Bondi Rescue

And So the Training Begins

I woke slowly, a faint beeping bringing me out of sleep. I tried to figure out where it was coming from, when I shot up in bed, the realization hitting me. I had set an alarm because Hoppo wanted to start my training today. 

I looked around, but couldn't find my phone on the bed, so Iooked over the side and realized that it had fallen off and somehow managed to make its way under the bed. As I grabbed my phone, I checked the time. 

6:00 in the morning...

I groaned and flopped back down on my bed, silently cursing Hoppo. I'm by no means a morning person, and I probably never will be. Even after getting up for 5 years at the crack of dawn to work as a lifeguard hasn't improved my mood in the morning.

I had about half an hour till I needed to meet Hoppo on the beach, so I rolled out of bed and grabbed my swimsuit and a change of clothes. I didn't bother to shower since I was going to be getting in the water in a little bit anyway. 

I got changed and put my hair up in a ponytail. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I was ready to go. I still had about 20 minutes before I had to go to the beach, so I left the hotel and stopped at Preach Cafe to grab some coffee. 

I slowly sipped my coffee as I walked towards Bondi Beach. The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon, and the sky was alight with gorgeous pinks and oranges. Not very many people were outside yet, and that meant the streets and beach were mostly empty.

I made my way onto the sand, and just sat there for a couple of minutes, basking in the quiet calm of the water, and the gentle early morning breeze. I saw a shadow appear on the sand in front of me, and I heard a soft chuckle. 

"It is beautiful in the morning, isn't it?" 

I turned my head to look at Hoppo, sending him a grin of my own. "Yeah, it really is beautiful."

He offered me a hand to help me stand up and I took it. "Are you ready to get started?" 

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said, brushing the sand off of my shorts. "What's up first?"

"Well, I'd like you to run a couple of laps between the middle flags to warm up a bit, you think you can do that?" I looked at Hoppo incredulously. 

He barked out a laugh and gestured for me to get going. I grumbled a bit but took off towards the two flags after handing him my empty coffee cup. After running the space between them a couple of times, I made my way back up to Bondi Central. 

Hoppo stood in the shade and handed me a water bottle. I immediately drank the whole thing, surprising myself with how thirsty I was. 

As I looked at Hoppo for my next task, he instead gestured for me to follow him, and we walked to the garage door at the bottom of the lifeguard tower. He opened the door, and we walked inside. 

"So, Kerrbox tells me that you know how to operate the jet ski?" I smirked and threw my now empty water bottle in the garbage can by the door.

"You bet I do, I used to love just riding around for fun," Hoppo smirked at me.

"Well, good thing that's the first thing on our agenda today. Let's get you a wetsuit and life jacket to borrow," he said as we made our way to where the clothes were kept. "Do you have your own?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but they're still back in Hawaii. I didn't want to bring them in my suitcase on my way over, they're with my furniture and other clothes. I'm gonna have my friends mail me my stuff once I find an apartment and I have somewhere to put them."

"That makes sense, here try this one," Hoppo handed me a wetsuit. "Have you looked for any places yet?"

I stripped down to my swimsuit and started pulling the wetsuit on. "I have, actually Harrison told me that the apartment across from his is vacant, so I've put some money down, and hopefully I'll get it."