Kids in the Dark

Chapter 8

Upon arrival at Kyle's workshop, we were welcomed by a group of young men whose skin was laced with tattoos from head to toe. Adam jumped out first to greet his cousin, the rest of us followed close behind. We grabbed our bags from the trunk and helped Kyle and his men get the 2 cars safely inside.

"Okay, so Blue for the Camaro, and green for the Challenger?" Kyle asked, his voice rough.

"Yup." I smiled. Similar replies echoed from around the group.

"Well, it's going to take a while, so you guys might as well head down to the beach. Take my truck." Kyle offered, tossing the keys from his pocket to Adam. He snatched them out of the air and we all headed out to a massive Ford F-150, which gleamed in the early sun. The two older boys slid into the main cab, whereas Jace, Raven and I took a seat in the truck bed.

We were surrounded by stuff, Our bags filled with beach gear(So our story looked authentic to the cops) 3 surfboards, and a few extra towels. Upon sitting down I kicked off my, well Adam's, shoes, Socks, and Shirt. I had just begun to pull off my shirt when the truck began to vibrate beneath me, and in no time at all, we were cruising through the work time traffic of Virginia beach.

Eventually, we reached the beach, Adam pulling the truck to a messy stop. The lot was quiet due to many schools being back is session. I hopped over the tailgate and let the sand find its way through my toes, as I hooked my bag over my shoulders and hauled one of the surfboards out of the truck bed. The others followed suit and in no time we had established our spot on the gleaming sand.

I dropped what I was carrying and searched my bag for my shorts. Finding them I hurried back off to the truck to change them into them in private. It to seconds and soon I was back by my bag and rummaging for sunscreen. It got frustrated after about five minutes and gave up, stuffing my trousers into the bag. To my surprise out tumbled the very item I had been looking for.

"Found it!" I exclaimed holding it in the air, causing everyone within earshot turned to stare. I looked down out of embarrassed, but they soon resumed what they were doing. I began to spray it onto my skin making sure every inch was covered just as Raven wandered over, her sundress clutched in her hands. She threw it in her bag and sat down next to me beginning to braid her hair.

"Hey babe," Jace smiled coming over to join us. "Can you rub some sunscreen on my back?" He asked handing Raven a blue bottle, sitting closely in front of her. She smiled and obliged. I couldn't help but be envious of Jace's bronze skin in comparison to my lack of a tan. I looked away and examined the borrowed surfboard, but it didn't take long for be to feel Jace's eyes on the scars. I turned around sharply and was about to snap at him when Theo and Adam reappeared.

As the two of them ran towards us well-toned bodies drawing the eyes of many giggling girls. "What's going on?" Adam asked sensing the tension as I glared at Jace.

"Nothing," I said getting to my feet, brushing the sand off my legs and shorts. "Now," I said changing the subject. "Who's up for a surf?" Theo and Adam instantly jumped into action, grabbing up their surfboards. I mimicked their actions before the three of us ran down the quiet beach. In no time at all, I was waist deep in the cool water.

I could see a wave swelling in front of me and I readied myself to jump up when Theo distracted me. He too had tried to get on his board, but upon pulling himself up he overbalanced and slipped off the board's other side. I was too busy laughing at my brother's clumsiness, and the wave caught me by surprise. It washed over me, the force of it pushed me back a few feet, and I resurfaced with a splutter.

I blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear them from the salty sea water. Running a hand through my now gel-free hair, I turned to my left to see Adam had been knocked back too. Theo, on the other hand, was now sat astride his board grinning at us. "Any time today." he laughed wheeling his board around to face out to sea. I pulled myself up out of the water and began to paddle. Theo pulled up beside me. "Just like old times." He smiled, splashing water over at me.

"Hey." I chuckled getting him back before looking ahead at the oncoming wave. I paddled forwards before wheeling around. "Come one slowpoke," I shouted at Adam who had fallen behind us. He propelled himself faster joining us. I glanced over my shoulder, before paddling forwards slowly. The force of the wave swept up my board, and I took a deep breath. Steadying myself I popped up.

I heard both Theo and  Adam wipe out behind me, but I rode the wave until it died out close to shore. I slid into the shallows and picked up the board, making my way over to where Jace and Raven stood, the water lapping at their toes.

"Where the hell did you learn to surf like the?" Jace asked in awe, as I propped the board in the sand.

"We used to go out with M-" but I stopped as Theo came up behind me.

"Hey guys," He smiled pushing his dripping brown hair out of his eyes. "What are we going to do about lunch?" He asked. Typical I thought Always thinking with his stomach.

"Just leave that to us," Raven smirked before leading Jace off, and disappearing in up the beach. I turned back around to face Theo, who had his hands folded over his chest.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, come on." He laughed leading me back out to where Adam was lying on his board, bobbing up and down. We paddled out to him to see his eyes were shut. I exchanged a look with Theo and we both dropped into the water. Swimming silently over to Adam's surfboard I positioned my hands on its underside. I glanced at Theo who nodded at me and we both pushed up sending Adam toppling into the water.

He re-emerged, spluttering. "Hey!" he moaned splashing us. I chuckled climbing back out of the water. I left the older two behind, and spent the next half hour surfing, only wiping out twice.

"Ryder," I turned around at the sound of Raven calling my name. I paddled back to sure, bringing Theo and Adam with me. "Lunch is ready." She smiled as the 3 of us followed her up the beach. Jace was sat guarding our area, they set up a windbreak, and spread out our towels. I dumped my board and lay down allowing the sun to warm and dry my wet skin when I felt someone nudge my foot. I sat up and looked over at Adam who was holding out what looked like a pulled pork sandwich and a bottle of root beer.

"Where did you get this?" I asked Raven and Jace, spying a cool box stocked with food.

"We borrowed it," Jace smirked. I raised my eyebrows, and all five of us began to laugh. I opened my root beer and set it in the sand by my side. My sandwich was gone in an instant, and I clutched my root beer. We were all casually talking about what we were going to do that afternoon when the Superman theme song began to issue from one of the bags.

Adam shot out of Theo's lap and over to the pile of bags. "Quick, find it." He said and we all began to search.

"Found it," Raven called tossing it to Adam, who slit his finger across the screen and put it to his ear.

"Hey, Kyle." He said, then after a long pause, "Great, we're on our way." Hanging up, he turned to face us. "The cars are done." He smiled. It took us a total of ten minutes to pack everything back in the truck, and In no time at all Adam was driving the truck back to Kyle's.

Adam parked the truck outside, and we all scrambled inside, leaving a faint trail of sand behind us. "Right this way." Kyle appeared behind us, making us jump. He lead us into an adjacent room and turned on the lights. I felt my jaw drop and the lights came up on 2 unrecognizable cars.

The Challenger glowed with its new neon green coat, black racing stripes adding to its eye-catching new paint job. The Camaro glittered like the night's sky, the dark blue of the metallic paint shining in the lights.

"Wow." was just about all any of us could say.

"They're not dry yet, so I suggest you grab your stuff from outside and follow me upstairs." We all raced outside, picking our stuff out of the back, bringing it all inside. Then we followed Kyle up a set of stairs into a wide, open plan space. He directed us down the hall, and into our rooms, and after a small argument Jace and I finally sorted out who's bed was who's.

Thank you for reading.

Hope you're enjoying The story, some things will make more sense as the story continues, but feel free to comment on your favorite parts, or suggest Ideas. The next chapter is going to be a short one, but the one after that is were some more interesting things start to happen :) -Flo