Page 26 of Beyond The Break

“Nice front side air reverse, Koa!” Gabriel screams out, clapping his hand while his clipboard is tucked under his arm.

From what I can tell, Koa is the best male surfer on the team. He performs the maneuver like it’s simple and I’m shocked every time he lands his board gracefully instead of wiping out. He makes it look easy.

On the female’s side, Maliah is a force to be reckoned with. Almost as if she’s challenging Koa, she performs the opposite of him, a backside air reverse maneuver, as Gabriel called it, that has him howling with excitement when she lands her board. I snap photos of her too and notice, through my zoomed in lens, that she sticks her tongue out at Koa who rolls his eyes in return.

I don’t know what happened between them after she pushed him away from the bar fight last night, but I sensed a different type of tension this morning. Instead of ignoring him as she usually does, she somewhat acknowledged his presence by offering him a fork without looking at him when they finished plating the pancakes that I’d woken up early to make. At least she’s finally acknowledging him, that’s a good first step.

When Kairi paddles back to the shore and runs to the surfboard rack to change out her board for a smaller one, Gabriel walks up to me and my heart jumps so far up my throat I feel like I’m going to puke. I ball one of my hands into a fist, digging my fingernails into my palm as I look up at his displeased face.

Something about how he looks at me reminds me of my father. Stern but caring. It makes me feel even shittier about the bar fight, especially after he pulled out all the stops to get me here.

“How are you doing? I heard about last night.”

“I’m doing okay, the team was there to help me out,” I pause, “I’m really sorry, Gabriel.”

“Don’t apologize for that shit, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he frowns at me, “but you guys should have called me.”

“It all happened really fast.”

“I’m sorry you had to experience that. Bar fights and predators aren’t something we see often in Saltwater Springs but in the cases where they do occur, we deal with it accordingly.” He sighs deeply. “I want you to know that all three men have been detained and will be charged. I’ve made sure of it. Please don’t let this scare you away from the position.”

My heart stutters in my chest at his words. He’s not firing me, instead he’s asking me not to quit. I’ve never had a job want me to stay this badly, usually they’re quick to get rid of me at the first opportunity, but Gabriel makes me feel like what I’m doing with the team is important work.

On top of that, he had a hand in catching those creeps and pressing charges. He is so connected, it’s almost scary. He has people that can wipe articles from the internet, and he seems to have a hand in law enforcement too.

“How did you manage to find them?” I ask.

“The security camera footage at the bar showed them messing with the drink before offering it to you. I handed that over to the police this morning and they were able to find all three men fairly quickly.”

“Does the footage also show the fight?” I ask, worried that the boys will get in trouble since they threw the first punches.

He pauses and studies me for a moment. “Not anymore,” he says, “anyways, the team will be doing more underwater practices in the coming days, so you’ll need to get gear for yourself. Why don’t you head on over to the local surf shop after this practice to get wet suits and a waterproof case for that camera?”

“I can go with you,” Kairi offers as she walks up to us with her new smaller board tucked under her arm, “I’ve been needing to visit and get a new wet suit anyway.”

“That would be nice, thanks,” I say, smiling as she runs back out to the ocean, paddling her way to the others.

“You still have my credit card, right? Use that to pay foreverything,” Gabriel says, returning his attention back to the team.

“I can’t do that; you already have a hefty bill from the bar to pay.” He turns back around and his blue eyes find mine as he frowns.

“I have the money to spend, why not spend it?”

“At the rate you’re letting us spend, you might end up penniless by the end of the week,” I joke.

He smiles a real smile and I notice he has dimples that somehow make him look even more angelic, as if that were physically possible.

“I could never be penniless, Eliana.”

I bite the urge to ask him how much a surf coach makes and decide to save that question for Kairi when we go shopping, hopeful that she knows the answer.

Returning my attention back to my camera, I point it toward the ocean searching for Griffin. When I find him, I notice he’s hanging back from the others as he struggles to keep balance on his board. Every time he stands up, I see fear written all over his face. I snap a few shots before Gabriel blows his whistle and everyone starts to paddle back in.

Gabriel dismisses everyone but places a hand on Griffins chest, stopping him from leaving. I stay behind, pretending to pack up my equipment very slowly as I eavesdrop.

“Stay for another hour, we’re going to start from the basics,” Gabriel says in a stern voice, “starting with riding the white water to shore.”

“You’re fucking kidding me, that’s beginner crap,” Griffin responds, his face turning red.

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