Chapter Three
The next day started as a pretty dull day for Gordo. With no Lizzie or Miranda around, he just stayed home. There didn't seem to be any point doing otherwise with all of his friends gone. Most of his morning was in his room most of the morning watching TV, followed by lunch.
After lunch he returned to his room where he found his Eighth Grade Yearbook sitting on his dresser. As he flipped through all the pages, he stopped to look at the pictures of Lizzie throughout the book. She looked so beautiful. There was no denying that he missed her very much. "And to think," he said to himself with a sigh, "I thought this summer would be the summer when she'd finally notice me." After a while, he turned a page and saw a picture of Ethan Craft. Just then he remembered that he had promised Ethan to be at Digital Bean that day at 2. Noticed that it was five minutes until 2, Gordo quickly got up and walked to his bedroom door. As he began to open the door, he stopped himself and considered just not going. After all, it was Ethan. It was not like he was one of his friends or anything. Still, Gordo knew he had made a promise and decided that he was going to keep it. Besides, even if he's late, Ethan probably wouldn't notice. Gordo wasn't even convinced that Ethan could even tell time anyway.
Gordo did arrive at the Digital Bean on time, though. As soon as he came in, Ethan spotted him and motioned Gordo to sit down. "Hey, Gordon. What's up?"
Gordo attempted to smile to be polite. "Not much more than yesterday," he replied back.
"Yeah, I get what you're sayin', man. Same here."
For being the "most popular guy in school"- or at least, the most popular according to Miranda- Ethan didn't seem to be doing much. Gordo wasn't sure what exactly to say to him next. He managed to think of "So, what are you going to be doing this summer? Going anywhere cool?"
"Naa," he answered shaking his head 'no,' "I'm stuck here all summer. My dad's gone on business a lot, so I promised him that I'd look after my step mom."
For some reason this sort of impressed Gordo. It was the first thing that he had ever seen out of Ethan that resembled loyalty of any kind, Somehow he had never pictured Ethan as the type to look out for his family like that. Gordo replied back to him, "Yeah, same here. I'll be here all summer too."
Gordo didn't get the entire sentence out of his mouth before it seemed like Ethan had been distracted. He was now staring at the screen of the computer on the table moving the mouse wildly and hitting it on the table. He was back to being the same old Ethan. Gordo looked over to him and said, "Something wrong?"
"Gordon, you're smart, right?"
Gordo wanted to say 'Well, compared to you, I'm a genius' but restrained himself and just said, "Yeah, I guess."
"Do you know how this thing works?"
"You mean the computer?"
"Yeah, that's it."
Ethan had been coming to the Digital Bean for this long and never knew how to use a computer? "Well what do you want to know?" Gordo was trying to help, but wasn't exactly sure what kind of help needed. Maybe mental help.
"How do you get stuff on it?"
Stuff? Yep, this was defiantly the same old Ethan. "You mean web sites?"
"Yeah. Yeah that's it."
"Well, did you type in the URL?"
"Gordon, I'm not an idiot. You don't have to spell things out for me."
Gordo stopped himself again from saying something less than kind to Ethan and managed to get out "No, URL is an acronym for Universal Research Locator. It's what you type into the address bar in order to reach the site you want to go to." Hopefully, this wouldn't be too many big words for Ethan to understand.
"Ohh..." At last it sounded like Ethan had understood what Gordo had said. He turned to the computer and started, appeared to strart thinking very hard about what he was about to type. It seemed like he was thinking very hard. After a while, he turned to Gordo and said "I don't think I know any URLs."
That figures. "Did you try a search?"
"Naaa. How do you do that?"
"You type in what you're looking for in there and then click the 'search' button."
Ethan managed to do that and was thrilled when it worked. "All right!" he exclaimed. Gordo thought was a little strange that Ethan was so excited that he found a few websites, but since only minutes before he thought you get to sites by pounding the mouse on the table, this must have been a big deal for him.
Gordo looked over to see what Ethan was searching. It was golf. "Golf?" he asked, attempting to make some sort of small talk.
"Yeah," Ethan answered back. It seemed like Ethan had become a zombie to the glowing light of the computer screen.
"Do you play?" Gordo attempted more small talk.
"Oh, yeah. Do you?"
"Can't say that I ever have."
"Gordon, you've got to try it sometimes. You'd love it."
Gordo couldn't picture himself golfing - ever, but he answered "Well, maybe someday. I'd have to learn to play first"
"Dude, it's easy." Ethan replied back to him, followed by explaining all the rules of the game. Again, Gordo was surprised by Ethan. Some of the rules of the game were pretty complicated. Maybe Ethan's not as dumb as Gordo though.
Ethan continued searching through golf websites until he finally cried out, "Hey, cool. There's going to be a golf tournament just, like, an hour away from here next week. That would be killer." Ethan went on talking for another couple of hours about golf, or though it seemed to Gordo. Finally, Gordo had had about as much as he could take.
"Well, it looks like I've got to go. Lots to do, you know." Gordo really couldn't think of anything he had to do, but anything seemed better than staying there and listening to Ethan babble any more.
"Cool, Later, Gordon."
"Sure," Gordo agreed, "latter."
The next day started as a pretty dull day for Gordo. With no Lizzie or Miranda around, he just stayed home. There didn't seem to be any point doing otherwise with all of his friends gone. Most of his morning was in his room most of the morning watching TV, followed by lunch.
After lunch he returned to his room where he found his Eighth Grade Yearbook sitting on his dresser. As he flipped through all the pages, he stopped to look at the pictures of Lizzie throughout the book. She looked so beautiful. There was no denying that he missed her very much. "And to think," he said to himself with a sigh, "I thought this summer would be the summer when she'd finally notice me." After a while, he turned a page and saw a picture of Ethan Craft. Just then he remembered that he had promised Ethan to be at Digital Bean that day at 2. Noticed that it was five minutes until 2, Gordo quickly got up and walked to his bedroom door. As he began to open the door, he stopped himself and considered just not going. After all, it was Ethan. It was not like he was one of his friends or anything. Still, Gordo knew he had made a promise and decided that he was going to keep it. Besides, even if he's late, Ethan probably wouldn't notice. Gordo wasn't even convinced that Ethan could even tell time anyway.
Gordo did arrive at the Digital Bean on time, though. As soon as he came in, Ethan spotted him and motioned Gordo to sit down. "Hey, Gordon. What's up?"
Gordo attempted to smile to be polite. "Not much more than yesterday," he replied back.
"Yeah, I get what you're sayin', man. Same here."
For being the "most popular guy in school"- or at least, the most popular according to Miranda- Ethan didn't seem to be doing much. Gordo wasn't sure what exactly to say to him next. He managed to think of "So, what are you going to be doing this summer? Going anywhere cool?"
"Naa," he answered shaking his head 'no,' "I'm stuck here all summer. My dad's gone on business a lot, so I promised him that I'd look after my step mom."
For some reason this sort of impressed Gordo. It was the first thing that he had ever seen out of Ethan that resembled loyalty of any kind, Somehow he had never pictured Ethan as the type to look out for his family like that. Gordo replied back to him, "Yeah, same here. I'll be here all summer too."
Gordo didn't get the entire sentence out of his mouth before it seemed like Ethan had been distracted. He was now staring at the screen of the computer on the table moving the mouse wildly and hitting it on the table. He was back to being the same old Ethan. Gordo looked over to him and said, "Something wrong?"
"Gordon, you're smart, right?"
Gordo wanted to say 'Well, compared to you, I'm a genius' but restrained himself and just said, "Yeah, I guess."
"Do you know how this thing works?"
"You mean the computer?"
"Yeah, that's it."
Ethan had been coming to the Digital Bean for this long and never knew how to use a computer? "Well what do you want to know?" Gordo was trying to help, but wasn't exactly sure what kind of help needed. Maybe mental help.
"How do you get stuff on it?"
Stuff? Yep, this was defiantly the same old Ethan. "You mean web sites?"
"Yeah. Yeah that's it."
"Well, did you type in the URL?"
"Gordon, I'm not an idiot. You don't have to spell things out for me."
Gordo stopped himself again from saying something less than kind to Ethan and managed to get out "No, URL is an acronym for Universal Research Locator. It's what you type into the address bar in order to reach the site you want to go to." Hopefully, this wouldn't be too many big words for Ethan to understand.
"Ohh..." At last it sounded like Ethan had understood what Gordo had said. He turned to the computer and started, appeared to strart thinking very hard about what he was about to type. It seemed like he was thinking very hard. After a while, he turned to Gordo and said "I don't think I know any URLs."
That figures. "Did you try a search?"
"Naaa. How do you do that?"
"You type in what you're looking for in there and then click the 'search' button."
Ethan managed to do that and was thrilled when it worked. "All right!" he exclaimed. Gordo thought was a little strange that Ethan was so excited that he found a few websites, but since only minutes before he thought you get to sites by pounding the mouse on the table, this must have been a big deal for him.
Gordo looked over to see what Ethan was searching. It was golf. "Golf?" he asked, attempting to make some sort of small talk.
"Yeah," Ethan answered back. It seemed like Ethan had become a zombie to the glowing light of the computer screen.
"Do you play?" Gordo attempted more small talk.
"Oh, yeah. Do you?"
"Can't say that I ever have."
"Gordon, you've got to try it sometimes. You'd love it."
Gordo couldn't picture himself golfing - ever, but he answered "Well, maybe someday. I'd have to learn to play first"
"Dude, it's easy." Ethan replied back to him, followed by explaining all the rules of the game. Again, Gordo was surprised by Ethan. Some of the rules of the game were pretty complicated. Maybe Ethan's not as dumb as Gordo though.
Ethan continued searching through golf websites until he finally cried out, "Hey, cool. There's going to be a golf tournament just, like, an hour away from here next week. That would be killer." Ethan went on talking for another couple of hours about golf, or though it seemed to Gordo. Finally, Gordo had had about as much as he could take.
"Well, it looks like I've got to go. Lots to do, you know." Gordo really couldn't think of anything he had to do, but anything seemed better than staying there and listening to Ethan babble any more.
"Cool, Later, Gordon."
"Sure," Gordo agreed, "latter."