and
dark, heavily muscled under his wetsuit, with a thick neck and a
square jaw.
“Where’d you come from?” he asked, his
black eyes piercing into mine. He was older than us, probably not
much, but there was something about the directness of his gaze you
didn’t find very often in high school boys.
“Everywhere,” I may have sounded flippant,
but I spoke the truth.
“I’m Kimo,” he said, holding out his
hand.
I shook it politely, “I’m Marina, and this is
Shayla,” I gestured to Shayla, who was looking at him with an open
mouth.
“You girls locals?” he asked. His voice was
velvety, rich and deep like black coffee.
“We came here from down the coast,” I said
pointedly, “To surf.” On that note I turned my attention back to
the sea, waiting for another great wave to form. I could hear
Shayla and Kimo talking, but it was the humming of insects,
insignificant compared to the vibration from the water. I could
feel a massive one forming, seeing it take shape before it even
started. I moved into position, taking the perfect spot.
I started paddling, and was lifted by a
fierce power as I stood up on a wall of water more tremendous than
anything I had ever known before. I was scared and exhilarated at
the same time as I dug into the wall of flowing energy with my
board. It was the closest thing I could experience to swimming with
the mermaids; I rejoiced in the memory. I was dancing with the
ocean and it felt amazing. I pulled out at precisely the right
moment to avoid being smashed against the rocks. I paddled back to
Shayla, sublimely happy.
Now two faces looked at me, dumbstruck.
“Aren’t you going to surf, Shayla?” I
asked.
“How do you do that?” she asked.
“What?”
“Uh, pick the epic waves and ride them like–
like–”
“Like a pro!” Kimo burst in.
“I don’t know, I guess I’m just... good at
it,” I said, uneasy with the way they were looking at me. I turned
my focus back to the ocean and waited for another one. I was lined
up with some of the guys who seemed to be watching me expectantly.
I blocked them out and closed my eyes, waiting. They took some of
the other waves but I waited, and then I felt it, and as I moved
out they melted back, watching.
I ignored their stupid stares and took off.
This one was huge as the last, but it told me it was going to break
differently. I listened carefully to what it was going to do, and
adjusted my plan accordingly. Feeling as agile as a cat, I tried
out a few new things, turning the board in a circle in the air and
gliding back down the face. I ran my palm across the wall of water
and watched the patterns it made. Everything seemed to be going in
slow motion, and all I could hear was the sound of flowing water
like a million mermaids singing.
I looked up to see the rocks rushing towards
me and I cut back away from them at the last possible second,
barely making it. As I snapped back to reality I realized just how
foolish I was behaving. I was being lulled into a false sense of
security by the water, acting like an immortal mermaid when I was
in fact an extremely mortal human. I shuddered to think what those
rocks could do to me if I allowed myself to be swept away and lost
in a daydream. I remembered Ethan’s surfing accident; he wouldn’t
be too happy if he could see what I was up to.
I paddled out to Shayla to find a couple more
guys sitting up around her.
“You got some serious air!”
“That was epic!”
“Um, thanks,” I turned to Shayla, “I need to
go now.”
“OK,” she said numbly, looking at me like I
was from outer space.
“Did you see that chick boost off the lip?” I
could hear them talking as we paddled in. Obviously my reckless
display had impressed them. I hoped that Shayla would keep it to
herself. We climbed up the steep path to the parking lot to see a
group of guys hanging around the Mercedes, leaning on it and
looking in it. I felt a surge of anger– how dare they touch Evie’s
car! There
Susan Isaacs
Abby Holden
Unknown
A.G. Stewart
Alice Duncan
Terri Grace
Robison Wells
John Lutz
Chuck Sambuchino
Nikki Palmer