Caught Inside

Chapter Eight

"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." – Philippians 3:13-14

The first thing that happened the following week was an email from Trevor. Attached was his completed and edited video called Huntington Shredders, followed by a shorter, 3-minute version of just Alana's surfing. Alana watched both videos multiple times before emailing the files to her friends. She was stoked.

Just thirty minutes after sending out the emails, Maya called. "Dude!" she screeched. "Those videos are amazing!"

"Hey, we should have everybody come to my house and watch them on TV," Alana suggested, cradling her phone between her ear and her shoulder. "I can hook up my laptop to the screen."

"Do it. I'll start calling the others." Maya rang off, and the girls burst into action.

It was a lazy, hazy Saturday morning, so Alana's siblings were still just getting out of bed when she rushed downstairs with her laptop. Dylan peeked his head out of his bedroom and hissed, "Keep it down, Alana! You're going to wake the whole house up with that stampede of yours."

"Sorry," she whispered, making sure to tiptoe down the last few steps. After hooking up her computer to the television, she headed back upstairs and knocked quietly on her brother's door.

He opened it with a sigh. "What now?"

"I'm sorry, Dyl, but the gang is coming over in about an hour to watch some videos," she explained. "Is that okay?"

"Well, I was hoping to sleep in because it's Saturday, but..."

Alana winced and murmured another apology.

"It's fine. I'm already awake anyway."

She smiled gratefully. "By the way, they're Trevor's videos. He finished editing them last night, and they turned out awesome."

Dylan yawned and retreated further back into his bedroom. "Sounds good. I'll watch them later when the gang gets here."

Later turned out to be roughly eighty minutes, when Koa was the last member of the gang to arrive in the Walkers' apartment. Six teenagers, plus Tammy, were crammed onto the couch and floor in front of the TV as the videos began.

They were mesmerized. Trevor's unique style of filmmaking and editing made the gang's surfing come to life in the most beautiful way. He placed creative angles of Huntington Pier, the gang walking on the sand, and palm trees blowing in the wind intermittently throughout the video. The vibrant colors of the ocean, sand, and surfboards seemed to pop right out of the screen. Even the music Trevor had chosen, a fast-paced surf guitar song, complemented the movie well. The gang was thoroughly impressed with how professional everything looked. Trevor did a good job of showing the highlights of their surfing, with a few wipeouts at the very end after the credits. Two of the wipeouts were near-collisions by Jake and Blaine, one was a mistimed turn by Maya on a set wave, and the grand finale was Alana's slow-motion late takeoff.

When the TV went black, signaling the end of the film, the reflection on the screen showed everyone smiling. They immediately burst into a round of applause.

"That was amazing!" Jake exclaimed.

"So good," Blaine said.

"Let's watch it again!" Koa suggested.