Neighbors

Chapter 3

I walk into my room, and throw open my bureau's drawer, picking out a nice bathing suit.

I was on the swim team, and had grown accustomed to wearing one-pieces, so, ta-da! That's all I owned. Also I felt uncomfortable in bikini's.

I slip on a blue and yellow polka-dotted suit that reminded me of one of those pin-up girls. It had a little sweet-heart neck line, and some extra fabric in the front, almost acting as a skirt, but too short to actually cover anything.

Oh wow. I sound like a person from Say Yes to the Dress, with all my 'sweet-heart neck line's. Yikes.

I pull on some shorts and a tank top, and slip on my flip flops, some very broken into Flojo's, and head out the door.

I am met with Finn and Eddy both applying sun screen to each other, and mom making us some sandwiches.

"Go get some sun screen on." My mom calls over the bar to me.

I comply, and walk over to the 'Sun Screen Station' where there are drips of sun screen everywhere. I grab a bottle of SPF 35, and squeeze it onto my hand. Eddy chuckles as it makes farting noises, and I spin around to stick my tongue out at him.

I walk over to mom, and hand her the sun screen bottle, asking her to lather it onto my back. She takes the bottle from me, and draws a smiley face onto my back, then quickly rubs it in.

Once I'm finished with my sun screening, we all grab a water bottle, and throw it into the bag my mom has packed for us, and walk out onto our drive-way towards me and Finn's car, an old, currently top-less and door-less jeep. Scandalous.

"I'm driving!" Finn calls, sliding into the driver's seat.

"Shotgun!" Eddy calls next, sliding into the passenger seat.

"Of course." I mutter, rolling my eyes while still smiling.

Nothing could dampen this day, not even my two brother's hogging up the good seats of the car.

I slide into the back bench seat, right next to the two surf boards and two boogie boards, and pull on my buckle, clicking them together. Once I'm safely buckled in, I hit the side of the car twice, and Finn starts the journey down our hilly driveway, putting it into reverse and forwards so many times I lost count.

While we're almost to the end of the hill, I glance at our neighbor's house. There were no cars in the driveway.

Hopefully they aren't at the beach. I think to myself nervously. And besides, even if they are at the beach, they probably are going to the pier or someplace cool. Not the little lesser known rocky beach called Buckaneer.

Boy, was I wrong.

Immediately as we pull into the little parking lot, I notice their car. A typical homeschooler golden Sienna XL Toyota. Great.

It wasn't that big of a beach, so you couldn't just avoid them!

I say nothing to my brothers, as we hop out of the car and grab our boards, me and Finn taking the two surf boards, and Eddy grabbing the two boogie boards.

I wasn't great at surfing, so sometimes I liked to boogie board instead, hence why we had one more board than necessary.

We walk across the street, and onto the sandy land before we reach the actual sea shore. Like I said before, it was a rocky little beach, and much to our dismay, there were a ton of rocks and sea shells lining the shore. But also making a really cool noise as the waves hit them, and pulled them into the ocean.

We pick a spot, and I notice that I can't find our neighbors. Hopefully they don't notice me, or my brothers.

Well... Why would they notice my brothers? They only know me... Literally. Besides, it's highly unlikely that Sam, a 15 year old boy, would walk up to a 15 year old girl, at the beach.

Finn and Eddy start to take off their shirts, and grab the boards of their choice. I quickly follow suit, taking off my pants and tank top, and grab my surfboard. One of those typical foam long-boards you would find at Costco, or some other large industrial-sized store.

I got it a long time ago though, so I thought it was better quality than the ones they sold there now. Mine was wider, but the same length, and easier to stand up on, but still gigantic as heck.

Finn, who had been surfing way longer than me, had made the brave decision to buy his own surfboard, and it was a nice one that he found at a thrift store. It was green with a blue stripe, and a little bit shorter than Eddy, who hadn't begun his growth spurt yet, and was only 5'2.

I look out into the water, and both of my brothers are slowly walking out into the ocean, whilst getting pummeled by the waves. I laugh, and race out to meet them. Once I get deep enough that I can ride on my board, I place it into the water, and paddle, avoiding the pains of stepping on rocks.

I paddle up to Finn, who is closer than Eddy, and smile at him.

"Ready?" I ask him, sitting up on my board.

"Sure." He says, sliding onto his board.

I lay back down on my board, and quickly paddle over the oncoming wave before it breaks. Finn lags behind, and dives under it just as it breaks above him.

He paddles hard, scooping his hands through the water as if it is giving him no resistance. I quickly paddle. Faster, laughing while heading towards Eddy.

The water was still super cold, but it felt nice against the hot sun. Finn comes up behind me, but not before I touch Eddy's leg dangling in the water.

"I win!" I shout, smiling triumphantly at my brother, while my other brother looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's do this one!" Eddy calls to us, pointing at a wave a couple sets later.

We spin around, and rise on the waves that are beginning to form, until Finn yells:

"Go!"

Immediately all three of us, strategically placed far away from each other, paddle fast. Bubbles where rising up to the surface like nobody's business, and finally, I feel my board surge up, on top of the wave. I paddle faster, and once I know that I have caught it, I stand up quickly, and ride it with ease.

I turn parallel to the wave, and ride it along. I couldn't turn my board so easily, because it was so large, but it was easy to ride.

I glance to the boy to the right of me. Eddy has just risen up and out of the wave, and flipped. His feet covered in flippers rising out of the water. He lands again with a thunk of plastic and foam hitting the water, and groans a bit.

Finn whoops from the left to me, and I look at him closely.

He is riding the wave carefully, his arms spread out to the side to keep his balance, and he is easily swishing his board left an right, riding the wave like he was born to.

My eyes flicker jealously to his board, just as he rises out of the wave, and turns his board to face back down into the wave, sliding along it.

With my clunky foam board, I could do none of that.

While my mind is occupied, the wave surges before me, and I'm riding the top of the wave.

Crap.

Is all I can think before there is no water in front of me, and I nose-dive.