Love's In The Water ~Jake Nolan~

Chapter Thirteen

Tuesday. The second day of school and I'm dreading it. Running late, as I stayed in bed for too long I grab an Up and Go from the fridge and a milo breakfast bar and Dad drives me to school, before heading to work.

In homeroom, the class had to come up with an idea to raise money for our choice of charity and the class literally came up with one thing. The typical American fun raiser: a car wash, suggested by the slut of the class, Megan and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at this dumb suggestion as I've done this twice already and she just wants a reason to get into her swimmers and just dance over a car covered in soapy water.

"Have you got any other ideas?" She snickers trying to show me up "Yeah, I do actually. What about surfing?" I suggest and I have everyone's attention "How about we have a surfing competition, since we're so close to Bondi beach" I say and people are nodding their heads in agreement and want to know more about this surfing competition I've proposed "Everyone who can surf, can participate if they wish and the public can go to a table or something and place money on who they think is the best. The person with the most amount of bets on them is the winner but all beating money goes towards the charity" I explain "Let's take a vote. Anyone who wants Megan's car wash go to my left. And anyone who wants Eve's surfing comp, to the right" She says and half the class walks to the left and the other half went to right. "Nine. Ten... eight. Nine. Ten" Ms says "Its a tie! How are we gonna settle this?" Megan asks "Pitch them to me," Our year coordinator said and Megan started pitching her car wash fundraising idea.

"With the car wash, not only will the chosen charity benefit from this event, but the people of Bondi will also benefit from it as they will leave with cleaner cars" Megan finishes her pitching and honestly it was pathetic "Thank you, Megan. Eve" Our year coordinator says "I know what those girls are thinking" I start looking over the room as all the girls went to the left "If we do a surfing competition, we won't be able to show off our bodies, but you're at the beach, wear your damn bikinis. But that's not the point of this fundraiser. So people in the class or grade or school depending on numbers, and anyone who is willing to help, they can handle the betting side of it. And we can have the public, bet on surfers and all bet money goes towards the chosen charity" I say "So it's not going to be a surfing comp then?" My teacher asks "It can be. The most with the most amount of money bet on them, win a prize of some sort, I guess. But that's not the point" I say "I like it. Make it happen" The coordinator said and left.

"You better not blow this Carroll. You'd look pretty pathetic if you beat me then it doesn't work" Megan says as she walks over to me "It will work. Trust me" I say "And how are you going it happen? What if the surf is too rough? What if no one wants to participate in the surfing or the betting? What are you going to do then? What about safety?" She says "Why do you care if it goes ahead or not? You're not going to go anyways" I say and she can't come back with anything so she walks away. "Hi, I'm Noah, and I wanted ask if I could help with organising the surfing comp?" He asks "Yeah, sure. I'm -" I start "Everlynn. I know. I've seen you on Bondi rescue" He finishes "I go by Eve" I say and we spend the rest of homeroom planning the outline of the event. The bell rang and everyone was leaving the room "I'm going to the beach after school. You're welcome to come and met the guys and we could get their opinion on the whole thing" I say packing up my stuff "Yeah, sure. Thanks Eve" He says and we walk to our next class.

After sixth period, I met up with Noah and we walked down to the beach, getting to know each a little better. We walked in and I thought everything was normal until Das started talking  "Eve, your friend looks like he's going to pass out" Dad says and I look behind me and Noah was fanboying? "Does he need oxygen?" Dad jokes but I actually think Noah needs some, but he calms down and I introduce Dad to him. "Dad this is Noah. We're working on something together for school" I say "Hey Noah" Dad greets and he shakes Noah's hand "I've got to go to backpackers and help Corey" Dad says and leaves, but he's clearly getting out of the way "Harries! Hey Harries!" Jake yells from the windows and this is going to be interesting. "He's not usually like that. Well, not that weird at least" I say and we head up to the windows, and Jake was on duty in the tower again "Hey...Eve and friend" He says being polite but doesn't want to talk to me "Jake, this is Noah. Noah, Jake" I introduced "So, is this going to be a regular thing? Bringing different guys down here every day?" Jake snaps "Why? You jealous?" I snap back and it shuts him up.

"So, down south is the best place for surfing. The tent could set up there, have competitors there" I say pointing my pen around down at south Bondi "What about the public?" Jake eavesdrops "Where will they watch from?" Jake asks "Nobody asked for for opinion. Go back to the only thing you can do, watch the beach" I say rudely "He does have a point, Eve. Where are they going to watch from?" Noah points out and I rip out a page from my English book and drew the 'floor plan' of the event.

Jake's P.O.V

"I've got to go to backpackers and help Corey," Harries says to Eve once she walks in, leaving me with her and her friend in the tower alone "Harries! Hey Harries!" I call as I'm covering for him while he went on for his lunch break, but Hoppo made the rooster earlier and Eve was meant to be in the tower but she's back at school, so I filled in "He's not usually like that. Well, not that weird" Eve says walking towards me, so I turn the other way and look at the beach through "Jake, this is Noah. Noah, Jake" Eve said and I turned around to be polite and shook the guy's hand. "So is this going to be a regular thing? Bringing different guys down here every day?" I ask as its the second time in a row she's done this "Why? You jealous?" She snaps backs and honestly, yeah, I am. I still have feelings for her and I'm pretty sure that they're not going anywhere, anytime soon. But I can't say that to her, at least not with Noah around and she needs to focus on school, so I turn around and not look at them.

"So, down south is the place for surfing. The tent could be set up there, have competitors there" Eve says waving her pen around in the air to indicate where everything will go. I have no idea what this is for, but it must be pretty important. "What about the public? Where will they watch from?" I accidentally eavesdrop "Nobody asked for your opinion. Go back to the only thing you can do, watch the beach" Eve says rudely and I do what I'm good, watching the beach. I turn back around and watch as she draws on a piece of paper and the way she gets annoyed when she smudges the ink across the paper and getting ink on the side of her hand. The way her lips are parted to show how concentrated she is and how she blinks less like if she does everything will disappear "He does have a point, Eve. Where are they going to watch from?" Noah says and Eve continues to draw on the paper.

Eve and Noah got distracted from whatever they're planning and are asking questions to get to know each other better. The topics have ranched from, favourite sports, childhood, family, sporting life and achievements and everything in between. "Have you ever been in love?" Noah asks and out of the corner of my eye, I see Eve look at me for a split second before looking down at her shoes that's on the chair "Yeah, and it sucked because he didn't want it" She says "How old were you when you had your first kiss?" Eve asks "Fifteen" Noah answers "Oh sh*t! I've got to go!" Noah said grabbing his school bag and running out the tower without a word from Eve, leaving us in the tower alone.

"It's not that I didn't want you, its that I don't want you to go through the same thing as I did" I justify "How do you I was talking about you?" She says "Because of the look you gave me before answering" I answer and she was quiet "I get if you don't want to be with me, I did bash two nights ago," She says and I scoot closer to her "Yeah, but I deserved it. I had been a d*ck to you" I say taking her hands in mine "I didn't mean to knee you down there. I just didn't want to kiss you" She says "Yeah, that was pretty painful," I say and giggles at her childish action, lowing her head, making her hair fall in front of her face so I couldn't see her cheeks burn red. "What I did was wrong, but truth is, I was embarrassed that if people knew that I was going out with a seventeen-year-old, they'd look down upon me. But I'd rather let people think down on me than see you hurt and I want you back, E. Will you take me back?" I ask and she looks at me "Yeah" She says and removes her hands from mine and wraps em around my hug, pulling me in for a hug and I drive her home after my shift.