Chapter One

The morning that I met him it was hot out. Too hot, and I was in a really rotten mood. I was sitting lazily in a lawn chair by the river down the hill from my aunt's house and the mosquitoes were eating me alive. As if I was the only choice on the menu. Come to think of it, I was. Besides Aunt Nora, I doubted there was anyone on this mountain for miles.

I dipped my big toe into the icy running water and then pulled it out quickly. Not only was the water freezing, but who knew what kind of yucky things lived in it? I mean, my life was bad enough, the last thing I needed to worry about was having my toe bitten off.

The sun was beating down hard on my back, forming beads of sweat on my neck, making my hair damp. I swatted another mosquito away and wondered how it had all come down to this. If only my stupid parents had listened to me, maybe I'd be back in New York now sucking on popsicles in my air conditioned apartment watching a Sunday morning movie on TV. But no. I was here, in Dullsville, Pennsylvania.

Suddenly I heard a huge splash, which was followed immediately by a gigantic wave of river water giving me an unwanted shower. The sudden break of peace and quiet totally shocked me, and I jumped out of my lawn chair, gasping, my mouth hanging open.

I saw the peace breaker wading in the water, staring back at me with big blue eyes. His shaggy brown hair hung around his face. "Oh," he said. "Sorry."

I just gaped back at him, speechless. He had a kind of devilish look on his face that made me think that his little scheme hadn't been a complete accident.

And so, I stood there, clothes wet, sputtering. Finally, the perpetrator sighed and waded to the shore. I noticed that he was barefoot. I guess he wasn't worrying about losing any toes.

"Look," he said, "I'm really sorry. The house I'm staying at is just down the river a little, I can get you a towel or something."

I shook my head. "Nah, that's ok," I muttered. "My house- I mean, my aunt's house- is right over there."

His eyes darted to the big house up the hill. "Really? I thought nobody lived there."

I shrugged. "Well, my aunt's a little eccentric. She doesn't get out much."

"My name's Trevor," he said, reaching his hand out for a shake.

"I'm Julie," I replied, shaking his hand. Then I frowned.

"What?" Trevor wanted to know.

"It's just..." I said slowly. "You kind of look... very familiar." But how could that be? I'd never been to Aunt Nora's house before, or anywhere in this area.

Trevor smiled. "Well, I..." Then he paused. "I guess I'm just a familiar-looking guy."

I looked at him skeptically. No, I had seen that face somewhere before. I just couldn't figure out where. "So, what brings you to the middle of nowhere?" I asked him, settling back into my lawn chair.

He crossed his arms over his bare chest. "I could ask you the same question."

I looked away. "And maybe someday I'd give you an answer."

Trevor plopped down on the dirt and said, "My parents bought a house out here when I was really young. This is just a good place to... get away from things. My real home is in California."

"California?" I said. "Awesome."

"Where are you from?" he asked, scraping the dirt with his toenail.

"New York," I responded, and saying the name almost hurt, I missed it so much.

"Well, that place is not too shabby, either," Trevor said.

"You've been there?"

Trevor laughed. "A few times."

"Why is that so funny?"

He stopped laughing. "I guess it's not."

I eyed him again. Then a realization hit me hard. "I know who you are! You're-" Then I forgot once more. The identity had been on the tip of my tongue, for just a second I had known. But now it was lost in a sea of rotten thoughts in my mind. "Will you just tell me?"

"I'm nobody special," he replied. "Just Trevor."

Nobody special my ass. This guy was hiding something, I knew it. But I had too much on my mind; I didn't want to think about it now.

"So, how long are you staying?" Trevor wondered, finally getting bored with kicking the dirt.

I sighed. "The whole summer," I mumbled. "And not by choice," I almost added but didn't.

"Well, you know..." he said, choosing his words carefully, "I could give you some human accompaniment this summer... if you want... considering we're the only people under the age of 50 for miles..." He stood up. "Besides, I kind of owe you, after the splashing thing."

"Um... ok," I said, trying not to stare at him. My mind was jammed with even more thoughts... thoughts about unraveling the mystery of who this Trevor guy really was, and how this summer would turn out after all...