Sunkissed - H.S

Chapter 1

"Mom c'mon, we are gonna be late," rushed the 6-year-olf boy, taking Catarina's hand, making the woman stumble on her feet on the hot sand. "All the kids are gonna be way ahead of me in the lessons!"

"Hey, calm down, yeah? I'm not as young as you anymore, plus I'm the one carrying your bag," said Catarina. She didn't blame Cauã, her son, for his excitement. Today was the first week of summer which meant the first day of his surfing lessons.

While in a conference at her son's school, the P.E made sure Catarina knew how behind Cauã was in comparison to the other kids. Apparently, Cauã was more uncoordinated than expected, so it was highly suggested that he participated in some kind of sport.

At first, Catarina was a bit astounded by it. She knew he was a bit clumsy, of course he would be! It was in his DNA to be bad at sports, he had asthma and his own mother could barely kick a ball. But she didn't know this was affecting him negatively, she always thought he was more inclined to the arts, like her.

On the drive home, she and Cauã had a conversation and decided to try new things. Catarina suggested soccer, basketball, baseball, but he would deny everything, mumbling he was scared of the ball– No wonder he was her child.

So as they were passing by the beach, she realized they were in California. Why not try some water sports?

When she suggested surfing she could see the adorable toothless smile she was so fond of appearing on his face through the rearview mirror.

When they got home she immediately looked for Surf Schools near the area of Windansea Beach. It was the closest beach, only a ten-minute drive from their place. The sea was not rough there, so Catarina wouldn't feel so scared of having Cauã swimming and surfing there.

After some time researching on Google, Catarina found the perfect "school." The lessons were held from 2 pm to 4 pm every Saturday and Sunday, and the best part was that you didn't need to buy a surfboard, they would lend one for each kid during the teaching.

Catarina's wallet cried reading that. Raising a kid with only a small studio where she would teach art wasn't exactly easy, but she always managed

The next thing they needed was a surf suit, Cauã wanted it to be yellow. So they both went shopping, and couldn't be happier to find one in a swim shop.

And that's how Catarina ended up getting dragged through the sand by her own child.

They were a bit late, Catarina's art studio wasn't supposed to be open Saturday, but one of her students wanted to practice on their sculpture, so she couldn't say no. Catarina ended up closing the school 2 hours later, which made her and Cauã late by 15 minutes. It wasn't even that much, but he was being a little dramatic.

When they spotted the small group of children and their parents at the next lifeguard tower, Cauã left her hand and went running to them.

That left Catarina alone, looking like a crazy woman at the beach, with her overalls stained with clay and her hair looking like a bird's nest due to the ridiculous wind.

"Cauã, don't run! You're gonna end up needing your inhaler," said Catarina, running to him. She could see the head of the group ahead turning to them. Oh great. Now she was a late and crazy parent.

Catarina always tried to be the best parent she could be. Ending up pregnant at 19 wasn't easy, but being judged by her age was the worst part. She knew Cauã wasn't missing out on anything by having a young mother, but Catarina still didn't like the look people gave when she told them she was 25 years old with a 6-year-old boy.

They got closer to the group of people, right when a man greeted them. "Oh hello, you must be–" said the man looking at a blue notebook, probably one of the teachers, she knew this class had two. "Catarina and Caun?"