The Night Surfer

The Tension

The week went by smoothly enough. I sat with Serene and her friends at lunch, got the odd glare from Kyra, and tried to avoid talking to Axel when I could.

In fact, I just tried to avoid talking anyone when I could.

It was nothing against them, I just wasn't good at the whole social thing as they were.

I could see Serene and Mark trying to get me involved in conversations, but I would usually give them small answers or excuse myself when I got the chance.

Every night, I would get my release and surf.

My brother had gone MIA after the talk we had on Monday night, although that's not unusual, he'll leave for days at a time when there's a great swell in another town on Surf Coast, sometimes hours away.

It was Friday and the day seemed to drag on forever.

At lunch, I was the first one to sit at the table. I'm not sure if they still think of me enough that I can sit with them, but there's nowhere else for me to go so I just do.

Usually Serene and a couple of others I don't know very well will come next, but when I feel someone sit across from me, I'm a little surprised to see Axel staring intently at me.

"Uh, hi." I say quietly.

A slow smirk appears on his face, already making me feel uncomfortable, "Well hey there."

His eyes were like a hawks as usual, if it weren't for the unique shade of blue they were, I would comment on it.

He sits down and I awkwardly push my salad around with my fork.

He glances around the room, "I haven't seen you talking to anyone."

I look back up at him, "I'm not really good at making friends."

He raises his eyebrows, "Well you're so quiet I'm not surprised."

I look back down, "My brother is the socialite."

"You talk about your brother a lot you know." He says.

He's pretty good at this conversation thing. It was a shame he was such a jerk.

"Well I did grow up with him." I reply.

I notice him raise his eyebrows and I look back up at him, "Was that a hint of a snide comment there?"

"Oh, um, I-I didn't-"

"Geez calm down, I'm not going to exile you or something." He smirks, holding up his hands.

He must think I'm such an idiot.

I just sigh and go back to my salad.

Serene and the others come and sit down, chatting about something to do with a teacher.

Kyra sits down next to Axel and I happily mark it as the end of our conversation.

≈≈≈

I'm the first one to chemistry since I left a bit early from lunch.

When someone comes at sits besides me I assume it's Carter.

"Hey Ca-" I look up and am meet with those mesmerising blue eyes instead of Carter's brown ones.

For the second time today he had surprised me.

"Sorry, thought a change would be nice." Axel gives me a sly smirk.

"Right." I reply. Although I didn't know how Carter would feel, I was kind of warming to him since we never really made conversation.

He raises his eyebrows, "Would you rather me move?"