Together

75. He could die

Here they come, oh
Take an angel by the wings
Beg her now for anything
Beg her now for one more day
Take an angel by the wings
Time to tell her everything
Ask her for the strength to stay
-Sia

While JJ takes to the water with his group, Kiara and Shoupe wait in the spectators area. They watch the surfers make their line, and she catches the obvious bright green arm band that JJ is wearing bob in the water as he sits on his board. In the lineup, she can see he'll be the last to go if he doesn't grab a wave someone else passes up on.

They watch the first surfer take his wave, pulling it off but not performing to the caliber that is required to win.

"JJ will do way better," she comments to Shoupe. Confident.

Shoupe has his eye on the competition but turns to her to speak. "Yup, I agree," he nods. "Waves are tough today, I didn't think the first group did that well either."

"They're insane," she confirms, eyes tracking the growing swells.

Shoupe nods, casting his glance back towards the water. The waves were far higher than an average surfer would try. If it weren't a competition no one would be out there right now. Just not worth it. However, nothing was going to stop the competition from continuing, short of an actual hurricane hitting the area.

A hard wind blows and it makes the entire crowd draw in on themselves, huddling for warmth either with each other or their blankets. It's starting to rain as well.

They watch the second surfer in the line take his run. It starts off well. He makes the drop and is able to complete a couple moves before he gets swallowed up in the  wave. Kiara can feel the crowd collectively hold their breath as they wait for him to break the surface.

"Is he gonna come up?" she wonders.

"Current might be making it more difficult," Shoupe responds, keeping an eye on the waves. "He bailed so he should be alright."

Kiara nods in agreement. She knew how important it was that you end the run before the wave makes you. Not a lot of control out there otherwise. You want to go to the side otherwise your board can hit you.

Just like Shoupe anticipated, the second surfer breaks the surface just before it becomes a concern. The crowd breathes a sigh of relief for him as he grabs his board, and begins paddling back to shore, looking a little pissed he didn't make the run. He won't place, that's for sure.

The swells are increasing in size. Kiara starts to get worried about it. The longer JJ is out there the higher the chance that he'll catch a wave a little too big for her liking. She internally sighs, that's probably going to be the case anyway. His damn confidence with surfing is unmatched. He's probably hoping for the biggest wave out there.

The third surfer paddles out and Kiara sees that it's still not JJ. This time the competitor makes it through, surfing the wave with ease and skill that only an experienced surfer would have. This clearly wasn't his first time on waves like this.

"That'll be a little tougher to beat," Shoupe assesses, clicking his tongue to his teeth and crossing his arms as the third surfer completes his run.

Kiara agrees, that was a much better run then she was expecting. JJ will have to work really hard to beat that.

She watches the two remaining surfers, sitting on the water. Wave after wave passes and neither make a move. She worries at her lip. The weather is only increasing in severity and it's effect on the waters is tangible. A noticeable increase in power comes with every passing swell.