Swell (Complete)

Chapter Four (Part One)

"Some days it feels like the ocean lies inside of me."

....

The music session had been many things for Will once he's gotten over the shock; inviting, entertaining, and exhausting. By the time Tom had driven them all home after school Will had been more than ready to change and escape people.
He parked his motorbike at a beach on the edge of the town, before the main street of Wheeler Falls turned back into the highway and sat alone at a picnic table. The wind was stronger here than on the main street, the scent of pine trees blew all around him and he ran his hands over his hair, trying to smooth it down as he looked over the ocean before him.
Will remembered borrowing their father's car and taking everyone to the beach over the warm summer holidays, half a year ago now. This had been before Tom had finally passed his driver's test and gotten his car.
It hadn't been this beach of course. They'd never heard of Wheeler Falls back then.
That beach had been crowded; families, kids, couples and other holiday makers enjoying the Christmas and New Years' break.
He remembered laughing and swinging the old style picnic basket as he followed Liss away from the beach. Marti and Tom had run straight into the water.
Liss had led him under the shade of the palms trees and collapsed on a patch of grass. She had a floral sundress on that day and he stood over her until she pulled him down beside her and kissed him.
He felt the smile reach his lips again.
He was never going to forget that day, even though there had been so many others around, Liss had made him feel as if he was the only one in her world.
He traced a line on the wooden table, what had happened?
There hadn't been any signals that she wasn't happy, let alone unhappy enough to suddenly runaway.
His smile fell and his heart ached.
Tom had spoken all the way home that afternoon happily worked up that he had a date with Adora on the weekend. Only Tuesday, just their second day at school in Wheeler Falls, and already Tom was asking out girls.
Will almost felt sorry for the quiet local girl.
Although, there had been nothing quiet about her during their music class, was it odd that she hadn't talked about her pending date with Tom though?
Her band had been playing together for a long time, which was obvious in their communications and comfort levels with each other.
They had no problem welcoming him into the four-piece group to create a five piece. He had just mentally strummed along, following the chords Adora had written over her scribbly lyrics. He'd tried not to stare at Rae, the violinist, and it had been a struggle not to imagine Liss giggling as she played; despite the fact Rae clearly had Asian descent, so they looked nothing alike.
Will really hadn't expected to find a violinist in a small town, he hadn't even thought about violins since Liss had run away, leaving hers behind. It had really left an impact on him than he'd like to admit.
Even her sister thought that was strange; Liss loved her violin, why would she leave it behind?
At first when Marti had shown Will a photo of the note on her phone he hadn't believed her; Liss had no reasons to leave Richieville, but Marti had been Liss' best friend, and she'd been surprised too.
Now they were both moving on, only he was slowly crawling forward and Marti was running fast to escape the past. He was struggling to stop thinking about Liss. She'd been his first and only serious girlfriend and the note had been so simple; it hadn't blamed anyone for her leaving, it hadn't ended any relationships, at least not in so many words.
But her leaving without him, the note specifically saying she didn't want to be followed... Or looked for...
He couldn't help but wonder what had happened, what had he done to deserve the cold abandon of a note?
Will lifted his face from the old wooden table and let go of a heavy breath, allowing his shoulders to rise and fall with the movement.
Tom was already enjoying the new scenery. Liss had been little more than an acquaintance to him, his only qualms were that she had not said goodbye to his siblings, but he was trying to support them as they moved on from the sudden departure.
Will was undeniably single because of the note, Tom had told him to get a date so that they could double date on the weekend. It had almost been a joke, almost. Will knew Tom wanted him to be happy again, but what his twin seemed to neglect was that it had barely been over a week since the note had been found on Liss' bed.
And Will had found out about the bakery and the move on the same day.
Marti knew about the note before him because she had been going over to tell Liss about their parents seemingly sudden bakery purchase.
Will had made sure that they had left a forwarding address, hoping that maybe Liss would write him, that maybe he'd find a letter telling him where she was, that she was safe and happy and that she missed him.
Marti told him not to hold his breath.
Part of him was trying to leave Liss behind, like she had done to them, part of him was trying to focus on the new town, the new future but it felt like an empty one.
He was lucky that Wheeler Falls was small, lucky that it was surrounded by places to go and hide, lucky that everyone he'd met so far were friendly.
Brett had offered some songs for Will to learn as the soloist, Kurt had offered his address for garage band practises, Rae had sensed his uncertainty and been friendly, but not too forthcoming so her presence didn't overwhelm him.
Adora's band, her friends, were close; they were sweet like she was, she and Brett were clearly close; initially Will wondered if they were an item, then Tom had announced his date with Adora in the car.
She was pretty, and friendly and they were likely to be spending plenty of time with her as they caught up to the psychology classwork.
The sun sank lower over the water; the dark blue ocean split the horizon in half, the sky melting in colours of dusk and evening. The breeze became colder and Will pulled his leather jacket tighter around his neck to try and block out some of the chill.
If he was forced to move on and forget about Liss' abandonment, then a friendly, pretty town like this was probably the best type of place to do so.

Marti sat on the beach and pulled her hood over her ponytail. The wind was cold on the shore, the morning twilight was dancing on the waves before her and she took deep breaths between glances down to her paper. The oceanic views were incredible compared to the boring, small parks and lakes of the suburbs.
Her sketchbook hung on the other side of her knees and her grey led separated the page into three uneven sections; sand, sea, sky.
She roughly sketched outlines of waves, trying to dot the foam as they broke. Scribbles represented the reflection of the rising sun and she smiled as she glanced up again for another look.
The mornings in Wheeler Falls were cold and she had learnt on her first walk along the beach that her hoodie would be a necessary accessory to morning sketch sessions and maybe even a scarf.
May was the wrong month of the year for the sun to be warm in the morning, but summer was going to be amazing.
"Well, what do we have here?!" The loud voice caught her by surprise and she knocked her pencil tin over in the sand as she spun to see a duo of familiar faces dressed in wetsuits.
Iain's face was the first that she recognised and smiled at. She straightened her pencils and shook her head in spite of herself.
Morning surfers.
"Hi Iain." She said as he stopped beside her and peered onto her page, his surfboard being jammed deep into the sand.
"Hmm, its missing Wheeler Falls' best attraction, but I'm here now, so I think you can fit me in here." He leaned over and used his index finger to draw a big circle the middle of her page.
"You think?" She asked him with an exaggerated frown. She had learnt not to take Iain seriously after their first conversation on the steps out the front of the school.
"Good morning, Marti." Samuel Dodgers moved beside Iain and Marti smiled up towards the young principal.
The sun flecked through both of their messy blond locks and once again she was taken aback at how like movie and TV surfers the brothers looked.
They almost looked like twins, but there had to be at the very least ten years between them, surely considering Dodge was the principal of the high school.
"Morning, Mr Dodgers." Marti smiled politely.
"Dodge, outside of school anyway, please." He pushed his board into the dark gold sand nearby as Iain had and Marti was impressed that the boards stood upright; she had always assumed it was some kind of TV exaggeration. "Ever been surfing before?"
"No, I told Iain on Monday its more of a thing for the boys, well, Tom anyway." Marti looked out to the water. "Isn't it a bit calm? Not that I would actually know..."
"This part of the beach is, but there's an area just around the bend that isn't really easy to reach from the shore." Dodge explained.
"Well, not with surfboards in tow anyway, I learnt that the hard way." Iain added with a laugh, looking out to the ocean and its gentle white rows of foam. "You going to be here long?" He looked back down to Marti.
"Probably another hour or so, then I'll have to go back home and get ready for school." She answered, glancing from Iain to her page and flicking her eyes up to the horizon she had been trying to sketch.
"Last day of your first week, how are you settling in?" Dodge ran a hand through his blond hair, seemingly trying to get the lengthy bangs to stay off of his face, but the breeze blew them right over it again and Marti tried not to laugh at his frustration.
"I'm settling in fine."
"Well, you know where my office is, if you have any problems, don't be afraid to come and talk to me. Are the boys doing alright?"
"As far as I know." Marti shrugged, trying to think if there was anything she knew of that was worth mentioning. She could mention that Will might have a bit of trouble settling in, but she decided against it. Between her and Tom, Will would be fine.
"Wonderful. Well, we better get paddling if we're going to get any waves before we have to go get ready for school." Dodge pulled his board from the sand and gave Marti a quick nod before he headed into the rolling waves.
"See you round." Iain gave her a wink and then pulled his board out of the sand and followed his brother off the beach. The thought of going into the water in this weather sent a shudder through her body.
For a few moments Marti watched the two Dodgers' lie on their surfboards and use their arms to paddle out into the ocean. She let her eyes follow them across the water until they disappeared around the dunes and rocks that jutted out at one end of the beach.
She looked down to her sketch and wondered about incorporating the two into her ocean view.
A small laugh to herself and she shook her head. "Maybe next time, Iain." She muttered, her eyes going back to flicking between the page and the scenery.