A/N- I'm not quite sure where this is going yet, but I will let you guys know when I get there, but for now, please review and I am open to suggestions!!!

*The song in this story is "In Another Life" by the Veronicas*

Chapter One

My name is Ellie, and this is my Cinderella Story…

I have known you my whole life
When you were ten, you said you'd make me your wife

It all started when I was ten years old. That's right, the age where I was loving life- I had my very best friend, Cassidy, along with a whole other group of faithful friends, at my side. I was their leader, the person they always looked to for advice. What I said went.

And it was at my tenth birthday party, to be exact, when the event that would determine my whole life occurred. Yes, the fates were probably having a field day, getting to determine the rest of my life just by one event.

I was young enough then to think an all-girl pool party was cool, and that was what I wanted. So, of course, that was what I got. It was around noontime, and the party was in full swing.

Cassidy and I were lounging in the chairs by my pool in the backyard, Cassidy in a cute blue tankini, and me, keeping to my infamous surfer chick style, with a pair of green board shorts and pink bikini top. My hair had gotten lighter over the summer, so it was now a light and fluffy blonde, prior to my dirty blonde at the beginning of June. My mom had put it in cornrows so it now only went down and inch or two below my shoulder blades, instead of all the way down to my waist.

My nine other friends were all in the pool, playing Marco-Polo and Sharks and Minnows, all shouting joyfully as someone got tagged or caught. The leftover mint ice cream was left to melt in our bowls under the hot Californian sun and I could still smell the fresh raspberries that lined my vanilla cake. My pile of unopened presents sat waiting in the cool shade of the underside of the table and a puddle of pool water was expanding precariously towards them.

I sighed, sitting up and putting my sunglasses on the top of my head. Cassidy turned her head towards me and opened her eyes.

"Aren't you having fun? This party is the bomb. You will be the talk of sixth grade at the Academy forever!" Cassidy exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know. I was just getting up to grab my tanning lotion. My mom said I better not burn," I replied, standing up to walk over to the back porch's stairs to grab the lotion. But I was secretly thinking about something else. My other best friend, the one that I have never told anyone about, not even my mom and dad.

Tanner Saboy, the boy who was four months older than me and lived four blocks down, closer to the beach. He was, ironically enough, very tan, thanks to his surfing habits, and had medium-brown curly hair that went almost to his chin. His eyes were a shocking sea blue and he had quite the set of abs for a ten year old.

I met him when I was six, when I went down to the beach with my dad to surf for only the second time in my whole life. I had taken lessons a year ago, and on the very last day of the lesson, I went into the water to actually surf, so this was the first time since then I've been in the water to surf.

He was there by himself, later saying that his mom had died of cancer when he was three and that his dad was suffering from a hangover (my little six-year-old brain had not processed what that meant, I only understood his dad had a terrible headache), so he had no one else to come to the beach with.

My dad had gone down the beach to where the bigger waves were and told me to shout for him if I needed him. I told him I would be fine, and went into the water, my tiny pink surfboard dragging behind me.

The first time I was actually able to get on the board was a total disaster. I wiped out so bad, I was spitting sand out of my mouth when I swam back to shore. I couldn't stand up, my head hurt so much from inhaling salt water, so I just sat there, until a tiny tan hand reached in front of me to pull me up.

"That was quite a wipeout," he had said, grinning broadly as he pulled me to my feet. "That looked like it hurt."

"Yeah," I mumbled, so embarrassed to have been helped by this stranger.

"Hey, try putting your feet on the board like this," he said, demonstrating on the sand what I was to do. "You will keep your balance better."

He waited patiently until I came back from the water from my first successful time surfing. We had talked, laughed, and surfed together for two more hours, until the sun was high in the sky. He told me he had to go home, pointing out to me where his house was.

"Hey, my house is just a few blocks away from yours," I had told him excitedly. He just nodded and ran up the beach to his house, me waving the whole way.

When my dad came to find me later, I was still in the water. He asked me how my day had gone, and I told him everything-except about Tanner. He would yell at me for talking to a stranger.

From then on, Tanner and I would meet at the beach and surf together when my dad took me with him. Occasionally, Tanner's dad would come with Tanner, watching us surf together. But my dad never knew I had a friend to surf with.

When I reached my eighth birthday, my parents trusted me enough to go down and surf by myself, as long as there were other people on the beach to watch me.

Tanner and I would surf together, still without anyone knowing. Then we started doing other things together, like going for ice cream or sitting in the park near our houses, playing with other kids our age.

You would think my parents would catch on about tanner. But I was always careful to say I was going to eat ice cream with Cassidy, or going out to surf with my older neighbor Laurie.

Why would I do that? I have no idea, but it was always that way. Tanner's dad knew about me, but my parents did not know about him.

Anyways, when I bent over to grab the bottle of lotion, I felt someone's eyes on me. I quickly spun around to the pool, but all my friend's eyes, as well as my mom and dads, were on my friend Lacy, who was showing off her ability to do a flip off the diving board.

I peeked around the corner of the house and I saw a pair of bright blue eyes peeping around the side of the house, along with a mop of curly brown hair. As soon as Tanner saw me looking, his head disappeared.

I pretended like I was interested in the mailman who had just stopped to deliver our mail, and I went around to the front of the house, my braids bouncing on my back.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Tanner, who was sitting casually on our front steps, like he had not just been peeking at my party. He, just like me, was barefoot and dressed in board shorts, but he had no shirt on.

"I was going to ask you to come surfing, but I remembered you had your party today. Which, by the way, I was not invited to."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling really bad, "but nobody knows about you, not even my parents or my best girl friend, Cassidy. And nobody will know about you. Because then I would have to tell them about talking to a stranger on the beach when I was only six, surfing with you every day after that, or lying to them repeatedly, or-"

"I get the point, Ellie," Tanner said. "I'm just trying to make you feel bad. I'm only kidding. I wanted to give you this." He handed me a gift bag.

"Tanner, you didn't have to get me anything," I said, taking the light bag.

"I know. But I wanted to," he said simply, turning to run off down the street to his own house. I shrugged.

"Tanner!" I called, when he was already two houses away. He turned, but did not slow down.

"Thanks, " I mouthed, not wanting anyone at the party to overhear me. He just nodded, and turned back around.

I went back to my party, acting like I had never even left.

"Present time!" my mom shouted joyfully. Everyone pulled themselves out of the pool and gathered around me as soon as I sat down on the porch steps.

I had thankfully hidden the present in my room where no one could find it and start questioning me, so I only had ten gifts to open.

After I had finished opening gifts, the guests went home, each saying how wonderful my party was and wishing me a happy birthday.

I went into my room to change my clothes, staring at my skin that had darkened marginally, even though I was already really tan from surfing every other day this summer.

But, after trying to pull on a pair of jean shorts over my legs that were still soaked from the pool, I gave up and just took a shower instead.

By the time I had gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed in my pj's, it was dinnertime, and before I knew it, time for bed.

I was just lying in bed, staring out the window at the star-laden sky when I remembered Tanner's gift.

I flipped over on my stomach, reached under my bed, and retrieved the gift from where I had stashed it earlier.

I eagerly tore off the tissue paper to find a braided hemp necklace with blue beads entwined in it. I could immediately tell Tanner had made this himself, he was really talented with hemp and could make a mean shark tooth necklace. I loved it.
I pulled out the card next.
It was simple:

Happy Birthday, Ellie, I hope you like the necklace.

Remember to wear it on our wedding day :)

-Tanner

I remembered those words, when we were littler, we had always joked about getting married, but I never really thought he would be serious! I carefully put the necklace on and just carelessly tossed the card under my bed, along with the empty gift bag.

That night I vowed to ask him what that card meant, but I never did.