Not Ever, Until Now

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

“Careful with the sharks” Liam said winking at me.

I pushed him with my shoulder “Thanks for the warning.” I said sarcastically. He had just finished competing and you could practically feel his ego getting bigger by the second because he had won first place in his category. What a shocker. Not.

“I’m serious though. Be careful.” He said in a serious tone. I glared at him. He laughed holding his palms up. “Just saying.” He added as an afterthought.

Just then the bell that signaled all surfers should be getting in the water rang. “Better get going.” I said pointing at the ocean with my thumb.

“Good luck!” He said already heading over to the judges table. Ryan and Drew were already there.

I turned around and ran to the water. I put my surfboard in the water and laid on top of it. The water was a little bit on the cold side but I did not mind one bit. It felt nice against my skin after spending a while on the beach. I paddled over to where all the surfers in my category where. Looking around I saw Jess wearing the orange rash guard, Summer wearing the white rash guard and Alice wearing the green rash guard. There were other girls I didn’t know wearing yellow, pink, red and black rash guards. I was wearing the blue rash guard.

The horn that signaled we were free to catch waves blew and immediately every single girl sat up straight on their surfboards and looked at the horizon. Not even ten seconds later and huge wave started forming and everyone laid back down. When the wave was close enough we all started paddling furiously. The first one to stand up was the girl in the yellow rash guard, but unfortunately for her, she lost her balance and fell.

“The yellow rash guard falls!” I heard the announcer say. Looking over my shoulder I saw another wave coming. Once again we all started paddling, but this time I was the first one to stand up.

“The blue rash guard rides the wave.” I heard the announcer say through his microphone and the sound of people cheering got carried by the wind. I smiled to myself and felt a wave (no pun intended) of gratitude surge through me because of all the support I was getting. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a brown shadow floating near by my surfboard.

Immediately I thought of Liam’s warning ‘Careful with the sharks’ he had said. But the thing’s shape was not even remotely close to a shark’s figure. When I realized what it was it was too late. I was already soaring through the sky. The next thing I know, I was hitting the water so hard the air got knocked out of me.

------------------------ 3 hours earlier----------------------------------

The following four days passed in a blur, and before I knew it, my friends knew it, my parents knew it, every single person knew it actually, Saturday had come. That morning I woke up at 6:30 in the morning so I could get ready.

‘Bad idea going to the celebration yesterday’ I thought to myself as I dared a glance at the clock and realized I had been sleeping for a little over 4 hours. Curse that damn alarm clock. Curse me for having the great idea to set it up to ring at 6:30. Curse the school for not letting me sleep.

Last night my school had thrown a party for all the students to celebrate the end of an “exquisite learning experience for all the brilliant individuals in this privileged learning institute”.  The principal’s words, not mine. Personally I thought the school year was never going to end, and when it did I was counting down the hours to go to the party –since it was mandatory- get the hell out, and start enjoying summer already.

All my classmates, including myself, thought the party was going to be boring. Not non-alcoholic-drinks-and-no-fun-music-boring, but knowing the snobs who owned the school we imagined it would turn out a tad bit like non-alcoholic-drinks-no-fun-music-no-dancing-sitting-drinking-tea-and-eating-crackers-boring. So it was safe to say it came as a huge shocker when we all saw the multiple lights shining on the dance floor, a DJ standing on the corner of the stage and bowls filled with every single brand of junk food that was ever invented.