Wipe Out

Chapter 5:

As I ride along the road, a slight breeze starts to pick up. I take a deep breath in, thinking how could somebody want to be anywhere else. I look to my left and watch the people on the beach, some are surfing, others are just enjoying the sun and sand. As I come around the corner I see that there are a lot of people at the surf shop. 'Shit, Sky is gonna kill me.' I think to myself as I jump off my bike and put it on its stand. I walk inside and look around at all the people.

"It's about time you bloody decided to show up! Where the hell is Tommy?!" I hear Sky call out as he pushes through the crowd, I could tell he was totally stressing out at the moment.

"Don't kill the messenger, but your Dad gave him the day off to be with Mickey. I guess it was lucky that you gave me the job yesterday, huh." I say with a cheeky grin as I cross my arms.

"Oh shut up will you! How the hell am I even friends with you? Put your bag out the back and then help me. It's only you and me for the first half of the day and then my Dad is coming after 12:30" Sky explains as I walk past him to put my bag out the back. I place my bag down and take my sunglasses off my head and place them in my bag. I quickly check my phone for any messages then shut it up. I walk back out the front to help Sky.

The day finally ends and the time to shut up shop comes around. I walk out the back and grab a broom and just do a quick sweep of the floors. When I finish I place the broom back out the back and also grab my bag whilst I'm here. I'm about leave when I remember that I was going to ask Sky if he is going to come night surfing tonight.

"Hey Sky, can I ask you a question?" I ask as I walk over to him.

"Depends on what the question is. But knowing you, you will just ask it anyway." Sky replies, looking up at me.

"I was wondering if you would like to come night surfing tonight. It's Mickey's birthday today, as I told you earlier, and I was wondering if you would like to be my plus one." I ask, praying to God that he is able to come.

"I guess I could try and talk Dad into it." He says with a smile.

"Okay, I hope you can come." I say as I turn towards the door and leave the shop. As I go to get onto my bike, a thought pops into my head; I don't think that anybody is bringing flood lights for tonight. I grab my phone out of my bag and ring Tommy.

"Hello?" a soft female voice answers.

"Oh hey Mickey, it's Mal. Is Tommy around?" I ask her.

"Yeah he's right here, would you like me to put him on?" Mickey asks.

"Yes please." I reply.

"Hey Mal, what's up?" I hear Tommy's voice answer.

"Tommy, hey. I was just wondering, who is bringing flood lights for tonight?" I ask him.

"Oh crap!" I hear him sigh.

"Hey, that's a dollar for the cuss jar!" I hear Mum cry out in the background, which makes me smile. She still makes us put a dollar in the jar every time we swear, even though we are both practically adults.

"Sorry! Listen, Mal, I have no idea who is bringing lights, I completely forgot about it!" Tommy explains to me.

"That's ok Tommy, leave it to me. I'll have somebody bringing them." I smile.

"Oh thank you Malina! You really are a bloody life saver. Okay bye." Tommy says with a slight chuckle as he hung up. I browse through my contacts until I come to Casey's name. I ring it and waited for his reply.

"Hello, Casey speaking." Casey says through the phone.

"Case! It's Malina. So glad you picked up. Hey can I get you do a massive favor for me?" I ask him.

"Oh hey Mal. Sure what do you need?" Casey asked.

"I need some flood lights for tonight. Tommy was an idiot and forgot to get somebody to organise some. So as per usual, I have to pick up his slack." I explain to him.

"Yeah that sounds like Tommy, don't worry Malina. Leave it with me Malina and I'll have some."

"Thank you so much Casey. I'll see you tonight." I say before I hang up and put my phone back into my bag. I then place my bag into the basket on my bike and ride off down the road as the sun starts to set beyond the horizon.

When I get home I see Mickey's red pick-up truck is parked in the drive-way. I quickly jump off my bike and place it around the side before I go inside.

"Mal! Thank God you're home! Did you sort out those lights?!" Tommy runs at me and puts his hands on my shoulders.

"Calm down Tommy! Geez I've only just stepped inside the door. But yes, Casey said he will bring some lights." I laugh as I try to push him off me so I can close the front door.

"Oh Malina, you legend!" Tommy hugs me. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Tommy! Let the poor girl breathe! You better go get dressed Malina, I think we're heading off soon." I hear Mickey call out. I slip out of Tommy's grip and walk down to my room. I close the door and quickly get changed out of my clothes and into a white bikini I bought last week. I grab my blue board-shorts and slip them over the top of my bikini bottoms. I put my sandals back on and grab my surfboard and walk back out to the living room.

"Oh no, you're defiantly not wearing that down to the beach Malina Rose Evans!" Tommy calls out.

"Are you serious right now! Tommy, I wear this every other time we go down to the beach!" I say in protest. Great, I'm going to get the 'You cannot go out looking like that' Father lecture from Tommy. It's great and all that he's a protective big brother but now he's just being ridiculous.

"True but Casey is going to be there. Not to mention all these other boys and I don't want them staring at your chest!" Tommy says, acting way beyond his age.

"Here Malina, just wear this." Mickey grabs a shirt out of the washing basket as throws it at me.

"Who's side are you on Mickey?!" I'm slightly annoyed but it's also all a bit of fun.

"Oh I'm on no-one's side Malina. I just want to stop World War Three from happening. So put that on and then we can go." Mickey smiles as she grabs her board and walks out the front door.

"You know I'm 18 right, not 8 Tommy." I say to Tommy as he walks past just as I'm putting the shirt on.

"Yes I do Mal. But for my sake, just wear the bloody shirt until we reach the beach." Tommy says to me as he walks out the door and I soon follow him. I load my board into the back of Mickey's truck and then jump into the back seat, not realizing that somebody else was sitting there.

"Oh my God! Jaimin! You scared me!"

"Surprise." Jaimin says in a dull toned voice.

"Why didn't you come inside?" I ask him as I do my seat belt up.

"I thought about it, but I thought Tommy and Mickey were going to be quicker than that." Jaimin explains to me. As he turns to look out the window Tommy and Mickey jump into the truck.

"Oh Jaimin please stop sulking. You're not six-years-old anymore." Mickey says as she does her seat belt.

"He'll be fine once he hits the waves, I'm sure of it." Tommy says to Mickey, almost whispering to her. I have no idea what is going on between the three of them, but they clearly know something I don't.

"Hey um, hate to be a party pooper, but we're going to disappoint everybody if we don't show up. Tommy, feel free to drive anytime today." I lean into the gap in between the two front seats and say to them both in a sarcastic manner. And with that, Tommy started the pick-up truck's engine and we're off.