The Making of…
Chapter 34
The Dog Days Are Over
I ran into the cool water until it was up to my knees and then took a running dive in, swimming a few feet underwater before popping up and drawing in a breath of air. My hair was slicked back against my head until it reached the water at my shoulders, where it fanned out around me in a wavy brunette cloud. My board shorts ballooned out around my legs as I swam backwards a little until my feet could no longer touch the golden sand beneath me and then I treaded water, waiting for Raven to catch up. She swam to my side, her hair looking even darker due to the fact it was soaked. “Want to swim out to the guys?” I asked, nodding towards where they were floating around on their surfboards. Obviously they’d realised that no waves were coming, and seemed totally absorbed in trying to knock each other off their boards. I smirked as I swam quickly and silently towards them, ducking underwater at the last moment and swimming towards the nearest board – Orlando’s. Once I was positioned under it I placed my hands on it and kicked upwards, flipping the board and depositing it’s passenger into the water.
“Hiya.” I grinned cheerfully as Orlando rose to the surface with a startled gasp.
“You are so dead, Forest.” He muttered menacingly as I yelped in mock-terror and swam in the opposite direction. I grabbed his board and hauled myself onto it, wrapping my legs around it and clinging on as he approached. “Get off.” He demanded with a scowl as I shook my head.
“Request denied.” I smirked as he shook the board until I couldn’t cling on anymore and was dumped head-first into the sea. Raven and I swam around for a bit, splashing the guys and trying to claim a board for ourselves (unsuccessfully). Then the guys suggested that we paddle over to an outcrop of rocks that jutted out into the sea that was high enough to jump off. I swam after them at a leisurely pace, whilst Raven challenged the others to a race and sped ahead. I glanced back to the beach and spotted Viggo watching me and I waved. He looked a little lonely over there with only an asleep six-pack-mermaid Sean for company, I tried to persuade him to swim out, using hand movements, but he either couldn’t understand what I was trying to say, or just didn’t feel like swimming, as he shook his head and waved me off. I sighed and followed the others as they climbed up onto the rocks. I hauled myself up after them as they decided on where to jump off. They picked a sort of rocky shelf that was about three metres above the sea level, and dropped away sharply, so there were no rocks to hit on the way down.
“Me first!” Elijah declared, stretching his arms above his head as I wrung out my wet hair. “Behold my badass back-flipping skills!” He boasted, and proceeded to back-flip off the rocks, landing with a large splash in the water. Orlando and Dom followed in pretty much the same fashion and I stepped up. As I was untrained in the field of ‘Badass Back-Flipping’, I opted for the ‘Badass Cannonball’ approach – it never fails. I leapt off the rock and curled into a ball with a shriek as I hit the water.
“Nice.” Dom commented with a hint of sarcasm as I resurfaced.
“Psh.” I mumbled into the water as Raven, Karl and Billy followed us and we climbed back up to repeat the process again. Eventually, I became bored of jumping and swam back towards the beach. I walked up the sand towards Viggo and smiled. He put down his book as I approached him and dropped down onto my knees in front of him, the dry sand sticking to my damp legs uncomfortably as my hair hung in straggling tendrils around my face.
“Did you get cold?” He asked curiously as I shook my head.
“No, I thought you looked lonely over here by yourself.” I shrugged, “C’mon Vig, come swimming! It’s fun!” He smiled at me and nodded to Sean’s sandy form.
