Olivia

Prologue

Will slings his arm around me and leans back into the wooden beach chair. His hair tousled, cheeks flushed, and eyes shining. Looking towards the coast and the dark waters, he smiles and closes his eyes.

I look over at him and couldn't help myself from smiling too. He isn't wearing his usual smirk or looking at me with such an intense gaze I often wonder if he could see right through me. Instead, his grin is wide and the campfire softens his sharp features. His lashes graze his face and he looks so young, so much like the little boy who chased me around during summery afternoons.

"We're so close Liv." He whispers softly.

"To what?" I ask. I know exactly what he was implying though. It would be less than a year before we would both head off to university. It doesn't seem like such a big event, but our senior year will be the last time that we will be in our little bubbles, hidden from the real world.

"So close to senior year, prom, university, moving out," he pauses to look down at me, his eyebrows furrowing, "yunno...the end of our youth."

I couldn't hold a serious expression, instead I burst out in laughter. He followed with a smile, looking away from me towards the waters again. It was completely black. Only when the moonlight caught the heads of the waves could we see a small glimmer of anything beyond the coast.

"It seems close doesn't it." I whisper, letting my words hang in the murmur of the other partygoers on the beach who were all hoping to catch the last day of summer.

"You say that now, but we're further than you think. I mean, think of all those applications, tests, and oh god, we still have to pass all of our classes." I say in mock horror. "Yunno, this is when our lives peak. All those movies and books, they're all about eighteen year olds, living the time of their lives without a care in the world." I paused, "We're gonna peak soon."

Will laughs and tightens his grip on me.

"Peaking in high school, sounds like an achievement."

I lean my head onto his shoulder and snuggle in close.

"I just hope this ends with a bang."

Will puts his lips to the top of my head.

"It will. I promise."