The Surfer Girl

wipeout

"Hey Channi, wasup?" I groaned slightly as Alex looked at me with a puzzled expression.

'Nothing.' I mouthed, turning slightly. A boy our age paddled over, stopping a few feet away from me. He had brown hair with blond highlights from the sun and hazel eyes that complimented his tan skin.

"You gonna answer me?" He asked, chuckling. I gave him a weak smile.

"Hey Kai, how's it going?" I replied as politely as possible. He looked from me, to Alex, back to me.

"Good. How about you?"

"Alright, just the same old same old."

"Who's this?" he asked. To anyone else, it would seem like a normal question, but I could hear the jealousy and hurt in his voice.

"This is my friend, Alex. He's from Australia."

"Cool! I've always wanted to go. What brings you to hawaii?" Kai asked, slowly wedging his way in between us. I rolled my eyes, but tried to play it off so neither of the boys noticed.

For the love of God, can I please have a break from boy drama for at least today? I thought to myself. Apparently that was too much to ask, because as soon as I turned my head, Alex and kai were glaring daggers at each other, and then both proceeded to paddle out to catch a big wave. As they got further out, the group on the beach started to whoop and cheer. 

Kai caught the first wave, doing a few spins before wiping out. Alex caught the next, riding it out before gracefully diving into the water. I tried my best not to make it about me, but something about this day was just making my mood worse and worse by the minute. Angrily, I paddled back to shore without catching a single wave.

"My bet's on Stevens." Cooper said, bringing a cold seltzer to his mouth.

"Nah, it's gotta be the blondie. Look at him, he's practically out of Hawaii Five-O. What was his name again?"

"Alex." I said shortly, sticking my board in the sand. I sat down, pulling out my phone and scrolling through social media.

After what I thought was a short time, my phone let off a ring with a "Low battery" notification. I groaned, sitting back up and staring back at the water. The sun was beginning to set, and everyone was now either playing games on the sand, or sitting around what was going to be a bonfire, with blaring music and drinks all around. Drinking had never been my thing, and I made it a bit of an effort to steer clear of it when I could. Still, I made my way to two of the boys who were attempting to start the fire.

"You know, you would get a better start with that if you had some kindling." I commented, folding my arms. They looked at each other than to me, tossing me the lighter. They then turned away, shuffling through their backpacks. I moved around some of the logs, creating a teepee shape, before one of the boys tapped me on the shoulder.

"Uh, I heard doritos work? I don't know, you could try it. Or not." He turned away quickly. Not in a rude way, he just seemed a bit flustered, almost like they didn't want to talk to me. Honestly though? I preferred the cold shoulder to the constant heckling.

"Yeah, yeah that actually works really well." I replied softly. In a few swift movements, the boys had acquired a few snack bags of chips, opened, and scattered them in the makeshift sand pit. I chuckled and lit them up, and soon enough a warm orange glow came from the growing fire.

I stood up, extending my arm to the boy that handed me the lighter at first.

"Thanks." He said, tossing it into his bag. I nodded, sitting down on one of the larger logs being used to sit.