... I'm gonna be so burned. Why didn't you wake me up to flip?" She chuckled, but didn't answer me, still craning her long neck to see the progress of the music festival. I sat up to see Ashton and Trevor now splashing each other in the waves and I realized I was starving. "All this sun has made me hungry," I said. "It's almost two," she replied, "I'm ready to eat. "Come on guys! Aren't you getting hungry?" she called to the kids.  "Yeah! Starving!" Trevor yelled. I bet dad has something good on the stove.

My dad always cooks in our family. My mom can throw down too, but she works so much at the office. He works from home, so he mostly takes care of the house. My dad is a writer, and even here in our vacation house, he has a designated study he spends long hours writing in. He actually spends more time writing here than at home. So, mom takes over the cleaning, but he still cooks. Mom says the sea inspires him. I get that. I feel the same way. True to form, we walk across the patio through the French doors at the back and mom is vacuuming the first living room by the front door. Dad is cooking up some delicious sandwiches. I smell the melting cheese and frying bacon. "Gary's triple deluxe club sandwiches coming up!" he shouts.  "Yaasss!" Aunt Tess cheers. I take the stairs two at a time to find a hairband before I come back down for lunch.

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Thank you for reading the first chapter of my first story on Wattpad. I haven't written anything in a long time and I am just now getting back into the habit. Please like and comment with your feedback so I can improve my work!