I guess you could say that this was my first official date with Annie. I've dated other girls before, not as much as Noah (no way that would ever happen) but for this one I feel more nervous than ever before.

I try and look nice, kind of like the way I dress for the reaping. I tone down the dress shirt and replace it with one of my surfer tees. I pick the green one with a palm tree. I only have one dress shirt and I think that is in the wash. I don't know.

I walk into my sister's room because I need a mirror. I'm a boy and I don't have a mirror in my room. She, being annoying, only lets me in for a minute. I use the minute to the maximum, making sure my hair is parted the right way, before she ushers me out.

Then, I walk into the kitchen and start rummaging around in the cupboards. I can't find the picnic basket! I start running around frantically, looking in some strange places that I know it would never be. I run into the laundry room, the mud room, and the sitting room. I check under pillows and in the washing machine. Nowhere. I am making my way upstairs when my sister is walking the opposite way down the steps. In her hands, is the picnic basket.

"Thank you so much! You're a miracle worker!" I take the basket from her hands and make it out of the door before she can even thank me. That is assuming she thanks me.

I jog into town, slower than at home, until I make it to the deli.

"Hey, Marcie." I pant as I place the basket on top of the glass counter. Marcie is a woman in her middle 30s, and she is the butcher. It isn't normally a woman's job but her husband died in a boat crash off shore a few months ago.

"Hey, slow down kid. What do you need?" I stop to catch my breath before I start speaking again.

"Just give me some Swiss and ham and that fancy bread that looks like a sword." She divides everything up into portions and wraps them in the fancy paper. I put them in the basket.

"You got something special going on today?" She asks as she rings me up at the cash register.

"I got a date." She hands me the receipt and I hand her the money. I don't mind telling Marcie because she is pretty much family to us. I am a teenage boy, I love this shop!

"Mmm…" She hands me back my change. I run out the door and into town because the butcher shop is on the outside.

I make a quick stop at the fruit stand and then the flower stand. I buy a pineapple and a primrose for Annie. Then, I walk over to the shore, away from the boat docks. I sit and watch the waves until Annie finally comes down the beach. My stomach butterflies when I see her. She sits next to me as I separate the food for each of us.

We don't really talk for a while. Actually, we don't talk the entire time. I enjoy her presence and I feel happier than normal. We watch the boats pull in and the sunset starts falling over the sky. Annie turns toward me.

"A boat."

"What about the boats?"

"I want to go on one." I hesitate for a moment about what to do next.

"Sure. Tomorrow, meet me here at 5 o'clock." She nods.

"See you then."

"You too Annie."

The next day:

I see Annie coming down the side of the beach. I told my dad that I was going on the boat today. He has the day off because of some kind of meeting at the mayor's house. Noah normally stays with me on that day but I told him to go visit Daniel. They are really making plans to reopen the candy store.

I am wearing what I always wear when I go on the boat: my khaki shorts, a t-shirt, and a button down shirt that isn't all the way buttoned up. Annie has pretty much the same thing on. Her hair is blowing with the breeze and she looks really pretty today.

"Hey!" I wave to her and she walks onto the dock. She waves back at me.

"This is my dad's crabbing boat. He isn't at work today, so these are just a bunch of his workers." She nods and puts her hand up to her face to shield the sun. The gangplank lowers onto the dock and I hold her hand as we make our way up.

I walk straight to the boss of the sailors, Ryan. Ryan is standing at the mast of the boat, trying to find a decent place that crabs might be. They choose their locations very carefully.

"Ryan, this is Annie. Annie, this is Ryan. She is going to be on board with us today." I explain to Ryan. I don't want anything to happen like the last time. Noah came on board and I forgot to tell Ryan, and Ryan almost made Noah scrub the entire deck. It was a good thing I was there to explain. He nods and I start my tour of the boat.

I show her all the different crabbing tools. We are making our way into my dad's office when the boat lurches forward. We start sailing across the water. Annie runs over to the side, watching the boat cut across the water. The first time I was on a boat, I was enchanted by the way the boat swam along the waters.

I put my arm around her and we watch the boat. I want to live in that moment forever. Until, everything goes wild and in the commotion, I hear a shout.