Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 59 - Amends

When the heat starts, Marlon, Ari and Ahmed dash into the water as quickly as possible, and you watch as Ahmed races to catch the first wave which he does with ease, scoring an impressive 8.6. Ari starts to paddle, but Marlon suddenly cuts in front of him, blocking him from the wave which passes right beneath them. This continues for over fifteen minutes, and Marlon isn't even catching any waves - he's just stopping Ari. It's ridiculous and you can't believe he'd do this after what you said to him - Griff's really got in his head. A few minutes later, Ari finally manages to get around Marlon, paddling into a nice five-foot wave with speed and manages to pull off a few sharp turns, steadily climbing up the rankings.

Now that Ari has evaded Marlon, your brother decides to finally catch some waves and manages to get a few high scores, but Ari is just doing too well - he's in first place, and there's only a minute left so no one has any more time to catch any more waves.

As they paddle into shore, you hear the announcer declare Ari the winner, and Marlon in second. You feel a rush of delight as Ari runs onto the beach, surrounded by Manu and the other Shorehaven surfers, but you decide not to intrude on their celebration for now - you'll congratulate him later when it's just the two of you.

You head over to the refreshment stand and pick up a cup of lemonade while you wait for the celebration to die down. Marlon has a huge smile on his face as you watch him stroll up to his fellow Anchor Coves. Griff doesn't look as happy as him, however. He has his wetsuit down to his waist, and stomps over to your brother, glaring at Marlon's patronisingly smug smile.

"What's going on out there, Sousa?" he exclaims, but Marlon doesn't look in the least bit bothered. You're proud of him - for holding his own out there, not letting Griff get to him, but what happens next you're not too happy about.

"Yeah, I didn't feel like playing dirty." your brother shrugs.

"It's not playing dirty; it's called strategy." Griff replies, blocking Marlon from heading inside the tent.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you tell that to Poppy?" he shoots back in response. Wait, what was going on with Poppy? What did Marlon know that you didn't?

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Griff says, but seriously, no one buys that by the look on his face. Griff glares at Mars for a second, then scoffs, glancing around at his teammates. "I called it. Massive mistake taking on a Shorehaven kook."

You watch as Marlon's face goes cold, and before you know it, he's punching Griff hard in the face, his fist returning to him with a bloody mark from his enemy's nose.

Griff falls to the ground initially but obviously retaliates, tackling Marlon to the floor and pretty soon they're in a full-on fight, scrambling about on the sand until some of Griff's friends manage to separate them.

When Griff appears to have gotten his bearings again, dusting some of the sand off his face, he shoots daggers at your brother who staggers to his feet. "We're telling the judges." Griff spits. "You're done."

He struts towards the officials' tent with two of his friends and you cautiously make your way towards your brother.

"Hey, Mars. You okay?" You ask, eyeing the bruise forming around his eye, but he shakes off your hand on his shoulder, avoiding your gaze.

"Yeah. I'm fine." he responds.

"You did the right thing, letting Ari get those waves." You say, hoping to make him feel a little better about the situation, although it doesn't seem to help much. He finally looks you straight in the eyes.

"Don't have a team anymore though, do I?"

At that moment, your mum comes over, cupping her son's face and checking the damage. "Marlon, what happened?" She asks.

He sighs, and barely answers before your mum pulls him into a tight hug, whispering softly in portuguese in his ear.

You suddenly spot Bodhi in the crowd, stretching in preparation for her heat with her headphones on. Maybe this will be the perfect time to make amends, you think.

"Hey, Bodhi," you say anxiously, standing in front of her so she notices you over the music in her headphones.

"Oh, hey." she replies, emotionless.

"Good luck for your heat," you say with an awkward laugh, and she just gives you a curt nod. "Are you still in contention for the state team?" you ask - it feels odd to be making small talk with her, but otherwise the conversation would be going nowhere.

"Should be. But it's a tiny chance." she replies.

You nod, then pause, both of you staring out towards the sea as a new set of waves rolls in. "Bodhs, are you and me...okay?"

"I suppose so," she shrugs. "I was really mad about the whole party situation. But it wasn't your fault; it was Griff's and the Anchor Coves."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have left with Ari to find Summer. I'm really sorry." you say, and you are, genuinely. The past week has seemed like such a whirlwind, with Stairway, Bodhi's party, falling out with Bodhi and Poppy, and now apparently Summer. You just want everything to go back to the way it was.

"Can we just forget about all this then?" Bodhi smiles, finally removing her headphones with a smile.

"Yeah," you say, and you're about to keep talking to her, when you realise you haven't spoken to Ari yet, or congratulated him on his win. "Hey, Bodhs, can we come back to this later? I've got to go find Ari."

She smiles. "Sure. I've got to get ready for my heat anyway."

You take that as your cue to leave, and immediately set out to track down Ari, who seems to have disappeared from the beach - he must have gone round the corner to the car park, you think.

And you're right, as you catch a glimpse of Ari talking to someone between the trees.

You turn the corner, about to congratulate Ari on his win, when you see something that stops you short.

Summer has her hands cupped round Ari's face and she's kissing him.