Hope Runs Deep.

Chapter 1 - Hope

Friday, 21st of July.

The sky was gloomy and full of rain, the black mass of clouds above covered the sky as far as I could see. Rain was pounding above my head, threatening to break through the sun roof of the my parents new car and soak us all. Shivering, I pulled the sleeves of my soft white cardigan over my hand, crossed my arms and mentally braced myself for the imminent saturation I had in store. 

"I have never paid this much attention to the weather" I mumbled out loud, to no one in particular but my brother Adam decided to take it upon himself to respond.

"This is ridiculous. The sun was beaming five minutes ago! How can the weather change so drastically in so little time?" He said grouchily. 

"Get used to it, Ireland is like this all year round. Summer  is no exception"My dad replied, equally as grouchy. 

My mom and dad were in the front of the car, my dad, who still hasn't adapted to driving on the opposite side of the road, despite moving here two weeks ago, sat awkwardly adjusting his seat and mirrors with a constant frown of determination on his face. My mother on the other hand was too immersed in business emails to actually know what we ever spoke about so all we got out of her was a murmur of agreement every now and then. Sitting beside me in the back was my older brother Adam, his faced was almost as somber as the sky above us as he sat in the car wearing shorts and a thin t shirt, staring at the unrelenting rain begrudgingly. Being a very popular guy in our home town in Arizona, he has taken this sudden move a lot worse than I have. All his years honing his skills at baseball have all of a sudden become useless because everyone in Ireland plays soccer or the odd Irish sports with even more odd rules.

I on the other hand have taken this move in my stride, barely rocking the metaphorical boat that is my composure. I didn't leave my room often back in Arizona and I haven't left my room since arriving to our new home in Dublin. That is until my mother blackmailed me into coming grocery shopping today. I haven't been affected that much by the move because my parents order a lot of our essentials online, ensuring we are constantly in stock of American snacks, soda and all other items vital to our survival in this foreign land. Today I was told that she wouldn't put any of the things I want in the order this week unless I start going out and getting used to the culture and talking to people. I reluctantly accepted her challenge.

So here we sit, in the car park of a grocery store, getting ready to make a desperate dash to the entrance through the intimidating rainfall. I take a deep, sharp breath and hold it in as I pull the chrome door handle, push the door open, slide out of the back seat and make a run for the entrance, all in one smooth action. Unfortanttely it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked as my snow white Converse slip on the water logged tarmac and I let out the most girly squeal possible as I avoided falling into a puddle. Defiantly I keep running until I reach the safety of the stores automated double doors. I quickly take my phone out and open up the front camera to check if I look like a drowned rat but am pleasantly surprised to see that the rain only caused me to look like a damp fox. My bright red hair is glistening as water droplets fall around my feet and the eye shadow that is supposed to make my green eyes 'pop' is mostly intact. Nothing a tactical wipe of my sleeve won't fix anyway. Still assessing how I look in my camera, I catch myself smiling as my eyes dart to the the notification bar and I notice that I have a message from Cassie.

My best friend, Cassie Jones is the only person I know in Ireland that isn't family, but she might as well be. She lived in Arizona too but moved here two years before me, both our mothers work for the same company and that's why I had to move here too. In all my nineteen years I've been on this planet, no one has been as kind and understanding towards me than Cassie. I hadn't seen her in a couple of years and she has changed a lot since when we were in school together. Not in a bad way, but she has adapted to the Irish lifestyle easily and although I've only seen her a handful of times since moving across the pond, she has been showing me the ropes.I put my phone away after responding to her text, which was another message encouraging me to come out tonight to a bar, well a 'pub'. She wants me to socialize even more than my parents do but at least her way could be more rewarding, even if it is more risky. I shake the thoughts of that out of my mind as I look around for my family that were standing beside me a minute ago.  I remember faintly hearing my dad saying something about getting a shopping cart as I stared at my reflection in my phone but that's about it. Excited and nervous at the same time I decide to set off into the store by myself to have a look around and see if I can get my hands on some Twizzlers!