The Summer Before My Life Began

Chapter 1

The scene closes in from an aerial view to an open-top Jeep. The Beach Boys' "I Can Hear Music" playing over the shot. The angle switches to show a young woman, around 18, looking out the window with her arm stretched out it, on the passenger side. The wind is blowing past her with the speed of the car. Her face turns up, towards the sun, soaking in its rays. 'How could it get any better than this?' she thinks.

"Gray? Are you listening to me?"

Aria's voice cut through my cinematic daydream. I turn my head away from the closed, tinted window of my Ford Explorer to face my best friend Aria Jade Castrello.

"What? Yeah, of course I was," I reply, not-so-stealthy. I had no clue what she'd just been saying.

"Really? What was I talking about?"

I was silent for a second, weighing the options of coming clean to my horrendous crime or firing a shot in the dark to guess what she'd been complaining about this time. I went with the shot in the dark.

"You were complaining that the guy you liked friend-zoned you even after you admitted your feelings to him, and you've come to the conclusion that you'll be alone forever."

There was a moment of silence where you could only hear the sounds coming from the engine.

"You got lucky," she mumbled, shifting angrily in her seat.

"So... I was right?" I grin over at her.

She gives me a side glance and grimaces. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know me so well," she grumbles.

I start laughing from the fact she's so upset about this and turn away from her. She eventually joins in, giving me a soft giggle.

"So anyway, what were you dreaming about over there?" Aria glances over at me, before returning her gaze to the road.

"Oh you know, the same old stuff," I reply.

"What adventure was it this time? Did I grace the scene with my presence?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, you did my dear friend." She seems to be very pleased with this news. "And I was actually just picturing this, except much more aesthetically pleasing."

"What? Is my driving your car down to LA while you stare dreamily out the window at the amazing ocean view, not enough for you?" She fakes an offended look at me.

"Are you complaining? Because, from what I remember, you're the one who invited yourself. I would've been fine on my own."

Aria laughed at me. "Yeah right! You wouldn't have made it out of town without me. Plus, why would you go to LA alone?"

"Okay, first of all, I would've gotten out of town just fine on my own." She scoffs in disbelief as I glare at her. "And secondly, I wouldn't have been alone. The whole reason I'm going down is to spend time with my cousin before he starts his senior year of college starts, cause I know I'll probably never see him after that."

"Yeah, whatever. Such a sob story." She shakes her head as she waves me off, finally focusing on the road.

I sit there for a minute, trying to understand why this girl was my best friend, before giving up and turning on the radio. I instantly smile before turning to gaze out the window again.

I can hear music...