-Isabelle's POV-

Once I return from the beach, I see my mother in the kitchen preparing a lot more food than I can eat. "What's all this, mom?" I ask.

"It's for the neighbours! I invited a few families over on my way home from work. They're all so excited to meet you." she says "You better go get ready, they'll be here in an hour."

I run upstairs, throwing my wet towel in laundry on the way, and I take a quick shower. I put my hair in a cute braid, and not knowing what to expect of the party, I just slip on a cute sundress. Since I dont have time for much makeup, I decide a swipe of lip gloss will have to do for today.

As I'm finishing, I hear the doorbell ring downstairs, and lots of footsteps entering the foyer. "Isabelle," my mother calls, "Come meet the neighbours!"

I walk down the stairs, being extra careful not to fall in front of everyone, and I'm introduced to so many new families. I get hugs from a lot of the women, which I'm not used to. My mother only hugs me if there's really a need for it, like yesterday at the airport.

I do my best to remember most of the names, but some of them start to slip my mind. Then, I see a boy who appears to be about my age standing alone, so I walk over to introduce myself.

He smiles as I walk up. "Hey, I'm Noah," he says.

"I'm Isabelle," I reply back. "Do you happen to be going to Lakewood High?"

"Yeah, are you starting there?"

"My first day is tomorow. At least I kinda know someone now!"

"Don't worry about it, it's not too bad. I mean, sure, there's people you should avoid, but for the most part everyone is pretty decent," he says, and I start to relax a little. "Why are you moving in the middle of the school year?"

I immediately tense up at the question, and my mind forbids me from crying infront of a potential new friend. "My parents divorced," I say, not completely lying. "I'm coming to live with my mother for a while since my dad got engaged."

That's when I hear the doorbell ring, and I rush to leave the conversation before Noah asks any more questions. "Excuse me," I say as I hurry to the door.

I open it to see Harry, and a lady who I presume to be jis mother, standing on the porch.

"Oh, you must be Isabelle!" she exclaims with her British accent while she reaches in to hug me. "My name is Anne Cox, and this is my son, Harry. We llive three doors down in the cul-de-sac," she explains.

Before I can say anything, Harry quickly adds, "Nice to meet you, Isabelle," and a beautiful smile appears across his face, revealing two indented dimples on the sides of his cheeks.

"You too," I smile back. "Please, come inside!" I say as I lead them in.

I guess Harry didn't want his mother to know about our 'moment' on the beach today.

As the party continues on, I quickly peel away to my room for a little break from being social. I walk over to my bay window, which has a small little bench with covered in pillows, and I take a seat to admire the sunset over the water.

"Nice party," I hear a deep British voice say. I don't have to turn around to know it's Harry, so I continue to stare at the sunset.

"First you stalk me to my house, and now you're in my room?" I tease playfully.

"It's not stalking if I'm invited inside," he quickly retorts back.

"And what makes you think you're automatically invited in my room?" Still with my back facing him, I can't tell whether he's still at the door or an inch away from my back.

"Are you going to kick me out?" he whispers softly in my ear, answering my question.

My head says kick him out, but something deep inside me wants him to stay.

When I don't respond, he gets up and flops onto my bed. "Good, because I wasn't going to leave anyways," he playfully says as he throws a pillow at me.

"Harry!" I exclaim. "Get off my bed," I say as shortly as I can, hoping my mother's genes will kick in right about now.

"Make me," he replies.

"Please, Harry, I just made it this morning! You're going to have to remake it."

"What! No fair!"

"Those are the rules," I state.

He groans and gets off my bed, and walks over to me.

His feet take him closer and closer towards me, until our moment on the beach comes back to me and his green eyes, that look like clear chips of emerald, bore directly into mine.

"You make a lot of rules, don't you, love," he whispers.

I inhale, and my exhale sounds more like a sigh. My mind keeps telling me to move away, that I just met him and now all the sudden we're having intimate moments, and I don't even know anything about him. He could be an axe murderer, for all I know.

I keep trying to tear myself away, but my feet remain where the are, glued to the floor.

His lips slowly start to move closer and closer to mine, inch by inch, until we are seconds away from them touching.

Of course, my mother calls me down for dinner, her timing anything short of perfect. Kissing a stranger? What was I thinking. But he's not a stranger, my mind reminds me. He's your neighbour.

Once he steps away, something inside me feels disappointed. It's like the first time trying a new drug, you get the smallest taste of what-if and what could've been, and now you're addicted for life.

---

As I'm getting ready for bed, my mind keeps wandering back to what happened with Harry. If my mother hadn't of interrupted, would we have kissed?

I send a quick text to my father, letting him know how my day went, and fall asleep with the image of the curly haired green eyed boy behid my eyelids.

Notes

Hi guys!

Thanks again so much for reading. Keep on commenting, subsciving and rating!<3

hope you are all enjoying and I look forward to publishing the rest of it! There is a lot more to come.

thanks lovlies! xx