"Melanie, wake up sweetie! Raise and shine" Melanie woke up to her mom calling her. She looked out her window and saw the beautiful sunshine pouring in her messy room and the birds outside chirping annoyingly. "I'm up mom, gosh can't you let me sleep in once? " she yelled tiredly to her mom. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs and knew that she was in trouble. Her parents always taught her to speak with a nice tone. But ever since her parents divorced two years ago she gave up that sweet little girl act. "Honey, you know I don't like that tone, now get up and come downstairs for breakfast. I even got your favorite cereal Lucky Charms. I mean it is your last day here before you go up to your dads" her mother said. "Ugh, stop reminding me, I hate him and his fake, phoney girlfriend" Melanie groaned. Tiffany was this perky blonde that just so happened to meet her father after the divorce but Melanie knew that he had an affair and she still couldn't forgive him. Tiffany was just so blonde, dumb, and her hobbies was shopping and dying from skin cancer by tanning. What a way to live, Melanie thought. "Now sweetie be nice, you and your dad need to spend some time together. Oh that reminds me I need to call him and tell him to pick you up at the train station at 4 O'clock. So hurry get up now" Her mother said. Melanie watched as her mother left the room. Her hair was brown with gray and blonde highlights. She was a slim woman but since the divorce she had put on about 10 pounds. Melanie knew her mother was tired all the time because she had to work two jobs to support them. During the day she worked at the coffee shop down the road, and at night she worked in a little office downtown as a secretary. Her mother used to be so young and alive but now she looked wore down, she had little bags under her eyes and her wrinkles were just starting to come in. After her mom was out of site she tried to sleep again but couldn't stop thinking about the awful summer that was about to come. So she decided to get up and dressed. She slowly trudged out of bed and went into her bathroom. Since her dad was gone her and her mom each got their own bathroom. Melanie's was small but very pretty. It had blue walls and pictures of the sea everywhere. She loved surfing so the water had become her second life. She wasn't like most girls, for instance she never had a boyfriend before, she didn't gossip, and she barely wore any make up. Her mother always told her that she was blessed with good looks, but she never believed her. She figured that parents are supposed to say that about there kids. Melanie looked at herself in her huge mirror above the sink and saw a normal 16 year old with wavy blonde hair, freckles that were too noticeable thanks to the sun, and a sun kissed tan from all her hours spent at the beach. She was very tiny, in weight and in height. She was 5'4 last time she checked. She was the smallest 16 year old that she knew besides her best friend Katy who was 5'3. Katy and Melanie had been best friends since kinder garden. Ever since they decided to trade barbie dolls they had become inseparable. You name it, birthdays, sleep overs, even the same crushes. But ever since Katy met Luke things changed. Katy never cared about boys and that was why they got along so well. But then in March that year Luke transferred to their high school. He was everything a girl would want. Smart, funny, good looking, and nice. However he was everything that Katy wanted so that began their relationship which started to wreck Melanie and Katy's friendship. Ever since they started going out Melanie felt like she was always a tag along for them and hated watching them kiss and cuddle. So eventually she gave up trying to hang out with them and decided to take her anger of losing her best friend to a guy on the beach. She began surfing non-stop and even entered a couple competitions. She never won but they were good practice. Melanie picked up her brush and started brushing her messy hair that was piled on top of her head. After making herself look at least presentable she headed downstairs for food. As she reached the landing she saw her mom outside talking to the neighbor Mr.Wells. Melanie always liked him because when she was little he would always defend her whenever his son Mike was mean to her. Mike had grown up into a mature, handsome young man though. She saw him at school but never talked to him because he was popular. Melanie preferred to hang out with those like her, yet there was few. She was happy with her small group of friends. She always got good grades, and never talked in class. She didn't know why she was so shy to people that she didn't know she just figured she got it from her mom. "Well, thank you. I'd love to" her mother said to Mr.Wells. Just then her mother walked in the door and saw Melanie spying. "What was that about?" she asked. "Well he asked me to dinner" her mother replied. "MR. WELLS!" Melanie screamed. "Yes he did Melanie, what's so wrong with that? He's single you know" her mom replied. "Okay, whatever. I need food" Mel replied as she started to walk to the cupboard to grab the Lucky Charms. She sat down at the table and sat eating for two minutes when she noticed that her mom was looking at her. "What are you staring at? " she asked. "Nothing, Im just gonna miss you this summer, are you excited though sweetheart? " Her mom asked. "Ecstatic", she replied sarcastically. "Good I'm glad " Her mother said then left the kitchen. Melanie was anything but ecstatic, it was more like dreading. She knew one thing for sure. It was gonna be a long, hot summer.

Chapter 2

"Okay sweetie you be careful, you have your train ticket and everything? " Her mom asked before Melanie boarded the train to California. "Yes, mom I have the train tickets, money, all my stuff, but my dignity is long gone." Melanie replied. "Haha, listen Mel, I love you. Be safe okay? You need this time with your father. No matter what has happened he still loves you and cares for you", her mother said with tears coming to her eyes. "2 O'clock train to California set to board " Said the speakers. "That's me " Melanie realized. She looked at her tired mother and started to feel the dreaded tears creep up and before she knew it they were pouring down her face. she hugged her mom so tight and waved a final goodbye before she disappeared into the train. Melanie started to find a seat when it hit her that this was actually happening. She was going to meet her dad's girlfriend. She wasn't going to see her mom for the whole summer, and she wouldn't know anybody there. All these thoughts came rushing to her head as she sat down in a seat closest to the window. Across from her was a man about 50 years old reading a newspaper. He kept looking at her and muttering something to himself. Melanie noticed that the top of his pinky finger was completely gone. She shuttered at this and picked up her bag filled with treats(thanks to mom) and grabbed her Teen Vogue magazine for July. As she flipped through her magazine thoughts of the upcoming summer kept hitting her like a ton of Bricks. "Next stop California", the intercom on the train said. "Ahh s**t, stupid coffee, stupid train", the old man muttered loudly. He looked at Melanie and apologized "It's okay", she replied shyly. She quickly grabbed a few napkins from her bag and handed it to him. His coffee had spilled all over him. "Thank you very much, it's not often that I meet young teenagers today who actually have manners", he said while cleaning him self off. "Well, um.. yeah. Sir may I ask what happened to your fing-" She was cut off by the intercom saying that they had arrived in California. Melanie quickly sat up and grabbed her bag. She was about to be out of the door when the old man called out "My finger was cut off at a work-related incident" Melanie just looked at him and nodded then took off to find her luggage.

Chapter 3

There he was. Her dad. Kevin Kingston. The man that betrayed her and her mom. He looked the same, in fact he looked younger. In his appearance and in his spirit. Guess that's what happens when you have a girlfriend who's half your age. Melanie looked at him again and blinked. Was this the right person? He had short brown hair with gray highlight, His tan was clear from the California weather, He was wearing a black T-shirt, gray shorts, and sandles. Yep, that was her dad. He always wore sandles. The male kind of course. "Melanie! Is that you? Wow you look so grown up" He said then engulfed her in a massive bear hug. She just stood then and didn't hug back. He didn't notice though. "Yep, it's me." She said with no emotion. "Well golly, honey I've missed you so much! You should of visited me sooner" He replied ecstatic. He noticed all her bags and picked them up from the ground. Melanie just stood then watching him then picked up her surfboard and followed him to his car. A black mustang. Back at home Melanie and her mom were struggling to make ends meet and here he had a fancy sports car. She noticed that he had a tattoo on his wrist with the name "Tiffany" on it and a heart. She felt like she was going to throw up just looking at it. She snapped back to attention when he grabbed her surfboard from her hands and hung it up on top of the car. She opened the car door and quickly got inside and waited. Five minutes later he climbed in and looked over and smiled. "So kiddo, you surf?", he asked. "Yep, started after you left" She replied. His smile quickly went away and he turned on the car but nothing could hide the akward silence that filled the car. After about an hour of silence she noticed that they were passing some houses. But these were no regular houses, they looked more like mansions. They all seemed to have pools. She looked father out into the distance and saw the big, blue ocean and smiled. The car began to slow down as it pulled into a long driveway and the ignition stopped. "This is your house?" Melanie asked in disbelief. She couldn't believe it. The house looked like something off on Cribs. It had striking green grass, huge doors, a pathway that led to the backyard, but what really caught her eye was a young, petite blonde coming out of the door. She looked like Malibu Barbie. she was wearing a bright hot pink tank top, very short white short shorts, and bright hot pink matching pumps. Her tan looked so fake she looked like an orange. "Hello!", Tiffany called. "Hey hun, meet my daughter Melanie", her dad replied happily. "Hi, nice to meet you", replied Melanie. There was an akward silence so her dad went to go get her bags. Melanie felt her heart jump, she looked down. On Tiffany's left hand, forth finger there was a huge diamond ring on it. Melanie couldn't tear her eyes from it. Tiffany noticed that Melanie was staring so she quickly smiled and walked to Kevin. Melanie looked at her again and watched Tiffany whisper something in her dad's ear. She quickly tore her eyes away as they both walked toward her. "Melanie, I've got some great news, me and Tiffany are going to get married this summer. Isn't that great?" All Melanie could hear was people around her asking if she was okay. She looked around and realized that she had just fainted.

Chapter 4

Melanie looked around then got up slowly. "Honey, are you okay?", she heard someone ask. "I'm fine, a little shaken up but I'm fine." she replied quietly "Can I go take a walk on the beach dad? " She looked at him and he looked worried but he replied with "Sure, but be careful". She slowly began to walk down the long, overstretched driveway and quickly looked back. Her dad was kissing Tiffany, he looked happy though. 'Why can't dad be happy with me and mom?' Melanie thought to herself. After about 10 minutes of walking she started to see the beach up ahead. She could feel the hot sun beating down on the sand, It was around 5 at night now so the wind had cooled. "Arg, get off me" someone yelled. Melanie looked down at the beach but had to cover her eyes cause the sun was going down. "Honestly guys leave me alone" She heard it again, and looked once more. Down at the volleyball nets were 3 girls and 3 guys. They were playing volleyball. The girl that had been yelling was now sitting in the sand, then one of the guys came to her and forced a hug. She smiled and looked satisfied. The girl then focused on Melanie and smiled again. Melanie quickly looked away not wanting them to think that she had been watching them. "Watch out!" a guy called. Too late the volleyball was already coming toward her and landed right on her head. She fell on the ground and heard someone running towards her. "Are you okay, Im so sorry my friend doesn't know how to hit a volleyball" he said. Melanie looked up and couldn't believe her eyes. She felt like she was looking at an angel. He was tall, wearing no shirt, He had sandy blonde hair with deep blue eyes. His tan was so intense he looked like an Amercrombie