Riding The Waves | A Bondi Rescue fanfiction

Chapter 13

A/n: This is really late and I apologise for that. It is also very slow-paced, despite me saying that the story would pick up speed. The events in this chapter were supposed to only take up a third of a chapter, but it will be too long and this chapter is already late. I promise that I will learn to be more concise. Hopefully.

The next day, Jasmine appeared very early to work. Her father had gone out drinking with some of his 'friends'. He had stumbled home very early in the morning, exceedingly intoxicated.

He was even more violent than usual when he was drunk, so Jasmine wasn't taking any chances. She dressed quickly and quietly and left through the back door, managing to escape without drawing attention to herself.

She walked to the beach and gazed along it, admiring the beauty of the sunrise. It was only 5:30, so no one else was on the beach yet. Jasmine did not have a key to the tower, so she simply sat on the stairs to wait for another lifeguard.

That was how Beardy found her 20 minutes later.

***

Beardy was not expecting to see anyone on the beach when he arrived at 5:50 AM. He certainly was not expecting to see a young girl sitting alone on the steps of the lifeguard tower. He was concerned about why she was just sitting there so quietly. She didn't appear injured or upset, but young girls rarely wandered alone around the beach just before 6 o'clock on the school holidays.

He approached her cautiously, unsure as to how she would react to his questions. But she greeted him calmly, with a smile.

"Hello, what are you doing down here so early?" he asked her softly.

"I was actually just waiting for another lifeguard to come along. I don't have a key to the tower yet so I couldn't go inside."

Beardy looked very confused, so she quickly clarified. "My name is Jasmine. I'm the new trainee lifeguard."

"Oh, of course. It's lovely to meet you, Jasmine. I'm Beardy."

Introductions complete, Beardy unlocked the tower and they went inside ready to set up the beach.

***

They were soon joined by some other lifeguards. Jasmine was pleased to find that she had been paired with Matt Dee for her second shift. She remembered how kind and helpful he had been to her on the day of the tryouts.

Up at the North End of the beach, Matt handed her the megaphone. "You should probably tell those men over there to move up to the flags. There is a group of younger boys in the rip too."

Jasmine hesitated. "I'm not sure if I should use the megaphone. I tried to yesterday and it didn't really work. No one listened to me," she confessed quietly.

"Oh well. Most of the younger lifeguards are ignored the first few times they try it. Have another go. You just have to have confidence and show authority," he encouraged.

Jasmine doubted it would work, but took the megaphone to please him. To her relief, the group of young boys that were playing at the edge of the rip actually listened to her. The older men ignored her completely, but it was a start.

Matt congratulated her. "See, you can get them to move. Next time, just try being a little bit louder," he advised.

They sat in the sun on top of the rhino and chatted for a few minutes. Matt was relieved to see Jasmine gaining confidence in interacting with the other lifeguards. He wanted to make sure that Jasmine knew they were all there for her. Hoppo had offered some cryptic comment to him that morning about Jasmine struggling to reach out sometimes. He hoped that she wouldn't pull away from him if she was struggling.