Becoming Strong

Chapter 3

No-one had ever kissed me like that before. Well, parents' good-night kisses don't count. And yeah, I know it was only on the cheek...but STILL. Eric smiled at me. I smiled back, but I think it was sort of awkward because I was still shocked that he had kissed me. I blushed.

"You're cute when you blush," he said, smiling. Maybe I could get a boy's attention, Maybe I wasn't as ugly as I thought myself to be. No, I was still ugly. Maybe Eric felt bad for me. That's why he was being nice to me. No, Kat, he likes you. But does he?

"Nobody's ever noticed me before," I said, watching him finish his ice-cream cone. He smiled.

"Someone did," he said, pointing to his face. "Everyone's made to be noticed. And they are, one way or another." I half believed him. It took fourteen years for someone to notice me. For a boy to notice me. For a boy to take interest in me.

"Haha, sure..." I said. He smiled at me, showing his blue braces again. Damn, he was cute. His red hair being tossed by the wind. Kat, back to reality.

"Fuck. MOOSE!" Eric called for his dog. Oh my God. I hadn't been paying attention either. Where had Moose gone?

"Do you mind helping me find him?" Eric blushed.

"No, come on," I said, grabbing his hand, leading him down the shore. He intertwined his fingers in mine. I smiled, calling the dog's name.

"There he is!" Eric said, pointing to Moose with his free hand. He let go of my hand and rushed over to get his dog, who was currently begging some old man for his sandwich.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. He just got away. I'm so sorry," I heard Eric say, pulling Moose away. I pet the dog on his head.

"Here," Eric said, grabbing a leash out of his swim shorts. "Can you put it on his collar?"

I attached the black leash to Moose's collar and gave it to Eric.

"He can bee such an ass-hole sometimes." Eric laughed, petting Moose's back.

"So can my brothers," I said, seeing Dane and Jack walk up with two girls in neon bikinis.

Dane and Jack walked up to us, each having a girl on their arm. I rolled my eyes.

"What do you two want?" I asked, really not wanting to talk to either of them.

"This is Nikki," Jack said, motioning to the girl on his arm. "And that's Courtney," he said, motioning to the girl beside Dane. I smiled, which was fake. These girls weren't at the beach for the water, obviously. They were here for boys.

Okay...so maybe I shouldn't call thirteen year old girls sluts...but come on. Their bikinis screamed 'come at me', being too small and bright. Their hair was perfect, begging for attention. They had fake tans which were asking for boys to look at them. These were the girls that were the popular ones at school. The ones who always got boys. So...basically the opposite of me.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Nikki asked, pointing at Eric. I blushed.

"Erm..uh..no. No, we're just friends," I said. Eric smiled.

"Well, nice to meet you two," he said, grabbing my hand and walking away. Thank God. I didn't want to spend my time with THEM. He looked at me.

"You blushed," he said, poking my side. I looked at him.

"What?" I asked, curious of where he was going with this.

"You blushed when she asked if was your boyfriend," he said, flipping his hair to get it out of his eyes. Why did I think everything he did was cute? I didn't really consider him "hot" but adorable. He wasn't like the other guys I'd seen at the beach. He still had his green V-neck shirt on and he wasn't jumping at any and every girl. How could I NOT blush....right?

"Well...I...um...I didn't mean to blush...I just..." Oh Hell, I didn't know what to say. 'Oh yeah, I just think you're cute and I wished you were mine and did I mention you're cute?' Haha no.

He laughed, looking at me.

"It's okay.I would've blushed too," he said while pushing my black Ray-Bans back up. I needed to get my damn glasses tightened. Eric didn't have glasses. Just really beautiful blue eyes. He was like the boy Ariel. Red hair, blue eyes, green clothes. Ugh. When I fall in love, I guess I fall hard.

"KAT! KAT!" I heard my mom yell. Fuck. We're going home already? My mom came running towards me. I let go of Eric's hand. If my mom saw I liked a boy, she wouldn't stop "awww"ing anytime soon. She stopped and look at me.

"Good Lord, Kat. I though I'd lost you!" she said. Then looked at Eric. "Who's this?"

"I'm Eric. My dog ran off and...found Kat," he said smiling. My mom smiled at me, raising her eyebrows. Not now, Mom. Please.

"Well, I'm sure you'd love to stay Kat, but we're going home. Your father has a horrible sunburn," she said turning around and walking away.

"Step-father," I mumbled. There was NO WAY Daniel would ever be my "dad". Ever.

Eric looked at me and handed me his phone. I looked at the black iPhone in my hands.

"What's this for?" I asked. He smiled and laughed.

"Put in your number...if you want..." he said, growing red. I entered my phone number in his contacts. Was he asking me for my number?! I still didn't believe this.

I handed him his phone, smiled, and started to walk away.

"I'll text you!" he called after me. I looked around and smiled, to see a smiling Eric. I watched as my Converse made prints in the sand. Every sound was drowned out as I focused on the waves.And everything in that moment was perfect. I wasn't worried. I wasn't stressed. I wasn't scared.

I was in love with a bright red-haired boy.

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So...if you haven't guessed already, I'm a new writer (online, that is). Sorry if the chapters are short! My iPad crashed earlier and I was too lazy to re-write all of the story I had written (woops). I hope you're enjoying the story! :3