In the Skin of Dragon

Chapter 3: Let’s go to beach

It was just six o'clock in the morning but I was already up waiting for my mom with breakfast. I made something quick since she would be here any minute , I  prepared toast with boiled eggs and cheese. On another plate, I cut the tomato and cucumber and prepared the tea in a teapot.

“Welcome home mom.” I welcomed her the moment she opened the door. She looked tired with dark circles under her eyes so I assumed she had a tough shift this night. Thank God she could rest today and recover her strength. Sometimes I felt sorry for her, not because she has to take care of me, I was trying to make it as easy as possible but because of my father who I never knew. Upto now I don’t even know his name, my mom always refused to talk about him.

“Good morning sweetheart. You are up early, did something happen?” I saw her worried face and immediately tried to calm her down. “Don’t worry mom. I am just so excited to go to the beach that I could not sleep. I prepared breakfast for us, are you hungry?” I invited her for breakfast and her face was shining again. “Oh, that’s so lovely. Sure honey.” She placed her bag on the rack next to the door and followed me to the kitchen.

“Thank you honey.” My mom said happily I was glad that she enjoyed the simple food we had. Not that I would complain about what we eat. I was still glad and happy that we had food on our table every day. I know a few kids in our school, who were lucky if they got something to eat in two days.

“I am glad you like it. Here, drink some tea.” I filled her cup first and then mine. I took a sip from my cup and continued eating quietly. The silence was not heavy but you know this feeling when you have like a million questions in your head but when you are in the room with the person you want to talk to, all those questions just vanish into thin air and you have nothing to talk about? Because this happened to me almost every time I was with my mom. Don’t get me wrong. I love her with my whole heart, I would kill for her if I had to and our relationship is absolutely amazing and full of understanding. My mom is someone I can call my friend but at the same time, I feel like if I start to question her about the things I am curious about, I would just stress her out more or remind her of memories she might have wanted to forget and had buried them deep inside her mind. This always stopped me asking questions.

“Are sure, you are alright honey?” Mom’s voice brought me back from my thoughts and I nodded to her. “Sure mom. Don’t worry.” I tried to ease her mind. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” She asked me and I smiled at her giving her a nod. “I know mom,” I replied. “It's just. There is a boy at school but he doesn’t know I even exist, not to mention that Kendra told me that they had already chosen a wife for him. I have never heard about such things as having an arranged spouse.” I tried to change the subject and direct her to something else that might keep her mind busy.

“Yeah, that happens from time to time when they think that the person can strongly influence the others around him or her. Your grandfather was also matched with a girl like that.” I was listening to the story my mom was telling me and could not believe my ears. “Huh, seems he didn’t have that much influence on me,” I said sheepishly and jokingly and my mom laughed. “You could say so.” She replied standing up from her chair and taking our dirty dishes. “I guess you should go get ready, prepare your stuff and please don’t forget the sunblock. You are as white as this wall here.” My mom said pointing to our white kitchen walls. “Mooooom. That’s rude.” I whined back and she laughed harder but sadly she was right. During the summer we were not lucky enough to get to the beach since it was a break and everyone tried to go there and other than that place, there is no other way to get a tan. Sure, my hands and face were nicely brown but since I mostly wore just my undershirt at home, my white shoulders were shining like light bulbs in the night.

“Do we still have sunblock?” I asked her after she stopped laughing. “I think there is some in the bathroom. Check the shelf under the sink.” My mom replied and I was already on my way upstairs to our shared bathroom. “There is only SPF fifteen. I guess I will need a higher one.” I shouted from upstairs. I heard the door under the stairs and I knew mom was looking in the second bathroom which we also used as storage for other cleaning stuff and cosmetics which we were not using or any extras. 

“Will Thirty-five be enough?” Mom shouted from downstairs. “I guess so. We are not in a tropical area and summer is almost over.” I replied to her running hurriedly downstairs so I could take the sunblock from her. Believe me, I love being tanned and nicely brown and I usually have no problem catching some sun but being as white as I am now and going out in a bikini for the whole day I would end up as red as a tomato and since we have practical school from Monday, I don’t need to be a laughingstock.

I didn’t know how I ended up talking with mom for almost an hour but it was already seven-thirty and Kendra was supposed to be here in half an hour. The trip to the beach would take around ten to fifteen minutes with her car and the entrance would be open from nine so we should be there early enough to get a spot and since the school year already started, I really hoped that not many kids would want to go because they would enjoy a free Saturday and the opportunity to sleep. At least I really, reeeeeally hoped.

“Mooooom. Where is the huge towel? The one with the purple irises on them.” I called out again and almost died of a heart attack when her voice came from right behind me a second later. “This one?” She simply asked but I almost jumped out of my skin, startled. “Yes.” Thank you. “When did you come up? I didn’t hear the stairs.” I asked her, confused. Our stairs made squeaky sounds so you always knew when someone was going up or down. “I guess you were just too focused or maybe too distracted.” She replied smiling, handing me the towel and I placed it into my beach bag where I already had the sandals, cream, and small wallet with coins to buy water and food there.

“Don’t forget your book.” She reminded me, I had almost forgotten. “Got it.” I took the book which I was currently reading from the shelf and placed it also into the bag. “Anything else except towels, cream, book, money?” I asked my mom. I already had my bikini on which reminded me that maybe I should take clothes to change. “Clothes to change or will you come back wearing your bikini?” Mom asked me just as I had thought of it .

“I guess you are reading my mind,” I said jokingly and I knew my mom would instantly understand what I had meant. “You are my daughter in the end so don’t expect anything less sweetheart.” My mom replied teasingly and I could not help but smile back. My mom was awesome, funny and I loved her.

“Have I ever told you that you are an amazing mom?” I asked her. “Nope. Never.” She replied pretending to put on her serious face but popping up her answer. “Well, I am telling you now,” I replied to her, placing a kiss on her cheek. “Alright, I guess it’s time to go,” I said and just as I heard the horn from the front of our house and I knew Kendra had  just arrived. “Have fun girls.” Mom told me before placing a kiss on my forehead and letting me go. I knew mom would take a quick shower and go sleep so I quickly kissed her cheek before taking my bag,  running down the stairs and out of the house. “Good morning.” I heard from the car and Kendra was calling to me. She was wearing her black leather jacket and black jeans again and since the temperature was already around twenty-five maybe more, I was really curious as to how she never sweated in these black clothes and on top of that fully covered no matter the current season.

“Good morning. Seriously. Don’t you ever feel hot?” I asked after I took my seat next to  her and closed the car door. “Never.” She replied to me by starting the car and heading towards the beach. I was excited, I  could not wait to get there and exactly as I was hoping the line in front of the entrance was very short so I knew no matter how many people came after us we would get in today.

“Luckyyy.” I squeaked in the car seeing the line and Kendra quickly parked the car so we could get in line. “Don’t forget that you are paying for this with the horror evening today.” Kendra reminded me and my excitement was practically and instantly destroyed. “Seriously, you can’t let me be happy even for five minutes, can you?” I answered by making a face and she laughed. “Of course, I can. It took us about five minutes to see the line, park the car, and get into the spot.” She summarized the time we spent and I could do nothing but sigh. “You are unbelievable,” I told her while poking her shoulder. “Yes, yes. I know. I am absolutely amazing and that’s why you love me so much.” She told me while putting her arm  around my shoulders and pretending to be fully praised.

We spent the next hour talking about almost anything, well most of the talking came from Kendra, her complaining about the music we had access to, her favorite horror movies and complaining about people from school but I didn’t mind or care. I was happy that I could go get some salty water and that Kendra was the type of person who was happy for being listened to but never pushed anybody to talk and believe me I was a perfect listener.

To be fair, my excitement and our talk last only for about an hour before we heard our favorite high-pitched voice coming from the back of the line just a few minutes before the opening. Emily and her minions decided to come to the beach today too but to my disappointment, the boyish voice who was calling for Andrew to join them in the line was something I didn’t expect to hear. I turned my head and noticed that they had come as a group of kids from school. There were maybe like five other girls surrounding Emily,  two of which I seriously didn’t know so I assumed they were from higher grades and there was almost the same amount of boys with Andrew among them.

“You didn’t tell me that your brother would be here today too,” I complained to Emily feeling the painful sting in my heart from knowing that he came with Emily. Well, not directly with her but still in the same group. “As if I care about what he is doing. Come on.” Kendra scolded me making a disgusted face after she turned to check the group and turned away at the same time pretending she actually didn’t see them.

“Let’s go. They just opened.” Kendra mentioned and I looked to the front to see that the line started to move as they let us in. The good thing about this beach was that it was free to use. You just had to be lucky to come early before it reached capacity and by capacity, I mean still half empty but the maximum number of the people allowed to be together in one place. I wasn’t  sure what they were afraid of and I didn’t care.

“Where do you want to go?” Kendra asked me. I looked around searching for the perfect place we could put our stuff and still have good access to the water. “I guess over there it would be nice and not so crowded.” I pointed to the farthest end of the beach but not so far from the facilities in case we got hungry or thirsty. “Looks good to me,” Kendra replied, immediately picking up the direction and heading towards the spot I showed her. To my luck, she didn’t notice that the area I showed her was actually on the other side of the beach where Andrew and Emily went. At least this way, I would not have to listen to her annoying voice and his husky voice while they talked