Chapter One
I’ve been in love with the boy next door since I was ten. It’s a cliché, I know, but I couldn’t help it. His family moved into the house next door to ours one sweltering day in January, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the sandy haired boy. Even at twelve, he was handsome.
I sat in the shade in the front garden, pretending to read my book while catching glimpses of him and his parents through the fence. It took me the whole day to work up the courage, but as evening drew closer and the temperature changed from oppressive to almost bearable, I walked next door, introduced myself, and invited him over for a swim. Having an excellent view of their garden from my upstairs bedroom window, I was all too familiar with the current algae-infested state of their swimming pool. And on a
