Chapter 1 (Not proofread because I'm taking a summer job and I'm tired most of the time because I don't like sleeping)

(Still flashback)

"The beach is here," Rin mentioned as we walked along the shoreline.

Before I could snap at him for stating the obvious, I remembered that he wasn't that good at English and could only manage the simplest sentence patterns. I was able to understand that he actually meant "The beach is here, so why we still walking?".

"I know a good place to swim," I told him. "So, what stroke do you swim?"

"Batta and furi," Rin answered.

I pondered for a moment before coming into understanding. "Butterfly and freestyle?" I clarified. He nodded. "Hmm, we're the same. We should have a match. Free?"

Rin's eyes sparkled at my words. A large smile began to appear on his lips, showing a large set of shark-like teeth. He pulled a pair of goggles from his jacket, and I did the same on mine.

"Always prepared, huh?" I grinned. "You know what? I like you." We walked a few meters until we arrived at a secluded area with a small cave nearby. I began taking off my shirt and jogging pants, revealing a bikini crop top and shorts. Rin did the same, while I was carefully folding my clothes and setting them on top of a rock near the opening of the cave.

"You ready?" Rin smiled, stretching out his arms and legs.

"I was born ready, sharkie," I smirked, cracking my neck in attempts to be cool. Which I am, of course. Though the cracking noise made Rin cringe uncomfortably.

Rin and I swam to our hearts' content, racing a few rounds around the boulder that sat on the ocean. By the time we had our fill, we staggered to get out of the water and crawled onto the sand. Both of us fell on our backs and stared at the cloudy sky.

"You are fast," Rin panted.

"I'm the fastest in my team," I bragged, also panting. "You're pretty good too. Were you the best from where you were in Japan?"

Rin was silent for a moment. "Yes," he answered. Then he got up and extended a hand to me. "Let's go?"

By the time we got back home, Lory and Mum weren't very pleased. Well, more on Mum. Lory was just glad that the kid she just agreed to care for was back in one piece. Worrying aside, she seemed quite happy that Rin made a friend.

"I was just showing him around," I said, sensing that Mum was starting to make a fuss.

"Without our permission," Mum added. "Rin just got here. Do you think he might've been tired? Jetlagged? And you have homework to finish, young lady."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes but settled for an exasperated sigh. "Fine, Mum," I said. "Sorry, Lory. It won't happen again."

"No harm done, dear," Lory waved me off. "Just tell us next time if you want to go somewhere. Seems like both of you will be hanging out a lot at the beach, eh?"

My eyes drifted to Mum and saw hints of a sour face. I giggled and so did Rin. Our eyes met, and I gave him a wink with a thumbs up.

"Rin?" I called out when my eyes caught a familiar hair of maroon. I quickly cycled as fast as I could to catch up with him. Although I did almost ran him over. Well, maybe I did, and we fell on the ground with a crash.

"Charlie?" Rin said in his thick accent, looking confused and dazed from the stumble. He got up and pulled me to my feet as well. Then we both began patting the dirt from our uniforms.

"Hey, good mornin'," I greeted with a massive grin. "First day of school, huh?" I got up on my bike again and patted the seat behind me. "Want a ride?"

"Thank you... very much," Rin said slowly. "How about me drive?"

I giggled. "It's 'How about I drive?'," I corrected. "And sure. I'll take you up on that offer." I moved backwards to the passenger seat and let him mount the bike. As he began to paddle, my arms quickly wrapped around his waist as I almost fell off.

Rin tensed around my arms, and when I glanced at the back of his head, I noticed that the tips of his ears were pink. I grinned knowingly but remained silent about it. I also didn't mention that I could hear his racing heartbeat against my palm.

"I mean, the joke wasn't that bad to be honest," I told Rin. It was lunch time, and we opted to eat out on the benches under the trees. I preferred to sit in the cafeteria, where I usually sit alone, but Rin insisted on eating in the outdoors. "You just had a weak punchline, I guess."

"Punchline?" Rin raised his brow. The embarrassment was still etched on his face. The poor guy decided to tell a joke for his introduction. What he expected to be a fun reaction to his joke on his name – who knew Rin was a girl's name? – turned out to be a sea of silence and confused expressions.

"Yeah. You know? Nobody got the joke," I shrugged, munching on my sandwich. "It can't be worse than my first day though. I had a bad hair day, and if I wasn't wearing a skirt, everyone would probably think I was a boy." I continued, "I guess that's why most people just call me Charlie. That's usually a boy's name, you know."

Hearing nothing but silence, I turned to Rin. I almost blushed when I realised that he had been staring at me this whole time. "What?" I said. "Is there mayonnaise on my face?"

Rin shook his head. There was a long pause before he spoke in his accent that I was getting accustomed to. "You... are pretty," he said slowly. "You are not a boy."

Being surprised was a understatement. It wasn't everyday that people called me pretty. Well, Dad did, but Tyler and Mum always nagged be about trying to try and be more girly. In my attempt to spite them, I spent more and more time doing the opposite to the point of not even bothering to brush my hair.

So I did the only reasonable reaction you could do in this situation. I laughed. I laughed my guts out. "You... you're pretty hilarious," I wheezed, patting his back. "Now that is a funny joke."

Only when my laughter died down did I realise that he was serious, and that was when I felt unbearably awkward. I needed to change the subject. Pronto.

"You sure? Even though I beat your ass several times in freestyle?" I snorted out for good measure.

Rin scoffed and flicked a grain of rice to my face. "You are a girl," he said. "I am going easy in you."

I scoffed back. "It's 'going easy on you,' and I am absolutely sure I can beat you, even on butterfly," I said.

Rin smiled and returned to eating his lunch, nodding his head mockingly. "After school?" he offered.

"It's on, sharkie."

"Not again," I heard the school's swimming coach groan. As much as he loved my enthusiasm for swimming, he wasn't as appreciative of me intimidating every other athlete on the swim team. Yet, it never stopped him being curious and volunteering to be the spectator on my informal matches.

"Hey, coach," I greeted with Rin right beside me. "This is Rin. He's the new exchange student from Japan. Rin, this is Coach Willy. He's in-charge of the school's swim team."

"It's Coach William," Coach corrected. "This girl just likes to take the piss out of me." He stuck out his hand. "Welcome aboard, Rin. You planning to join the swim team?"

Rin blinked, trying to process what coach said. I couldn't blame him. Coach was a fast-talker. Still, Rin tried to be formal and shook his hand anyway. "Hajimemashite," he said, bowing.

Coach looked at me and stared blankly.

"Don't look at me," I shrugged. "I'm no translator. Although I did tell him to be himself and lay off the Japanese jokes." I nudged Rin. "That was not a joke, right?"

Rin shook his head. "It is Japanese greeting," he said. "You said no jokes."

"Oh, that settles it then," I said, clapping my hands. "We're gonna have a match." Earning a worried look from Coach Willy, I assured him. "This one is really good. I promise. Think of this match as an initiation then."

"When have I ever doubted you, Charlie?" Coach Willy sighed in defeat. Then he smiled slightly. He nudged his head over to the locker rooms. "Go get changed. You too, Rin."

Fifteen minutes after changing and stretching for warm-up, we were set on the diving board. As usual, my fellow teammates were sitting by the poolside to watch the match. I grinned and readied myself. When I heard the shrill sound of the whistle, we jumped.

Racing with Rin on a proper pool than the wavy beach was extremely different. He was faster, but so was I. Probably because of the audience we had, he was more aggressive, but so was I.

I slapped my hand on the tile, pulling my head out of the water. I swallowed deep gulps of air back into my lungs, panting from exertion. "Verdict, coach?" I asked breathlessly.

"Rin wins," Coach Willy said, checking his stopwatch, "by .2 seconds."

"Goddamn it!" I splashed Rin while still laughing.

He responded by smashing his arms in the water in cheer, splashing me as well.

"I take it that you are joining the swim team then," Coach Willy said to Rin.

"Of course, he is." I slung my arm over Rin's shoulder before dunking his head underwater. "I still have to beat his ass one day."

Rin emerged from the water and grinned at me, showing off his sharp teeth. "You try best," he said in his broken English.

"Hey, check that out," I said, glancing at the side. "My defeat may have earned you some new friends."

Rin turned and saw a group of guys who were waving at him once they got his attention. He smiled and waved back. He turned to me. "Thank you. You're my first friend."

"I better be."

Eyy, first update of summer! Honestly, I don't know how Japanese speak broken English. Since English wasn't my first language and didn't start speaking much of it until elementary, I just wrote common mistakes in grammar, hoping it wasn't offensive at all. Come to think of it, I probably spoke broken English like this. Not Japanese though.

Anyways, any suggestions on what you want to happen in this story. I figured out point A and point B, but anything in between? Still really fuzzy, so I might need some help.

Reviews and faves/follows are greatly appreciated. Seriously, no writer likes a silent reader. Well, most of them. Love 'ya!