Tidal Waves (L.H.)

One

The ringing of my alarm clock makes me bolt upright in bed. Warm light filterers through my curtains, creating a soft glow in my room. I quickly turn off the alarm and stretch my sore arms above my head. Sitting in bed, I can hear the constant rolling of the ocean outside my window and it brings a smile to my face.

Without wasting any more time, I jump out of bed and over to my dresser. I take out a plain black bikini top and bottom and quickly change, pulling a long sleeve rash guard over the top. I then continue on to the bathroom, where I brush my teeth and run a brush through my hair that has been bleached blonde from the countless hours in the surf.

Now ready, I make my way to the kitchen where both of my parents are sitting at the kitchen table. My mom is checking the surf reports as usual and my dad is reading the morning paper.

"Good morning, Skylar," my dad says before taking a sip of coffee.

"Good morning. How does it look today?" I ask giving my mom a quick hug.

"Looks like it's going to be a good day," she says with a smile.

I have lived in Key West my whole life and even though it's not a huge surfing spot, I grew up in the water. I learned how to surf before I could walk. Both of my parents lived in Hawaii before moving to Florida. They passed on their love of the ocean to me and I can't thank them enough for it. From day one, I knew I wanted to be a pro surfer but that's not likely to happen here; but I'm okay with it. My passion has completely taken over my life to where I'm even home schooled so I can have more surfing time.

"Breakfast is on the counter," mom says. I walk over and find a banana smoothie waiting for me. I yell a thanks to mom as I bolt out the front door and over to the shed. Here I keep all my boards and extra equipment. I decide to go with a medium sized board and take it out, also grabbing a bar of wax. I drink my smoothie as I wax the board and watch the surf roll in.

I finally wade out into the warm water and walk until the waves wash over my knees. From there I paddle further on my board. As the waves start to pick up, I dive under them and pop out the other side. When I make it out far enough, I turn my board so I'm facing the shore and wait for the perfect wave. I let my hand glide across the top of the water and I can feel the power of the sea under me.

About five minutes later, a wave starts to pick up behind me and I start paddling, trying to keep ahead of it. Once I feel the wave get under me, I quickly jump to my feet. I stay out of the white wash and turn to hit the lip of the wave. I come back down into the pocket and ride it out, I then decide to bail into the white wash.

I swim to the surface of the water and manage to get myself back on my board and begin paddling back out. This pretty much continues for the next hour or so until the ocean decides to take a breath. The surf stops and I follow the ocean's lead and head back to shore. As I make it to the sand, Chris stands up and walks over.

"That was so sick, Sky! You looked rad out there." I laugh at him and he follows me up to the house. Chris and I have been best friends practically since birth. He home schools too so we spend almost every day with each other. He's a surfer also but not as dedicated as me. He sees surfing as just something to pass the time while living by the ocean.

"Are you working at the Shack today?" Chris asks sitting on one of the deck chairs. The Shack is a small seaside diner in town that is a hit with the locals. Tourists tend to stop by during the busy months.

"Yeah, you?" I unzip my top half way then sit in a chair next to Chris.

"Yep. I have to lunch shift."