Forever Yours, Sunshine.

Chapter One.

Knock, knock.

Ugh. What in the world?

Knock, knock, knock!

"Hey! Who is that?" I grumble. I roll over in bed, peering angrily at my door. If my dad thinks I'm getting up to eat his famous Saturday morning "love cakes", he's sadly mistaken.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock-

"I'M COMING!" I holler.

Getting out of bed, I slip on my fuzzy turtle slippers, and walk across my creaky bedroom floor. Before I can even open my door, my best friend Sammy practically rips the door off the hinges.

"Don't you know how to answer your door?!" She demands.

"My deepest apologies, I was sleeping. Its only-" I stop and look at the clock. Oh. Its noon. "Alright, what do you want?"

Sammy starts jumping up and down, her frizzy brown hair flying everywhere. "There's a giant sea turtle on the beach, and I just had to come tell you. Get dressed and come see!"

I grin from ear to ear, and pull out shorts and a tee shirt. While I quickly dress, Sammy searches for my camera. "We've got to get a picture of this! This is the best opportunity to win the photography contest at the festival this year!"

"I know. But I bet you everyone else had the same idea..." I run a brush quickly through my tangle of blonde curls, and grimace at my freckles. "I was thinking something more, I don't know, majestic, like one of your horses running down the beach."

Sammy looks over at me in annoyance. "My horses hate the beach, and you know that. Crystal pees every time she gets near the water. Besides, I thought turtles were your favorite animals?" She stares pointedly at my slippers.

"Well, they are. Its just, I want a unique picture, not something everyone else is going to enter."

She sighs, all her previous excitement gone. "So does this mean we're eating love cakes instead of looking at the turtle?"

"Uh, no. I'm not even sure where my parents are. They never let me sleep past ten, and I didn't get up until you got here."

"Explains why I had to climb through the window to get in."

"You climbed through my window?!"

She smiles devilishly at me. "You should really start locking your windows."

I shake my head, not completely surprised. "Sammy, you're too much sometimes."

"Sunshine, Sunshine, Sunshine. The turtle is going to crawl away if we don't hurry."

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"Woah! He's so big!"

"Do you think he's lost?"

"Poke him with a stick!"

There's a crowd of people around the poor little turtle, and Sammy looks like she might explode from impatience. I try to put my hand on her shoulder, but I'm too late.

"EX-CUUUUSE me!" She snaps, shoving people to the side. "I believe this turtle needs some breathing room, and you guys are suffocating him!"

Many people speak out in angry protests, but the crowd slowly ebbs down to only me and Sammy. I laugh to myself, and Sammy wipes her palms on her shorts. The turtle has already started to crawl away back to the ocean, and I get the right angle to snap a picture. At first, a boy running down on the beach ruins it, so I have to take another one to get it just right.

"Ohmygosh. That boy, was so so so cute! Wasn't he, Sun? Sun?"

I ignore her and watch as the turtle reaches the water, and swims out back to where he came. Waving him goodbye, I feel my heart swell.

"Sunshine, did you hear me?"

"What? Oh, yes. The cute boy. Yeah, he was nice."

"You didn't even get a good look at him, did you?"

"I was busy. Besides, boys aren't in the picture right now. Maybe ever."

Sammy snickers. "I doubt it. You were always the girl to like someone for decades."

"That was a little exaggerated. I've only been alive for a decade and six years."

"You know what I mean."

I do know what she means, but I don't want to think about it. I just want to focus on the turtle, and on the summer festival coming up. But then again, Sammy will be on me to get a date for it. The thing is, I don't want to date, because it never ends well. He always has another girl in mind, another plan, or maybe he just loses interest. I've just never been able to interest a guy long enough for a lasting relationship. Anyway, I'm only sixteen. I have a while, right?

Sammy doesn't say anything more about cute runner boy, which I am grateful for. She just pulls her hair into a loose ponytail, and keeps walking towards town. Today is rather cool for North Carolina in the summer, especially in this little tiny town called Riverton, which is so little it doesn't even make it on the map. There's few restaurants, and only a little more shops. I guess you could vacation here, but I wouldn't. Everybody knows everybody, which means don't even bother keeping a diary, you don't even have secrets.

Crazy Tim's Crab Shack is just now opening, and we wave at Tim as he's poking at his son Landon to wipe the counters. We walk up and sit at the bar, and Tim smiles at us.

"Hello, girls. What'll it be?"

"Can we just have two sodas? Dr. Pepper?" Sammy orders, her eyes slipping to Landon.

Tim beams, nodding his head. "Of course. Wait one moment." He heads off into the back, and Landon exhales rather loudly.

"What's up?" he says, throwing the rag over his shoulder.

"Ha, nothing really. We just saw a giant sea turtle crawl on the beach and then leave. Sunshine as a picture of it." Sammy smiles at me, and I try not to roll my eyes as she obviously fawns over Landon. I admit, he is cute, what with his dark hair, and light blue eyes. He winks at her, and goes back to wiping down the counters.

She wiggles her eyebrows at me, and Tim returns with our drinks. "That'll be two-fifty. Thank you!" He bids us farewell, and we head off back to the beach to sit and watch the waves.

"Sunshine, I wish you were interested in boys. I know what Kyle did was painful but-"

"Sammy, I just can't. To invite a guy into my life is too much right now. Besides, I'm busy with my job right now."

She laughs. "Oh really? Jamie's keeping you that busy selling clothes?"

"For your information, Fashion Boutique is extremely busy this time of year."

"Right, Sun. Right."

I sigh loudly, making sure she's aware I'm irritated with her. She smiles at me, and continues to walk on. Sammy thinks she's just doing me a favor, but encouraging me to find a relationship is just the opposite. After Kyle, I don't think I can do it. Scratch that. I know I can't.