Of course, she’s been reading the stuff I put up on Facebook. That’s what it’s for, after all.

  “Just the school team at the moment,” I say, “but I’m hoping for state.”

  Aunt Sookie chooses that moment to come home. She’s thirty-six now, and to me it always looks like she’s just hitting her prime, like being in her thirties has only made her more beautiful. She doesn’t always agree, because she thinks that auditions were easier in her twenties, but I think she looks great. There’s that long auburn hair that falls almost to her waist, and those cheekbones that I think I got from her. Her eyes are a deep green that always makes me think more of Nat than anyone in our family, so that it sometimes looks like she’s more his aunt than mine. Her skin has the tan that anyone who lives in Malibu over the summer acquires, and she always has great taste in clothes. At the moment, she’s wearing a white dress that shows off just how in shape she is, and probably has most of the students at her acting academy either jealous or admiring her.

  She seems tired though. It’s nothing about her appearance. That’s perfect, though she seems to be wearing a lot of makeup around her eyes, like she hasn’t been sleeping and she wants to cover it up. Where the tiredness shows is when she’s greeting Drew, Nat and Rachel. Aunt Sookie hugs them, and talks to them about how much they’ve grown, but she’s so quick to take a seat at the kitchen table. Maybe it’s just been an exhausting day.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her, reaching out to take her hand.

  “I’m fine. Just tired.” She smiles back at me. “I don’t know how we’re going to eat all the food the boys are preparing for us though.”

  “They’ll eat most of it,” Rachel assures her. “They eat like total pigs.”

  “Well, they’re growing boys.”

  Rachel shakes her head. “If Nat grows much more, his head is going to be brushing the ceiling.”

  “You’ve grown a lot too,” Aunt Sophie says. “I barely recognized you when I walked in. It’s hard to think that it’s been almost three years since I last had all of you here together, and I guess plenty of things have changed.”

  “A few,” Rachel admits, and I nod. So many things have changed for me too in that time. Yet there are plenty of things that haven’t.

  “You’re all growing up,” Aunt Sookie says. “It’s kind of sad in one way, because none of you will be interested in my old stories anymore.”

  “Hey, I remember those,” Drew says from where he and Nat are cooking. It looks like they’re almost done and they start to lay out plates of food. Rachel and I move to help them. Aunt Sophie stays where she is. It really must have been a long day.

  “I remember too,” Rachel says. “Wasn’t there something about a princess and a pirate?”

  “You remember then?” Sookie says. She smiles. “Of course, it’s all kids’ stuff. Not really the kind of thing you’d want to hear now.”

  “I think I’d kind of like to hear it again,” I say, bringing over a couple of plates piled high with hot dogs, burgers, steaks, and a mixture of all the other stuff we got from the market. It seems that once Nat starts cooking, he doesn’t stop.

  “I’d like to hear it too,” Nat says, taking another seat and smiling. “I remember you telling it lots of times.”

  To my surprise, Drew and Rachel want to hear it too. I guess it’s not for the story, because we all know it’s kids’ stuff really. The kind of story that you could tell a six or seven year old, because that’s how old we were when Aunt Sookie first started telling us it. It’s more about remembering those times, like seeing an old photograph, or going back to a place you used to visit.

  “Now, it used to be that there was a pirate who lived in Malibu, taking ships from near the coast; raiding up and down it until one day he met a princess when he captured the ship that she was sailing on and ransomed her back to her father the king. But in the time when she’d been a guest on his ship, they’d fallen in love with one another.”

  Sookie takes a sip of the soda she has in front of her. She hasn’t eaten much with it so far, but then, she’s been too busy telling her story.

  “Now, the king wasn’t about to let his daughter marry a pirate, and the pirate couldn’t go fetch her from the kingdom’s capitol, so they got messages to one another, and the princess arranged to go on a long tour with her servants, letting the pirate know where she would be. Only one of her servants found out, and she arranged for the pirate to get the wrong details about where the princess would be. When the princess wasn’t where the pirate thought she would be, he didn’t give up though. Instead, he followed her to the ends of the earth, searching for her. Yet when he finally found her, it was here, in his Malibu home. That’s why some of the stars above seem to form the shape of a P. For pirate, or princess, or maybe just the perfection of their love.”

  “I always used to love that story,” Rachel says when my aunt is done.

  “Me too,” Drew admits, and that’s a little stranger. I’d have thought that the jock he’s grown into wouldn’t admit to liking a romantic story like that.

  “It brings back lots of memories,” Nat says, “but there aren’t actually any stars in the shape of a letter P, are there?”

  Aunt Sookie shrugs. “Well no, but you didn’t know that at the time. As I recall, you spent hours looking for them when I first told you. You always were the inquisitive one. Smart, inquisitive, and usually up to no good.”

  “I think that part would be Drew,” Nat says with a laugh we all join in. Even Drew.

  Sitting there like that, with them around me, it’s so easy to think back now to the moment we first met. It’s so clear that it might have been yesterday, even though it’s actually more like ten years. Aunt Sookie couldn’t have been more than twenty-five or six then, and looking back, she was so young looking. My mom’s five years older than her, so I guess that’s where the difference came from, but even so, it seemed almost strange for this young twenty something to be looking after me while my mom worked afternoons in LA.

  Yet she wasn’t just looking after me. She was looking after three kids who lived near her too. I can remember how nervous I felt, hearing that there were going to be other kids there. I was nervous right up to the point where I saw them. I remember seeing Rachel first, this dark-haired, very pale little girl who looked very sad as she stood there.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked her, because I didn’t want her to look sad. She seemed nice, so she shouldn’t be sad. It was the kind of thinking that made sense, when I was six.

  “I wish my mom was here,” she said. “I miss her.”

  “I miss mine too,” I remember saying. “Maybe we can miss them together.”

  I remember holding her hand at that point, and deciding that we were going to be friends. I guess I got that part right. I remember that after that, Drew came up to us with popsicles Aunt Sookie gave him to give to us.

  “Are we playing a game?” he asked.

  “No,” I remember replying. “We’re missing our mommies together. Because we’re friends now.”

  “Well, I want to be your friend too.”

  I remember that Nat was the only one who wasn’t scared and homesick that day. He was too busy going off exploring the house and the beach, looking around for interesting shells like the ones on Aunt Sookie’s shelves. He was also the one who brought about the story, because after a while, when Sookie offered to tell us a story, he was the one who said “Is it a story about a pirate? I like stories about pirates.”

  “I know you do, and I know that Summer and Rachel like stories with princesses in them, and this one has both.”

  So she told us the story, but the part I remember most is that she dug around in a huge dress up box, which had to be mostly things taken from her acting school or old movie sets, and she came out with costumes. Nat was the pirate, Drew was some kind of sea monster, Rachel was one of the stars, and I was the princess. I remember her leading us out onto the beach with a big bag of marshmallows and having us act out the story as she told it. I remember Nat made a good pirate, battling sea monsters, travelling around under the stars, searching for his princess.

  I remember the part at the end, where the pirate and the princess were meant to kiss. Or pretend to, since it was just a game. And Nat kissed me. He actually kissed me. I smile as I remember how fast I wiped my mouth, and Rachel made fun of it, because obviously her new friend kissing her brother was hilarious for her. But I remember that even then I didn’t think it was so bad, and that if Nat had been the pirate and I was really the princess, then I wouldn’t have gone back to my stupid father the king in the first place.

  From the way some of the others around the table look, I guess that they’re remembering the same moments. I look over at Nat. He’s not looking at me, so it’s easier. He was the first boy who ever kissed me, and we’ve been closer than most people ever get, because we practically grew up together. Yet part of me knows that it doesn’t quite work like that. All those great memories are just memories. We can’t go back to them, even with Aunt Sookie’s stories. Yet I can think about them now. Not just what it was like to kiss Nat when we were both little kids, but what it might be like to kiss him now. Or maybe not. Like Drew said, he’s with someone.

  Still, I bet he’d look pretty good as a pirate these days.

  Chapter 4

  The next couple of days are hectic but fun. I’d forgotten what it could be like to have the others around, so that every time I think things might be about to get a little boring, Rachel is there to suggest that we hit the beach together or go to one of the local malls, or Drew is there, offering to go running with me, or Nat is asking me what I have planned for the day. The three of them are constantly doing something, like they’re determined to make up for lost time when it comes to this summer.

  Then there’s the time I spend helping my aunt at her acting academy. I’ve spent so much time there that it just seems natural that I should help out. When Aunt Sookie needs someone to play opposite her in one of the sessions, why not the niece she’s been practicing roles with for years? When she needs someone to help with one of the classes for kids she runs while she’s taking a private lesson with someone, why not me? Most of the things we do in those sessions are the kind of thing she had me, Rachel, Drew and Nat doing for fun when we were little kids, and it means that my summer job is a lot cooler than most girls my age have.

  Sookie’s academy is doing pretty well this summer. Maybe it’s all those contacts she has left over from when she was married. Maybe it’s that there’s something very welcoming about the place, an old theater that was getting shut down before she took it over for her school. Or maybe it’s just that Aunt Sookie is good at getting people to act, because a lot of her students seem to find roles in TV or on the stage. Not all of them. Not even most of them, because that’s not how it works when so many people want to be actors, but plenty.

  There are even a few famous faces around. I’ve seen Astor Fairway around, apparently taking private lessons in between starring in some new teen sitcom that’s going to air later in the year. He’s somehow even more good-looking off screen than on it, with short blond hair that seems to spike and curl all at once, big blue eyes that I’ve seen in close up on TV plenty of times, but are somehow even more arresting in real life, and the kind of body that comes when how you look is a major part of getting roles. I’ve mostly left him alone when I’ve seen him though, because I guess he gets enough girls coming up to him and telling him how much they love everything he does.

  A few days after Nat, Drew and Rachel show up, one of our neighbors throws a party. Peterson is a friend of Nat’s, and for a while the two were pretty much inseparable, so I guess he wants to say welcome back. Maybe it helps that his parents are out of town, too. It’s been so long since we’ve all been to a party together that I can hardly wait for it.

  It’s as good as I thought it might be, though it’s pretty crowded. It turns out that pretty much everyone from school heard it was happening, and none of them were going to say no to a party right on the beach. Though maybe it’s good that some of them are there. I see Rachel talking to a boy I know from my class, named Ryan. Ryan’s kind of the class Goth, with dark hair shot through with red, a nose stud, and a generally dangerous look that doesn’t really work for him because he’s such a nice guy.

  “So,” I say, “you like Ryan?”

  Rachel actually looks nervous about it. It looks like she has it bad for him. “What’s not to like? He’s gorgeous, we like all the same bands, and he seems so nice. Sometimes, I meet guys, and they assume that just because I look this way, I want some kind of bad boy. I just hope he’s into me too.”

  “Of course he’s going to be into you,” I say. “You’re perfect for him. He’d be an idiot not to be. Now, why don’t you go find him?”

  Rachel nods and heads off. She really is into Ryan, then. Good. I want her to be happy, and Ryan’s a good guy.

  “Looks like your friend is having a good time.”

  I spin as I recognize the voice and gaze into familiar deep blue eyes. “Astor, what are you doing here?”

  This close, he looks even better than he does when he’s on the way to his private lessons. I can see why the camera loves him so much. Astor smiles.

  “Mostly, I’m dodging fans. I thought a party might be fun, but it’s kind of hard when everyone knows who you are. Thankfully, I’m not the only one attracting attention here.”

  That’s true. Drew seems to have attracted a whole bunch of girls to him, so that he’s standing at the center of a small huddle of them. When did he turn into a guy who could do that? As I watch, he puts an arm around one of them, whispering something in her ear. She nods, and they leave together. I guess that isn’t any of my business.

  “So,” I say, “if you could have all that attention, why come talk to me?”

  “Maybe because you’re the prettiest girl in the room?” Astor says. “Besides, I’ve seen you around Sookie’s Acting Academy. You’re her niece, right?”

  I nod. “I’ve been helping out there with some of the classes.”

  “I know,” Astor says. “I saw you. You were good in them. Listen, would you like to go for a walk?” He eyes the crowd of girls who were hanging around Drew, but who now seem to be eyeing him. “Maybe somewhere I’m not about to get mobbed? I mean, if you aren’t waiting around here for anyone?”

  My eyes seek out Nat almost automatically. He’s busy talking to Peterson. Rachel is off in a corner with Ryan, and as I watch, they kiss. Drew is… well, wherever he went with that girl.

  “Yes,” I say, offering him my hand. “I’d like that.”

  He takes my hand and we head out onto the beach. The stars are out by now, and it’s a beautiful night.

  “You know,” he says, “when you’re working at the acting academy, you really seem to connect with all those kids, and it looks like you’re having a lot of fun.”

  “Well, acting is fun,” I point out. Astor doesn’t look so sure. “You don’t enjoy it?”

  “I do,” he says, “but it’s kind of hard too. I’ve been in one hit show, and I’m filming for another, so I don’t really get any time off. All my friends are involved in the show, because I don’t really get time to visit my old friends, or they don’t understand what it’s like. There are days when I just want to be me, you know?”

  I think I understand. “That must be hard. Is that why you’ve come out here with me? To get away from all that at the party?”

  “No, I…” Astor pauses. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me one day. Maybe to Disneyland? I know it’s kind of a kids’ thing, but…”

  “I’d like that,” I say, cutting him off. It’s such a sweet, nice idea. Not the kind of thing I’d expect from some big time actor at all. Besides, he’s cute.

  Cute enough that when, a little further down the beach, he leans in to kiss me, I don’t stop him. It’s a slow, gentle kiss, and it’s obvious Astor wants the moment to last, because he draws it out a long time before pulling back from me. I smile at him.

  “That’s…”

  I stop as I hear a sound from some bushes nearby. Astor stops too, looking around when I do, just in time to see a girl stepping out of them, adjusting her skirt. It’s the girl who left the party with Drew. I think I know what’s going on, and when I see Drew coming out of the bushes, zipping his jeans, I know for sure.

  I can’t help the look of disgust that flickers over my face, because Drew shouldn’t just use girls like that. He shouldn’t. He obviously sees that look, because he steps closer to me.

  “Summer…”

  “Save it, Drew,” I say. “It’s not my business.”

  Astor puts an arm around me protectively, and I can see a bunch of emotions passing over Drew’s features. Guilt, anger, sadness. He reaches out to grab my hand.

  “Summer, wait, I need to talk to you.”

  I shake my head. “We were just going back inside to enjoy the rest of the party, Drew. If you want to come along, then do it.”

  I start to pull away, but his grip on my hand is tight enough that I grimace. “Drew, that hurts.”

  “Let her go,” Astor says.

  Drew lets my hand drop. I don’t think it’s because of Astor, so much as simple shock at having hurt me. “I’m sorry, Summer, but I really need to talk to you. In private.”

  He says that with a pointed look at Astor. I look at him too and nod my head. “I’ll see you inside, Astor.”

  “Are you sure?” he asks, taking the hand that Drew’s squeezing has hurt and kissing it gently. My heart melts at that point. Astor Fairway was kissing my hand like a knight and I was his lady.

  “I’ll be fine,” I assure him, and Astor heads back inside. Drew pulls me back out of sight of the house before he talks.

  “Listen, Summer, I know why you’re looking at me like that. I know how you feel about me sleeping around and treating girls like they’re to be used whenever I want sex.”