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CHAPTER THIRTEEN ( to going full kook )
IT WAS SAFE TO SAY THAT SURFING WAS AURORA'S FIRST LOVE, EVEN BEFORE POETRY. The way the salty ocean embraces you, the serenity among the rush of the ride. If you caught a wave at just the right time, there'd be a moment before you fell once again that made you feel nothing short of invincible; a split second in time where everything was absolutely perfect. Perfect. Those were the moments in which she wished she could live forever.
And the girl had John B Routledge and JJ Maybank to thank for her love of the sport.
The three had all met at the exact same time— first day of the third grade— and it had been the young John B who had instigated a friendship amongst them. Aurora hadn't understood then why he had chosen them specifically to be his buddies— they were undoubtedly the worst candidates of all the third graders in Kildare County. He had picked JJ Maybank; the dangerously reckless blond with the horrible home life, and Aurora Jennings; the standoffish lone wolf who, at the time, barely knew what it meant to be a friend.
But now, years down the road, she understood John B had chosen them because he was drawn to the same inner chaos the two possessed that he had always detected within himself. He had been wise to choose them, because the three ended up making one hell of a friend group,which would later go on to add two more beloved members and call themselves the Pogues. But chaos or no chaos, the Routledge boy had criteria they had been expected to live up to. He had one rule that was absolutely mandatory.
Any friend of his must know how to surf.
JJ was way ahead of him, having practically come out of the womb riding a surfboard. It was Aurora who had fallen short, but lucky for her, she had two little boys who were more than willing to serve as her mentors. Today, as she bobbed along the briny ripples in the great big ocean, nearly all grown up, she smiled lightly at the distant memory.
She watched the water roll easily over the top of her beloved board and her tan thighs straddling it, sun beating down on her ocean-kissed back; sopping wet hair tied into tight dutch braids lying across her freckled shoulders
After what felt like a never-ending nannying shift, Aurora had hastily sold the stolen jewelry, gaining just the amount of cash she was in need of; having made sure to take only what was necessary from the Roberts' household. After that she had scurried over to the Kildare County Sheriff's Station and paid the price for having accidentally broken Shoupe's windshield; one weight being lifted off her chest and replaced by another— being a thief.
She had paid a couple of John B's bills, and then taken off for the break where she found none other than the Chateau's ruler and the curly-headed turtle lover already far at sea. Keeping her distance from the two, she patiently awaited the next rideable wave; the pair looking like they were in the thick of an unpleasant conversation she wanted no part of.
