The Beach

Alex Gaskarth

Well, what can I say Mr. Carlile? You know that I'm not too good writing anything in general, I don't expect you to give me an A on this paper. I know I got the whole term to write this so I guess all I need to tell you is what I did during summer. Right?

You said that you would not show this paper to anyone and I'm holding you onto that, so I guess this is the beginning of my summer paradise.

~
ALEX'S POV

I woke up with a horrible pain growing deep down on my stomach, not that any of it surprised me anyway. Who wouldn't feel sick after eating junk food until 3AM the night before? I shuffled in bed, kicking the blanket off my way with my feet while I tried to hear what my parents were arguing about downstairs.

They were talking about me, as usual. My mom was half whispering how bad my grades were after finishing that year of school and my dad was cursing all the way through it.

I covered my head with my pillow and tried to sing along to whatever song was in my head at that moment. It didn't have a job, so I got up and walked to my door in attempt to open it. My dad appeared at the door then, his face was painted in red, pointing out his anger.

"Why didn't you tell me the grades you got?" He asked shouting at me. I stepped back looking at the floor. He started walking into my direction as I stepped back until my legs touched the edge of my bed. He was in front of me, just millimeters away from my face. He let out a loud sigh and slapped my cheek hard and walked out of my room.

I stood there, motionless. I slowly sat down on my bed and tried to pretend like nothing had happened but I felt my chest burn and something inside me reached its way to my throat.

I thought I was going to throw up right there on the carpet for a moment but I knew what was coming next so I sighed and held back the few tears that were going to make their way down my cheeks soon.

I heard my door crack open, revealing my mom standing there. She gave me a weak smile and slowly started walking to my bed.

I extended my arms and waved her away.

"Don't" I said putting my head down between my lanky arms but she kept walking.

"Don't come near me" I said facing her. She frowned and stood in the spot for a minute, then turned back and closed my door behind her.

I knew I shouldn't have blamed my mom for my dad's reaction over my damn grades but she was the one who had told him in the first place.

I could have told him whenever he wasn't drunk, my mom isn't the smartest woman out there but what can I say? She's the one who gave birth to me; I had to love her to bits even if I never showed it.

I skipped my breakfast and lunch, taking my laptop off the floor, I pressed the power button and waited until it started up.

I laid on my bed and put the laptop on my empty but bloated stomach, put my earphones in and went on YouTube. I typed 'Roses for the dead Funeral for a friend' and listened to it several times. I sighed and opened a new tab on my explorer, tapping my fingers on the keyboard, thinking about what I should do.

I typed 'o' and 'omegle' appeared on my URL bar. I pressed enter and found out that it had changed a bit since the last time I used it. It showed a little box where you could put the things or bands you liked; I thought it'd be a good idea to chat with people who had the same music taste as me.

'Omegle is a great way for you to meet new friends. When you use Omegle, we pick another user at random and let you have a one-on-one chat with each other. Chats are completely anonymous unless you choose to mention personal details, and you can disconnect whenever you like.

If you add your interests, Omegle will try to find someone who is into some of the same things as you, instead of giving you a completely random chat partner'

'You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You and the stranger both like Sum 41, Blink 182, Green day, Foo Fighters, Nirvana and Funeral for a friend.'

Stranger: Hey

You: Heya

Stranger: Asl?

You: 17, M, US. Yourself?

Stranger: 29 m uk lmao bye kiddo

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

Okay, I thought to myself.

I had the whole afternoon to spend on there, trying to find someone who actually really cared about music so I pressed ‘New’ and started a new conversation.

Stranger: I love you

You: Uh?

Stranger: I love you

You: Yeah, I read that but I don’t know what you mean

Stranger: I love you means that ‘I love you’

You: Why?

Stranger: Man, you’ve got a perfect music taste there

You: Haha, thanks. You too

Stranger: Is there any possibility that you’re a guy? (Pretty please be a guy, be a guy)

You: Indeed, I am. You must be a girl then

Stranger: Uh, not really. Sorry to confuse you

You: Don’t you like girls?

Stranger: Not exactly

You: Yeah.. They’re a little bitchy sometimes

Stranger: No I mean

You: Uh?

Stranger: Doesn’t matter

You: No, tell me

Stranger: Nah, you’d disconnect

You: C’mon. You seem to be pretty cool, I won’t disconnect, I promise

Stranger: I’m gay

You: You thought I’d disconnect because of that?

Stranger: Yeah..

You: I might be too, who knows?

Stranger: Are you?

Stranger: Shit, I need to leave. It was nice talking to you

You: Hey wait!

Stranger: What?!

You: Gimme your Skype username

Stranger: JackBB182, and no, I’m not a porn star

You: I got ya. I’ll talk to you later, dude.

Stranger: Okay, bye x

You: Bye Jack x

Who knew I'd spend the day waiting for that guy named Jack to come online?