Surfing Midland (Complete/ First draught).

Chapter 1

It's an odd feeling being underwater; it's not uncomfortable if you're expecting it. I look forward to it most mornings as I take my surfboard out and ride a few waves, the stress of the upcoming day and the world kind of melts away with every ripple and every wave that either pushes me to shore or below the water's surface.

Today was a little different to the rest, this morning's surf had been my last for the foreseeable future.

See, my parents were divorced when I was three or four years old, one of the last times I saw my dad was at six. By then he had found himself a new wife and half a new family, the woman came with one kid and another on the way. Neither belonged to my dad, but they were both apparently better than me, my dad didn't even call to say happy birthday, and I guess that was what ate me up a lot.

The very last time I saw my dad I was fourteen, by then I had been surfing for nearly eight years. I distinctly remember the surprise written across his face as my mom told him that I had been skipping school to hang out at the beach. Surfing was what made me happy and being near the water was always comforting, it distracted me from the taunts of kids at school.

My home was one of the few that wasn't 'complete' and it was just more fuel for my peers to drag me down. What was the point of going to school if I was being pushed around, insulted and made to feel anything other than happiness?

At the age of fourteen, my parents had come together for the first time that I could remember and agreed on something. I hated them both for that; my mom was more interested in running her business so was away more than she was at home. And my dad? Well, he was more interested in his kids and his ranch more than he was in knowing what I was doing.

It irked me, but they had what I needed to get my name and face out into the surfing world, and that was money.

In exchange for the monetary support I would need to keep my grades up at school, once the kids in my classes realised that I was something other then a 'loser' their attitudes changed. Suddenly I was it; girls wanted to be my friend, and guys wanted to date me. It was ridiculous; I was fourteen and guys were pretty much lining up.

Playing it cool I pretended that the guys were just not good enough for me, I didn't want to lose what little respect I had gained just by being good at what I loved. High school reputations were a fickle thing, one day you were in and the next you could be out flat on your ass in the blink of an eye.

It was just the other day that I arrived home to see my principal sitting at the dining room table with my mom, both their expressions were grim as I walked in and planted my school bag on the floor.

I knew then that I couldn't lie my way out of this one and after the principal had left my mom gave me an earful and then promptly burst into tears. It wasn't that I was a naughty child or that I was dumb, I just hated sitting in classes all day when I could instead be sitting on my surfboard practising for the upcoming surf tour that I was scheduled to be at.

Two days after the principal had called around to our house my mom had announced that I was being shipped off to my dad's for the summer. I could see right through her excuses; she wasn't sending me away for my good, she was sending me away, so she didn't have to worry about me. So I wasn't a drain on her finances anymore, whenever my mom left the country or town for business she had to hire a maid and nanny to care for me.

Paddling to shore, I rolled my eyes when I spotted my mom dressed in a bright yellow dress standing on the beach; her heels were strapped to her feet which were entirely typical of her. She'd regret it later when she got on to the firmer ground and realised she had grains of sand stuck between her foot and shoe.