Surfin' the Clouds

1 ~ Sloan Brookes

          For other people, it's soft music, sleep, outdoors, smells, books, or other typical things that relax them. But for me, it's the feeling of the waves crash against my body. It's falling into the ice cold sea. Even when I accidentally swallow salty, ocean, water, it's relaxing.
          You would think the ocean is very scary and dangerous. You could drown, a wave could crash down on you,  crushing you into the rocks, and there are, of course, sharks. But, the ocean is my safe place. I'm safe from my dad, safe from bullies, and safe from my ADD.
          My dad can be abusive towards me. Since I have ADD, which makes it really hard for me to focus, I sometimes don't get the best grades on my assignments. He's very hard on me with school, and he beats me if I don't don't get good grades.
          I don't blame him though, he's been having a really hard time since my mom died. He loved her more than words could say. He's also having a hard time getting money, so we don't have much food or clothes, and we have to live in a tiny, rundown, rental house in Santa Barbara, California.
The kids at my school always bully and humiliate me every chance they get. That's because of my poor, tattered, clothes, and the fact that when a teacher calls on me, I don't know what to say. The girls have even beat me up before while calling me horrible names like, moron, idiot, hobo, nerd, loser, and other crap like that. I've tried to let it go most of the time, but it's really hard. I never tell my dad because he, obviously, wouldn't be any help.
Every time something horrible like this happens to me, I run to the beach and into the water, which is where I am right now. It's where I can think. I let the water sway back and forth against my waist as my toes wiggle into the soft, sand. The wind blows into my face, causing my hair to fly countless directions. I let a deep breath in, and out.
If only I could stay here for the rest of my life. Maybe I can run away, cause I doubt my dad would really care. I bet the only reason he would want me here is to do chores and work.
I watch the surfers roughly glide across the waves, their right hand brushing the surface of the water.
"That looks like fun," I say to myself.
I stood up, brushing off my wet, sandy, butt, and I walked over to the nearby, beach café and sit down. I wanted to try surfing. That's when it hit me. Surfboards are way to expensive. A lot more than I could afford, and my dad would not be okay with me using my money to get one... Not that I really had any. I had to get one in secret. Nobody could know about it.
I got up, and started walking home.