Brie ran down the stairs her books tucked in her arm. She was late, again. She decided she didn’t have time for any real breakfast so she just grabbed a banana, her backpack and a pair of flip-flops. When she was finally ready to go, she yelled upstairs to her mom.  “I'm leaving! I’ll see you later!”

        “Ok, honey. Remember, we have dinner with the Petersons tonight,” she replied.

        “Alright Mom.” Brie grabbed the house keys from the bowl and swung open the door. When she walked out into the May air a warm breeze blew towards her. It was a beautiful day, the sky was bright blue and all of the dandelions were in mid bloom. It was the perfect day to bike to school. She opened the garage door and pulled out her bike.

        When she got to school she went straight to the office at the front of the building. The lady at the desk looked at her smugly and nodded toward her to go to class. She ran up the stairs and to her locker. She smashed her backpack into the small space and slammed it closed. She grabbed the handle of her binder and slid it off of the top of the lockers. When she walked into the science lab everyone was silent and they were all staring at her.

        “Brie did you sign in?” Mrs. Burkley asked with a little annoyance in her voice.

        “Yes, I did.” She quickly found her friends and fast-walked over to them. She sat down in her seat and took her science notebook out of her binder. She looked up at the whiteboard. It read:

LANGUAGE OF CHEMISTRY

It was the same stuff they had been learning about on Monday. Mrs. Berkley waited until Brie had all of her stuff out to start talking to the class again. Most of science was a bore because they were just going over the things they had already discussed.

After science she had math with Mr. Norberry. That class went by pretty slowly because they just went through packet after packet reviewing the same new information.        

        When she finally got to lunch she was starving. She sat with her normal group of

friends at her normal table with the same normal peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She quickly ate and went outside where she sat on the swing with her best friend M.

        Brie walked back into the school as slowly as possible to save the amount of time she had outside until she got back into the sweaty school. Their school wasn't always hot but unfortunately they lost all of the air conditioning to some sort of budget problem.

        After she finished art, tech Ed, and band, school was over and she was free. She ran outside and took a big deep breath of air. She only had a few more weeks of school and then she was out on summer break.

. . .

Now with only 3 days until summer break Brie was getting worried. She never really thought about what she would do when summer break actually came. She had nothing planned- no camps, her family wasn’t going anywhere, and M was going to be visiting family in Portland. She hadn't thought about it until now but if she didn't find out something she could do this summer, it wouldn’t be much better than school.

        The first chance she got she went to talk to M. She found her sitting in the gym.

        “Hey, can I ask you something before you leave?” Brie asked.

        “Sure,” M said cautiously. “Anything.”

        “When are you coming back from Portland?”

        “Sometime in August. Why?”

        “Oh, it’s nothing.”

        “Alright. I should go now, bye!”

“Bye.” And that was it, she was officially alone for summer and she had nothing to do about it.

. . .

It was finally summer and it was the day that M left for Portland. Brie had never been to Portland but had heard a lot about it from M. She said that it wasn’t too bad of a place but it got boring after a while. She left for the train at 7:45, which was hours before Brie woke up most days she didn't have school.

M called her when she got to Portland and they talked for a while before M had to go to dinner with her family. Brie then heard her mom call her down for dinner.

After she ate dinner she decided to make a list of things she would do that summer.

• See one movie

• Go somewhere new

• Try something new

• Exercise

• See something beautiful

• Make a new friend

If she didn't accomplish these things then so be it, but she would give it her best try.

        The next day she had already fallen into the routine of watching Netflix for half

the day and then doing her chores, eating dinner and going to bed. She realized that day that she was probably not going to accomplish the things on her list.

        Days passed when she had started getting in the habit of staying in her room and sleeping until 12:00. Her mom would check on her every once and a while and tell her that she should read or do something productive. Then the day came when her mom was fed up. She swung the door to Brie’s room open and walked in.

        “Brie, sweetie you need to get out of the house,” her mom said in a calm voice.

        “Okay,” Brie replied.

        “Why don't you go to the pool?” she asked.

        “Okay.”

Brie only realized what she had agreed to do after her mom left her room. She knew she couldn’t disobey her mom after agreeing to it so she got up and went to her dresser where she kept her summer clothes. She slid open the drawer and it made a horrible scratching noise as it normally did. She got out her favorite swimsuit, it was white with lace frills. It was also the only bikini she owned.

When she got to the pool she laid out her towel and got out her book and sunglasses. She decided that if she was going to have to go to the pool at least she could get a nice tan. She lightly placed her sunglasses on top of her nose and pulled the bookmark from her book.

        After about half an hour she started to get hungry so she pulled the $10.00 bill from her bag and looked around for a vending machine. She had only been to this pool one other time and it was for her brother’s birthday party so she just watched the kids.

        A few minutes passed of her wandering around looking for any sort of food. When she was just about to give up a boy who looked about her age maybe a bit older came up to her.

        “Are you looking for something?” he asked. She knew instantly that he worked

there and that he was probably watching her look like an idiot walking around.

        “Umm yeah do you know where the vending machines are?”

        “Yeah they’re inside right through that door.” He pointed to a blue door behind the waterslide.

        “Thanks.”

        “No problem and oh don’t get number 9 sometimes it gets stuck.”

        “Good to know.” She felt her face turn red. She thought he was cute when she first saw him.  He had a chiseled jawline, tan skin, and bright blue eyes. When she liked someone she blushed a lot, so she was very glad that the conversation was over.

When she went to go sit back down at her chair she realized that he was looking at her. Again she felt her face flush with blood. She picked up her book and started where she left off.

        The next thing she knew she saw the boy standing right in front of her.

        “I never got your name,” he said smiling with only half of his mouth.

        “Oh it's Brie.”

        “Well it’s nice to meet you Brie, my names Tyler.”

        “Nice to meet you Tyler.”

        “What are you doing this summer?” he asked casually.

        “Nothing, my mom made me come here.”

        “Well neither am I.” He handed her a note and then walked back to his tall chair. When Brie opened the note it read a series of numbers that she didn't recognize. Then she realized that it was a phone number. A boy had never given her his number before.

        She got home that day and realized that she had done one of the things on her list. She crossed off make a new friend. She wasn’t sure if he counted as her friend yet or not but it was good enough.

        The next day she got up with a new excitement in her. She didn’t lie in her bed and sleep, instead she got out of bed took a shower and got actual clothes on. She grabbed her swim bag and her swimsuit from hanging outside.

        She was so excited every morning to go to the pool and see Tyler that she was doing it almost every day now. Every time she went to the pool they seemed to talk more and more until she felt like they were talking more than he was working, but they had only ever talked when she went to the pool. Until one day when she decided she wanted to do something other than go to the pool and talk. Today she decided to call him. She dialed the number on the note.

        “Hey,” Brie said feeling her voice move up and down with every breath.

        “Hey what's up?” he asked almost like he had been practicing this moment forever.

        “I was just wondering if you were free to do anything other than the pool today?” Just saying the words felt uncomfortable.

        “Yeah sure what do you want to do?”

        “Umm…” she never thought this part of the conversation through.

        “Have you seen the new Star Wars movie?”

        “No I haven’t,” she thought about the first thing on her list: see a movie.

        “Well what about that then?”

        “That sounds good but what time?”

        “How about I look up the times and I will text you back?”

        “That sounds good, talk to you then I guess, bye.”

        “Bye.” She couldn’t believe that she had just made her first plans with a boy.

        He texted her around 3:00 and said that the time that worked best for him was 6:45, so that's when they went. They had a great time he bought popcorn and they talked so much about the movie when they were on their way home.

        When Brie got home that night she went straight to the list on her desk and crossed off go to one movie.

        She still went to the pool almost every day, but it was different now. They weren't just talking at the pool. They would go other places together.

        One day when Brie was just about to go to the pool Tyler called.

        “Hey what's up?”

        “Well I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the beach with me today, I have the day off at work.”

        “Yah sure, When?”

        “Well I actually can’t until later, but maybe we can catch the sunset?”

        “Ok sounds good, bye.”

        “Bye.” She was excited to go see the sunset because she had never stayed that late at the beach before even though she had lived in California her whole life.

        When she got to the beach it was warm and she was only wearing a loose knit cover-up. She quickly realized that she had made a mistake in not bringing a warmer outfit. She had in fact brought a towel, sunglasses (which also made no sense to her anymore), and her phone.

        They sat there for a while talking and talking about all the things that they had encountered the past week until Tyler asked her if she wanted to swim. They didn’t so much swim as they did wade in the water. As the sun started to set they walked along the bay slowly getting farther and farther away from all of their things. They were walking in silence until Tyler asked, “Have you ever been to the cove?”

        “The cove?”

        “I’ll take that as a no then?”

        “Yes,” Brie responded still not understanding what he was talking about.

        “Alright then follow me.” He caught her by surprise when he started running. She followed trying hard to keep up, but falling behind. Until he stopped, she looked around and didn’t see anything that was different. He walked a little farther and then turned, she followed. It was only now that she saw a little nook in the rocks. They walked in and she immediately saw a small pool of water that looked as if it was glowing. Brie had never seen anything like it. She could see everything from that one spot, the sunset as beautiful as could be, and the amazing glowing cove.

        When she got home that night she went to the list on her desk to check off See something beautiful, Exercise, make a new friend, and Go somewhere new. She had done all those things in one night. All she had left was to try something new.

        She had been having so much fun hanging out with Tyler she almost didn't want summer to end. It was already late July, which meant that M was coming home soon and when she came home she probably wouldn't have much time for anything with Tyler. Every time she talked to him she felt nervous, she had never felt that way about a boy in her life.

        Her mom seemed happy that Brie was getting out of the house so much and having fun. She asked her every day when she got home what she had done that day and what she was doing or if she had plans for the next day.

        She was thinking about him a lot lately and everyday she looked forward to seeing him. And when the days came that he was busy she would go back to being lazy all day.

        One of their last days together was the best. It was August and M was coming home in only two days. He called her early in the morning before she was even awake, she didn’t know whom it was at first so was scared that something was wrong.

        “Hello?”

        “Hey,” his voice sounded rough which made her think he woke up recently as well.

        “Who is this?”

        “Tyler.”

        “Who?”

        “Tyler,” this time he said it he made sure to pronounce every syllable of his name.

        “Oh,” she said feeling stupid for not knowing who this was from the beginning.

        “I was wondering if you wanted to go to the pier today?”

        “Sure!”

        “K see you soon!”

        He was truthful she did see him soon. Almost exactly five minutes after he called he was at her door.

        She hopped into his truck and they started the 30 minute long drive to the pier. They talked about summer ending and if they would see each other anymore. He said that he might not be able to hang out with her anymore because his cross country started in fall and that took up a lot of his time.

        When they got to the pier they saw lots of people. They squeezed through the crowds looking for an open booth. They soon found an old looking bowling pin toss, a nice young girl was standing looking as cheerful as possible. They did that for a while and then decided to go get something to eat.

        After eating until they felt like they were going to explode, they walked along the pier and found a nice place to sit. They didn’t talk, they didn’t have to. Just being in his company made her feel happy.

        At the end of the pier there was a big Ferris wheel. Brie had never been on one before, and she didn’t intend on trying it anytime soon. She had been afraid of heights scene as long as she could remember. Until now she hadn't ever thought about trying to overcome her fear, she just ran away from it every time she could.

        Somehow with his almost magical ways, got her to do it. They got into the empty sphere and sat down slowly. As they got higher and higher up she moved closer and closer to Tyler. She soon got comfortable and focused on the beauty of the water and they silence between them. She didn’t want to get out when they got to the bottom of the wheel. They slowly walked along the pier focusing on every moment.

        She was done with her list and it was all thanks to Tyler. She was so thankful for Tyler and hoped that she would see him soon again.

        When she looked down at her phone she realized that it was really late and that she had to go home even though she didn’t want to.

        The day that M got home was an exciting day for Brie. When she saw her come out of the train she ran as fast as fast as she could and hugged her. They went back to Brie’s house and talked for a while.

        “Hey, what did you do this summer?” she asked.

        “Oh nothing much…” she said reluctantly

        “Ok, you can tell me later I guess.”

. . .

        One of the first days of school Brie and M were hanging out when she got a call. It was Tyler

        “Hello?”

 

Brie ran down the stairs her books tucked in her arm. She was late, again. She decided she didn’t have time for any real breakfast so she just grabbed a banana, her backpack and a pair of flip-flops. When she was finally ready to go, she yelled upstairs to her mom.  “I'm leaving! I’ll see you later!”

        “Ok, honey. Remember, we have dinner with the Petersons tonight,” she replied.

        “Alright Mom.” Brie grabbed the house keys from the bowl and swung open the door. When she walked out into the May air a warm breeze blew towards her. It was a beautiful day, the sky was bright blue and all of the dandelions were in mid bloom. It was the perfect day to bike to school. She opened the garage door and pulled out her bike.

        When she got to school she went straight to the office at the front of the building. The lady at the desk looked at her smugly and nodded toward her to go to class. She ran up the stairs and to her locker. She smashed her backpack into the small space and slammed it closed. She grabbed the handle of her binder and slid it off of the top of the lockers. When she walked into the science lab everyone was silent and they were all staring at her.

        “Brie did you sign in?” Mrs. Burkley asked with a little annoyance in her voice.

        “Yes, I did.” She quickly found her friends and fast-walked over to them. She sat down in her seat and took her science notebook out of her binder. She looked up at the whiteboard. It read:

LANGUAGE OF CHEMISTRY

It was the same stuff they had been learning about on Monday. Mrs. Berkley waited until Brie had all of her stuff out to start talking to the class again. Most of science was a bore because they were just going over the things they had already discussed.

After science she had math with Mr. Norberry. That class went by pretty slowly because they just went through packet after packet reviewing the same new information.        

        When she finally got to lunch she was starving. She sat with her normal group of

friends at her normal table with the same normal peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She quickly ate and went outside where she sat on the swing with her best friend M.

        Brie walked back into the school as slowly as possible to save the amount of time she had outside until she got back into the sweaty school. Their school wasn't always hot but unfortunately they lost all of the air conditioning to some sort of budget problem.

        After she finished art, tech ed, and band, school was over and she was free. She ran outside and took a big deep breath of air. She only had a few more weeks of school and then she was out on summer break.

. . .

Now with only 3 days until summer break Brie was getting worried. She never really thought about what she would do when summer break actually came. She had nothing planned- no camps, her family wasn’t going anywhere, and M was going to be visiting family in Portland. She hadn't thought about it until now but if she didn't find out something she could do this summer, it wouldn’t be much better than school.

        The first chance she got she went to talk to M. She found her sitting in the gym.

        “Hey, can I ask you something before you leave?” Brie asked.

        “Sure,” M said cautiously. “Anything.”

        “When are you coming back from Portland?”

        “Sometime in August. Why?”

        “Oh, it’s nothing.”

        “Alright. I should go now, bye!”

“Bye.” And that was it, she was officially alone for summer and she had nothing to do about it.

. . .

It was finally summer and it was the day that M left for Portland. Brie had never been to Portland but had heard a lot about it from M. She said that it wasn’t too bad of a place but it got boring after a while. She left for the train at 7:45, which was hours before Brie woke up most days she didn't have school.

M called her when she got to Portland and they talked for a while before M had to go to dinner with her family. Brie then heard her mom call her down for dinner.

After she ate dinner she decided to make a list of things she would do that summer.

• See one movie

• Go somewhere new

• Try something new

• Exercise

• See something beautiful

• Make a new friend

If she didn't accomplish these things then so be it, but she would give it her best try.

        The next day she had already fallen into the routine of watching Netflix for half

the day and then doing her chores, eating dinner and going to bed. She realized that day that she was probably not going to accomplish the things on her list.

        Days passed when she had started getting in the habit of staying in her room and sleeping until 12:00. Her mom would check on her every once and a while and tell her that she should read or do something productive. Then the day came when her mom was fed up. She swung the door to Brie’s room open and walked in.

        “Brie, sweetie you need to get out of the house,” her mom said in a calm voice.

        “Okay,” Brie replied.

        “Why don't you go to the pool?” she asked.

        “Okay.”

Brie only realized what she had agreed to do after her mom left her room. She knew she couldn’t disobey her mom after agreeing to it so she got up and went to her dresser where she kept her summer clothes. She slid open the drawer and it made a horrible scratching noise as it normally did. She got out her favorite swim suit, it was white with lace frills. It was also the only bikini she owned.

When she got to the pool she laid out her towel and got out her book and sunglasses. She decided that if she was going to have to go to the pool at least she could get a nice tan. She lightly placed her sunglasses on top of her nose and pulled the bookmark from her book.

        After about half an hour she started to get hungry so she pulled the $10.00 bill from her bag and looked around for a vending machine. She had only been to this pool one other time and it was for her brother’s birthday party so she just watched the kids.

        A few minutes passed of her wandering around looking for any sort of food. When she was just about to give up a boy who looked about her age maybe a bit older came up to her.

        “Are you looking for something?” he asked. She knew instantly that he worked

there and that he was probably watching her look like an idiot walking around.

        “Umm yeah do you know where the vending machines are?”

        “Yeah they’re inside right through that door.” He pointed to a blue door behind the waterslide.

        “Thanks.”

        “No problem and oh don’t get number 9 sometimes it gets stuck.”

        “Good to know.” She felt her face turn red. She thought he was cute when she first saw him.  He had a chiseled jawline, tan skin, and bright  blue eyes. When she liked someone she blushed a lot, so she was very glad that the conversation was over.

When she went to go sit back down at her chair she realized that he was looking at her. Again she felt her face flush with blood. She picked up her book and started where she left off.

        The next thing she knew she saw the boy standing right in front of her.

        “I never got your name,” he said smiling with only half of his mouth.

        “Oh it's Brie.”

        “Well it’s nice to meet you Brie, my names Tyler.”

        “Nice to meet you Tyler.”

        “What are you doing this summer?” he asked casually.

        “Nothing, my mom made me come here.”

        “Well neither am I.” He handed her a note and then walked back to his tall chair. When Brie opened the note it read a series of numbers that she didn't recognize. Then she realized that it was a phone number. A boy had never given her his number before.

        She got home that day and realized that she had done one of the things on her list. She crossed off make a new friend. She wasn’t sure if he counted as her friend yet or not but it was good enough.

        The next day she got up with a new excitement in her. She didn’t lie in her bed and sleep, instead she got out of bed took a shower and got actual clothes on. She grabbed her swim bag and her swimsuit from hanging outside.

        She was so excited every morning to go to the pool and see Tyler that she was doing it almost every day now. Every time she went to the pool they seemed to talk more and more until she felt like they were talking more than he was working, but they had only ever talked when she went to the pool. Until one day when she decided she wanted to do something other than go to the pool and talk. Today she decided to call him. She dialed the number on the note.

        “Hey,” Brie said feeling her voice move up and down with every breath.

        “Hey what's up?” he asked almost like he had been practicing this moment forever.

        “I was just wondering if you were free to do anything other than the pool today?” Just saying the words felt uncomfortable.

        “Yeah sure what do you want to do?”

        “Umm…” she never thought this part of the conversation through.

        “Have you seen the new Star Wars movie?”

        “No I haven’t,” she thought about the first thing on her list: see a movie.

        “Well what about that then?”

        “That sounds good but what time?”

        “How about I look up the times and I will text you back?”

        “That sounds good, talk to you then I guess, bye.”

        “Bye.” She couldn’t believe that she had just made her first plans with a boy.

        He texted her around 3:00 and said that the time that worked best for him was 6:45, so that's when they went. They had a great time he bought popcorn and they talked so much about the movie when they were on their way home.

        When Brie got home that night she went straight to the list on her desk and crossed off go to one movie.

        She still went to the pool almost every day, but it was different now. They weren't just talking at the pool. They would go other places together.

        One day when Brie was just about to go to the pool Tyler called.

        “Hey what's up?”

        “Well I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the beach with me today, I have the day off at work.”

        “Yah sure, When?”

        “Well I actually can’t until later, but maybe we can catch the sunset?”

        “Ok sounds good, bye.”

        “Bye.” She was excited to go see the sunset because she had never stayed that late at the beach before even though she had lived in California her whole life.

        When she got to the beach it was warm and she was only wearing a loose knit cover-up. She quickly realized that she had made a mistake in not bringing a warmer outfit. She had in fact brought a towel, sunglasses (which also made no sense to her anymore), and her phone.

        They sat there for awhile talking and talking about all the things that they had encountered the past week until Tyler asked her if she wanted to swim. They didn’t so much swim as they did wade in the water. As the sun started to set they walked along the bay slowly getting farther and farther away from all of their things. They were walking in silence until Tyler asked, “Have you ever been to the cove?”

        “The cove?”

        “I’ll take that as a no then?”

        “Yes,” Brie responded still not understanding what he was talking about.

        “Alright then follow me.” He caught her by surprise when he started running. She followed trying hard to keep up, but falling behind. Until he stopped, she looked around and didn’t see anything that was different. He walked a little farther and then turned, she followed. It was only now that she saw a little nook in the rocks. They walked in and she immediately saw a small pool of water that looked as if it was glowing. Brie had never seen anything like it. She could see everything from that one spot, the sunset as beautiful as could be, and the amazing glowing cove.

        When she got home that night she went to the list on her desk to check off See something beautiful, Exercise, make a new friend, and Go somewhere new. She had done all those things in one night. All she had left was to try something new.

        She had been having so much fun hanging out with Tyler she almost didn't want summer to end. It was already late July which meant that M was coming home soon and when she came home she probably wouldn't have much time for anything with Tyler. Every time she talked to him she felt nervous, she had never felt that way about a boy in her life.

        Her mom seemed happy that Brie was getting out of the house so much and having fun. She asked her every day when she got home what she had done that day and what she was doing or if she had plans for the next day.

        She was thinking about him a lot lately and everyday she looked forward to seeing him. And when the days came that he was busy she would go back to being lazy all day.

        One of their last days together was the best. It was August and M was coming home in only two days. He called her early in the morning before she was even awake, she didn’t know who it was at first so was scared that something was wrong.

        “Hello?”

        “Hey,” his voice sounded rough which made her think he woke up recently as well.

        “Who is this?”

        “Tyler.”

        “Who?”

        “Tyler,” this time he said it he made sure to pronounce every syllable of his name.

        “Oh,” she said feeling stupid for not knowing who this was from the beginning.

        “I was wondering if you wanted to go to the pier today?”

        “Sure!”

        “K see you soon!”

        He was truthful she did see him soon. Almost exactly five minutes after he called he was at her door.

        She hopped into his truck and they started the 30 minute long drive to the pier. They talked about summer ending and if they would see each other anymore. He said that he might not be able to hang out with her anymore because his cross country started in fall and that took up a lot of his time.

        When they got to the pier they saw lots of people. They squeezed through the crowds looking for an open booth. They soon found a old looking bowling pin toss, a nice young girl was standing looking as cheerful as possible. They did that for awhile and then decided to go get something to eat.

        After eating until they felt like they were going to explode, they walked along the pier and found a nice place to sit. They didn’t talk, they didn’t have to. Just being in his company made her feel happy.

        At the end of the pier there was a big Ferris Wheel. Brie had never been on one before, and she didn’t intend on trying it anytime soon. She had been afraid of hights scene as long as she could remember. Until now she hadn't ever thought about trying to overcome her fear, she just ran away from it every time she could.

        Somehow with his almost magical ways,  got her to do it. They got into the empty sphere and sat down slowly. As they got higher and higher up she moved closer and closer to Tyler. She soon got comfortable and focused on the beauty of the water and they silence between them. She didn’t want to get out when they got to the bottom of the wheel. They slowly walked along the pier focusing on every moment.

        She was done with her list and it was all thanks to Tyler. She was so thankful for Tyler and hoped that she would see him soon again.

        When she looked down at her phone she realized that it was really late and that she had to go home even though she didn’t want to.

        The day that M got home was an exciting day for Brie. When she saw her come out of the train she ran as fast as fast as she could and hugged her. They went back to Brie’s house and talked for awhile.

        “Hey, what did you  do this summer?” she asked.

        “Oh nothing much…” she said reluctantly

        “Ok, you can tell me later I guess.”

. . .

        One of the first days of school Brie and M were hanging out when she got a call. It was Tyler

        “Hello?”