Summer Lovin'

Danny Zuko stifled a yawn, his fingertips brushing the underside of his beach umbrella as he stretched his back. With a heavy, bored sigh, he laced his fingers together behind his head, being careful not to muss his perfectly coifed, jet black pompadour. The ocean played lazily upon the shore in front of him, white, frothy caps licking the sand like a cat grooming its fur in an afternoon sunbeam. Overhead, the impossibly blue sky was filled with gulls, laughing and diving randomly at people who weren't guarding their picnic hampers closely enough.

Yep: if ever there was a perfect day to spend at the beach, this was it... so why couldn't Danny shake the feeling that something was missing?

Truth be told, he'd been feeling like this since the start of summer. He should've been on cloud nine when his uncle invited him to spend three entire, glorious months at his Malibu beachfront condominium... especially since he was getting paid to house sit. What eighteen-year-old guy wouldn't be? The first few weeks were fun, really, but the scene was starting to grow real stale real fast. It was obvious what Danny needed: a dynamite chick on his arm to while away the hours with... and it wouldn't hurt if she was stacked, with a chassis so classy it made his head spin.

That thought was still fresh in his noggin when he looked across the beach one more time, and for one blessed second it seemed like his prayers had been answered.

The cute little blonde came out of nowhere and knocked him right out of his socks. Her blue and white gingham one-piece suit was a little square, leaving more to the imagination than Danny would have preferred, but it fit her like a glove. He found himself looking at her face more anyway: the sunny curve of her smile; her eyes, bigger and bluer than the Pacific Ocean itself; her skin, soft as warm butter and kissed by the sun's golden rays. Danny decided that instant that she was the one. The only question was how to get her attention, so she could start falling in love with him already.

After pushing his sunglasses back up on his nose and running his comb through his hair - smoothing his greased locks with his hand to make sure there wasn't a single strand out of place - Danny popped the collar of his short-sleeved pink button down and strutted into the surf. He made sure she saw him, keeping his shoulders rolled back and head high with every confident stride. In hindsight, maybe he was a little too confident, as he kicked up a sizeable wave when he breezed past her. Her suit was soaked as a result, but then again wasn't that the whole point of a swimsuit? Danny was aiming to get her attention, and he certainly got it.

"Hey!" she cried, throwing a handful of water and sand back at him, "watch where you're going!"

Danny leaned back automatically to save his 'do, shivering a little at her voice. She even sounded cute, every word laced with a soft Australian accent... or was it British? Danny decided he didn't care either way. Every second she was on his radar, he fell a little harder for her. Now that her eyes were on him, though, it was time to make his move. If he succeeded, she'd be swooning into his arms before the hour was up. And when it came to chicks, Danny always succeeded.

With the speed and grace of a dolphin, Danny dove into the surf and paddled out into deeper water. He pulled out every trick in the book - squirting water from his mouth, doing backflips, you name it - all while keeping that sexy little kitten within his sights. Surely she would be giggling with her friends or twirling her hair by now, completely smitten by his display of sheer athleticism... but to his confusion, she just walked off. She didn't even give him a second glance after he went into the water.

Not about to blow his chance, Danny turned back and paddled for shore. He was absolutely hauling ass, but apparently he'd swum farther out than he realized. All his showboating had left him pretty winded too, making him regret the smoke he'd taken a half an hour ago. When Danny realized he wasn't getting any closer to shore, and that he was quickly losing steam, panic set in hard and fast.

The harder Danny swam, the farther away from the beach he seemed to get. His lungs were burning and his limbs aching, but he still wasn't making any progress. When he finally admitted he was in trouble, Danny reluctantly swallowed his pride and slapped the surface of the water. He couldn't get enough air to scream for help, but hopefully his flailing was wild enough to get the lifeguard's attention.

The whole beach was on its feet when the lifeguard finally dragged Danny's shivering, soaking wet carcass out of the surf. He kept his eyes downcast the whole time, too embarrassed to meet any of the gazes on him. To add insult to injury, he didn't even get the hot, female lifeguard to rescue him. In the end, Danny just had to count his blessings that the big gorilla of a man didn't flop him down on the sand and give him mouth-to-mouth. The only person Danny didn't see when he limped back to his lounge chair was the cute blonde who'd started it all. Apparently, she'd managed to slip away in all the chaos. In retrospect, maybe that was a good thing.

Danny's little swimming incident made the afternoon paper, just adding on to his streak of bad luck. Either he'd made a bigger idiot of himself than he realized, or it was a very slow news day. Whatever the case, the ensuing article showcasing his dumbassery in crystal clear black and white was enough to keep him away from the beach for the rest of the summer. His only saving grace was that the rest of the T-Birds weren't around to catch wind of it. If they ever did, Danny would have to hang up his leather jacket for good or croak from pure shame... whichever came first.

Most of Malibu seemed to forget all about Danny's misadventure on the beach by summer's end, but it would haunt Danny for the rest of his days. It was a good thing what happened in Malibu stayed in Malibu, as minor news on the West Coast usually didn't make it back to his hometown in the suburbs of Chicago. When he set a reluctant foot on Rydell High's campus the very first day of the new school year, however, Danny thought he'd die on the spot: the same cute blonde he saw on the beach that day was Rydell's newest transfer student.

Danny barely had time to look at her and feel a cold spike of dread before Patty Simcox and the other cheerleaders swept the blonde away with them. It was just as well: she fit in perfectly with those squares and nerds, with her frumpy long skirt and blouse that even a nun would consider too conservative. Danny shook his head and snapped the collar of his black leather jacket against his neck, wondering what he ever saw in a chick like that. As long as their social circles didn't overlap - and it seemed highly unlikely they ever would - his embarrassing secret would stay a secret.

As he turned the corner to meet up with his boys on the bleachers and cut Old Lady Lynch's class, however, Danny cast Blondie-locks one last sideways glance... wondering "what if...?" in the back of his brain.