Chapter 1

Riley POV

It was the beginning of summer. I was so excited to spend it with my boyfriend, Dylan. Now that it was summer, we wouldn't be busy all the time with school stuff. We were finally free!

I left my house and walked down the road to the beach. I sat down in a chair and closed my eyes. It was nice to finally relax for once. I was always so stressed out all the time from school!

I heard footsteps behind me, so I turned around to find Dylan standing there.

"Hey, Dylan!"

"Riley, I have to tell you something."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm… breaking up with you."

"You're what!?"

"I'm sorry. I just… It wasn't working for me anymore. I'm sorry. I have to go."

"Dylan, wait! Why are you doing this!?"

"I'm sorry Riley."

I watched Dylan run up the hill, get in his car, and drive away, leaving me here all alone.

The next few days were all a blur for me. I spent every moment I had, shut up in my bedroom. My mom would bring me my meals, and I would eat alone in my room. I had told my mom that Dylan broke up with me, and she felt bad, and tried to get me to come out of my room. But my heart was broken, and I just wanted to be alone.

Then, my parents had to leave suddenly to take care of my great grandfather on the other side of the country. He had been taken to a hospital because he fell. But they didn't leave me here alone. My aunt, uncle, and little cousin stayed with me. They basically just moved into my house for now. But that didn't change anything. I still stayed in my room all the time.

I was pretty sure my parents had told them about what had happened with me and Dylan. My aunt made it clear that I could talk to her if I wanted to, but no one tried to force me into talking. And they acted a little strange around me. It seemed like they were trying not to say the wrong thing.

A Few Days Later…

Riley POV

I'll admit, staying in my room all the time wasn't helping. So today, I decided to walk down to the beach. When I got there, I saw a blond boy who I didn't know, walking around. He seemed to be looking for something. I guess he heard me walk down here, because he turned around.

"Oh, hi! My name's Riker," he said, walking over to me.

"Hi. I'm Riley. Uh… Are you looking for something?"

"Oh, no. I was just looking around. My family and I just moved here today. I was just taking a look at the beach."

"Wait. Did you move into the red house?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"That's right across the street from my house."

"Cool!"

"Yeah."

"Uh… So do you know some places in town…? Like I mean… I don't really know what's around here."

"Well, we're about 10 minutes from Lake George, and 10 minutes from Bolton Landing. Lake George is where all the tourists go. The town of Bolton is much more relaxed. But there's supermarkets, and restaurants, and… What did you want to know exactly?"

"I don't know. I guess… I just… I don't know…"

"Were you trying to find somewhere in particular?"

"No…"

"Well if you need anything, I live right across the street."

"Ok, thanks. Actually, there might be one thing…"

"What is it?"

"Do you think maybe you could give me a tour around the town tomorrow?"

"Bolton or Lake George?"

"Bolton."

"Sure."

"Cool. Thanks."

"What time?"

"Uh… Does 11:00 work for you?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, I'll see you then."

"Ok."

I was giving blond boy a tour of the town tomorrow. I barely even knew him, and I was giving him a tour. That just seemed weird to me. I couldn't even remember his name… Well, he would probably say it again tomorrow…

The Next Day…

Riley POV

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my door.

"Come in!" I called, still half asleep.

"There's a boy here to see you," said my aunt.

I looked at the clock. It was only 8:30. We weren't supposed to go out for our tour until 11:00.

"Uh… Ok, send him in," I said, trying to fix my hair.

The guy who came into my room was blond, but not the same blond I had seen yesterday.

"Uh… Hi," said the blond.

"Hi…?"

"Uh… My name is Ross. I think you met my brother yesterday."

"Yeah."

"Well he said I should come ask you for help."

"Help with what?"

"Uh… We have a friend staying with us for the summer. His name is Ellington. He rented this kayak and went out about an hour ago. He just texted us a few minutes ago and said he got stuck in some rocks. Riker was wondering if maybe you had a kayak so we could go out and help him."

Riker! That's his name!

"Well, I have a kayak, but have you gone kayaking before?"

"No."

"Well then I should probably go out instead."

"Uh… ok…?"

"Do you know where he got stuck?"

"Uh… He said he went around some island. I don't really know…"

"Ok. I know where that is. Let me change, and I'll go try to help him."

I grabbed some clothes, changed in the bathroom, and walked with Ross down to the beach. But I wondered why Ross had come to ask me for help instead of Riker. Ross didn't even know me…

"Ok, can you help me get my kayak?" I asked.

"Sure."

Ross and I walked over to the kayak rack, got my kayak down, and put it in the water.

"Ok, hopefully we'll be back in between 30 and 60 minutes," I said.

"Ok."

20 Minutes Later…

Riley POV

I finally rounded the corner of the island and saw a guy in a red kayak trying to do something. I wasn't sure what exactly. But I figured it was the guy I was sent to rescue.

"Hey, are you Ellington?" I asked, gliding towards his kayak.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"Uh… I'm here to rescue you," I said.

"Oh…"

"You were probably expecting Ross, weren't you?"

"Yeah."

"He was going to borrow my kayak, but since he had never kayaked before, I figured I'd better go instead and not risk the both of you ending up stuck somewhere."

Ellington laughed.

"Ok, well I'm stuck. I don't know how though. There are rocks all over and I'm in the middle. I don't know how I did that…"

"Ok, well I have an idea," I said, moving up close to Ellington's kayak.

"What?"

"You, carefully get onto my kayak, and we'll pull yours over the rocks. Then you can get back on. Sound good?"

"Yeah."

Ellington carefully climbed onto my kayak and sat at the tip. I grabbed onto his kayak, and pulled, but it was heavy.

"Here, let me help," said Ellington.

"Ok, but be careful."

That was the exact opposite of what he did. He yanked the kayak as hard as he could, but it slipped out of his hands. He flew backwards, tipping the kayak over.

"UGH!" I screamed, when I came back up to the surface.

"Sorry," said Ellington, laughing slightly.

I rolled my eyes. I was all wet! And the water was freezing!

Ellington swam over to his kayak and pulled it free. I flipped my kayak back over, got on, and started paddling back to our beach.

"Hey! Where're you going?" Ellington asked.

"Back to the beach…?"

"What about me!?"

"Your kayak's free. You're not stuck anymore."

"Well yeah, but I don't exactly remember how to get home or which beach is ours."

"Ok fine. Hurry up. I'm freezing."

Ellington and I paddled back to our beach and arrived there 20 minutes later. I was really mad that I was wet. When we got to the shore, Ross and some guy with brown hair were waiting for us. I pulled my kayak onto the shore and stormed up the hill and back to my house to get dry clothes.

When I got to my house, my aunt, uncle, and little cousin were all sitting on the porch eating breakfast.

"Riley, what happened?" My uncle asked, laughing.

I ignored him and stormed to my room to get changed.

11:00

Riley POV

I walked past my aunt and uncle on the porch, and went to wait outside for Riker to show up. He better not be late.

A few minutes later, Riker came out his front door and walked across the street to where I was waiting, leaning against my house with my arms crossed.

"Sorry. I'm late, aren't I?"

"A little bit," I said, sharply.

"Sorry."

I rolled my eyes and got in my car. Riker got in too, and we drove off towards the town of Bolton Landing.

I parked on the side of the street. We both got out.

"So where do you want to go?" I asked.

"Uh… I don't know."

"Well what do you want to do?" I asked.

"Uh… Show me around."

"Ok…"

"Are you alright? You seem a little… I don't know…"

"Well I didn't have the greatest morning."

"What happened?"

"Your friend Ellington, he tipped over my kayak when I was rescuing him, and I was soaking wet and freezing."

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. He can be a little crazy sometimes."

I rolled my eyes, and started walking.

I led Riker through the town. We passed a bunch of shops and restaurants.

"Riley?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm getting hungry. Do you think we could get something?"

"Yeah. Did you want to go to a restaurant? Or just get ice cream or something?"

"Uh… Ice cream sounds good."

"Ok, well where do you want to get it? There's a bunch of ice cream places here."

"Uh…"

"How about we go to Bob's ice cream shop? That's just down the street a little."

"Ok."

Riker and I walked to Bob's ice cream.

"So what are you going to get?" Riker asked.

"Oh, nothing. I didn't bring any money."

"I'll buy you something."

"Riker, you don't have to, really. I'm fine."

"No, please let me. It's the least I can do for you. You sacrificed your day to show me around, and I'm really sorry about being late and what happened with Ellington."

"Ok…"

"So pick something! What do you want?"

"I guess I'll get chocolate ice cream."

"Only chocolate? What about all the toppings and stuff?"

"Nope. I like just plain old chocolate."

Riker ordered and paid for our ice creams. He just some strange flavor with a ton of different toppings. It actually looked a little bit gross, but he seemed to be enjoying it.

"Come on. Let's finish our ice cream in the park. I haven't showed you the park yet."

"Ok. What's it called?"

"Roger's park. It's on Lake George. There's a beach, tennis courts, and giant rocks."

"Cool!"

Later…

Riker POV

After Riley and I got back, I thanked her again, and went to find Ellington. He was playing videogames with Rocky.

"Ellington, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, poking my head through the doorway.

"Yeah sure, one second. We're almost done with this level."

Ellington came out of the living room a few minutes later.

"What's up Riker?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened this morning."

"What do you mean?"

"You flipped Riley into the lake!"

"Oh. That…"

"Yeah! That! Why did you do it?"

"I didn't exactly mean to. It just kind of happened."

"Well what if the drummer for R5 just kind of got kicked out of the band?"

"You wouldn't do that!"

"No, I wouldn't. But still, you shouldn't have done that! She was really upset."

"Ok, but why are being so defensive of her? You only just met her."

"Because if I were her, I wouldn't like getting knocked into a freezing cold lake either!"

Ellington rolled his eyes.

"Ellington, seriously. Be more careful."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I go back to playing videogames now?"

"Sure, whatever…"

"Great!"

Riley POV

"Hey Riley, can I talk to you for a second?" My aunt asked, coming into my room, and closing the door.

"Yeah…? Why? What's going on?"

"Uh… We were just wondering what you did today. Starting with coming back soaking wet this morning, and ending with coming home with the guy who lives across the street. Who is he?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because we know you broke up with your boyfriend, and we just want to make sure you're ok. We were just curious if that guy was your boyfriend, and if you got back together with him or not."

"No. He's not my boyfriend. He just moved here a few days ago. I was showing him around town today."

"Ok. Well what happened this morning?"

"I went to go rescue his friend who had gotten his kayak stuck. He flipped my kayak, and that's why I was soaking wet."

"Oh… Ok."

"Anything else you want to ask me while you're here?"

"Uh yes, actually. Are you ok? Like because of everything with your boyfriend?"

"I'm… trying…"

"Ok. Well you know you can talk to me or your uncle about anything, any time, right?"

"Yes. But it's rare that I'll ever talk about something like this. I barely even tell my parents anything."

"Ok. I understand. But I just wanted you to know that we're here if you want to talk."

"Ok. Thanks."