Chapter 1

Ash usually adored the beach. He loved the sun and the waves, he even enjoyed the sand everywhere. Unfortunately the beach wasn't nearly as much fun when his dad and his dad's new girlfriend were making out only a few feet away.

He'd promised his mom he'd have fun… and he had honestly tried. He'd put on his new swim trunks and slathered on sunscreen and kicked off his sandals with every intention of making this summer the best of his life. But only a few days into the visit and he was already sick to his stomach.

He walked up to the surf and let the water sneak up around his ankles. Ash looked back at his dad and saw that he was still playing tonsil hockey with his bimbo of a new girlfriend, Crystal. Ash was fifteen and while his disgust of kissing in general had died off mostly, the disgust of seeing his dad kiss a woman who wasn't his mom would probably never go away.

The beach was crowded and Ash wanted to be as far from his dad as possible, so he wandered down the shoreline. Eventually the packed, sandy beach turned rocky and desolate.

The rocks were huge and oddly placed, so Ash started to climb. He climbed up and over them, discovering a small and secluded cove, seemingly away from the rest of the civilized world. It was the same as any other part of the beach, but entirely surrounded by rocks.

He sat down in the sand and wrapped his arms around his knees. He laid his forehead down on his legs and sat quietly. His parents had been divorced for as long as he could remember and he'd always known about his father's long string of failed relationships since, but this was the first summer Ash had actually had to spend with him.

According to Ash's mother, his dad had one day woken up and decided to spend more time with his son, but Ash knew it was probably because of his new girlfriend. Crystal wanted to prove she could be a good stepmother, so his father would consider getting more serious with her.

It was a clever plan, but blatantly obvious… at least to Ash. His father didn't see it. How could he with his eyes closed and his tongue down her throat. He felt bad for disliking Crystal. She hadn't really done anything wrong. Her only crime were dating a man with a kid, but the real source of the animosity was Ash's father.

He'd gotten Ash's mother pregnant after they had only been together a few months. He proposed a few days later and they got married when Ash was only an infant. For a while they were happy, but unfortunately Ash's father couldn't stay true to one woman and he left just before Ash's third birthday.

Ash could remember his mom crying over him and while Ash couldn't remember a time when they were a family she could and Ash hated the man who had taken that away from her.

"You okay?"

A voice pulled him out of his memories and made his head snap up quickly. There was a girl lying topless in the surf only a few feet away from where Ash was sitting. He couldn't see anything since the water covered everything but her head and shoulders, but it still left him pretty speechless.

She had thick, short hair the color of mandarin oranges and eyes that were startlingly blue, the same shade as a robin's egg. He stared at her wordlessly and she tilted her head, making her orange hair brush against her shoulders.

"You okay?"

He nodded and stammered, trying to find the words. "Umm yeah. I am." She smiled, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth. "That's good. I saw you over here and you looked upset."

He shrugged and she nodded for him to continue. He took a deep breath and hung his head. "It's not that I'm upset, I just don't want to be here." She smiled her eccentric smile again. "How could you not want to be here? It's California! It's beautiful."

"It's not so much the place as it is the company."

"Not as this moment I hope."

"No, not you. You've actually been the first person I haven't wanted to strangle since I got here." She looked taken aback, but not in a judgemental sort of way. "Oh dear, that's no good. Who have you been around?"

"My father and his new girlfriend mostly."

"Well surely you've been around other people."

He nodded.

"I sat next to a man on the flight who snored the whole time, a man on the bus who kept clearing his throat, and when I finally met up with my dad to go out to lunch the waiter forgot to make my food."

She shrugged. "Perhaps your time here will start looking up." He scoffed. "I doubt it. If my father hasn't changed in thirteen years I don't think he'll start now." She locked her blue eyes with his brown ones. "Isn't he already?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well from the way you talk about your father it doesn't seem like you've been around him a lot and yet here you are in the golden state with your dad."

He shook his head and they sat in silence for a minute. Finally Ash said "I'm sorry, but your topless." She nodded. "So are you." He laughed nervously. "Yeah, but I'm a guy." She laughed back genuinely. "Sexist."

"I'm not a sexist."

"Do you have a name, not a sexist?"

He paused and then nodded.

"Ash Ketchum."

"See you around Ash Ketchum."

She began to push herself back out so she swimming and he stood up.

"Wait. What's your name?"

She turned back towards him and paused before softly saying. "Misty."