Clear as the ocean (Waves of clarity, book 1)

Chapter 12

A week before the contest her mother forced her to go out and get some new clothes for the occasion. Hayden didn't feel like shopping, but at least she was getting surfing clothes and not dresses. They had a store filled with the clothes she was searching for at the mall. She entered and started looking around. She was wearing a black shorts and a simple blue graphic shirt.

“Hi, may I help you with something?” a girl not that much older than herself asked in a cheery voice.

“Ehm, I'm looking for some new clothes for surfing. Like bikini bottoms, bikinis, and shirts” Hayden explained to her.

“Alright then, come with me. I think I know something that would look absolutely amazing on you” the cheery girl motioned for her to follow after.

Her hair was blonde, but shorter than her own and reached just above her shoulders. She was on the short side but in a way that seemed to fit her. Her big green eyes were probably her biggest characteristic.

“How about this one?”she held out a turquoise bikini with a matching shirt to ware on top.

“I like the shirt, but I can't ware the bikini. That thing would be gone after a simple wipe-out on the waves” cheery girl nodded at that, and held picked out another bikini-set instead

“Then you can ware the turquoise shirt with this black bikini underneath, and these black bottoms as well”.

Hayden checked out the set she was talking about, and liked the fact that the bikini seemed to be a lot more steady, also the black bottoms looked pretty good with the shirt.

“I'll take them” she said after having made up her mind.

“Wouldn't you like to try them on first?” cheery girl asked curiously, but Hayden shook her head.

“No, I know my size and I am ninety percent sure that they'll fit. Thank you for your help” Hayden smiled.

Cheery girl smiled back at her “You're welcome! Are you going to compete in the contest next week?” she asked her.

Hayden hesitated, but nodded at the girl “Yeah, I think so”.

Cheery smiled, and then she squealed. She actually squealed.

“What's your name” cheery asked her after finishing her little squeal.

“Hayden, and yours?” she asked back.

“I'm Cheryl” she answered with her signature smile.

“Wow” was the first thought that crossed Hayden's mind. Her name was Cheryl. Cherry’s name was Cheryl, which made her cheery Cheryl Hayden couldn't help but laugh at that.

The girl looked confused and was probably wondering what she was laughing at. Hayden muffled her laugh by putting her hand in front of her mouth. She managed to calm down and stop herself. Cheryl's face had gone red, the poor girl probably thought that she had said or done something wrong.

“I-I'm sorry, it's just-” Hayden stuttered while trying to get her voice back to normal.

“It's just that your name is Cheryl” she explained as if that was going to tell the girl what she was laughing about.

“What's wrong with Cheryl?” she asked, almost a bit insulted.

“What? Oh, nothing! You're name's great, it's just that in my mind I was calling you “cheery” because well... you were so cheery. So when you told me that your name was Cheryl, it was like “cheery Cheryl” and apparently I found that incredibly funny. I'm sorry”