"So, Auntie.." Alex began sweetly, smiling innocently and swinging on her heel. "Do you think it'd be okay if I went back into town tomorrow?"

Ruth smiled delightfully, "Of course, dear!" As her smile grew, her eyes crinkled. "I'm so glad you've found something around here you like."

"Oh, I've found something I like alright.." Alex mumbled to herself.

"What was that?" Ruth asked as she was making her way into the living room.

Alex stood where she was, "Oh, uh.. I'm gonna go.. find Justin. Yeah." She smiled, and sprinted off up to the room she calls hers for the remainder of the summer. She plopped down onto her bed, grinning ear to ear as she thought of Derek. Hey, you can't blame a girl for getting excited. After all, she's been stuck in this house for the past week and a half. All she could think about was his eyes, and his smile, and how his dark hair fell right above his eyes..

She was interrupted by a knock on the door, and knew automatically that it was Justin. He had been doing this every night since they got there. She slowly sat up, and shot him a smile. "Wuddup, brudda."

His eyebrows came together in confusion, "Did I just see a smile?"

She shrugged, "You might have."

"That's..." He trailed off, trying to think of the right word. "..odd."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She sighed and let herself fall back down onto her soft bed. "I finally found something interesting in this town."

"Oh!" Justin exclaimed, his face lighting up. "You found out about the jet ski rentals too?!"

She stifled a laugh, "Uh.. yeah. You could say that."

"So, you're down for getting them tomorrow?" He asked, excitement etched into his face.

"Can't." She said, reaching over to her nightstand to check her phone for any text messages. None. Typical.

His face fell, "Why not!?"

"Because," She said, like it was the biggest inconvenience to explain to this to him. "I'm going into town tomorrow."

He looked at her like she had lost her mind, "Why would you want to go back into town..?"

"What's wrong with going into town?!" She defended, "Darla's Boutique was totally cool."

"Yeah," He scoffed. "Like you'd know that. You left and went to that stupid souvenir shop and..." He stopped, and he got this all-knowing smile on his face. "You want to see that boy again! That's why you were in there!"

"What?! No!"

"Yeah, right. C'mon, Alex.."

She glared at him, "Is it wrong to want to make some friends?!"

"Yeah," He smirked. "'Friends'" He took the liberty of putting air quotes around the word 'friends.'

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, whatever. I was gonna invite you to some parties down by the lake, but now... Eh." She shrugged, "I don't think I will."

"That boy invited you to a party?" He asked, raising his eyebrows suspiciously.

Alex nodded, "Yep, and I'm sure he hangs out with some cute girls.."

"Alex.."

"They have those adorable little accents.."

"Seriously, Alex.."

"Yeah, and we could probably jet ski for free.."

Justin's eyes widened. "Okay, okay."

Alex looked at her brother shamefully, "Wait. So, you give in for a jet ski, but not for cute girls?"

"I happen to have a girlfriend, Alex." He said proudly, "That I'm in love with. No girl here could compare to her."

Alex made a noise of disgust, "Yeah, no one can compare to your vampire girlfriend.." She shook her head, "You make me sick."

He sighed dreamily, "It's called falling in love. You'll find it someday." He thought about his statement for a moment, "Actually.."

Alex reached behind her and whipped a pillow off of Justin's head, "Shut up, will you?!" She let out a short laugh.

Justin chuckled, and threw the pillow right back at her. He stood up from the edge of her bed and made his way to the door, "I'm gonna head off to bed."

"No, you're going to spend two hours on the phone with Juliet, then you're gonna head off to bed." Alex grinned.

Justin took his cellphone out of his pocket, "Dialing her number now." He smirked, as he left her bedroom.

Alex was just about to close her eyes when Justin's head popped back into her room, "But, uh, were you kidding about those free jet ski rides.."

She rolled her eyes, "Leave, Justin!" She laughed slightly as she threw a pillow across the room, almost hitting him. He closed the door just in time.

–

The sound of a small bell rang through the shop, and Alex decided right then that she hated that bell. It wasn't as if there were many people actually inside of the shop but, upon entering, that small amount of people's attention all turned towards her.

As an elderly woman and a young boy continued on with there browsing after glancing Alex's way, she peered over to the register.

Her face fell. He wasn't there.

"Hi!" A charismatic brunette girl exclaimed, "Welcome to-"

"-Sullivan's Souvenir Shop," Alex sighed. "Yeah, I got it."

The girl's cheerful smile faded away and she awkwardly played around with her fingers. "Yeah," She chuckled guilty. "That can be kind of annoying.."

Alex inwardly groaned as she felt the guilt rise up in her stomach. She hated the fact that sometimes she actually got the tendency to act like a civil human being. "No, I'm sorry," she said, setting her hands on the counter. "I'm just.. looking for someone." She sighed, and took a glance around the area, "I can't find them.. It's just frustrating."

The girls smile suddenly reappeared, "Oh! Oh!" She clapped her hands together, "I can so help you out with that! I mean, this town is tiny! I can tell you how to get anywhere."

Alex's eyes widened at the girls sudden enthusiasm. She took a deep breath and did the best she could to keep her cool, "Okay.. that's awesome and all, but if I knew where they were, I wouldn't be looking.."

The girl nodded slowly, "Riight."

Alex mustered up a smile and lightly hit the counter where she was standing, "Well, since they're not in here, I really should get going so I'm just gonna, walk out this door here.." She said cautiously, making her way towards the door with that obnoxious bell that she hated ever so much.

"Wait!" The girl cried, motioning Alex to come back. "So rude of me, I never introduced myself." She smiled widely, "I'm Danielle."

Alex reluctantly made her way over to the register, "I'm Alex." She said blandly, "Now, uh, if you'll excuse me.."

"You're definitely not from around here, I can tell." Danielle nodded annoyingly.

Alex scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, not knowing whether to take that as an insult or as a compliment. "Is it because of my excellent taste in fashion that gives it away? Or maybe the fact that I have a cellphone.. You guys have heard of those, right?"

Danielle merely laughed, "You're so funny! I have a cellphone, see!" She whipped out an old-looking, beat up flip-phone. "Oh my God, light bulb!"

Alex cocked her head to the side, "...light bulb?"

"Like, I have an idea!" She grinned from ear to ear, "We should totally exchange numbers!"

Alex's eyes widened. "Numbers.. uh.. mine seems to have been disconnected." Alex made a sad face and shrugged.

Danielle's face fell, "Oh, well. I'll probably see you around, anyways. Are you going to be here for a while?"

Alex contemplated whether or not to tell her. "Uh, you could say that.."

"Well, while you're here you can totally hang out with me and my friends." Danielle offered with that smile that seemed to be permanently plastered to her face.

"Sounds super," Alex replied with false enthusiasm.

"I know, right?!" Danielle jumped excitedly, "And you should definitely meet my brother. Well, he hangs out with me and my friends.. So, they're his friends too.. We're all friends!"

"Wait," Alex stopped her rambling. "You have a brother?"

She nodded.

"Is this, by any chance, a family owned store?" Alex asked, putting the pieces together as the Jaws theme song started to play in her head. Terror was approaching.

Her face lit up, "Yes! You can tell by how homey and comfortable I made it look, right? Derek wanted to put baseball pictures up. Baseball pictures!"

Alex's face turned a sickly pale. Derek was this... this insane girl's brother. And she's being nice when she says that. She felt stupid for not realizing it as she finally takes the time to take in Danielle's appearance. She was tall, maybe around 5'7. She was thin with bronzed skin from being out in the sun. Like Derek, her cheeks were what got the most color. The only thing different were the eyes; While Derek had bright blue eyes that she could get lost in, Danielle's were dark. They were like a navy color, and if you were creepy enough to get that close you would see that they looked like marbles. Dark blues and grays everywhere.

She groaned, "No. No, no, no, no!"

"I know!" Danielle huffed, "That boy can be so stupid sometimes."

"Dani," Alex began, "Is it okay if I call you that?"

"Well, no one's ever called me that before but I guess you -"

"- great." Alex grinned, cutting her off. "But, I really have to go."

"Aw," Dani's smile dropped. "That's okay, though! We'll hang out some other time!" She chuckled, "When I'm not so busy at work."

Alex took a quick glance at the empty shop, "Yeah.. business is booming in here."

"I get off at four!" Dani announced, a look of hope in her eyes. "Maybe we can hang out? I have a few jet ski's.."

Alex knew Justin would be kill her if she didn't take this offer. But, what he doesn't know can't hurt him, right? "As much I'd love too, Dani, I can't. I'm... spending time with my brother." She lied through her teeth, and was so happy Dani wasn't yet aware of the relationship she had with her brother then. She would have never believed her.

Dani shrugged, but kept her smile this time. "S'okay, he can come too!" She grinned. "We have two jet ski's.. Course, Derek would never let me take his without him, so, he'll probably end up coming." She rolled her eyes.

Alex's attitude suddenly got a lot perkier. She grinned, "Can't wait."

–

Since this story is mostly O/C, I'm trying to get in the characters and let you see what their personalities are like. The story will start flowing soon. More to come :)