The sun is glinting off the water and the sand is warm under my bare feet. It’s the last day of school, and we’re at the beach so I can smell summer in the air. There’s a group of girls splashing around in the shallow water, giggling and glancing at the boys running into the surf. The teachers put up a canopy and gave up on any sort of supervision. I sit down on the hard sand, just close enough to the water that my toes are submerged each time the wave reaches out and runs towards the beach.
       I close my eyes and go over the year. It was a pretty great year, an official start to high school, but tenth grade is right around the corner and I haven’t met my one goal for freshman year, kiss Aiden Sandoval. We’ve been in the same class since sixth grade, and I’ve been completely infatuated with him since he sat down next to me and made math class bearable for an entire year. He’s funny, smart, kind, and when he smiles, everyone around him feels the need to smile with him.
        My eyes open as I hear a person drop down beside me on the sand. I look over and I have to blink to make sure I’m not still daydreaming, it’s Aiden. We haven’t spoken much since middle school, but we always say hi to each other in the hallways and we’ve seen each other at a couple birthday parties. His hair is dripping onto his face like he just came out of the water, and he’s giving me a lopsided grin.
        “What are you doing down here all by yourself? Where are your friends?” he asks me, half concerned, half teasing.
       I point to the girls gossiping and eyeing the boys in the water, “They’re over there, just felt like being alone for a bit, absorbing my first rays of summer.”
       “How’ve you been Alice? I missed you in math class, I actually had to pay attention this year.”
      “High school is a lot better than I expected, but math class is definitely unbearable without you.” I can’t believe I said that. I sound so needy. I search his face for any sign of repulsion, but he looks like he’s mulling something over.
       Aiden catches me completely off guard as he asks me, “Hey will you go on a walk with me? Catch up, reminisce all our middle school stories?”
        My smile is instinctual as I nod, and we start slowly walking towards the pier. We talk about our classes, our families, summer and just about everything in between. It’s as if we never grew apart, and time seems to stand still as we smile and laugh. About halfway to the pier, our hands start brushing against each other, and he slips his fingers through mine, glancing at me to gauge my reaction. My smile grows and we keep talking and joking. He teases me playfully, and I run the short distance left through the shallow water. When I reach the pier, I realize he’s followed me and he’s standing right next to me. I can see the water droplets in his hair, and the green in his eyes. The conversation pauses and he looks at me, brow furrowed.   
       “I’ve wanted to do this for years,” he says as he leans over and pulls my face towards his.
       The ocean is lapping up against the pier, the sound of the seagulls is above us and I’m kissing Aiden Sandoval. I’m on top of the world.