A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><> Chapter One <><

My mother used to dream about gemstones every night when she was pregnant with me. Pink ones, blue ones, purple, green and yellow. That's why I was called Crystal. Crystal Sarah White.

*****

The party was in full swing, and I sat beside Rosie, roasting by a giant bonfire on the beach. We had taken off our shoes and sunk our bare feet into the hot sand, warmed by the flames that licked at it.

There were a surprisingly large number of people for tiny, remote Coney Bay. There were also a lot of interesting people that I'd never seen before, not here on the mainland and certainly not on Starfish, the isle on which I lived.

Three young guys with dreads were banging on drums while a troupe of fire jugglers spread out amongst the party-goers. They chucked flames to one another over peoples' heads before quickly sweeping them up into the orange circles, which rotated around their upper bodies.

I had watched on transfixed for the first half an hour as I sipped my beer. The smell of paraffin had been intense, but I kind of liked it.

I had not felt the slightest tinge of excitement since my move to Starfish a couple of months ago. It had been filled with long, lonely days spent roaming aimlessly around the island, wishing I could return to London, my hometown. I was grateful to my school friend Rosie for taking me under her wing this past month. It had truly helped in brightening up my new life.

Now Rosie leaned in, pushing her glossy dark hair back behind her ear. She had such a pretty face - big, brown doe-eyes and hundreds of freckles. "You see Crystal; all the hot surfers come out of the woodwork this time of year."

"Yes," I agreed, looking around.

"I bet they fancy you," said Rosie, her eyes sparkling. "All the guys at school do." I smiled awkwardly, but she continued. "They all think you're so cool, with your long hair and nose-ring."

My fingers trailed over the little ring in my nose. My friend Jess had done it last summer with a drawing pin and a can of athlete's foot freeze spray to numb the pain. I bit my lip as I remembered the whole experience. It had not been pretty, and my parents had gone totally ballistic. "I'm lucky to still have a nose," I grimaced, remembering the aftermath.

Rosie laughed. I had told her all about the botched up job at the pub last week. "You city people are so much more fun than us," she said.

"Hmm, well I don't know about that," I said, looking around. "This is a pretty good party."

"Yes," sighed Rosie, "It is." She nodded subtly to her right, where Will Destouches sat. "By the way, I have been in love with him since I was thirteen, and he was like, seventeen," she said in a hushed voice. I strained closer towards her so that I could hear over the noise. "Obviously, he didn't look twice at me back then - because that would have been weird, but he just said we should go for a drink...I think he meant just the two of us, but I'm not sure."

I looked at her with surprise, more preoccupied with the maths than anything. "He's that old?" I hissed. "Twenty-one?"

"Yes," replied Rosie. "Well, I'm just so tired of these school boys. And now that I've come into fruit..." she trailed off waving a hand over her body and then hicupping.

I exploded into giggles. "Come into fruit?" I said eventually, looking at her in disbelief. Rosie had always come across so prim and proper; I was kind of shocked by the way she was talking. In fact, I wondered if it was her in there, or the beer.

"Yes, I'm not quite as straight-laced as you think," she said as though she had read my mind.

"So I see," I said, biting my cheek and leaning forwards to steal a glance at Will. I had to admit he was very good-looking with his tall, broad build and scruffy blonde hair. In the flickers of the firelight, I could see that he too had a face full of brown freckles - just like Rosie.