Love Letters

Chapter 1 - The Swim and The Story

First chapter! Here goes nothing! I apologize for my excitement.

At school, Hunter volunteered to show me around the school and he had to stay with me the entire week. Joy :/ I played soccer on the field during break times and, of course, Hunter followed me everywhere. He kept talking to me during classes and constantly got in trouble for it. I didn't say a word. That was until Wednesday, when we had swimming lessons. The teacher recognized me from the World Records, and moved me into the top group instantly. Rather funny, if you asked me. Unfortunately, Hunter was in the top group and kept trying to get a reaction out of me; his new favourite game, he'd told me. When we were preparing for the end of lesson races, I finally spoke up. "Hunter. I have a proposal for you. You and I will race each other; 100m IM. If you win, I'll answer any questions you have for me, but if you lose, you have to stop talking. Deal?" There was a moment before he replied; shocked that I actually spoke.

"Deal." He said. We shook hands. What he didn't know was that I held the fastest IM time for 9 year olds, and I beat 15 year olds by the time I was 8. But what I didn't know was that he did too.

"Mr. McConaghey," I walked over to the teacher, who was still shocked that he was my swimming coach, and now, was dumbfounded that I was speaking. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Can Hunter and I race? Just a short 100m IM?" He gulped and nodded.

As Hunter and I put on our goggles and warmed up; the former bragging and teasing, Mr. McConaghey pulled out his whistle and told us to get ready.

I dived into the water and let my body do the talking. I swam as fast as I could, and so did he. When I looked at where he was, he'd be right beside me. OMG. He can too! That made me swim even harder. Luckily, I had enough stamina for a 400m IM, so on the last stroke, I beat him by a millisecond. Damn. He's fast.

Even though I won, he couldn't help but break the deal after 5 minutes and started blabbing about the race to everyone he saw .

I need to tell you something about me. I had 2 brothers. Silver, 13, and Sterling, 9. I loved my family, and well, I chattered on and on about everything in school, every night. Today, however, I wouldn't tell them about the race. Anything and everything but the race; they didn't need to know that I made a friend, especially not a boy.

The first Friday in America, and my mom wanted to know everything that happened in school. "What happened at school, honey?" She'd ask.

"I made the school soccer and swimming team." I said. Then, she'd hug me and tell me how proud she was. But that day, when she told me the Sanchez's were coming over for dinner, I freaked out. I told her to cancel. Begged her to reschedule, but they'd already arrived. I had just finished showering after ballet training, so all I wore was my "School is important, but swimming is importanter" hoodie with sweatpants and my black-rimmed glasses with my brown/gold hair in a messy bun. I didn't wear glasses to school, so when Hunter saw me, he was just as surprised as I was; he didn't know I had glasses and I didn't know he could look so handsome. His hair was messy from running his fingers through it so many times, and a button down shirt with a grey waist coat and jeans. Good God! I had to snap out of it!

He entered the house before the rest of his family. "Like what you see princesa? I know I do.." He said, smirking. Ugh. I rolled my eyes, storming down the hall and slamming the door to my bedroom behind me. He's 11 years old! How could he be so perverted already? Instinctively, my hand skimmed the spines of my books, searching for the most familiar one; my favourite book. Pride and Prejudice. I opened its pages and began reading Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy's tragic romance. So comforting.

...

My comfort was short lived when a tiny, red headed girl came running onto my bed and tried to hide behind me. She was followed closely by a flustered Hunter, panting and red faced from chasing his sister around. I took the opportunity to tease him. "Hunter?!" I laughed. "Have you been out run by your 5 year old sister?!" He, however, wasn't so pleased. "Ha ha. Very funny." He replied. His voice dripping with sarcasm. "C'mere Ronnie, let's not disturb the pretty princess." I blushed at the name. But Ronnie seemed to have other plans.

"I know who you are!" She declared, and crawled into my lap. "You bubba's giwlfwend!" She wrapped her arms around my neck and started singing gibberish. I was taken aback by her declaration; what he told her about me?

I glanced at Hunter with raised eyebrows. Bubba? She doesn't know what she's talking about. He mouthed to me.

"C'mere little miss-" He was cut off by Ronnie.

"NO!" She exclaimed.

"Veronica Camera Sanchez!" He tried, storming over to my bed.

"No!" Ronnie screamed once again. "Bubba's girlfriend gunna wead me a stowy!"

"Saffron?" He asked me, plopping down onto my bed in defeat.

"All right." I replied. "But only one story before dinner. Ok little missy?" I asked Ronnie, tickling her stomach.

And so, the story of a princess from far away meeting her prince in a tower with nothing but hope, began. Hunter was fascinated. He'd never seen me say so many words in one go! *insert eye roll here*

After the story, we were called down for dinner, where we all chatted, told stories and reminisced old memories.