My eyes open to a beam of light coming through my living room window. I'm lying on the couch with my favorite brown blanket laid over me. My head is lying on a pillow from my room Angel must have gotten for me after I fell back asleep. Luckily I didn't have nightmares this time. Last night it was really nice to talk to someone. I always keep things bottled up but I can't do that forever. I look over at the other couch where Angel is still sleeping. After waking him up last night he deserves to sleep in. I sneak out of the living room into the kitchen. Cocoa puffs here I come. I put my headphones in to listen to music while I munch on my bowl of cereal. I put my empty bowl into the dishwasher then start dancing around the kitchen. When a song with a good beat comes on I can't help but dance to it. I quietly dance upstairs to my bedroom. Since I have time I'll start packing for the beach. I grab a big gold sparkly bag and start packing. Towel, bra, underwear, camera, hairbrush, and a plastic bag for my wet bathing suit.

             I close my door and put my iPhone on its dock to stream music. I pull my Victoria Secrets bathing suit out of my walk-in closet. It's bright yellow with little white hearts and padded cups. I clip the strap behind my back then tie the straps around my neck into a bow. The bottoms tie on both sides and hug my hips. I pull on my red shorts and a yellow tank top that says I Bring the Sunshine in red writing. Today is going to be a good day I can feel it. I don't need to flat iron my hair because we are going to a beach so I just brush it instead. Fixing my flyaways and curls.

            "Come in," I yell loud enough for him to hear over my music and his knocking. Continuing to brush my hair I walk over to the door. "How'd you sleep?"

            "Great how about you? After you fell back asleep."

            "Good, no nightmares that time." I smile.

           "That's good." He's wearing sweatpants and well that's about it. His dirty blonde hair is all messed up from sleeping. He pulls it off; it gives him that sexy bad boy look.

             "I packed a bag for the beach. If you need to bring anything you can put it in here." I throw my brush back into my bag as content as I can be with the way my curls look.

            "I'll put my sweats in there after I change."

            "Rose, where are you?" I hear Marcus yell from downstairs.

            "Bedroom, is Brian with you?"

            "Yes!" Brian yells as they run upstairs.

            "Hey, guys." They say in unison. Marcus eyes me then shirtless Angel. If I was him I'd be curious too. I give Marcus the, nothing happened look.

            "Hey. I'm going to go change and put a shirt on. I'll put my stuff in there when I'm done." He directs that to me then walks past Brian to the guest bedroom.

            "Did you too..." Brian trails off.

            "No, nothing happened. We both slept downstairs on separate couches. I assure you both I am still a virgin."

            "So he slept over last night?" Marcus asks with a questioning look.

            "All we did was watch movies and talk. We're just friends that's it." Angel comes in seconds later and sticks his sweatpants in my bag. "You guys ready to have a fun time at the beach?" I ask everyone smiling. I grab my bag and we all head downstairs to the car in the garage throwing our stuff in the trunk before getting in the car. "What's the address to your beach house, Brian?" He gives it to me and I put it into my GPS. My very perky GPS gives me directions in his British accent. Not only does Brian have a beach house but he has a private part of the beach to go with it. His parents never use it so whenever the weather is nice we try to. Out here we have bipolar weather. It rains all the time but then we get random sunny days. Our ride is full of talking and singing to the radio. We make jokes and tell funny stories until we arrive.

            The house is one story made of dark brown shiny wood. The front doesn't look like much but the back looks amazing. You can see out over the lake and the sand is tan with white specks. There's also a huge patio with tables, chairs, and a barbeque. Inside everything is fully furnished with the best stuff. There are three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, a nice big family room with a fireplace, and a huge kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops.

             "Looks like your parents got an upgrade on the appliances," I say looking into the new refrigerator. The front door opens and I turn to see Jasmine and James coming in. "Hey, guys." I smile cheerily.

            "Hey, Rose. You ready to start planning?" Jasmine asks excitedly. The guys all exchange the same look. They aren't nearly as excited as Jasmine and I are.

            "I brought the beer," James says sticking a whole bunch of six packs into the fridge. The guys start cheering and thanking him. Jasmine and I sit at the kitchen table and start planning.

            "This won't take too long I just wanted to get your advice on a few things. One how many people should I invite?" She thinks for a second.

             "Definitely all the juniors and seniors since we know them all really well and only the sophomores and freshmen you want."

            "Okay, two is about decorations. I was wondering what colors and what kinds of decorations. I was thinking streamers, balloons, and possibly a happy birthday banner. My favorite colors are red, turquoise, and yellow so I was going to do those colors. Three is what music, snacks, and refreshments?"

             "The decorations and colors are perfect. You should for sure do the banner since you're turning eighteen. Obviously alcohol because all the students at school love drinking but also soda and water. Snack mixes, chips, and we can also order pizza later. Music should be the latest songs like Rihanna, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, you know people like that."

             "Wow, you're really good at this." I didn't know it was possible but her smile gets even wider.

           "Thanks, you need any other help?"

             "No, for right now that's all, thanks, Jasmine. If I need any other questions answered I won't hesitate to ask you." I smile back at her with a laugh. "Now go join your man on the beach," I order her jokingly.

            "You sure?" She asks hesitantly.

            "Positive, go. Tomorrow after your date you'll have to tell me all about it."

            "I was planning on it." She smiles and runs onto the beach. I like that girl more and more every day. I take my buzzing phone out of my pocket and answer it. "Hello?"

            "Hey, it's Nina. A letter was sent her with your name on it. It's from your mom." My jaw drops and I practically almost drop my phone. Why can't this woman call me with good news?

            "Did you open it?" I walk into the bedroom I set my bag in closing the door behind me.

            "Of course I didn't open it. It's addressed to you."

            "Nina you've been there for me through everything. After I read it I'll just tell you about it anyway."

            "How about this. I know you have plans for today so after you're done come over and we can read it together. Don't worry I won't tell your grandma about the letter."

            "Thank you. I'll see you later." I hang up the phone and flop onto the bed. Not only did my mom abandon me but she did the same thing to her own mom, my grandma. Even though she pretends it doesn't bother her I know it does. If I was her I would be completely worried and freaked out. Before I tell her about the letter I need to know what's in it.

            "It's Angel can I come in?" He asks softly from the other side of the door.

            "Yeah," I say into the blanket.

            "What happened? I saw you practically fall out of your chair before you came in here." He sits down on the bed next to me and I turn on my side to face him.

            "Nina just called me and told me my mom sent me a letter to my grandma's house. After this, I'll be going over there to read it with her."

            "This is kind of random but maybe you can fix things with her. After what you told me last night I know you miss her. Try not to dwell on it though. If you have a good day then the letter won't bring you to down if it doesn't say what you want it to." He's right, I should try to make this day as good as possible. I get out of bed and pull off my shirt. "What are you doing?" I pull off my shorts laughing at Angels raised eyebrows.

            "Don't get your panties in a bunch. I'm just getting into my bathing suit so I can have a kick-ass time on the beach with all my best friends. Now take your shirt off and come drink a beer with me in the sand." He pulls his shirt off and follows me onto the beach.           

             "There you two are." James says with a smirk.

             "Yes, here we are. Pass me a beer will ya?" I put my hands up ready to catch it. He tosses one to me than Angel. "I never pinned you as the drinking type." I crack open my can walking into the water until it goes above my ankles.

           "Don't judge a book by its cover." He smirks taking big gulps of his beer in the water with me.

            "Alright then let's play twenty questions. I know we're friends and all but I never really got to know you when you were here." If he wasn't so shy in our sophomore year we would have been best friends. I want to make him my best friend now since we are already close even though it's been a week. "You can ask any questions you want. Go ahead and go first."

             "Okay. What's your favorite kind of weather?''

            "Cold and rainy just like it is here. Who's your favorite musician?'

            "Kid Cudi, what's your favorite shoe company?" I take a few sips of beer thinking about it.

           "That's a hard question. I think I have to go with Aldo. What's your favorite type of food?"

             "Vietnamese, what's your favorite fruit?"

            "Cherries are my absolute favorite. What is the worst thing you've done?"

           "Besides underage drinking?" He laughs as we toss our empty beer cans to Brian. "Thanks, dude."

             "No problem, want me to bring you guys another one?" Brian asks us.

            "I'll get one a bit later."

            "Same here." Angel agrees and Brian walks off leaving us to our game. "The worst thing I've done is gone to jail for a night because I got into a fight." 

           "Now I'm interested go on." We start walking in the water down the beach.

             "My friend was throwing a party at his house. He invited the whole junior class which was about three hundred students. This guy who I didn't really get along with was there and had drunk way too much. He started to try and fight me. I kept telling him no because he was totally wasted but then he pulled a knife out on me. He started charging at me so I fought back in self-defense. It wasn't that hard to beat him but he just wouldn't give up. People called the cops and since he was passed out on the floor they took me to jail for the night until they could get the story straight. As a precaution, they took the guy to the hospital. All I did was give him a black eye and a broken nose. The next day the cops saw the video and let me go because it was self-defense."

            "What did your parents do when they found out?"

            "Nothing, they said since it was for protecting myself and I tried to back down before he attacked me it wasn't my fault and I did the right thing."

            "I wasn't expecting that," I say a bit shocked, "I take it that you're a little bit of a bad boy." I say smirking at him.

           "Only when I need to be. Now it's my turn to ask a question." He's grinning at me. Something really wrong is going through his head right now. "What is the dirtiest thing you've done with a guy?" That isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

             "Honestly I haven't really done anything. I've been skinny dipping with a guy, felt up by my ex which involved some removing of clothes, then there are the few times I've had guys take belly shots off me. That's as dirty as I've gotten though. Gosh now that I've thought about it I haven't done anything that bad with a guy." I stop walking and think. It's not a bad thing that I've done nothing bad with guys but it means I'm pretty inexperienced. "I wonder what other things are like," I mumble.

             "What other things?"

            "Nothing," I say quickly. "Alright, this is my last question. What's your favorite type of dancing?"

            "It's between hip-hop and breakdancing. People say they are the same but they aren't. Breakdancing is more dancing on your hands which makes it harder and you have to be a bit more athletic. What's yours?"

           "I really like contemporary but I enjoy Latin dances like the Salsa." I put my right arm arched over my head and my left arched in front of my mid-stomach. My left leg is a step behind me and my right is bent slightly at the knee while I'm on my tip toes. This is one of many poses to start a salsa.

            "I'm guessing salsa is your favorite." He chuckles. I put my arms and legs down.

            "Yes it is and I'm guessing for your solo dance you're going to do hip-hop moves." He nods his head yes. "Do you have any ideas for moves?"

             "I was thinking of mainly doing some cool footwork with leg movements and maybe popping or stepping moves." He shows me a few moves. The water splashes everywhere with each movement.

            "Very nice moves. I think you should use them. First I recommend picking a song to dance to. Then think of what moves would go well with the lyrics and beat."

            "Why don't you show me a few moves." I take a few more steps into the water facing Angel and the shore. I move my body like a feather being blown in the wind. The moves just come to me. I lift both my arms and push them out leaning to the right. Then slowly put my arms down lifting my left leg straight up in the air. It's almost as if I'm doing the splits. I put my legs down and spin a few times. Then arch backward with my arms out to my sides and my right leg bent in front of my left. I snap back up throwing my hands behind me and running to do a leap. Next, I do another turn that goes into a backbend. When I lift myself back up I slowly stride over to Angel with my arm outstretched in front of me. Almost as if I'm reaching for something or seeking it. Angel starts clapping which makes me grin.

             "Did you like it?"

           "It was great. Did you come up with that out of nowhere?"

             "Yeah, I did. I thought of a song I wanted to dance to and the moves came to me."

           "You have a gift, Rose. Most people can't do that and it's amazing."

             "Thank you. I'll race you back to the beach."

            "On three. One, two, three." Then we are both sprinting down the beach. The water is splashing all around us and we are both laughing. Of course, he won but only by a foot or so. I'm pretty sure he was taking it easy on me. Today was a good day. I was surrounded by all my friends who make me laugh uncontrollably and smile nonstop.  But in the back of my head, I'm still dreading this moment. I put the key into my grandma's door and let myself in. Nina comes out of the kitchen with the letter in her hand.

            "Are you ready?"

            "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." I give her a small smile and follow her back into the kitchen. We sit at the table. She hands me the letter. As I take it my hands shake and my body fills with fear.