The beach outside Nome was a popular spot for dogs, especially if it was spring time. It was there if they needed to be alone and think, to race and play, or even to show off to the famous Balto, who lived out his senior years peacefully in his wrecked boat nearby. Nikki's son Summer raced across the beach with his guy friends to play. If it was one thing he had in common with his team mates, it was the love for running. They were all barking with laughter for the longest time until they spotted something they loved more than running: girls.

The young attractive girl dogs of Nome enjoyed watching the boys run across the beach. It was a time for all of them to show off themselves to each other, whether they were looking for a mate or not (even though, they were all more than likely looking for a mate because of the change in season). About two or three of the girls came in to view, and the boys stopped running to gawk, stare, and howl at them. They enjoyed the attention, but the one girl they all wanted the most attention from was the ever-so-popular Stunner, who definately lived up to her name (even though she wasn't named based on her looks). The boy dogs called out to her, and Summer stopped what he was doing once he heard her name.

Summer, just like the others, wanted Stunner's attention, and he was more determined to get it today than any other day. His previous attempts to earn her attention and courtship always ended up with her shaking her head at him in disbelief (or pity, he didn't really know). He wasn't afriad of rejection like the others were. He was confident in himself and his calm prooved it. He looked around and wondered how he was going to get her attention when all of his friends were busy howling at her like lunatics.

Stunner stared down at the boys on the beach, standing in between her two acquaintances, Sadie and Holiday, who were giggling with pure excitement. She didn't consider them friends. Actually, she didn't consider anyone her friend. Not because she was stuck up, she was the furthest thing from stuck up, but because she felt that she couldn't trust them very well. She rolled her eyes at the dogs below, but smiled at them out of curtisy. One dog caught her eye. It was Summer, Nikki and Mahogany's only son. She didn't particularly like him because he always seemed like a snob to her. She figured he acted like that because he was a purebred husky, offspring of a fast race dog and a beautiful show dog, while her parents weren't. The way he was always so composed compared to the others made her figure that was why he acted like that, although she did prefer him to be peaceful than loud and arrogant.

Everytime she saw him, he was always either running with his head held high or winning the hearts of ladies, which was odd because he didn't seem interested in them or herelf at all. Today, however, he did something different. He stopped to look at her and smiled. She raised a curious glance at this weird gesture, and one surprised glance when she noticed him walking up the hill towards her group.

"I say, he's lookin' at me," Sadie said, proud of herself. Sadie was quite the attention whore of the three. She mainly "had her way" with boys just to get their attention. Her masters gave her no attention and neglected her and Stunner figured that was probably the reason why she acted the way she did. She didn't like her for that reason, but they still respected each other because they had known each other ever since they were pups.

"No, he's looking at you, Stunner!" Holiday giggled. She, like the other girls, found Summer attractive, but was extremely giddy when it came to her friends getting a male devotee. Sadie shot a glare at Stunner and rolled her eyes with a silent scoff.

Stunner's eyes widened once she realized Holiday was right, but she kept her cool. Summer was one step away from touching her and looked at her with his bright green eyes. Stunner had never seen green eyes on a dog before. He must've gotten them from his mother, which was probably the reason why she was such a prize show dog. Summer gave her an adorably crooked smirk.

"Hi, Stunner." he greeted, swallowing.

"Hello," Stunner replied, remaining steady. She was expecting him to throw a witless pick-up line at her like all the others had tried. After all of them, she felt as if she had become less witty and cunning just by simply being in their presence. But in Summer's presence, she didn't feel that. This was the first time he ever approached her this close, and this was the first time Stunner's heart beat faster than normal. Summer opened his mouth to speak.

Summer had it all planned out in his head. He opened his mouth to compliment her on her looks, tell her how gorgeous she looked. He wouldn't say something stupid like his friends, but he would say, "I've been meaning to tell you sooner, but you are by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." But Sadie interrupted his thoughts, causing him to feel a bit frustrated.

"Hey, Summer. You're looking very handsome today." Sadie winked.

Summer growled to himself. He knew very well about Sadie's "way of life" and how she jumped from boy to boy and he never liked her. She was probably trying to get him to become one of her little games and he was going to put a stop to it now, before it got out of hand. "Miss Sadie," he said, sternly. "Just...stop. I know very well how you act and you are acting whorish right now. I suggest you stop." The four dogs in the area all stared at each other with facial blends of both surprise and disgust. Summer turned his attention to Stunner who was staring at him angrily. She could not believe he would say such a thing to Sadie, or to anyone for that matter. Summer blinked, remembering what he said. He realized he insulted one of her friends and she did not look pleased. Feeling rather stupid, Summer said, "Uh...I mean, uh...heheh...hi, Stunner!"

Stunner heaved a sigh with a beyond-irritated expression displayed. She took one last glance at the poor embarrassing soul, squinted her eyes and snuffed. She turned around, abruptly flicking Summer straight across the face with her tail.

"Bye, Summer," she said, departing back to town. Holiday and Sadie looked at both Stunner and Summer, confused as to what just happened, but then followed her friend close behind.

Summer watched the three girls leave, his face still stuck as it was before. He could not believe he said that out loud. And after that entire time of telling himself NOT to say ANYTHING like that too. He finally snapped out of his trance and slowly glanced back at his friends, who were staring at him with big grins on their faces.

"So, how'd it go!" one of them asked.

He blinked. They had not heard what was said. He smiled nervously. "Uh...heh, I think she likes me." he said.

"You gonna go after her?" asked another.

"Uh..." Summer looked back in the direction Stunner was headed. "Yeah, in a bit."

Stunner trotted back home, not looking anybody in the eye. She had to assertively ask her acquaintances to leave her alone so that she didn't lash out at them out of frustration. She was utterly embarrassed, not so much of what was said, but more along the lines of who said it. She was not expecting such a placid fellow to say such a thing. But what got her angry was that he was probably making a big joke out of her reaction. He was probably on the beach laughing about it with his friends. She growled to herself. Why did she become so light-headed? It was a stupid emotion to feel whenever such a snob was even around. But what else did she expect? She wasn't honestly expecting him to say something meaningful to her, was she?

Wrapped up in all of her mixed thoughts, Stunner didn't realize that she wandered home. She may as well have stayed there for a while, seeing as it was going to take her a while to get the blood flowing from her face and back to its normal color. She entered through the small doggie door and saw her mother, Saba (or Quinn as their owners called her) laying on Meg's bed.

Saba's ears twitched, picking up the sound her daughter's dainty paws made as they pattered across the wooden floor. She raised her head once she saw her walking past the room she was in.

"Hey, kiddo," Saba greeted her only child, jumping off the bed. She licked Stunner's head. "What are you doing back so soon?"

"Oh...nothing, I just don't feel like facing anyone right now,"

"Uh-oh...what happened?"

"Mmm...Summer just kinda said something rude to Sadie it all." Stunner replied, a bit reluctant to tell her mother about him.

"Summer did? Huh, how odd. I thought you didn't like Sadie? He always seemed like a very well brought up boy. Whatever he said, she probably deserved it."

Stunner explained to her mother how Summer was always so stuck-up. Saba insisted that he didn't mean it because he's always been quite the gentlehound. Stunner still didn't believe her.

"Now Stunner," Saba explained. "I expect you to be nice to him. You two have alot more in common than you think. He can probably relate to your loneliness."

"And how's that?" Stunner chuckled.

"Because he was the only survivor in his litter too."

Stunner was shocked. She felt terrible knowing that. She knew that she was the only survivor of her litter and she spent many days crying about having no brothers or sisters when she was younger. It didn't bother her as much anymore, but it still effected her. Knowing that Summer was also the only one remaining out of his siblings made Stunner think that this entire time with him having friends and having a good time was just to cover up his loneliness, just like what she was doing.

There was a scratch at the from door.

"Now, who could that be?" Saba asked out loud. She walked to the front of the house and exited through the doggie door. Stunner was still staring off thinking about how cruel she may have been to Summer. Her mother

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