Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 1 - Summer's Arrival

Your brother is waiting on the beach as you paddle in, his face unreadable.

You wonder if he saw that last wave, if he was impressed, but as you run through the shallows you watch as his face turns hard as ice.

He crosses his arms, his board at his feet as he watches you impatiently. "You said you'd be finished ages ago. I've got a competition in an hour."

"That's plenty of time." You reply, exasperatedly. "And you could have left me."

Marlon ignores you, expecting you to follow as he seems to strut across the beach. About a mile away, a competition is gearing up as you hear music and commentary blare from loudspeakers.

"Mum said I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on you." He snaps, heading up the dunes. You struggle to keep up with your board weighing you down as he hurries ahead.

"Marlon! Wait!" You call after him, your voice getting carried away in the wind.

"This is serious, Y/n. I have to prepare for my heat in like, half an hour." You barely hear his response, his head still facing straight ahead so his voice is lost in the wrong direction.

"So what do you expect me to do?" You ask, dreading the next couple of hours of waiting around for your brother.

"I don't know, go find Bodhi or Poppy or something." he mutters.

You sigh. Of course you don't mind hanging out with the girls, you just wish you could just go home and change first, or maybe stay here and catch a few more waves, but everything's always about Marlon.

________________

As you take a seat on the beach, ready to watch your brother's heat, you notice Poppy with her headphones on, preparing for her surf. You know better than to disturb her, but right now you really wish you could talk to her.

"Hey Y/n." Bodhi walks over, taking a seat on the sand. "Are you surfing today?"

"No." You sigh. "Manu says I'm not ready."

"What? Of course you are, you just need comp practice. And the only way you're gonna get that is if you do some comps." She jumps up with a mischievous smile and drags you up with her. With a firm grip on your wrist, she begins pulling you across the sand.

"What? Bodhi what are you-" you begin, but stop when you realise where she's going. She drags you halfway across the beach as you stumble towards the officials' tent.

"Can I enter a late entry for the girls' heats please?" She asks the judges, who share a confused glance.

One of the officials clears his throat. "The girls heats are in twenty minutes, it would be-"

"That's plenty of time, thanks!" she says as the judges share a glance before pushing forward a form for you to sign, which you do reluctantly.

As soon as the pen leaves the paper Bodhi is dragging you towards the van and grabbing all sorts of supplies for you: a towel, fresh wax for your board - you're already wearing your wetsuit pulled down to your waist after your surf this morning.

"Bodhi, I'm not allowed." You whisper harshly.

"If you go out there and show Manu you're comp ready then he'll have no problem with it." she says casually, shrugging her shoulders.

"Um, that's a lot of pressure. If I don't win, Manu will have even more reason not to let me compete anymore." You say, but Bodhi completely ignores you.

"I know you were out surfing before this, so you're already warmed up." She smiles. "Get your stuff on and sort your board out, I'm gonna try and catch some of Ari's heat." Your eyes widen.

"Wait, Ari's surfing?" You say in surprise. You don't know if you came across as worried as you felt, but Bodhi didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah. His parents said he could do one competition. Anyway, I'll see you later Y/n. Good luck!" She calls, throwing you the keys to the van so you can lock up.

"See you." You reply, pulling up your wetsuit and throwing down your board flat on the sand so you can wax it. As much as you appreciate Bodhi's gesture, how she got you into the heat, but you know you're not ready. And Manu knows it too.

As for Ari surfing today, well, you feel like you haven't seen him in forever, save for the polite smiles and waves you've been sending him recently when you've seen him across the road or in the supermarket. It's going to be weird if he's back surfing. Not in a bad way, just...weird.

As you get ready, you peer over the edge of the sand dune, watching the four boys in the water. The one in yellow is definitely Ari - he always used to wear that colour. You watch for a little while longer, before locking up the van and placing the key under the wheel caps.

"What are you doing?" A voice asks, and your head snaps up, nearly hitting the roof racks. The girl who spoke looks about your age, blue streaks in her hair that were covered with a cap at the top, and her voice laced with an American accent.

"I was just locking up the van," you say, in a tone which you hope conveys the sentence 'is it any of your business?' "Who are you?"

"That's not your van. I saw the girls who own it earlier." She replies, her arms crossed determinedly. You could almost laugh.

"Never said it was my van." You reply shortly.

"Well then I suggest you get lost instead of trying to break in." She snaps back, looking satisfied with herself.

"Excuse me?" You laugh. This girl must have thought you were taking the key from the wheel cap instead of placing it there. She should learn to keep her mouth shut, you think.

"I mean it." She replies. "I could go and find the owner of this van right now-"

"So who exactly owns this van?" you ask, and watch the girl's face drop.

"Err..." she stutters. "I don't remember their names, but..."

"The girls you saw here earlier are called Poppy and Bodhi," you say, watching the other girl sigh and roll her eyes as she realised you knew the girls. "And this van belongs to our surf club: Shorehaven Boardriders?" you move aside to reveal the lettering on the side of the van.

"Thanks," the girl replies sarcastically. "That's the second time I've made a fool of myself today."

"Then don't be so overconfident." You reply involuntarily, but then realise how rude that was. You turn around to apologise but she gets in there first.

"Hey, are you some dude Marlon's sister? I can tell from the accent." her whole demeanour changes, her face turning harder, colder, obviously not impressed with your comment.

"Yeah, why?" you reply.

"Nothing, just your friend Poppy was telling me about him. Said to keep away from him if I wanted to get on Ari's good side or something."

"How do you know Ari?" You ask, but she ignores you.

"My guess is that Ari doesn't like you much either. So I'll be sure to stay away." She says coldly, turning on her heel.

Her words cut like a knife. It was true that Marlon and Ari hadn't been getting on since the accident, but the thought that you and Ari were no longer friends because of it...

You push the thought to the back of your mind. You know better than to listen to this random girl, although a huge part of you just wants to run after her and sort things out. You hate unresolved arguments.

Ari's heat is just finishing, and you're slightly disappointed you didn't get to see him surf much, but now Marlon is paddling into the water. You try to root for him, but you find that it's hard after what he said earlier. You just keep thinking of Ari.

After Marlon's heat, yours is next. Bodhi and Poppy are in the same one, but you're in a group with girls from Anchor Cove, including Sheridon, who smirks at you as you all line up on the beach. You're glad you don't have to go against your friends, but the other girls in the group have much higher state rankings than you.

Even without turning around, you know that both Marlon and Manu's eyes are burning holes in your back. You have to get through.