Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 9 - The Surf

You try and keep up with Marlon's pace along the coast path as he strides ahead, your board and backpack weighing you down.

"Mars!" You call. "Marlon!" You say more aggressively, running up next to him. 

"Mum'll kill me if we don't get back soon." he says bluntly, staring straight ahead. "She said that if we spend the next couple of days grounded then she'll still take us to Jackson Bay."

You suddenly stop in your tracks as you look down the cliff, seeing Ari on the beach, waiting. For you. 

Marlon walks ahead, not noticing that you've stopped, mumbling something to himself in Portuguese. 

With no hesitation, you dart down the steps and out of view in case Marlon turns around. Taking two steps at a time, you reach the beach in no time, feeling the sand beneath your toes as you run towards Ari, dropping your board next to him.

"Hey!" you breathe, struggling to catch your breath from your sprint down the stairs away from Marlon. You look up at the coast path, hoping Marlon is too far down the trail to be able to see you now.

Ari looks at you strangely, raising one eyebrow, and you realise he's looking at your current outfit: you're still wearing Summer's clothes.

"Oh, yeah, sorry I haven't had time to get changed," you ramble, "and I was just at Poppy's, and then the whole Summer thing happened, and Marlon..."

"No worries." he smiles. You suppose the word 'Marlon' explains everything. Or maybe he just doesn't want to hear that name at all. "So you heard everything with Poppy and Summer then?"

"Yeah, it was...awkward." is all you can think to say.

"I probably should have told Summer about Poppy's mum."

"Probably. But then again, that conversation wouldn't have happened if they weren't arguing in the first place," you hesitate, "which may have been my fault. I told Poppy to go talk to Summer. She was getting annoyed at her teaching Honey, so..."

"Well, maybe if they'd waited even longer to have that conversation it would have been even worse when they eventually did." Ari offered, but you can't help still feeling a little guilty. "Anyway, I'm gonna go get in the waves. I'll see you out there." he says, attaching his leash to his ankle. You go round the corner and pull on your wetsuit, watching Ari catch his first wave. 

Finally, you get out into the waves too, catching one nearly straight away as the swell is picking up.  After riding the wave all the way into shore, you paddle back out, meeting Ari who's casually sat on his board. 

"Hey, are you going to Jackson Bay next week?" he asks, running his hands through the water at his sides.

"If Manu lets me, then I suppose so."

"I don't know why Manu's so opposed to you surfing in comps." Ari says, shaking his head slightly.

"Neither do I. Guess he doesn't think I'm good enough." you pause. "I love seeing Poppy win, obviously, but sometimes I wish I could just beat her in one comp so Manu would actually rate me." 

"Maybe Jackson Bay will be that comp." Ari offers, but you wonder if Manu will even let you surf there yet again.

You see a wave approaching, and begin paddling, but Ari calls out to you. "Y/n, don't take it! You're too close to the reef!" 

You ignore him; the wave is too good to miss. You'll just go left instead of right, away from the reef, you think. You catch the wave, the power of it pulling you down which allows you to whip back up and go along the top. But you suddenly realise the wave is dragging you right, towards the reef. You can hear Ari's panicked voice above the crash of the wave as it breaks and you dive straight of your board into the white water. 

You're only held under for a few seconds before your head emerges through the surface. 

"What the hell were you thinking?" Ari paddles over.

"What? It was a good wave." you shrug. 

"If you'd hit the reef, you could've..." he trails off, but you know what he was about to say. What happened last year to Ari could've happened to you. But it was too good a wave to miss. 

"I'm sorry, Ari." you reply sheepishly. You hate being in his bad books, but all he does is sigh and muster a smile. 

"It's okay. Just if you're gonna pull a kook move like that at least do it when there's other people around." 

You find your bearings, glancing around the beach, and your eyes catch on something. "Looks like there is someone else here." you mutter.

You look up at the coast path to see a figure running along towards the steps. Brown hair with a red unbuttoned shirt. "Oh shoot." you say, rolling your eyes. So much for a proper surf - Marlon'll take you straight home. He'd never let anything jeopardise his chances to compete at Jackson Bay - especially not breaking a simple grounding rule. "What's it like to have a nice sibling like Honey?"

Ari looks confused for a second, then follows your gaze to Marlon who's now running down the steps to the beach. "What's it like to have a brother who's a prick?" 

You laugh, "It's...not great. Although it might actually be my fault that we're grounded for once." you admit, paddling into a wave to take you into shore, Ari following your lead. 

"HEY!" Marlon calls, throwing his hands up questioningly. "Pick up your board and let's go." he tells you sharply, barely even giving Ari a second glance. You struggle to untie your leg rope in a hurry, and Marlon's impatient, grabbing your arm roughly once you've finally undone it. 

"Hey!" you say as he drags you towards the steps, and you see Ari following. 

"I'm so fed up of you right now, Y/n. Jackson Bay is next week!" he shouts.

"Yeah, that's why i'm training!"

"It won't matter if you've trained if mum doesn't let us go at all." he says, shoving you up the steps.

"Oi!" Ari yells suddenly. "Stop being so rough. She just came for a surf with me it's not a big deal."

"Was I talking to you?" Marlon says sharply, him and Ari face to face now.