The Ocean Remembers | JJ Maybank

C H A P T E R 2

SURF LIKE A POGUE

𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 started pretty well, actually. As I was having breakfast with my mother in our living-room, I could feel the sun rays hitting my skin through the french windows.

"Do we have plans for today?" I asked and she smiled proudly, drinking a sip of her coffee.

"I got my first day at work," I clapped in my hands excitedly as she finished talking. It was more than just good news, it was the proof she was finally going to take care of her responsibilities.

"Really? That's amazing, mom I'm so proud of you! I can't b-"

Someone knocked on the door and we both raised our eyebrows together in a frown. "I'll go open it," I reassured.

I got up and walked to the entrance, swinging open the front door, revealing the unexpected guest. "Hey we-"

The man stopped talking as he recognised me, and I recognised him too. "Sam?" he asked and I frowned eyebrows, holding on to the door.

It had to be a nightmare. At first I thought it was a joke, or a dream, but even though it looked unreal, part of me knew it wasn't, and it scared me. My teeth were clenched, so much it almost hurt my jaw, and I released the tension trying not to look as tense as I was. "Ward," I spoke and he smiled.

"Samarah, sweetie! It's such a good surprise!" he pulled me in a warm hug as I faked a smile and hugged back.

How was it possible? what was he doing here? I pulled away from Ward's hug and walked to the living-room. "Mom! Someone's here for you!" I shouted loud enough.

She joined me fast enough, her mouth full, and she smiled wildly when she saw who was in the entrance. She swallowed the scrambled eggs she had in her mouth and greeted the greying-haired man warmly. "Ward!"

She hugged him and he felt the need to explain his presence. "Well, I was welcoming the new members of the Kook community, as I am it's ambassador, and turned out it was you"

"Oh I can't believe it!" she replied.

This outburst of joy and excitement had me very anxious. I really wanted to be everywhere but here, as all the memories kept running in my mind.

"Shit!" I interrupted their conversation. "My friends asked me to join them at 11:30," I faked panicking and ran to put my shoes on.

"Wh-where? why didn't you tell me about it?" my mom asked me and I shrugged.

"I forgot," I kissed her cheek and ran away from my new house. "Bye! it was nice seeing you again Ward," I lied.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Pope, him, didn't lie. The waves here, were more than amazing, they were perfect. Surfing got me forgetting about what had happened earlier and I could focus on how fun the summer was about to be.

I kept surfing, for so long I was sure my legs would hurt on the next day, but it didn't really matter. I heard a loud rumble and looked behind me. The sky a little bit further away was very dark, a storm was coming.

I liked to surf under the storm, because it made me feel kind of vulnerable. I liked to think the waves weren't something I was fighting against, but fighting with, and during storms the battle was even better.

I made my way to the sand and I heard a whoop followed by clapping hands. "That was fire!" Kiara ran to me as I put my board on the sand and smiled at her.

"Well the waves are fire"

"I think it depends on the surfer," she winked at me as we both sat down on my wet board.

I looked at her, God, she was beautiful. Her hair, her skin, her face, everything about her smelt like salty water, coconut oil, so many summer scents more, and it was amazing.

"Hey I'm sorry about yesterday, it's just- I had been there for a few hours only, and I didn't want to argue," I apologised and she shook her head like it was all good.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry. JJ was an ass, and it embarrassed all of us. Pope was sure you'd never accept to hang out with us again, but I told him he was wrong, right?," she voiced gently.

I laughed. "Yeah, I mean, if JJ accepts to have a stupid Kook in the group," I referred to the words he had used the day before.

"Look, I don't care about JJ. I'm a Kook myself, alright? I live on Figure Eight with my parents in a Kook ass-house, I even went to their shitty Kook university for a year. And JJ doesn't like me any less," she explained.

"Wait you live on Figure Eight?" I asked her and she nodded. "Really? that's so fucking cool! what if we're neighbours?"

"It might be an island, it's very big," she laughed, responding to my outburst of enthusiasm.

She looked down and touched my surfboard with her fingers. "I- I just miss having a girl around, you know? I used to have a friend that was a girl, but, turned out she betrayed me so, it's only the boys and I now," she explained.

"Oh I see"

"Sometimes I feel excluded, since I can't relate or understand their boys things, you know?" she told me and I completely understood her.

I nodded. "Well, we could exclude them from our girls things, if you want"

She laughed and joined her hands as if she was praying. "I've been waiting for this moment all my life," she giggled.

"I can imagine," I spoke, looking at the waves and the dark sky that was now above us.

"And I-" she got up and held out her hands to help me getting up too. "-had never seen someone surf this good before. Maybe JJ, actually, JJ's very good. But that's it. And Kooks don't surf, so you can't be a real Kook if you surf like a Pogue"

"Well, that's nice, thanks"

It started to rain on us as we walked along the street and the thunder groaned even louder, scaring us. I personally didn't fear it, but the idea of getting electrocuted didn't look nice either. "I should go home," I said.

"Did you drive here?" she almost yelled, so I could hear her above the loud noises the rain was causing as it was crashing down.

"No, I walked," I replied.

"Well, I'll take you to the chateau, I'm not letting you walk under the storm," she stated and I lifted my board above our heads so we could both hold it and hide from the rain underneath. We were already soaking but at least we wouldn't be more.

"To the what?" I asked.

"John B's house, it's how we call it," she spoke as we finally arrived to her car, attached my board on top of it and got in. We sighed in relief as we finally made it to a dry place.

"Okay go for the chateau, but I can't come back home too late tonight, or my mom's gonna kill me," I spoke and she nodded.

"Of course, but for now the chateau is closer and it's safer just to wait there until it cools down"

She started to drive under the rain as I put on my clothes and she grabbed a sweatshirt that I could tell, had been in her car for a while, by the amount of sand on it. She shook it so it would be cleaner and gave it to me. "Here, you can take your bikini top off so you don't catch cold and put this on instead"

I thanked her, grabbed the sweatshirt, put it on, and I could tell it wasn't hers. I apparently winced so Kiara laughed obnoxiously, her fingers tightly wrapped around the steering wheel, sometimes tapping a soft rhythm on it.

"Yeah, it's JJ's, he forgot it in here a long time ago, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind having a pretty girl borrowing it"

I winked at her and took my wet top off so it wouldn't be wet. His sweatshirt looked weird on me and I really hoped JJ wouldn't be at the chateau, because he'd probably make a scene again, and me wearing his sweatshirt wouldn't make anything easier.

Looking through the window, as we drove through Figure Eight and then along the Cut, I couldn't stop smiling. I was excited to learn more about the Pogue life and the people I had just met.