The Ocean Remembers | JJ Maybank

C H A P T E R 5

THE LIGHTER

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐒 had been calling me all night long, and as soon as Pope asked me to join them at the beach, I jumped on the occasion.

"Hey guys," I greeted, my board under my arm.

"Hey Sam," John B welcomed me, waxing his board. I waved at all of them, except for JJ who didn't even glance at me, and I didn't really care. "Ready to surf?"

"Let's hit those waves Pogue style," Pope spoke as he ran to the waves and I followed him with my own board.

I surfed along with Pope, following him in the rollers, making my best not to fall in front of everyone, which would have been pretty embarrassing I admit. It felt good to surf with him, because it almost felt like we were connected, and shared a bound nothing would ever break.

After an hour of intense surf, I walked back to the sand, exhausted and sat next to Kiara on her board. "Better here than at the Cameron's right?" I joked and she nodded.

"Ehh, for once it was not so bad, I wasn't alone following my dad, with him begging me to make friends. He thinks you're a Kook, so it makes everything easier," Kiara explained and JJ cleared his throat.

"Well, she is," the blonde boy said.

"Oh you didn't loose your tongue? you had been too quiet for the last hour for it to last," I complained.

He raised his middle finger at me and I focused on the two boys still surfing. They were so good at this, it almost looked like a ballet when they were in sync and I could have stared at this for hours.

"Hey be careful you got drool in the corner of your mouth," JJ joked, referring to how I was looking at the two boys, I assumed.

"Jealous I don't look at you the same way?" I replied and he raised his middle finger at me again for only answer.

John B and Pope walked back to us and we all grabbed a beer. "Salute," Pope said and we all repeated it.

"How long as it been since you surf?" John B asked me.

"I've surfed for as long as I can remember, I think I was four, or something when I first started. My mother was surfing too when she was younger so she wanted me to try"

"Really? that's so cool!" Pope said excitedly.

"We started it when we were kids too, but not so young," Kiara explained. "the boys could surf more than I could since their parents didn't mind, but my parents, they used to yell at me every time I was touching my board"

We all laughed at her comment and I took a sip of my beer, my wet strands falling over my shoulders. "Why?" I asked.

"Cause it's a Pogue thing," JJ explained.

"Oh, right. A Pogue thing," I laughed as I said it "Why are you even called Pogues?"

"It's a type of fish, the lowest member of the food chain. You know, we use those fish to help catch others and stuff," John B explained.