The Road that leads to Somewhere

PART ONE - August 2006 Chapter one

Chapter 1

The Portuguese sun kissed my body, bronzing me from head to toe. It was the second day of our family holiday and I was finally feeling relaxed after a stressful few months of exams and coursework. I was feeling anxious about my future, which some might say was a weird thing for a 16 year old to worry about, but unfortunately I wasn’t like most 16 year olds. I was glad that school was over and I could start my plan of becoming a lawyer. I had planned my life out to the nth degree from the age of 10 and nothing and no one could make me deviate from it. My new job in the book shop back home didn’t pay much, but it was a means to an end and it would help get me through college and university, plus it was nice to be earning my own money and it helped that the little family that owned it were pretty good bosses.

I turned my mind off to the chitter chatter of my family, who were all getting settled round the pool for the day. It was our first year coming to Portugal, but it would probably also be our last family holiday with all of us together. With my brother turning 18 this year, it was a miracle my parents even persuaded him to come with us. My parents were dynamite though; they always had their means and ways to get us to do what they wanted, without us feeling like they were actually telling us. It was a gift and I strongly admired them for it. Most of the time.

I was a self-confessed bookworm, believe it or not. Again, not typical of 16 year olds, but there was nothing better for me than burying my head inside a good book, and I also didn’t mind the text books that were compulsory for getting an education. It is why I had a stack of books piled next to my sun lounger; ready to devour them in the two weeks I had been given to fully relax. Some might call it boring spending 2 weeks with my head in a book. I call it heaven written in black ink on a crisp white page. Like I said, not like stereotypical 16 year olds, and I still don’t know how comfortable I am with that.

 “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Yes, that scream came from me as a wave of cold water splashed me, soaking my book and me in the process. I said I wasn’t a typical teenager, I never said I wasn’t a girl.

 Looking up I saw my brother Dan and his idiotic best friend Jamie hysterically laughing from the pool. Oh yeah, you know that miracle I mentioned earlier? The one that persuaded my brother to grace us with his presence this holiday? Yeah, that miracle came in the form of a 6ft male, with tousled brown hair and dark brown eyes that if you were to stare too long at you would probably get lost in. Just me?  

“Dan, you are such a prick!!” I shouted angrily. I had recently discovered the power of swearing. It let off steam and had the power to inform the person receiving said swear word how angry and annoyed you really were. Well, better than saying ‘you big piggy wig’ which I had continuously called my brother from the age of 3.

“It wasn’t me Beth” Dan exclaimed through his fits of hysterical laughter, “I jumped in at the deep end, it was Jay”.

I tried to give my best pissed off glare to the boy I had grown up with, getting a smirk and a wink back. Just like Dan, Jamie knew how to press my buttons. Did they not realise that with a barely pubescent 16-year-old girl, her buttons were humungous and placed for ease of access. 

“Sorry Bee” he shrugged, using the nickname he had bestowed upon me when we were kids. My birth name was Elizabeth, but my full name digressed to Beth when I was barely a month old. ‘Elizabeth is a bit of a mouth full darling’ my parents had told me when I asked why no one used my full name. I felt insulted that no one shortened Dan’s, because really, why would I realise at 6 years old that the name Dan couldn’t really get much shorter. I threw a few tantrums when everyone continued to call me Beth for short, so just to annoy me even more, Jamie thought he would shorten it to just one letter. One syllable wasn’t good enough in his eyes. I told him I hated him and didn’t talk to him for a week. That showed him!