Chapter 1

A Chapter by jared.steadman

I stepped out of the car and shut the door harder than usual. We had just arrived in Half Moon Bay, California, for our family vacation, and I just wanted to get to the hotel and rest. Lugging my bags through the lobby and up a flight of stairs I found the room. A few tries with the key card, and I finally opened the door. I dropped my bags on the carpeted floor and fell on the bed. There I slept for what must have been two or three hours. When I woke up, I found a note that read:

Jared, we went to a wine tasting party and we won’t be back for a few hours. You can watch tv just no comedy central or mtv. There’s some soda in the fridge..

Love,

Mom and dad

“Story of my life”, I thought to myself. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a Dr. Pepper out. It was 7:00 and just getting darker outside. I grabbed a hoodie out of my bag and slipped on my shoes. Time for a walk on the beach. As I stepped out of the room the door slowly shut behind me. I walked down the stairs and pushed open the side door. The walk to the beach front wasn’t long, just a couple hundred yards. It was starting to get cold and windy, so I was glad I brought something more than just a t-shirt.

The waves crashed in and I wished I could stay there forever. The surfers were just coming out of the water and I sat on a rock, wishing something interesting would happen to make this more than a cliché family vacation.

Just then a tennis ball bounced next to me and right behind it came a dog, kicking sand all over me as he ran towards the ball. Next came a girl. Not just any girl, but the kind of girl you know when you first see her that she will change your life.

“Hey sorry, my dog doesn’t have any manners” she giggled. Her light brown hair gently blew across her face in the breeze.

I was at first going to smile and nod, like I usually did, but I worked up the courage to say “Oh that’s fine, what kind of dog is he?” putting on the best smile I could while trying so hard not to look utterly stupid.

“border collie/golden retriever mix. I found him on the beach as a puppy and just fell in love with him. So I took him home.” She said with a smile.

“so you live here then? That must be pretty nice”