A Soul Survivor

Chapter 1

Hi I'm Bethany Hamilton. I live in Kauai Hawaii with my family. I was raised by two die heart surfers. how could I not have salt water in my veins? My parents names are Tom and Cheri before me they had my two older brothers Noah and Timmy and then a couple years later I came along.

As I continued to grow up I found the love of surfing. My best friend Alana and I were found in the water every day. My mom was convinced that we were mermaids.

Today is the Hawaiian Island Surf Regionals. I'm competing in the color blue and Alana is in the color pink. "Hamilton those waves are mine." Melina Burch snorted, before sitting down on the sand next to me and Alana. Melina Burch is one of the best surfers in all of the surf competitions in Hawaii, but she can be kind of not so nice before competitions and not just before, after too. "Let's just let the surfing do the talking." I retorted. Alana smiled at me giving me a high five before we heard the horn to go into the water. We paddled out towards the center of the ocean where we waited for the big waves. I sat up on my board and looked out into the sea thinking just what could happen in this competition.

Nothing happened for quite a while until we saw a great big wave curl out of the water. I have never paddled so fast before in my life. I duck dove under the wave and came up but was behind the wave. Guess who got that wave, Melina. 'I must've duck dove to far.' I thought to myself. I sighed frustrated with myself, and laid back down on my board and paddled myself back to shore.

"Melina stole that wave from me." I complained to my dad. "Honey theirs always next time. There's a wave for everyone out their." He said. I listened to what he said and I knew it was true. I'm still upset about not doing my best.

Today wasn't all about surfing, right off the sand was a big skateboarding event going on and a bunch of me and Alana's guy friends were skateboarding in the event. It seemed like it was settling down a bit so me and Alana decided to go over and talk to some guys just as we got over their, we ran into our best friend Kiokie. "Hey!" He smiled. "Nice surfing out their." "Yeah tell that to Melina." I said looking at the ground. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself." Kiokie said putting his hand on my shoulder. I gave him a closed mouth smile before saying "thanks!" "Well tonight theirs midnight surfing would you guys wanna come?" He asked. "Of course!" Alana said, really surprising me. "Wait you've done this before?" I asked. "Ummm yeah." She hesitated. "Alana!" I exclaimed. "What?" She said shrugging her shoulders. "So are you guys coming or not?" Kiokie asked. "Uhh yeah, but don't tell my mom or she'll give us both huge essay assignments." I warned. My mom has been home schooling me and Alana for a couple of years now, and doesn't like it when we're out late on "school nights." "Promise me I won't." Said Kiokie waving us off. We had a couple more surfing heats and then we were done. I had a really good wave where I just flew past Melina and got her off guard taking the wave from her and whipping my board up the wave and riding the wave in the middle and then coming back down. Probably one of my best waves of the day.

***

Alana had stayed at my house all day hanging out and doing some last minute school things, especially since we were planning to stay out late tonight. She also planned to spend the night at my house. "Goodnight mom!" I said as she tucked me in and kissed me goodnight. "Goodnight girls." She smiled and then closed the door to my room. After a couple of minutes Alana jumped out of her blow up mattress and ran over to my window and opened it. "Alana I'm not so sure this is a good idea." I said sitting up and throwing my legs on the side of the bed. "Come on you'll be fine." She said grabbing her surf board. I sighed and agreed to go again. We made sure our beds looked like we were in them and then headed off to Kiokie's red pick up truck that was filled with all of our friends and their surfboards. "Ready girls?" He said. "Ready!" We said together. We got to the beach and quickly got into the water and caught some waves. It was fun surfing at night.

The water was pitch black and you couldn't see anything under the slow moving water. When everything calmed down me, Alana, and Kiokie sat on our boards admiring the darkness of the night sky and the glowing light from the moon. "Bethany it's almost midnight." Alana smirked. "What happens then?" I asked nervously. "You'll see." Said Kiokie. Just as he said that bright colors of explosions spread across the sky. Fireworks!! The water, fireworks and great friends to be around just completed my night. "They're so pretty!" I smiled. "See I knew you would like this!" Alana smiled. I smiled back at her. "We should probably get going." I said after the grand finale had finished. "Yeah, Kiokie can you drive us back?" Alana asked. "Of course girls." He agreed and started paddling back to shore. After we gathered all of our stuff we got into Kiokie's car.

"Thanks dude." I said hopping out of his car after he had pulled into my drive way. "Anytime girls." He said. We climbed into our beds and fell fast asleep, excited for another day of surfing.

I'm finally going to pursue this book. I know it might be a little boring right now but it's just starting. So I hope enjoy it!
-Katie