The Crew: A New Beginning

Chapter 2

Back down the Gold Coast, it was a Thursday afternoon , the sun was shining and the water glistened as I, Ella Watson, paddled out on my surfboard. The water was clear, cool and refreshing against my skin and the salt settling on my board shone like crystals in the afternoon sun, I took a deep breath taking in the calm atmosphere and waited for a wave to form off the coastline. It had been 2 years since everything had happened. 2 years since Billy and his brother had been sent to jail; 2 years since the love of my life was taken from me; 2 years since my best friend decided she was going to move back to her parents in New South Wales leaving me to eventually sell the apartment and move back in with my own parents. I had taken up surfing to distract myself from my thoughts, so after every shift at work, or even beforehand I'd get some surfing in. Sighing, the thought of work made me wince. Since the studio closed down after the Hollisters left town, I had to look for a new job. It wasn't that easy, but a friend of my mother's had finally put in a good word for me at a local swim school and so that was how I ended up as a teacher for little kids. I wasn't that great in swimming myself. Kind of hated it actually, but being there was a distraction, till one morning, which had jerked me back into memory lane. Seeing Josh's other ex girlfriend Ava that morning signing her kid Boston up for lessons really got to me. Even though Boston was now 4 years old, you could tell he was Josh's son. It had made me teary, but I had managed to get through my shift and now here we were. I looked up as a barrel came through, pushing myself up to standing position on my board, I let the wave carry me right to shore. Blinking, I noticed someone tall watching me in the distance. A male figure. I froze, almost losing balance on my board. Could it be? No it couldn't. My heart sank as I swam closer, noticing it was just some random local walking along the beach. That moment I could feel tiredness washing over me, my arms, legs, back muscles starting to ache. I decided to get out of the water and dry myself off, dreading the ride home. As I was packing my stuff into my car, I heard someone behind me clear their voice and I turned around to see that the stranger that I had seen walking along the beach before was standing behind me, holding out a pair of sunglasses. "Sorry to bother you, but I think you dropped this," the guy spoke, his voice sounding smooth and deep. I blinked in surprise. The guy was tall, lanky but you could tell that he went to the gym; chocolate brown hair, tanned skin and bronze eyes. I gulped, I hadn't seen this guy in town before, maybe he was a newbie or some tourist passing through. "Uhh thanks," I said, snapping out of my awkwardness and retrieved my sunglasses from his hands. The guy smiled a winning smile and tipped his cap which he had back to front on his head. "No worries." He winked and turned to head back to where he came from. I stood for a minute before I called out. "Hey! What's your name?" The guy looked back at me and with a hang ten sign he replied, "My name is Jake. What's yours?" I smiled shyly "Ella, it's Ella," I replied. Jake grinned a spectacular smile that instantly gave me butterflies in my stomach. "Well then, nice to meet you, Miss Ella, I'm sure we'll see a lot more of each other around." And with that last statement he left. I watched the mysterious guy head back down the beach and wondered where he was heading to as I got into my car and drove home.