"Come on girls! Get up off your sorry behinds! It's a brand new day, get into your swimsuits; we're heading out on the water baby!"

The door to our room stayed open and golden light filtered through my closed eyes. You can categorize people into two categories. Early Birds, those that wake up at the crack of dawn and like it, and Night Owls, the ones that sleep away half the day and stay up through the entire night. Aunt Jenna's in the first category, while my sister and I were definitely the second.

I grumpily pulled on a red bikini and slipped into some old flip flops. Using one hand to brush through my hair, and the other to pull the covers off of Liz I yelled loudly, watching with amusement as Liz sat up hurriedly, hair disarrayed and rubbing her eyes.

I left Liz to change and headed to the kitchen, grabbing an empty bowl and a box of my favorite sugary cereal, Cocoa Puffs, and a carton of milk. I ate slowly, enjoying the chocolate on my tongue, wondering what Aunt Jenna had in mind.

Liz had chosen to wear a blue two piece suit, while Aunt Jenna was wearing a black one piece, cut low in the back and purposefully torn at the hips up to her ribcage. Her hair was tied messily in a ponytail. Even now, the way she was dressed, she looked ready for the runway.

"Well are you girls ready?" Jenna sounded so excited, it was contagious.

She led us to the beach, the one we had a view of, and walked down towards the farthest area of the beach. A gleaming red boat, wakeboard tower and all was tied down to a palm tree.

"This is the FireAxel 200." Jenna beamed, "I bought it just for your trip, this is going to be so thrilling!"

"Aunt Jenna, you didn't have to buy a boat just for us!" I protested.

"Oh, but Charlie," Jenna pouted, "I wanted too! Back when I was a kid Dad would take us boating all the time, I'd actually wanted to buy a boat for awhile." She smiled teasingly, "Besides, who said this boat was just for you?"

I helped Liz into the boat and settled into one of the back seats. The boat was just as nice on the inside as on the outside, with cream colored seats and large music towers. I could barely believe it, but it was all actually happening. Jenna had actually gotten a boat, and a really nice one at that. Curious, I turned to watch Jenna, she had pushed the boat off the shore and had jumped lithely onto the front of the boat, rushing to the wheel and turning the key quickly. The motor roared to life and music played from the speakers. My eyes widened and I yelled out to Jenna.

"Aunt Jenna?" she glanced at me, "Do you know what you're doing?"

She tossed her head back, her dark hair blowing wildly, and laughed. I immediately tensed and wished Liz had chosen to sit next to me instead of at the front.

"Of course I don't Charlie! That's what makes it so much fun!"

With that remark the boat gunned and we drifted lazily out of the five mile per hour zone. As soon as we passed the bright cones Jenna gripped the wheel and off we went.

It was extremely beautiful, I couldn't deny it. The sky was bright blue and the water a dark, but welcoming, indigo. Large red mountains loomed over the dry grasses growing in and off the banks of the river. Never had I felt so at ease. Warm air played with my hair, the heat of the sun warming my back, droplets of river water spraying my face, and long tendrils of river grass whipping the sides of the boat every so often.

"This is beautiful!" I screamed so Liz could hear.

"What?" Liz replied, and I rolled my eyes.

Liz was practically leaning out of the boat, her pink life jacket squeezing her cheeks and her hair blowing wildly. She looked happier than she had in a long time, and when Liz was happy, I was happy too. For the first time since arriving here I was glad we had come, if not just to get Liz to smile the way she was smiling. Watching Liz cautiously I leaned back against the chair, every so often averting my gaze to watch another boat pass by. Each time one did, we jumped up over their waves and Liz squealed. There were a few times where I did as well, and I have to admit that it was worth the scream.

We slowed when we reached the third sand bank, the one past Martinez Lake and managed to find a spot. I leapt out of the boat and helped Jenna unload our chairs and cooler while Liz smeared sunscreen onto her back and face. When we had docked and settled into our little corner of the island, Liz splashed into the water and I ran in after her, forgetting my "mature" teenage attitude in the heat of the moment.

"You sure you don't want to play horseshoes, Liz?"

Liz shook her head, and put a finger to her lips, as if signaling silence. Not that she would get much. There were at least twenty other boats docked on the sand bank, and ten of them were blaring music of their own. Combine that and the general hum of busybodies and silence would never reach your ears. But Liz was in her element, a butterfly net in one hand and splashing through the gentle waves, attempting to catch a baby fish.

"What about you, Jenna?"

She waved her arm lazily and returned to tanning. I shrugged and turned back around. It looks like it's going to be a lonely game of horseshoes. I mused and pulled my sunglasses down to cover my eyes before throwing the horseshoe. It landed several feet away from the spike and right between a pair of feet. I let my eyes slide up. Tan and shirtless, disheveled brown hair falling into his eyes and a wild grin on his face; it was that Logan guy from the store!

"First time at horseshoes?" He picked up the horseshoe and effortlessly threw it directly onto the spike.

"Yeah, and it looks like I'm pretty lousy at it." I smiled nervously, pinching myself mentally for using the word lousy.

"Nah," he smiled and took a few steps closer, "You're not lousy, you're better than some girls I know. They throw their shoes into the water or at someone's head instead."

I grinned, knowing I looked stupid but couldn't help myself. Inside I was jumping off the walls, he was talking to me! But he had mentioned other girls…could they have been Mitchie and Georgia?

"So, you from downtown or one of the resorts?" He finally added, reaching for the other set of horseshoes.

"Resort. Sun View to be exact." I threw a horseshoe and missed, but barely.

Logan looked faintly surprised and threw another horseshoe, landing it exactly.

"Really?" I could feel Logan's eyes on me, "How long you been there? I don't remember ever seeing you around."

"Well, technically, this is my first day here; I got there late yesterday afternoon. I live with Jenna Anderson." I nodded towards my now sleeping Aunt.

"48D then. You're only five houses down from mine." He smiled and landed his last shoe, all of his had stacked up on top of each other while mine lay dejectedly around his.

"That's cool." I controlled my excitement, but scrunched my eyebrows hesitantly, "Wait, how do you know where Jenna lives?"

He laughed and walked into the water, beckoning with his head for me to follow. Now uncertain I wavered, but followed anyway. We were in at about waist level when I plucked up the courage to ask again.

"How'd you know?" I swam against the current towards him, not caring if my hair got wet in the process.

"How'd I know what?" He glanced at me shrewdly.

"Where Jenna lives!" I snapped.

"Whoa there." He grinned, "That's easy, I'm the co-owners son. It's kinda my job to know everyone at Sunset View. That's why I freaked when you said you're living there. Someone as pretty as you would be hard to miss."

I felt a blush creep up into my cheeks and I swallowed a clever remark as to how he had missed me…twice, in fact. Just as I opened my mouth to respond a roaring engine cut me off. Coming from our left was a large white boat, accented in blue, rock blared from the speakers and a rope was attached to the back. The rope was being held on the other end by a tall brunette skimming the water's surface with a flat board. She held the handle of the rope with one hand and waved with the other, steadily climbing waves and leaping over them at the last minute, after an especially impressive leap and spin Logan cupped his mouth with his hands and hollered.

"Yeah! Ride those waves Mitchie!" he laughed as Mitchie shot him a thumbs up and somersaulted into the air, dropping the rope and hitting the water, board first, with a splash.

Unfortunately her life jacket saved her, and she rose to the surface seconds later as her boat spun back around to pick her up again. She kicked the board off her feet and scrambled back into the boat, switching places with a tow head that had to be Georgia. We watched Georgia for awhile, Logan making comments every so often. She was good, but not nearly as good as Mitchie had been. The boat zoomed away and life once again resumed on the island.

"Well that was cool." I noted dully.

"Heck yeah it was!" Logan grinned, "I bet you anything she's getting ready for the Western Water Sports Competition in August. She's finally sixteen, so she's old enough to enter." He met my eyes for a moment, then tore away, "She's going to win the women division for sure. My dad judged the competition last year so I got a free pass, but this year," He splashed me playfully, "This year I'm entering, so he can't be a judge, but it doesn't really matter. I'm going to smoke those "pros" out there."

He smiled playfully, not needing to add an "I'm joking" because, really? I believed him. Logan Hart could do anything he set his heart out to do; it was just something that radiated off of him. I however couldn't help but be embarrassed.

"Um, this is going to sound stupid," he turned back to me, inquisitive, "But what exactly was Mitchie doing?"

He stared at me, dumbfounded, for a second before he walked back into the shallower area. I followed, wondering if he had a habit of making girls follow him to answer their questions, but this time I didn't have to ask him again. He leapt up onto a boat anchored a few feet away. It wasn't as big as Mitchie's had been, nor as eye-catching as ours, but it was definitely built for speed. It was low in the water and streaked in orange flames, sound towers gleaming in the sun.

He jumped back into the water, his brown hair had air dried quickly and now whistled with the wind. He reached into the boat and pulled out a board similar to Mitchie's but slightly larger.

"This," he pointed for unneeded emphasis, "this is a wakeboard. You hold onto a rope and let the boat pull you through the waves." He smirked at me, bemused, "You've never been wakeboarding?"

"Nope," I shook my head slowly, "I'm new to this entire thing. Remember?"

Logan whistled and used his hand to run through his hair. I couldn't help but wonder what his hair would feel like between my fingers.

"Wow, that's incredible." He slid the board back into the boat, "Well I guess someone's going to have to join my family for a wakeboarding trip."

"That sounds great!" I mustered as much fake enthusiasm as I could, but truth be told? I did not want to embarrass myself in front of Logan, especially since we had just watched Mitchie the Amazing ride the waters like a queen. What if he expected me to be a natural? What if I ended up falling every time until he, and his family, gave up on me? No way could I go with them…at least not yet.

"That sounds wonderful." I added, practically choking on my words.

"Awesome." He smiled and I felt myself melt.

Play it cool Charlie girl, play it cool.

"Charlie! We're leaving babe!" Jenna yelled over the island, pointing to the boat in case I hadn't heard. But I had, the entire river probably had.

"Listen, I had a great time, maybe we could…" he began, before I interrupted him.

"Yeah hanging out would be great." I smiled, hoping my salad from before wasn't stuck in my teeth, either way, it was too late now, I had smiled so many times my cheeks were hurting.

"Cool, just remember 43D, and here." He searched his boat cup holder for a pen and scrawled a number down on my hand, "Sorry, didn't bring any paper out on the water."

I quickly jotted my number onto his arm and ran down the sand bank, jumping into the already moving FireAxel 200 and turned around once more. Logan was running through the water right towards us, in one hand the pen and the other waving frantically.

"Wait! What's your name?" he yelled.

"Charlie!" I replied, a smile creeping onto my lips.

"I'm Logan!" He said something else, but we were too far away to hear.

I fumbled my way to the back of the boat and met Aunt Jenna's gaze.

"He's your sweetheart, I take it." She chuckled.

"Yeah right, Aunt Jenna, as if."

But inside, I was screaming YES, YES, YES! We drove all the way home with my heart beating in time with the boat, and my mind working overdrive.