Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 100 - Bad Time

A/N: Sooooo, we're at the 100th chapter! I got weirdly emotional writing this lmao. I said this morning it was going to be a special chapter, so not only is it currently the longest chapter in the book, but it ends on (what I hope is) a good cliffhanger 😏 

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"Did she even land a single reverse?" Bodhi taunts as you wade out the water behind her and Wren. For a moment, you're a little scared she's talking about you, until Wren starts talking in a terrible american accent, mimicking Summer.

"Hey, I've been surfing for like, two minutes - watch me nail some sweet airs." Her and Bodhi's laughs echo through the wind on the beach, and you share a look with Poppy, walking next to you. Thank God Summer was already halfway up the dunes and out of earshot.

Bodhi had clearly been avoiding you ever since the party, but that was to be expected after that argument. What was slightly less expected, however, was the way she was blatantly bitching about Summer behind her back. What had Summer even done to her? God knows what Bodhi and Wren said about you behind your back, and you don't think you even want to know.

There's a tense silence over the camp as you dry off your board and place it back in its bag. The practice you just had - the pairs training - went better than you could have hoped, made somehow much sweeter with Bodhi watching. You'd been paired with Poppy, Summer with Wren, which was...interesting, to say the least.

After getting a quick bite to eat from the table set up in the centre of your tents, you shower in the small shower block behind the campsite, savouring the hot water for at least twenty minutes.

After pulling on some comfy clothes for the evening, you venture back to the main camp, where most of the team are sitting around a campfire. Poppy has saved you a seat, which you gratefully sink into. Opposite you in the circle, Bodhi and Wren are laughing at something the latter said, whilst Ari scrolls on his phone, occasionally glancing up at his girlfriend. Baxter and Summer must still be washing up after the evening meal, as two camping chairs remain empty.

Wren lets out another over-the-top laugh, and you share a glance with Poppy, who rolls her eyes and leans in to talk to you quietly. "They've been laughing at the same thing for the last ten minutes."

As if on cue, they read something on Wren's phone and burst out in another fit of laughter. You lean closer to Poppy's ear, lowering your voice. "You heard what they said earlier, right? About Summer?"

She nods in response. "I think Bodhi's mad at me too. I think she saw me and Marlon hanging out."

"Well that's none of her business, they broke up ages ago," you reply, your anger at Bodhi which you'd been trying so hard not to let creep back in slowly building up. "Ever since she became friends with Wren she's been acting really weird."

Poppy doesn't have a chance to respond, and simply shakes her head as Elo comes over, tossing a piece of paper in a hat and shaking it. "Alright guys, time for peer review."

Summer and Baxter finally emerge from the block where the sinks are, Summer drying her hands on her sweatpants as they stroll down the hill.

"Okay, Poppy, you can go first," Elo says, holding out the hat with the names in as Summer and Bax slump down into their seats at the edge of the circle. Poppy tentatively reaches into the hat, and her expression falters slightly as she reads the name scrawled on it.

"Summer." There's a tense silence for a second as Poppy chews on her lip, debating how to phrase some constructive criticism for her friend. "Summer is...great, but sometimes she has trouble reading the conditions, and she has this habit of dropping in when it's really not her wave."