Waiting for Hope

Brown Eyed Girl

Brown Eyed Girl - van morrison

Ethan spent most of Friday prepping campsites. He spent extra time on the Smith's site, as his mom requested, shaking his head. What's the big deal, he thought. It didn't matter to him much if this was some big family trip, it wasn't his family. But his mom had connected with some of the regulars and he couldn't deny her that. She was alone too much, he realized. So he cleaned it, saying nothing.

Saturday morning rolled around and Ethan had more time off. Will would be heading over to get ready for the bonfire. Ethan was dreading it, knowing Melanie would be there. Kissing her had been a bad idea.

She had called him twice already since Thursday's beach outing. He wasn't sure how to handle her boldness. He felt bad saying anything to her, like 'back off' or something. So he just kept the conversation short, but polite.

Will finally showed up after lunch.

"Hey, looks like you finally found one." He said.

"Found what?" Ethan wondered.

"A girlfriend, that's what!" Will laughed.

"Yeah, real funny. I can't get rid of her."

" Well, you're all she talks about, so get used to her. She's not going anywhere any time soon."

Ethan sighed. "Let's just get the bonfire ready." The boys went out to the shed to find wood they would need and started to haul it to the beach.

That's when he saw her.

Ethan saw a white van pull into spot 30, the Smith's site. He noticed the family get out and stretch from the long drive. He wasn't sure exactly where they lived, but he could tell they had been in the car a while. The younger brother, Brad, looked to be about 6 or 7. He immediately started running around asking for his ball. The dad told him to settle down and be patient. The mom walked over to her son and spoke with him quietly.

Then a girl came around from the other side, walking right to the back of the van and started helping her dad unload. Ethan caught his breath. She was cute, really cute. He tried to be causal about watching her but figured he was failing miserably. She was petite, with long brown wavy hair and big brown eyes. It didn't go unnoticed to Ethan that she was helping without being asked, and without complaint. He hadn't even noticed a roll of the eyes. Were there teen girls who didn't roll their eyes?

Then he started to feel wierd. Here he was, 15, sort of checking out a girl and he couldn't tell for sure how old she was. She looked like she could be close to his age, but for all he knew she could be 12. He shuddered at that thought and got back to hauling wood to the bonfire.

He tried to focus on the task he and Will had ahead of them, but his mind kept wandering back to the girl. Hope, that was her name. What a great name. He decided to try and find out how old she was before he thought about her anymore.

His chance came shortly after they finished with the wood. Brad ran down to the beach with his soccer ball. Ethan decided to ask him if he wanted to play. Will had already left to go pick up supplies. His older brother, Dave, had picked him up.

"Hey, Brad right? I'm Ethan. My mom runs the campground. Ya wanna play ball?"

"Sure!" Brad looked excited by the attention. Ethan kicked the ball back and forth with him for a while. Then he decided to get some info.