Things I've never told you

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14 years old

It was the first day of summer, the day after my middle school graduation. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous about starting high school, but while most kids were worried about the workload, I was worried about being in a new environment with new people. It's not that I didn't like meeting new people, I was just really awkward and quiet around people I've never met before. So, highschool was going to be a great time.

I shook my head to get rid of these thoughts, I was on summer vacation! There would be time to worry about that closer to when school starts.

The pencil in my hand glided gracefully on the pad as I continued sketching the bird in front of me. Drawing always calmed me, I think it was something I picked up when I was younger and Donna babysat Derek and me.

"Good morning, Ms. Danielle."

I looked up from my sketchbook and smiled, "Good morning, Ms. Donna." I craned my neck, "what are you reading today?"

She laughed and sat down in her patio chair, "Gone with the wind. Just some light reading."

I nodded with a smile, "a classic."

"Sketching again, are we?" She called from her side of the fence.

"Yup, just to pass time." The bird suddenly flew away and I pouted while I stared at the unfinished drawing on my lap, "darn it."

"Sorry dear, I didn't mean to scare off your model," Donna said.

I shook my head, "that's alright."

Donna touched her chin in thought, "I think it's about time for Mia to get up, don't you think?" She nodded towards the house, "be a dear and wake her up for me?"

"she's a completely different person when she first wakes up," she joked as I walked past, "but you seem to be the only one that can tame her in the morning."

I laughed, "she's like a little gremlin."

I smiled, Donna knew that Mia hated being woken up in the morning but always tended to not be as grumpy when I went to go wake her up. It was probably because I wasn't family and I wasn't in her face all the time.

"Help yourself to the cookies on the table, I made them this morning!" Donna called out when I walked through the door.

I grabbed a cookie off the plate before I made my way upstairs. After that first summer, Mia kept her promise of coming back every summer, even when her brother opted to stay home with their parents, she came by herself. But I think it had more to do with Mia not wanting to hear her parents fighting all the time.

Speaking of her brother, it's been a long time since I last saw Dominic. Now that I'm thinking about it, it might've been 2 summers back and he seemed weird. Quieter and nicer since the first summer I met him. Not that I was complaining though, I was relieved, it gave me hope that Derek would stop being a jerk as well.

I climbed the last step and rounded the corner, only to bump into a hard chest.

My eyes met Dominic's panicked ones and we both yelled out in surprise.

He held the towel tighter around his waist, "Dani, what are you doing here!"

Without even realizing it, my eyes trailed down his body. When did he get a six-pack? Where did the scrawny kid I met 4 years ago go?

"I could ask you the same question, you never visit," I slapped my hands over my eyes, my face probably red from second-hand embarrassment, "your grandma wanted me to wake Mia up."