5"Some people hold grudges for so long; all they think about is how to ruin your life. The only way to prevent them from doing this is to build up a 'wall'. However, sometimes, you let that wall fall and they come in and over rule your life. While it is down, you try to build it back up, but you cannot do it alone. And the only people, who can help, are your true friends."
Chapter 4
The sun peeked through the window and brightened the room. I opened my eyes and glanced toward the window, no rain. Looking over my shoulder toward Erin and Nichole, I saw that the door was open. I slowly pushed the covers off myself and slipped out of bed. As quiet as I could, I tiptoed out of the room. For some reason I was not that tired. I glanced down the hall toward the bathroom the door was all of the way closed only allowing the light to peak out of the crack at the bottom of the door… Just as I was about to knock, my grandfather opened the door.
"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" he asked, rubbing his slightly wet hands on his jeans.
"No, the light from the window was the cause." I smiled and walked past him into the bathroom.
I closed the door, and looked at myself in the mirror. I need to get tan… I thought to myself.
When I came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I saw my grandma in the corner of her room, fixing her hair. I walked past the entryway, and into my room. Nichole and Erin were both sitting on the edge of the bed talking.
"Good morning." Nichole sing-songed to me.
"Morning." I said and plopped onto the bed.
"How long have you been awake?" Erin asked as she slowly got up and walked over to her bags.
"Not long." I said, throwing a pillow at the door, making it close slightly. Nichole got up and shut it the rest of the way.
"I'm getting dressed…" Nichole said, skipping to her bags.
"Already ahead of you." Erin said smiling, holding up a pair of jean shorts and a flowery tank top.
I walked over to my bags and unzipped the one full of clothes. Digging through it, I found what I wanted to wear a pair of jean shorts with my big yellow top that hangs off one shoulder. After I got dresses, I started to braid my hair off to the side. I glanced at Nichole who was brushing her hair.
"I like that top." I said as I pointed at her. She was wearing a blue and white striped tank top button-down.
"Oh, thanks!" She said, smiling.
We all walked out of the room together, skipping along the walls of the hallway. As we reached the kitchen, the smell of bacon and eggs over powered my senses. We automatically went to the dining room table and sat down, patiently awaiting our wonderful food. A few minutes later, my grandfather disappeared and came back with my grandmother. She sat down next to Erin and my grandfather served us our food. After he sat down, we all ate our breakfast. Every now and then, someone would say something, or ask a question. However, the answers were usually one or two worded. After finished eating, my grandma cleared the table, putting all of the dishes into the sink, and disappeared again. My grandpa followed, leaving us three at the table alone.
As I gazed out of the window, that was right across from the dining room table, I noticed the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly towards the lake. Today would be a wonderful day to swim. I pushed my chair back slightly, looking at Erin and Nichole, and then pushed it all the way back until I hit the wall. I stood up and skipped away. I stood behind the 'decorative' wall, as my grandmother calls it, and waited for someone to walk past. I heard footsteps, light ones, which meant Erin. She is a tiny, petite, girl with very curly red-brown hair; some people say she resembles a lion. They stopped and I peeked around the corner and she was standing there, staring at the wall… What is she doing? I thought to myself, pondering the many odd reasons why she would just be standing there. Therefore, I decided to jump out and scare her. She did not move. Just stood there. Poker faced, and then she turned to me, and laughed. We both stood there for a moment, awaiting Nichole's appearance. Once she was beside us, we left the house, and headed for the dock.
As soon as I pushed open the door, a flood of scents hit me. The air smelt like fresh flowers and rain. There were no cars coming by so we ran across the street. The grass on the other side was mushy so we carefully walked over it, being careful not to sink. We walked down the stairs and onto the hard wooded dock. The sun beat down on us as we walked around the dock. We decided to sit and soak up some vitamin D. I lied on my back for a bit by the pontoon boat, Nichole sat Indian style by the stairs and Erin lied on her stomach looking into the water. We just sat there for a while, listening to the boats ride by. I could feel myself starting to sweat, so I got up, ran to the end of the dock, and jumped in. My foot bumped against the old tire by the bottom, and my hair whipped against my neck as I swam up. When I popped up, I saw Erin and Nichole standing at the edge of the dock just staring at me. I smiled and swam to the latter. As I climbed up a flood of memories over came me. I just stood there, mid climb, and thought about all of the happy days I spent here with my family. I came back to reality and finished climbing up. When I got to the top, I grabbed Erin and Nichole's hands and we jumped in. As we, call climbed out of the water we sat on the carpeted area of the dock and air-dried. Our hair was stringy and wet, our clothes clingy and wet, all together we were wet… I quickly got up, ran to the boathouse, grabbed my grandma's camera, and ran back over to Erin and Nichole. I sat down and we huddled together. I snapped the picture and looked at it. It was somewhat fuzzy because the screen was wet, but from what I saw, it was pretty. We all decided to get up and go to the house, the cause our stomachs.
We all walked up the steps, leaving drops of wet from our hair and bodies. There was a line of cars coming past so we had to wait in the grass. As soon as there was an opening for us to run across, Nichole's foot sunk into the ground and she lost her shoe in the mud. We ran across and decided to get it later because there was going to be an hour of waiting before we could cross back over. As I flung open the door, the sound of the vacuum was overbearing and it smelled like cleaning supplies. To avoid cleaning, I ran to the kitchen, followed by pitter-patters and a few squeaks from wet shoes. I stopped and opened the refrigerator and got out the bread and the cheese. I heard the sounds of chairs moving and then silence. I turned slightly and they were sitting at table staring at me. I opened the bread, pulled out 10 slices of bread, and put cheese on each. I put all five sandwiches into the giant toaster oven that sat on the beautiful granite countertops and waited. When I heard the ding I opened the oven door and took them out, placing the sandwiches on a giant plate. I carried the plate to the table and headed for my grandparents room. I knocked on the closed door and yelled 'lunch is finished come out to the dining room.'
I headed back to the dining room and took a seat on one of the vacant; brightly flower covered cushioned, chairs. I grabbed a grilled cheese and started eating. After a few moments, I saw a hand reach over my head and grab a sandwich. I looked up and saw my grandfather standing there eating his sandwich. My grandma was standing next to him, when she saw that everyone was finished she took the plate and put in the sink. She then disappeared.
"What are you girls going to do now?" My grandpa asked leaning on my chair.
"Probably going to sun tan…" I said looking up at him.
"Fun, don't be out for long." He then left.
We decided to relax for a bit while our food settled. I walked over to the T.V. and turned it on. The girls followed and sat next to me on the couch. We watched SpongeBob for about an hour, clothes drying and becoming stiff. We got ready to go back down to the water for a little longer when the few episodes we were watching intently ended. We got up, walked loudly to the front door so my grandparents knew we were going out, and headed for the dock. We darted across the road and searched for Nichole's shoe. Erin found it a few minutes after searching for the shoe. It was covered in wet grass and mud. She tossed it to Nichole and snickered.
"Why did you throw the shoe at me?!" Nichole screamed, dropping the shoe onto the ground and shaking her hands.
"Because it's yours." Erin replied with a bit of an attitude, she turned and walked past us and down the steps.
Nichole and I just stood there, and then we followed behind her and onto the dock. I went over Erin was sitting and took my shoes off, placing them to the side; I sat and closed my eyes. I could hear the sound of boats, Jet Ski's passing by, and the sound of the waves they cause hitting the rocks in the shallow end of the dock. When I opened my eyes, I glanced toward Nichole, who was washing off her shoe on the other side of the dock.
I glanced down to the water and when I turned around, Nichole was standing in front of me, just about to sit down. Erin stared blankly at the water, and I stared at her interested in what she was thinking. Nichole sat down, throwing her shoes on the ground in front of her, straightening her legs and stretching out to touch her toes. My shoulders were getting warm and I could feel my cheeks begin to get hot. I decided we should go to the top of the dock, the roof, and lie down in the sun.
"I'm going up top, anyone wanna come along?" I asked as I pushed myself up from the wooden flooring.
"Sure." Erin said, snapping out of her trance.
Nichole followed and we walked to the steps. Grabbing a towel off the railing and heading up the stairs. We spread out the towels and lied down on them. We lied on our backs first. Letting the sun warm our faces, chest, and arms. I could feel my body become hot and I started to sweat. After a few minutes of feeling warm and soaking up the sun's wondrous vitamin-D, I decided to switch onto my stomach. I heard movement coming from beside me; I glanced over to my right, seeing Erin looking at me. We starred at each other and then I closed my eyes. When I opened them, she was turned the other way. I decided to do the same. After feeling like I could fall asleep because the sunlight was making my body the perfect warm temperature.
"Is anyone getting really hot?" Nichole asked sitting up, rolling her neck.
"I'm getting there. However, we could go down now. If you want…" I said hesitantly.
"Kind of." Nichole responded with a tone of voice that meant she did NOT want to lie here any longer.
We decided to go back to the house instead of sitting around in the small portion of the dock that was covered in shade. On our way down, we threw our towels over the banister and ran down the steps the rest of the way. We all skipped to the other set of steps and laughed when we got to the top. We made funny noises on our way across the road to the house. I kicked up some dirt from the road and it filled the air around us. We quickly ran through it and left the cloud of road dust behind us.
We walked inside, kicked our shoes off, and strutted toward the living room. My grandparents were both sitting at the table reading adds from the newspaper. Although they had money, they loved to bargain shop.
Nichole sat down next to my grandma and peeked over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. She then sat back in her seat and grabbed the top add from the pile in the center of the table. Erin went to the kitchen and peeked around in the cabinets. It was as if they lived here and knew my grandparents forever. I smiled and sat next to my grandpa. I grabbed a paper and looked intensely at it. It was from Macy's. I flipped each individual page, scanning up and down it looking at all of the different clothing items and perfumes. A few moments later, Erin returned with a small plate of fruit. She placed it in the center of the table.
"Thank you doll." My grandmother said, shoving a strawberry slice in her mouth and continuing reading.
"Your welcome." Erin replied and sat next to me. She leaned back in her chair and starred intensely out the window. I glanced over at her and then to the window. There was a bird sitting on the ledge. I got up slowly, trying not to scare it way, and ran to the bedroom. I dug through my bag looking for my camera, and brought it back to the kitchen. I zoomed in a bit and took the picture. Just then, the beautiful robin flew away. I turned off the camera and sat it on the table. The pile of newspaper ads started to go down. The time was flying by.
Nichole got up to go to the bathroom and when she came back, she announced, "It's already quarter to eight."
We decided to get ready for bed, saying we were tired and wanted to get up early in the morning and take a walk around the lake. Therefore, we walked to our room and shut the door. We changed into our bathing suites and put our pajamas over top, and crawled into bed. A few minutes later, my grandma knocked on the door. "Come in." I said and sat up, letting the blankets fall to my lap.
"Good night girls," My grandmother said as she fixed our blankets at the bottom of the bed "I'm going to bed and so is grandpa. We both don't feel too well."
"Ok. I love you, good night." I said and lied back down, curling up into a ball.
The time flew by because we entertained ourselves by counting how many times my grandpa snored in one minute. After a half hour after we heard both my grandmother and grandfather snoring, we got ready to leave. Slowly, we pushed the blankets off ourselves and got out of bed. We needed to be extremely careful due to the fact of the bed being super squeaky and the floorboards old and creaky. We put the pillows from the floor under the blankets and we placed some clothes on top to make it look as if we were still there. We tiptoed out of the room and into the sunroom. I turned the alarm off and unlocked the door. I grabbed the spare key, just in case someone got up in the middle of the night and relocked it, and placed it in the bush next to the door. Erin quietly closed the door and we ran across the road toward the dock.
"Clink... Clink clank." We heard coming from the dock.
All three of us stopped dead in our tracks. I shuttered. I looked to Erin and Nichole and they stared blankly to the dock. I headed forward. Slowly I stepped down each individual step, trying not to make a sound. I ran to the shed and grabbed my grandpa's old flashlight. I ran back to Erin and Nichole, who stood at the bottom of the steps.
I whispered, "Let's go look." We walked toward the sounds of boxes being banged and jars being clanged together softly. As we got to the boathouse door I glanced in the window and saw a light go out. I turned my flashlight in and shoved open the heavy wooden door. Two teenage boys stood before us, holding fishing poles and by their feet were tackle boxes and extra hooks.
It was silent. The air around us was cold. I stared at them, and they stared back.
"Excuse me, who are you two?" I said, placing my hand on my hip.
They just stared in disbelief that they were actually caught. "Um…" the one boy said, running his hand through his short hair.
"Come with us please." I wavered to them.
"Please don't call the police." The other one said holding his hands together as if he were praying.
"Wasn't planning on it." I said and turned and walked out of the boathouse and onto the hardwood dock and over to the set of chairs by the calm water.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." The one boy pleaded with joy.
I heard footsteps following behind me. I sat down and Erin and Nichole sat next to me. The two boys sat across from us with their variety of fishing gear next to them. I got up and grabbed the lanterns that were under the steps and turned them on. Trying not to make a lot of light that people could see us, I held the one and placed the others on the floor in front of us.
"Turn your light on please." I said and pointed to it.
The skinnier of the two did as I asked and held it in his lap. WE stared at each other, I felt like a judge. I smiled and looked at Erin and Nichole. They seemed to be in shock still about the situation and how I took control and surprisingly they listened.
"What are your names?" Erin asked unexpectedly. I flashed a smile toward her, and she returned the gesture, placing her hands folded on her lap.
"I'm Thomas." Said the skinnier one. He had a crew cut and was shaking from being so nervous.
"I'm Steve." Said the not so skinny one. He had the short styled messy hair and was quite muscle, but also shook in fear of the consequences.
"So Steve and Thomas what are you doing on my dock in the middle of the night?" I asked judge like.
"We are fishing…" Thomas said and gave a weak smile.
"I see that, but why?" I asked a little snobby.
"Because, the fish in this area are the biggest, and it looked nice and quiet. I thought we wouldn't get caught in a shed…" Steve said with a 'looks like I was wrong' look on his face.
"Well, you got caught." Nichole said meanly.
"I'm sorry." Steve said a little too loud.
"It's ok. Just please do not do it again, for your sake. Because if my grandfather found you, OOOHH you would be in so much trouble!" I said with a warning look and a pointed finger at them.
"Yes ma'am." Thomas said politely.
"My name is Beth. And this is Erin and Nichole." I said pointing to them.
"Nice to meet you." Nichole said toward Thomas. He smiled at her and I could tell he thought she was cute. I mean who would not with her long black hair, curved figure and Snow White complexion. Nichole was the type of girl who you did not find a lot these days. She was pretty, talented, funny, and smart.
I leaned toward Erin and whispered in her ear "Don't you think they look cute together?"
"Yes." She replied, looking at them both, who stared at each other.
I sat back in my chair and looked at Steve. "How old are you?" I asked wondering.
"I'm 15 and my brother is 14." He said winking toward Erin and me.
Nichole and Thomas were talking amongst themselves. All I heard was giggling and little whispers.
"So do you live around here?" Erin asked, placing her head on her hands that leaned against her skinny thighs.
"No, I'm just visiting my grandparents. However, they go to bed so early Thomas and I decided we would come fishing, and so we would not be caught we came here. He lives only a few houses down."
"That's ironic. We are visiting my grandparents and we came down here for the same reason. But we came to swim…" I said crossing my legs and leaning back in my white plastic chair.
"Cool." He said. Then there was a long pause.
The conversations went on about our hobbies, were we live, school, our favorite foods and so forth. Then in the middle of our wonderful conversation about our favorite music and singer Thomas interrupted loudly.
"Steve!" Thomas yelled, jumping out of his chair and running over to the fishing gear.
"What?!" He replied, jumping out of his chair as well.
"We have to go. It's almost two!" He gathered the gear and went back over to Nichole.
"Ok. I'm coming." Steve said, stretching up from his chair and grabbing all of his stuff. He turned out the light and stood there.
"Well it was nice meeting you. Maybe we could hangout again before we leave." Erin said smiling. I turned out our lights and put them back under the steps.
"Yes it was." Steve said eagerly.
"You should come over sometime and swim with us. We have a family reunion tomorrow. You're welcome to come over!" I yelled as they ran up the steps.
"We should go inside as well." Erin said and headed for the steps. We all followed, it seemed as if in a trance. Steve was HOT! I thought to myself.
"I really like Thomas. He's so nice." Nihcole said as we slowly walked into the house. Quietly as ever, closing the door behind us. I turned on the alarm and locked the door. We tiptoed to our room and I closed the door and turned on the light. We were changed out of our bathing suits (which we thought would be soaked from swimming but were not) and into our pajamas, which lie under the covers. We tossed all of the pillows that acted as us onto the floor and climbed into bed. I shut the light off by throwing one of the pillows at it. We relaxed for a moment. As we lie down my muscles relaxed from the many feelings, I had now. Scared of being caught, excitement because of Steve and Thomas, and a little crush that flowed over my heart.
"Steve was really cute." Erin and I said simultaneously. No, It thought to myself.