Surfer's Sense//l. hemmings

first ride//i.

beep beep beep beep bee-

I am woken up by the familiar sound of my alarm clock quietly shooting noise through the room. I roll around a little before sitting up, stretching my arms and getting out of bed. I let out one big yawn and check the time.

4:00 a.m. it reads. Perfect timing. I smile as I look out my bedroom window and see the waves violently crashing onto the soft sands of the beach. I quickly throw my sleep ware to the ground and swap them for a bright blue bikini. I jet outside after grabbing my surfboard. There will never be anything that compares to my board. The top is red the middle is white and the bottom is blue, it has a few big stickers on it. Besides Alana, this is my best friend. I stand on the beach outside, setting my board down so I can wax it. I connect my leash to my ankle and jog out to the water.

Jumping on my board, I paddle out past the breaking waves and wait for a good set. Soon enough I can feel myself hurling my board the other direction and paddling before launching myself upwards and dropping in. I could feel the power of the wave surging beneath me. The feeling alone making a smile spread across my face. I do a few tricks, snapping off the lip of the wave, pulling a 360 and riding out the rest of the wave before I barrel into the water, abandoning my board.

I catch more and more waves, all feeling just as amazing as the first. The sets have died down a bit so I took the opportunity to sunbathe on my board. I feel someone come up next to me. "Thought I heard a little mermaid run past my door this morning." I turn my head, smiling at my brother. "Well I guess in this case early bird gets the waves, john john." I say and he rolls his eyes laughing lightly at my comment. "Oh please, no matter how early you get out here sis, you know your rides won't match up to mine on the judges boards." He says while laughing and throwing his thumb back to point at our other brother and parents on the beach all holding notepads and pens, ready to judge us. I shook my head and turned to Johnny. I leaned over and whispered, "Oh you are so on." Before I tipped his board, causing him to fall into the water. I erupted in laughter and took of paddling for the next ride.

[A/N: play Sounds of Sunshine by Michael Franti and Spearheads now for a better feel to this part:) ]

I drop in the wave and maneuver my board down. The wave starts to enclose so I duck in and catch the barrel. I smile as I break through the small opening. I pass by Johnny and playfully spray him before diving off the board. Johnny and I look back to the 'judges' and I smile seeing that I got an 8.7 from my dad, a 7.6 from my mum and a solid 10 from my brother. I laugh as John tips my board over as a wave comes by so he can paddle out for it before me. John drops in the wave, carves it of the top. He does a 360 off the lip of the wave and a roundhouse cutback then follows it up with one more strong snap off the top before riding out the rest of the wave and catapulting himself into the water. I cheer and clap for him and we look back to see our family doing the same. Dad gave him a 7.8, mum gave him a 7 and Kaden gave him a 6. "What? A six! That's it." Johnny and I paddle out towards land. "You gave me a six!" Johnny exclaims before picking up a handful of sand and throwing it at each of our laughing family members. "Hey don't torment the judges!" I say picking up my own handful of sand and throwing it at John. We all are throwing sand at each other while cracking up. Even our dog Reef jumped in.

Johnny and Kaden tackle me to the water and mum and dad join on top. My whole family has always been this way. We love spending all of our time together. My mum even homeschools me and my best friend Alana. My parents are both big on surfing. Dad went pro when he was about my age. When they had Johnny, he stepped back on the surfing a bit so that he could be there for his family. Then my mum had Kaden and dad really gave up on competing. When my mum had me, we moved into our place right on the beach in Lahaina, Hawaii. With two die hard surfers as parents, its kind of inevitable for you to become a surfer. As far as I remember, I have always been in the water or on a board. My parents use to claim that Alana and I were mermaids and that we'd always look like little prunes because we were always in the ocean. At the age of 10, I began surfing in local competitions, Alana right there with me. We have kind of built up a name by doing so. For me though, it is never about winning. It's just about the joy you feel while having the power of a wave surging underneath you.