I'd never seen the beach, but it was always of a dream of mine. And I never thought it would be more than a dream but here I was on my way to an island halfway across the country. I thought I'd be stuck in Arizona forever. Or at least until college, but my dad graduated from the police academy and was in search of a job that paid more generously than the one he had before. Moving here was a long process and one I didn't take seriously. Like me my parents also wanted out of Arizona, and they constantly brought up the idea of moving but never followed through.

So, when they told me they were thinking of moving to an island in North Carolina, referred to as the 'Outer Banks', I didn't let myself get too excited. And sure enough a little more than a year later we are packing our old life into boxes and getting ready to start a new one on the other side of the country. Even though this is what I wanted, a change of scenery, I was nervous. Change was never very comfortable for me and this was enormous change.

We had been flying for 8 hours and we now had a 2 hour drive ahead of us. And the closer we got the more reality hit me. When we finally pulled in front of our soon to be house I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest. Arizona felt like a foggy memory to me already. And that's when I realized that this was my reality now. I hopped out of the car and helped my mom unload some of the suitcases while my dad unlocked the front door.

The inside of the house was just as gorgeous as the outside, but before I could take my own tour of the house I had to finish unloading all that was left in the car. I hurriedly brought two more suitcases in not bothering to even look at the Uhaul we still had to unload. I left the suitcases by the door and hurriedly paced through the house to explore my new home. A couple hours later everything was unloaded and stacked by the front door. It was about noon because my parents decided to take the late flight so we wouldn't have to drive at night.

I decided it was time to explore the island but most importantly the beach.

''Mom, I'm going to go down to the beach.'' I said the enthusiasm ringing clear in my voice.

''Ok, but be back by 6. We're having pizza tonight.'' I grabbed a towel from one of my suitcases   and changed into my favorite black bathing suit. I made sure to not stuff anything I would need for the beach in the bottom of my suitcase for this reason exactly. Once out of the house I realized I had no idea where pretty much anything was. So, I decided to wander around all the houses in our neighborhood until I saw something that indicated a beach was nearby. But instead I stopped at the sight of one of my neighbors perched in a lawn chair in their front yard.

I tried to get a closer look, curious about what my new neighbors looked like, without seeming creepy. I was about a block away now, and I could see that it was man, probably around or a little older than me, with light brown hair that looked like he had just combed his fingers through it. He was wearing a pin striped button up that was white with blue thin stripes and a pair of khaki shorts. He also  had  a pair of dark sunglasses on that hung low on his face so I couldn't tell if he was looking my way. As I got closer I averted my eyes to the ground hoping he hadn't just caught me staring at him.

''You new here?'' The voice made me feel weak suddenly. I stopped walking and looked up. The boy had gotten up from his chair and was coming towards me.

''Yea, I just moved here...how did you guess?'' I mean honestly do I look that lost.

''I've never seen you over here before.''

''I live just two houses down. We just got here today.'' I looked down shamefully at the black bikini I was dressed in. I was probably nowhere near a beach and I was walking around in a bikini. Well, that's one way to get your neighbor's attention.

''Have you ever been to a bonfire?'' Never, but I didn't want to resemble a lost disoriented tourist either.

''A few times.'' I replied. He smirked as if reading right through my lie.

''Would you like to go to one tonight?''

''Yes, but your going to have to show me around because I have no idea where anything is.''

''Deal. I'll pick you up at 7. Two houses down right?''

''Right.'' We both exchanged a polite smile and then he made his way back to his lawn chair. I decided that it was too humid to be mindlessly searching for a beach so I headed back home. I smiled again at thought of already making a friend around here. I was sure that soon I would blend right in like the rest of them. But for now I would remain a clueless stranger.