Chapter 1

Pine Beach: the place where summer lived. It was one of the finest summer resorts in the area. The serene lake had amazing beaches, and was surrounded by woods as far as the eye could see. People from all around came here to get away from their day-by-day lives. But for some, their day-by-day lives were spent at Pine beach, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

Troy was nineteen and was spending his summer at the lake, after completing his first year at Rowles University. He had taken a job at the Ski Hut, which rented out water-skis, wakeboards, and the like. It was a simple job and didn't give a lot of hours. Troy didn't mind however. He was living in his aunt and uncles' cabin and they only used it for one week out of every summer, so they let him live there free of charge while he stayed up for work. Troy was very much looking forward to his summer of fun at the lake.

There were many other young people at Pine Beach who came to live and work through the summer, and it soon became like a small community. Troy gained friends very quickly, and after about a month he had gotten to know almost everyone up there. He and three of the others, Andrew, Josh and Jeff, had formed a bond very quickly, and the four of them were now hardly seen apart.

There were some days in summer which were just better than all of the others, some days which were more important. There were some which completely changed the course of the summer. When Troy was unexpectedly woken up that Saturday morning, he didn't yet know that this would be one of those days.

Troy was startled awake by his friends Jeff and Jake, who were literally jumping on his bed to get him to wake up. Jake was the tall, gangly one with matted brown hair. Jeff was a little shorter with brownish-blonde hair which was in short curls. They looked quite mismatched, the goofy Jake and the handsome Jeff, but they were always together.

"Troy! Get up!" Jeff yelled.

"Argggg, what?" Troy answered groggily.

"We need lunch, come on," Jake said, "Start up the barbeque."

"Fine, give me a minute," Troy said as he crawled out of his bed by pulling himself onto the floor, "I'm gonna shower."

"Okay, we're gonna get the barbecue on."

Troy came out onto the small deck behind his cabin where Jeff and Jake were already cooking some hot dogs on the barbeque.

"Hey man, want a beer?" Jeff asked Troy as he threw a Molson from the cooler to Jake and grabbed one for himself.

"A beer? It's ten o'clock in the morning!" Troy exclaimed.

"Yeah, but we've been up since like seven golfing."

"You guys went golfing without me?" Troy snapped.

"No, I went with my dad," Jeff answered, "He was up at the cabin since Thursday. And Jake was 'working' at the clubhouse."

"You actually showed up for work?" Troy sounded shocked.

"Well, I showed up, sure," Jake replied, "And as a reward for my showing up on time, I figured I would take a break and go out with Jeff and his dad."

"So what? Out of a four hour shift you golfed for three?"

"Two and a half, actually," Jake said proudly.

"So your dad's in?" Troy said as he shook his head and turned now to Jeff.

"Yeah, but he's leaving this afternoon. Which is probably a good thing, since Alison is coming in today."

"What? She is?"

"Yup. Finished summer classes. Finally."

"Awwww, not enough action for poor Jeffy," Jake feigned whining.

"Hey, I ain't denying that," he said as he slumped into his lawn chair.

"Well, she'll be back in time for the big party tonight at least," Jake pointed out.

"What party?" Troy asked.

"Dude, you didn't hear! Big fuckin' party at the beachfront tonight! Pierce is setting it up. Big stereo system and everything."

"Nice."

"Yup."

"AND," Jeff started, "Everyone will be there. Including Anna." Jeff gave Troy a meaningful look as he said this. Anna was the girl he had been pining over all summer.

"And she's single now too," Jake threw in.

"I don't know guys..."

"Dude, she wants you! She was never really into that Kent guy too much. This is your chance man!" Jake told him.

"She doesn't want me," Troy said.

"Troy, man, trust me. Kerri seems to think you have a good chance. And she knows Anna." Kerri was very good friends with all four of the guys, and was one of the most popular people at Pine Beach, if not the most popular.

"Well," Troy slunk back, "We'll see what happens."

They continued stuffing their hot dogs into their mouths.

"What time does Andrew get off work?" Jake asked with his mouth full.

"Four I think, something like that."

"Alright, we should go tell him about the beach party tonight later."

There was a lull in the conversation as the three of them ate their hot dogs and drank their beer. The lull was broken however as Jake noticed something from the cabin next door.

In the cabin next-door they saw a girl dressed in a towel walk by the window. But it wasn't just any girl.

"Is that her?" said Jake in a very loud whisper.

"Yeah, of course it is," Troy said, "That is where she lives."

"Kendell Kerrington? Sweet!"

Kendell Kerrington was the best looking girl in Pine Beach, and if you were to ask any of the guys there they would say that she was the best looking girl they had probably ever seen. She was straight out of the magazines, except better since she was real. She had the perfectly carved body, eyes which hypnotized, long, luscious brown hair. However, she was isolated from the others at the camp. She hardly ever talked to anyone and always remained a sort of mystery to the guys there, an unobtainable figure.

The three of them watched her through the window. She was dressed only in a towel wrapped around her chest. Then she reached over and slid her towel off, just as she walked out of the window-view. The guys let out a small groan and sunk into their chairs. Then they heard the sound of water and rose back up.

"She's showering," Jake said with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Jake..." Troy warned.

"Sorry man, but this is a golden opportunity. I have to try and grab a look." He jumped from his seat and ran over to the Kerrington cabin, sneaking around to the other side.

"Jake-" Troy tried to call him back, but knew it was useless. He sat there with Jeff, who was getting antsy himself.

"I'm sorry Troy, I gotta take a look," he said as he went off to join Jake.

Troy sat there with his beer, shaking his head. Finally the other two snuck back from around the next-door cabin.

"Oh man!" Jake said in a low but excited voice, "That was awesome!"

"We caught view of her bathroom through one of the windows," Jeff continued.

"And we saw her coming out!" Jake finished, "Amazing!"

"You guys are awful," Troy said with a laugh.

"C'mon! Let's go tell Andy," Jeff said as he chugged back his beer.