Underwater (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 10 - Capitola

I felt the familiar sea breeze blow against my face. It brought a needed contrast to the heat beating down from the twelve-o'clock sun. I regretted wearing a long-sleeved shirt the minute I stepped out of the bus. Why didn't I check the weather?

I threw on a pair of sunglasses, wishing it would've been just a little more foggy than it was. The light bounced brightly off the sand and buildings, making everything a bit too bright for my liking.

God, I'm turning into a grump.

I waited for Teo to hop off while I surveyed the surroundings. We'd been dropped off next to a small vacated parking lot which had just been sold for millions to a resort chain. I didn't want to think of what the beach would look like once they started building that. It was perfect as it was.

The Esplanade along the beach contained many art galleries, and only local restaurants and shops, which would be flooded with tourists on sunny days. Down the beach there was the wharf with a few more shops, but it was mostly occupied by fishermen. The wharf there was much smaller than the one at Cowells, the one I wouldn't mind forgetting.

The beach was small, about a third of a mile long, and had a small lagoon splitting it in half. The lagoon was a product of the Soquel Creek, which traveled across the county from the ocean all the way through the mountains.

Capitola as a whole was charming. During the spring and summer nights the city would host weekly movie nights on the beach, setting up a massive inflatable projector screen. People would order from the Pizza My Heart on the Esplanade and bring their food to eat on the sand, where they'd watch the movies with their friends. Some lucky summer nights the beach would also host live music at twilight, where local musicians could get easily discovered.

Because the beach was so small, there were only fifteen kids from my school that'd been assigned to clean it. Teo had finally gotten off the bus and we were being given trash bags and gloves. I saw a bus round the corner with Harbor High School printed on the side, followed by one reading Aptos High School. They parked behind ours and kids quickly started pouring out.

There were around twenty students from Harbor and ten from Aptos. My mood picked up as I realized we'd probably finish early as I'd never seen more than a stray napkin or cigarette butt on the Capitola beach, and I'd probably have more free time to spend with Kieran.

And Teo, I thought to myself quickly.

I saw Kieran come out towards the end of the bus, along with Andre, Sienna and Oscar. I deflated slightly at the thought of having to interact with Oscar again, but I felt myself smile as Kieran searched the small crowd of people and brushed the discomfort away. His eyes found Teo and me, so I gave him a quick wave and he walked over with a grin.

"Well, well if it isn't a good old fashioned social mixer." He said jokingly, looking around us. "At least they were able to disguise it at community service"

I felt myself laugh as I looked around us. There were a lot of kids standing awkwardly in small groups away from others they weren't familiar with, though a few kids started interacting with each other as they recognized familiar faces from old schools and outside activities.

"Nice to see you Oli," Sienna said, before coming forward to give me a hug. I felt my face redden at the action, but luckily she didn't make it last too long before pulling away.

"You too," I said, offering her a quick smile before one of the county volunteers found her way to us. She handed us each a few trash bags and gloves before continuing through the crowd.

I recognized some faces from the party and by the looks of it they seemed to recognize me too. I self-consciously crossed my arms close to my chest as I realized how many people were watching Kieran and I, turning back quickly to whisper to their groups when they saw that I'd noticed them.