Be My Hero

Chapter Three (part one)

Hi all! Sorry it's taken so long to post...and sorry it's such a short upload!! This chapter's not finished but I'm not sure when I'll be uploading again so I figured I'd put up what I've got so far. Comments are appreciated! :D

Chapter three:

The sun was far overhead and cast shadows along the beach. I lay out on a towel displaying Simba from The Lion King while Ali sat on a white lounge chair. She donned a huge floppy hat and sunglasses two sizes too big for her face. Her vintage style bathing suit outshone my bikini and cut offs and I admit I was a bit jealous.

My hair curled down my back as I sat up to call Grayson in from the outgoing tide. He looked so small in the crashing waves, but he smiled so much that they didn’t seem to bother him. He’d probably let the water carry him out if I didn’t tell him to get out. He didn’t seem to hear me, so I stood to go to him. I made my way down the wet sand and caught Gray up in my arms. He giggled as I tickled him and carried him out of the water.

“I was thinking you should come in; it’s getting pretty rough out there.” I explained, setting him on his feet.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He said, looking a little disappointed, but then he looked up across the beach at a flying object. “Frisbee!” he shouted and ran after it. Before I could stop him, he jumped in the air, caught the toy and landed softly on the sand.

A teenage boy who looked about my own age, jogged over to where we stood. He wore knee length jean shorts and a black sweatshirt. I couldn’t imagine he was at all comfortable in this heat. And he didn’t look too happy.

“Hi, sorry I just saw that no one was going to catch your Frisbee…” Grayson trailed off and handed the hunk of plastic to the angry looking teen. I looked at the stranger, hoping against hope that his words wouldn’t be as harsh as his glare. He put on a smile.

“Well that’s good; I was just looking for another pair to play with my brother and me. You two want to join?” he asked, looking from Grayson to me. With the grin he was quite handsome. He had silver eyes set into his tanned face, and light hair that was more brown than blonde. I was entranced for a moment, unable to answer his simple question. Gray nudged me and I sputtered to life.

“Yeah, we’d love to.” I blurt out and follow the boy with Grayson at my side. “I'm Hero, and this is Grayson.” I say to his back. He looked over his shoulder at us and nodded.

“Micah,” he informed us and continued on to where a dark-haired boy sat in the sand. “And this,” he spoke, pointing at the sleepy looking teen, “is Peter.” The boy waved at us in a disinterested manner. “So you want to play teams?” He asked, more to the boy than to us.

“I'm sick of playing Frisbee.” He said, rolling onto his back. “Let’s go find some chicks.” He said to which I scoffed. “I mean, let’s go do something else.” He tried to correct, but the words had already been said.

“Well, we should actually get going…” I say, backing away with Grayson. How could anyone be so stupid? I was a girl, wasn’t I? He obviously wasn’t someone I felt like hanging out with…although Micah seemed nice.

“Oh, ignore Peter. He likes to start trouble; come hang out with us.” he said, holding his arms out as if to offer a hug.

“I can’t really…I should get him back to the house and I'm sure my aunt will want us in for dinner soon…” Micah looked amused and nodded.

“Well how about you bring him back and come hang out with us later tonight?” I raised an eyebrow and glanced down at Grayson who just smirked. “There’s going to be a bonfire at nine, just head down this way and I’ll find you.”

“We’ll see,” I say and turn with Grayson, walking back down to where Ali was resting.

“Are you really going to go?” Gray asked, peeking back at the two boys, now just two spots in the distance.

“Go where?” Ali asked, sitting up and looking back to where we had just come from. “Where are you going?” I tried not to look irritated.

“A bonfire.” I say, and then turn to Gray. “And I think so…I mean, it’s right on the beach and it sounded like fun.”

“Is anyone invited?!” Ali said, standing up and shedding her ‘too cool for anything’ attitude. I thought of Peter’s comment of ‘finding chicks’ and shrugged.

“I don’t know.” She looked so hopeful and happy that I couldn’t leave it with that. “But I'm sure they wouldn’t mind an extra person.”

“Oh goody! I have a perfect outfit for a bonfire party!” she jumped up and headed inside without waiting for further details like when, where and with whom.

“So I guess you have to go then…” Gray concluded. I laughed and shook my head.

“Yeah, I guess,” I emphasized the ‘guess’ and he giggled. As if ‘having’ to go to a bonfire was something terrible instead of something fun. “Come on, let’s get dinner.”

*