Curious Minds

Chapter 10

"W-we need to call them back," the kid, Nick, said.

The wave was growing. It was one that most surfers would chose to avoid, especially the surfers in this area.

"Caleb, someone's gonna have to stop them," the girl said, getting to her feet.

"They aren't that stupid," I said. I hoped that was true.

The four of us on the ledge were now standing. It didn't look like any of them were going to back down from the wave. Some people on the beach had noticed and were now shouting, trying to get my friends' attention. None of them acknowledged the shouts. They just kept paddling towards the wave.

Josh's board flipped before he could get to where he needed to be for the wave. When he surfaced, he headed back towards the shore. Now it was just Drake and Caleb in the water.

I knew Caleb was one of the only surfers that came out here that would take on a wave like this, but he wasn't actually doing this as himself. I didn't know if Drake could take on this wave or not. As far as I knew he had only surfed small waves. Both of them had gone so far out that their boards were just visible in the fading light. They had gotten into position and were waiting for the still-building wave to reach them.

They began moving forward. As they gained speed, Drake stood up, but Caleb continued paddling to stay where he needed to be. I could almost hear Drake mocking Caleb, something he'd never do if he knew that it was Caleb on that board instead of me.

Another thing I hadn't thought of: how people reacted to each of us. Caleb was accepted everywhere. Women and girls flirted with him all the time. Guys and boys either wanted to be him or be his friend. Most people simply avoided me, when they didn't they usually bullied me. The twins and I had a near-abusive friendship. They had actually been some of the terrors from the lower classes before we all became friends. Competition always made them meaner.

Just when I thought Caleb was about to miss standing to ride the wave, he got to his feet like a pro. For a while, Caleb and Drake rode the wave together. As it folded over, we lost sight of them.

"Do you see them?" Josh huffed as he climbed up beside us. It was likely he had rushed up here to keep an eye on Drake.

"Naw man," Jaime said, watching the wave. "They're inside it."

I could almost see the worry and fear coming from Josh. That told me Drake had never taken on a large wave like this.

Out of the tunnel the wave now made, a bird flew. I knew it was an owl even though it was soaked and having difficulty flying. I looked at Josh. He had just breathed a sigh of relief when Caleb surfed out of the wave, still on his board. Caleb stayed on the board and rode the waves towards shore while Drake laborously flew past where we stood into the dense bushes and rocks. Josh took off to where he landed with an excuse I missed.

Everyone headed towards the beach to praise the new 'wave master'.

I just waited for the twins.

"What happened to no morphing?" I asked as they came into sight .

"I was gonna die if I didn't do something!" Drake protested.

Just barely remembering I was supposed to be Caleb, I made a low grunt and headed towards the beach where Caleb had reached land and was now surrounded by admirers. I wanted to press the twins. Both of them were acting strange now that I thought about it, and had been since the mission.

As I reached the group where Caleb was, someone grabbed my shoulder and spun me around roughly.

"What the hell is going on?" Caleb's cousin, Todd roared in my face.

"Uhh," was my intelligent response.

The crowd had quieted when Todd had roared and Caleb rushed forward.

"Man! I gotta show you something!" he said excitedly, dragging me towards the restrooms and ignoring his cousin. It was something I would have done. When we reached the restroom, Caleb locked the outer door before turning back towards me.

"Clothes!" he hissed as he began pulling the wetsuit off so he could demorph.

I quickly did the same. Caleb had to help me get the wetsuit on since it is difficult normally, let alone when it's wet. Neither of us worried over the other's nudity. By now we had spent enough time in the other's form that we didn't think too much on it.

Caleb had just shoved my still-dry hair under the faucet when there was banging on the locked door. "Just a moment!" Caleb yelled, fluffing my hair crazily. To me, he muttered, "We need to talk about a few things later."

I shook drops out of my eyes and nodded as he unlocked the door to an angry Todd, who gave a rather nasty glare my way.

"Hey, cuz. Sorry about that. Dak was worried because a jellyfish stung him. He'll be fine," Caleb chattered as he led his cousin away.

I made sure to jump into the surf before heading back to the group on the beach.