• Chapter One
    It was the first day at a new school.
    I was incredibly nervous. My parents had just moved me from the bustling, metropolitan southern California, to the puny Gardiner, Montana. There were no malls, no tall buildings, no oceans, no anything. There were no soccer fields, either. It was so primitive. My dad had been hired to be a ranger for Yellowstone Natl. Park. On the outside, I was excited to be so close to the nature, but on the inside, I was dying.
    At school, there was only one class per grade. I was in the 8th grade class. The teacher, who seemed intent on separating me from the class, sat me next to her, and told me to keep standing up after the National Anthem was sung. I got nervous.
    “Everybody,” she boomed, “Meet Kara Peterson.” The class just stared. “She has just moved here from, where is it, honey?” I mumbled, Burbank, California. “Oh, right, Los Angeles.” Thanks for morphing what I said into something that would attract attention from my peers.
    “You don’t look too ghetto. You a movie snob?” asked an obnoxious girl in the middle row. She sat next to the hottest guy in the class. The guy who seemed like the most popular. She looked proud of that.
    “No, I’m not. I used to be an actress though,” Might as well surprise them while I can.
    “Nooooooo!” screamed everybody. “What did you act in?”
    “I was in the movie-,” Of course the teacher interrupted me.
    “Now, now,” she said, “Break out the textbooks under your seats. It’s geography time.”
    And that was the highlight of the day. I sat alone at lunch and that was that. Because it was the first day, we were sent home early.
    ♥
    When I got home, my mother was lying in ambush.
    “Honey bunch! How was school? Did you like it? Did you make any friends?”
    “Hi, mom. Okay, no, no.” I said.
    “Oh, then. I was walking around town today, and I saw the most darrrling rafting business. I enrolled you in some classes. Twice a week, starting tomorrow.”
    “MOM! Why couldn’t you have put me in a soccer team or something? Or track? Volleyball? I already know how to kayak. I don’t want to raft!” Actually I did, but I was in a terrible mood after being ignored at school. Mom dismissed me with a wave of her hand.
    “Whatever, dear, you are enrolled, you are going, and I made some blondies.”
    “Mom. If you’re going to make brownies, make brownies. Blondies taste weird. I’m gonna go outside and kick a ball around.”
    We live just on the Yellowstone River, and before we moved here, my parents had a fence installed so I wouldn’t kick all of my soccer balls into the water. When we moved, I bought a full sized goal with my own money, and I put it against the house wall, so I could practice.
    I practiced in solitude, getting out all of my rage at being moved to the countryside. I hate it here. I didn’t care if anyone could see me. I just kicked the balls into the goal as hard as I could. Running around, doing tricks, I practiced until I couldn’t feel my legs anymore.
    Chapter Two
    After another boring and solitary day at school, I walked home. My mother was waiting for me, and together, we walked over to the rafting place.
    My mom had packed blondies to give to the instructor. I told her not to bother, because those white-chocolate confections were going to make whoever ate them fat.
    When we got there, we were a little early. I was starving, because the school lunch tastes like dog turd, and I’d rather not get sick from eating gross stuff. I asked my mom if I could have a blondie.
    “I thought you didn’t like them. I thought you said that whoever eats them will get fat.”
    “I did. However, I didn’t eat lunch, and that saved me about 800 greasy calories. Please mom?”
    She gave me one, and, as I took a big bite, I saw the popular guy from class. Hair wet. In a wetsuit. Pure, unadulterated hotness. I choked.
    As I gasped for breath, my mom looked terrified. She was too suburban to know the Heimlich maneuver. However, the popular guy did.
    He raced towards me, put his arms under mine, and pulled. He did it well, and I spit out the rich white chocolate blob. It looked gross. I was so embarrassed.
    “You okay?” He asked.
    I was panting. “Yes, I, I think I am.” He really was gorgeous. Turquoise eyes, black hair, tall. I think I swooned.
    “We never introduced ourselves at school. I’m Jack.” He held his hand out.
    I might be a huge egomaniac for saying this, but I could have sworn I felt electricity spark as I took his hand and shook.
    “I’m Kara. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
    “Likewise.”
    “Soooooo. Do you take classes here?”
    He grinned. “Nope. I work here. And I’m your instructor today.”
    Chapter Three
    I almost passed out.
    “You?” I asked, incredulous. “You work here? But you were just at school!”
    “So were you,” he pointed out.
    “But how did you… Never mind. Let’s start my lesson. What do I do now?”
    He pointed towards a girl by a shack. “Go talk to Lauren. She’ll help you get suited up.”
    ♥
    After I had my wetsuit, my waterproof jacket, and my water-shoes on, I went back to Jack for my lesson. He showed me how to paddle, which was easy, and then showed me a small raft. This was weird, because usually there are about eight people per raft, and today there were just the two of us. Oh, well. It’s off-season, and that means more one-on-one time with Jack!
    We walked down the 25629586 steps onto the riverbank. I swear. It was the longest staircase ever. Anyways, we got onto the small blue raft, and we undocked. I sat in the middle, on the right side, and he sat opposite me.
    We cruised down the river, both of us paddling steadily. It was insanely easy. At one point, we hit a stretch of calm, hardly moving water. Jack checked his watch.
    “We’re ahead of schedule. How ‘bout we moor our little ship here. We can go on a swim. You bring your swimsuit?”
    “Yeah. It’s under my wetsuit.”
    “Well, take it off then!” I stared at him. “Not like that! You know what I mean.” He chuckled.
    So we swam, and we talked. We were only about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, but this is supposed to be a 4 mile ride. We can be late.
    “So, you’re from L.A.?” he asked.
    “Yeah. The suburbs, though. Even so, I miss the tall buildings.”
    “Really? It must be hard for you here.”
    “Actually, it’s not bad. The fact that someone’s actually talking to me somewhat lessens the loneliness.”
    He smiled. Wow. He has great teeth. “Great. How was your life back there? I’ve never seen the ocean. It must be amazing.”
    We continued talking like that. After 25 minutes or so, we got back into out wetsuits, and paddled down river, to the place where a van was supposed to pick us up.
    Chapter Four
    Two weeks have passed. My lessons with Jack got longer and longer. My initial attraction to him had blossomed into full blown infatuation. I was practically in love with him.
    I felt him develop feelings towards me too, during those two weeks. I mean, I know I’m a little full of myself, but if someone flirts with you a 24/7, and not with anyone else, it’s logical to assume that the person likes you.
    He was my first friend at school. He invited me to sit with his group, and would partner with me in P.E. People teased us about being boyfriend and girlfriend, but we laughed it off. I wished that it were true, though.
    ♥
    It was Wednesday. Sitting in class, I heard the loudspeaker come on.
    “Boys and girls, the Beginning-of-the-Year Dance is on Friday. Sorry about the short notice.” It crackled out.
    People started chatting, wondering who was going with who. I looked around and almost laughed. Almost all of the single girls were looking at Jack. But he was looking at me. The girls noticed this and started to glare at me. I only smiled.
    ♥
    That day, I had a rafting test. Sixteen miles down the Yellowstone River. Jack said that after that trip, I could officially call myself a whitewater rafter, except it was off-season and the water wasn’t really fast or deep. I guess it isn’t white-water then.
    It was so easy. Paddling down a nearly stagnant river with the boy of my dreams.
    “There are two sections here that’ll actually be like rapids,” said Jack. “Everything else is just a long float down the river.”
    “Cool. I wonder if I can apply to work here.”
    “Come back after the snow thaws and see if you still want to. The river will be roaring and vengeful.”
    And we talked like that.
    After nine more miles or so, Jack and I stopped talking. He grew silent. We were exiting a canyon gorge. Then, the river abruptly turned to the west, and opened up to a large plain. I could see the sun starting to set. Jack turned to me.
    “Kara. I know I’ve only known you for three weeks, but I want you to know that I really like you. I was wondering if you want to go to the dance with me.”
    “I do.”
    He smiled. “Great. It’s a date.”

    EPILOGUE
    Jack took me to the dance. I was wearing a white halter minidress with lace leggings and white flats. The dance took place at night, and since we didn’t want to eat the school food, we went to get buffalo burgers. Yum.
    Jack and I held hands as we walked into the school gym. People were at once hushed. The girls seemed to be jealous. Too bad for them.
    We danced a little, and when the dance got boring, we walked down to the riverside. We sat on a large log, holding hands, and we just gazed at the stars. I sighed happily. When I turned to look at Jack, he was looking at me. He took me by the shoulders, and kissed me.
    It was amazing. His lips were soft and he was such a good kisser. We sat and kissed for a little while. And, amidst all of this passion, all I could think was that I kind of like it here now.

    ♥♥♥