Getting up in the morning is diffuclt, especially when it is Monday. 

The long weekend was over, and it was time to go to school. 

I thought back to Saturday morning, and how nice it was waking up next to Alec. It was definetly something I could get used to. 

"Hi," Alec said, as he looked at me with his head on the pillow, smiling. 

"Hey," I replied softly, as I had just woke up, and was still sleepy. 

"Still a bit tired?" He asked, his voice caring, his eyes looking straight into mine. 

"Ya..." I trailed, then fell back asleep. 

I smiled at the thought replaying in my head.

I was still smiling as I got ready for school, eating breakfast on the front porch with Gran, Pa, and Liam, as it was a nice day and the sun was shining. 

Liam was driving to school again, so I put on my new U2 CD; How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. 

I was humming along to 'crumbs from your table' when we pulled into school, and my eyes immediately focussed on the brown-haired boy, leaning against the brick wall, staring at my car come into the carpark. 

As soon as I got out of the car, Alec started walking toward me. 

"Yeah go see your boyfriend, don't even say goodbye tome," Liam smirked at me, pretending to be hurt. 

"Bye Liam!" I smiled at him, and continued walking toward Alec. 

"Hey!" Alec greeted me, falling into step on my left. 

"Hey," I replied, smiling back at him. 

We walked to my locker together, where he leaned on the locker beside mine while I opened my locker. 

"So I was thinking that we could hang out after school... You know, the assignemt and all. I have heaps of questions to ask," Alec smirked evilly, looking into my eyes. 

"Yeah, sounds good. We'll figure it out at lunch, I gotta go! Bye!" I smiled, and walked toward my class, in the opposite direction that he was walking.

The next class was boring, and all I wanted was for it to be lunch already. 

I kept thinking that Grandpa may be right. 

Maybe I do like Alec.

Oh well, I wanted to stop thinking about him! I could do that, couldn't I?

I walked into the cafeteria, ecstatic that it was finally time to eat. 

I went straight to the table and sat down across from Dahlia and Bronte, as they were the only ones there yet. 

I looked around for Alec, slightly eager to make plans for this afternoon. 

Dahlia and Bronte noticed my distraction, and smirked at each other. 

"A little bit distracted?" Bronte asked me, the smirk still present on her face. 

"No, why would I be?" I asked back, trying to look innocent. 

"No reason," she replied, and rolled her eyes. 

"Hey! Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? Bronte, Katie and Sarah are coming over and my parents aren't going to be home," Dahlia asked, her eyes hopeful. 

"Yeah sure, what time?" I asked, wanting to look around but not wanting more questions from Miss D and Bronte. 

"Well I was thinking that you could come over at about five? That way we would have plenty of time to put a movie on and talk over the top of it," Dahlia smiled. 

That was a habit of ours, speaking over the movies we had put on. I don't think we had ever got through a whole movie without talking for at least half of it. 

I looked toward the doors of the cafeteria again, not caring what Bronte and Dahlia said. 

"Looking for someone?" A nice deep voice asked behind me, and I turned around to see a smirking Alec, taking the seat behind me. 

Dahlia and Bronte both raised their eyebrows simultaneously, and I ignored them. I was too happy to be annoyed. 

"Not really..." I dismissed him, turning to greet Mason, Taylor and Hunter, all arriving at our table together.

About halfway through lunch, Alec suddenly turned to me, while I was talking with Katie.

"Hey! What are we doing tonight?" He asked, both of us recieving strange glances from everyone at the table.

"I don't know, want to come to my house?" I replied, everyones gazes staying on us, effectively ending conversations anyone else was having.

"Yeah, hold on a sec," he quickly spoke, turning away from me. "Will you guys stop staring! We are friends, we are not secretly hooking up, no matter how much Tamsin wants this," he gestured to his body with one of his hands.  

I rolled my eyes at him and sighed, discouraged. 

He turned back to me, as everyone continued their conversations, after laughing at my expense, of course. 

I hit him on the arm, showing my annoyance. 

He rolled his eyes at me.

"You can't stay mad at me Tam! You like me too much!" Alec bragged, looking truly happy. 

"Yeah, I wouldn't be too sure.." I trailed, looking out the window into the sun. I thought about how nice it would be to go to the beach this afternoon. 

"Let's go to the beach this afternoon! It's too warm to stay inside, and it's such a nice day!" I voiced my thoughts, still not looking at him.

"Yes! Let's do that! I have some shorts in my bag actually, so we could go straight from here to your house to get your bathers, then to the beach!" Alec bounced on his chair, excited about the afternoon plans. 

"Sounds good. I just have to be at Dahlia's by five for dinner..." I trailed, wishing I could have longer with him. 

How pathetic am I?

"Alright, well I will take you there straight after," Alec replied, looking at me, well more like at my face. His eyes were going over my face, stopping on my eyes, my nose and my lips. 

Alec drove me back to my house, as Liam was taking the car to his friend's house. He parked in my driveway and we both got out of the car. 

I introduced Grandma to Alec, then left him with her, as I ran to my room. I put my blue bikinis on underneath my denim shorts and my plain blue singlet. I got a towel out of the bathroom and put it in my backpack, along with a spare pair of clothes. 

I ran back downstairs to the kitchen, where Alec was sitting in my usual spot, talking with Grandma. 

"Hey, that's my spot!" I interrupted, narrowing my eyes at Alec who simply smiled at me. 

"It was your spot!" He replied, laughing, my grandma along with him. 

"Gran, I'm going to go to the beach with this loser, then go to Dahlia's for dinner. What time do you want me home by?" I asked Gran, while getting a bottle of water out of the fridge and taking a big sip. 

"Whenever koibito," she replied, smiling at me. 

My grandma taught me Japanese from when I was at a young age. Koibito was her nickname for me, as it meant sweetheart. 

"Arigatou Obasan," I replied, thanking her, and walked out the door, Alec trailing behind me. 

"Since when can you speak Chinese?" Alec asked, a dumbfounded look on his face. 

I laughed at him, enjoying his confusion. 

"It's Japanese actually, and my grandma taught it to me when I was younger. I've always loved it, it's such an interesting language!" I spoke, Alec now entertained.

"Does that mean you can write all those letters that look really strange?" He exclaimed, looking and sounding like a kid on Christmas morning. 

"Ya, I can. I'll show you sometime."

"I'll race you to the water!" I yelled, and started sprinting toward the ocean. We raced toward the glistening blue, waveless ocean, trying to beat each other. 

I got to the water two seconds before Alec did, and I dived in. I didn't come up until I was far enough that my feet couldn't touch the sand underneath. 

Alec was still swimming slowly toward me, and I laughed at the shock he had on his face. I assumed it was becuase I could swim so far, so fast, without taking a breath. 

When he finally got to where I was, he smiled the breathtaking smile, and I actually found it hard to breathe for a moment. 

When I had composed myself, I lay on my back and floated, enjoying the feel of the current. 

"You said you had plenty of questions to ask... Where have they gone?" I asked, still floating on my back. 

"They went out the window when..." He mumbled, and I couldn't quite catch the end of the sentence. I'm not even sure I was supposed to hear it. 

I righted myself and went back to treading water, looking at Alec while we began questioning each other. 

"What was you're favourite year in school?" He asked me. 

"Year nine. How many siblings do you have?" I fired back. 

"Three; an older brother and sister, and a younger brother. What made you leave Australia?" Alec asked.

"My parents wanted to be closer to my Grandparents," I took a deep breath, and continued. "What was your first kiss like?"

Yeah, okay, a little off topic but I wanted to know!!

"Non existent," he answered, and my jaw dropped a little. He smirked at that, "suprised?" 

"Ya..." I trailed, not quite being able to put my thoughts into words.

"What was yours like?" He asked me, still smirking at my dumbfounded-ness.

"Terrible..." I trailed, which got Alec laughing.

"You seriously haven't kissed anyone before?" I asked again. It didn't make sense. I mean, the guy was hot!

"Yeah, I'm serious. I never wanted to kiss anyone just for the sake of kissing someone. I promised my sister that my first kiss wouldn't be where nothing was at stake. All I want for my first kiss is for it to actually mean something..." He trailed, and I was so suprised at his honesty. 

"And we're back to the mystery girl that you love," I said. I hadn't even realised how close we had come, and now our faces were only a few inches apart. 

"Yeah," he agreed, laughing. 

"You know you're going to tell me eventually! Do you think she likes you?" I asked him, not quite sure I wanted to know the answer.

"I know I will, just not now. And I'm not sure, she is a really confusing girl. Sometimes she acts like she likes me, and sometimes she doesn't even notice me. She likes me as a friend I think, but who knows? Girls are confusing..." Alec ranted, obviously frustrated with the situation.

"Well, why don't you tell me what you are confused about, and I will help you figure it out!" I exclaimed, happy to help and excited to get a clue on who this girl was. 

"Fine," he answered, dragging out the 'i'. "At school earlier today, I was talking to her and she seemed completely distracted! She was looking out the window, barely keeping up with the conversation. But in class, she was completely focussed on me, the way you are when you like someone..." He trailed, looking at me with a strange expression. 

"Damn, I was hoping I would be able to guess who you liked from that!" That got me a laugh from Alec, something he was doing so often. "I think that she could like you, but I need more examples! If she was distracted when you were talking to her, then maybe she had something on her mind that was bothering her. Next time you should ask," I continued, pleased with my advice giving. 

Somehow we had managed to get even closer, and our noses were almost touching.

We both froze as we realised the position we were in, and as much as I wanted to kiss him, he wanted his first kiss to be with the girl he loved... And that wasn't me. 

So I turned my back on him and went underwater, swimming away from him. 

When I came up for air, I heard his laugh, and I knew that I made the right decision to swim away.

"It's up here on the left," I told Alec, directing him to Dahlia's house. 

It was five thirty, and I was late. We had lost track of time and ended up rushing to MIss. D's house for dinner. 

As he pulled over on the side of the road, I got out and pulled my summer-y blue dress over my bathers that I was still wearing. 

I shoved my towel into my backpack and looked over to Alec, who was still shirtless, and staring at me. 

"Bye Alec! I'll see you tomorrow!" I said smiling, although I really didn't want to leave just yet. 

"Bye Tam!" He replied, and I could feel his gaze on my back as I walked to Dahlia's front door. 

The door opened before I could knock, and there stood a smirking Dahlia; Katie, Sarah and Bronte behind her. 

"Um, hi?" I greeted as Dahlia moved out of the way to let me in. 

"Would you like to tell us what you're doing, 1) wet, 2) wearing a dress, 3) having a shirtless Alec drop you off and 4) being late!" Bronte asked, her eyes narrowing. 

Sarah and Katie started laughing, Bronte and Dahlia joining them a few moments later. 

"Well, I just went to the beach with Alec which is why I am wet and he was shirtless. I am wearing a dress because it is warm and it was the easiest thing to put on over bathers, and I'm real sorry for being late! We lost track of time..." I trailed, and waited for the suggestive comments that were bound to be said. 

"Lost track of time hey? What exactly were you doing at the beach?" Katie asked, pretending to be deep in thought.

"It's not like that guys! We are just friends and we were just hanging out..." I trailed, trying to convince them that I was telling the truth. 

"Ya, but you wish it was like that!" Bronte cut in, smirking. 

"No I don't!" I exclaimed, and everyone else instantly raised their eyebrows. 

By this time we were on the couch, not paying attention to the movie, as always. 

"You do! You stare at him in English, you are always looking for him at lunch, I'm almost positive that you always think about him, AND you stayed at his house on Friday night. I would be suprised if you didn't sleep together, and not like that. Just slept in the same bed." Bronte said, looking very proud of herself. 

Shit, I really do like him...

"Shit. I like Alec." That made everyone laugh. "And I don't think about him all the time! Just sometimes. And so what if I stayed at his house on Friday? It wouldn't be a big deal if it was Mase's or Tristan's!" I exclaimed, avoiding the last part of the question. 

"But did you sleep with him, literally?" Dahlia pushed, and I sighed. 

"Ya..." I trailed, and everyone started laughing.

"What was it like waking up next to him?" Sarah asked, the only one that wasn't only interested in making fun of me. 

"Honestly? It was pretty good. He smells so damn good..." I said, replaying the moment over in my head. 

"Awh, you guys are going to be so cute!" Sarah replied, smiling to herself. 

"Guys, it's not going to happen. He likes someone else." I stated, trying not to look upset by that fact. 

"No. He likes someone, and that someone is you!" Katie exclaimed excitedly.

"No it's not. He asks me for advice about who he likes. It's not me, can we just let it go?" I asked, focussing my eyes back on the television. 

Everyone else followed my lead, and we watched the last twenty minutes of The Parent Trap. We all ate dinner, which was fantastic, then when it was time to go, Dahlia asked if we all wanted to stay over. 

I agreed, and texted my Grandpa to let him know and Bronte did the same. 

Katie declined, saying she had lots of studying to do. 

And Sarah declined too, because she was going over to Zander's house. That was cute. 

After Katie and Sarah left, we all headed down the hall to Dahlia's room, getting matresses and blankets from around the house. We had done this many times so it didn't take very long. 

When we were all settled in bed, we started talking again. 

"How's it going with Seth?" I asked Bronte, who smiled as soon as I mentioned Seth's name. I smiled at her. They had liked each other for so long, and they deserved to be together. 

"It's going good. We are going to that party on Saturday night together. I'm so excited for it!"

"That's so cute Bronte!" Dahlia and I said at the same time, making us as burst laughing. 

"How it going with you and Tris?" I asked Dahlia, and she blushed. 

"Everything is going so great! I can't believe how good it is going!" She replied, smiling too. 

"I'm not suprised, Tris is a great guy! I'm so happy for you both!" I replied, all three of us smiling. 

"And you and Alec?" Bronte asked me, and I could hear the smirk forming on her lips. 

"Me and Alec are non existent," I sighed. 

"Come on Tam! How can you not see that he likes you?" Dahlia almost groaned in frustration, sitting up in her bed to look at Bronte and I.

We both sat up too. 

"Because he doesn't! The reason he didn't answer his question on Thursday night was because he is in love with someone!" I blurted, then instantly regretted it. 

"Yeah, I know..." Bronte trailed, Dahlia nodding her head in agreement.

"How?" I asked, curious. 

"Because he has been talking to us about it. He won't tell us who, but we think it's you." Dahlia stated. 

I snorted. 

"That's bull and you know it! He can't like me! He's Alec! And I'm me. He would never go for me. We are friends and that's all!" I stared at Bronte first, then Dahlia. 

"Whatever you say..." Dahlia trailed smirking, her blonde hair lit up by the light coming through her open window. 

I groaned and lay back down, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.