Surfing Days

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Raymond Elliot

"Raymond Elliot!" A voice growls and I turn to my football coach marching towards me in the middle of the maths class.

"Uh, coach? Sorry, Raymond here was revising, as were everyone else." My maths teacher says but coach ignores him.

"You." Coach points at me. "My office, now." I stand up, putting my stuff in my bag. I glance over at Summer, and she's looking at me, eyes wide. I give her a small smile and head out of the classroom. I follow coach down some hallways until we reach his office. Coach sits on his chair, and leans back. "Sit." He says simply and I sit, wondering what this is all about. I sit patiently, waiting for him to say something, but he doesn't.

"Uh.... You wanted to talk to me?" I say uncertainly.

"Damn right I want to talk to you, Elliot." Coach growls. "Do you know why I called you here today?"

"Um....." I frown. "No."

"No? Are you serious?"

"Yes." I say.

"Well, let me freshen your memory a bit." Coach says, putting his arms on his desk. "Did I or did I not tell you to be at practise, for the big game this weekend?" Coach says and my mouth drops open.

"I..... I....."

"If that doesn't help, did I or did I not tell you to be there, and to cancel whatever plans you had?"

"Coach, I....."

"What am I going to do with you, Elliot?" Coach sighs.

"Sorry, coach."

"What happened to you, Elliot? You never used to skip practises."

"I....." I trail off. Well, what happened to me when I made a huge mistake and Summer broke up with me, and I'm trying to warm up to her. "Sorry, coach. I'll make sure this was only a one-time thing."

"It better be, Elliot," Coach sighs. "You're one of our best players, and if you miss practises, well, that's bad, and it could potentially bring the whole team down."

"Sorry, coach. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Good." Coach sighs. "You may go to class now, and send Mrs Smith my apologies."

"Okay. Thanks, coach." I say and walk out of his office.

***

"Hey, Summer." I say as I walk past her in town.

"Hey." She gives me a small smile. I know it's only a little greeting, but we're making progress, she didn't even acknowledge me before. So that means something, right?

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just waiting for Riley."

"What's she doing?" I ask.

"She's... I think she's seeing her boyfriend."

"Oh."

"Yeah." She says. "So what are you doing?"

"I'm going to take my sister her wallet."

"Did she forget it?"

"Yeah." I sigh. "She's going on a date straight after work and she couldn't be bothered to just come home to pick up her wallet."

"Well it's good to see you caring so much about your sister, Ray." Summer laughs. I roll my eyes.

"Anyway, I better go." I say.

"See you." She says and I walk a few steps, and then I stop and turn around.

"Hey, do you want to hang out at the beach again tomorrow?"