Page 42 of Beyond The Break

When we finally reach the lineup zone, we all sit up on our boards and stare out at the horizon waiting for the second airhorn to sound as the waves begin to swell. The first three people, including Zale, catch some massive waves minutes later, but when it comes down to Colton and me, the waves turn soft and non-surfable.

“Total chunder,” I hear Colton groan as we continue staring out at the horizon.

Minutes pass but there aren’t any new waves in sight.

“How are you doing, Fin?” he calls out to me.

“Fuck you,” I shout back, glaring at him.

How am I doing!? I should fucking drown him.

“Come on, man, I haven’t heard from you in six months,” he says, paddling closer.

“Your fake friend bullshit isn’t going to work on me, Harrison.”

“This isn’t fake friend bullshit,” Colton replies as he paddles right up to me.

His brows are pulled together in confusion, his eyes reflecting the hurt that he feels as he digests my words.

Good. It’s about time he felt a fraction of what I’ve been feeling for so many months.

“It always was,” I growl.

“It wasn’t,” he says firmly, his expression turning desperate, “you never gave me a chance to explain myself.”

“You never tried to but go ahead.”

“She kissed me, I swear. I didn’t?—”

I grind my teeth together so hard I’m surprised they don’t crack. The anger I feel right now is immeasurable.

“Oh, cut the bullshit!” I grind out.

“I swear, Fin,” he exclaims, “one second, I was giving her your wax tin and the next she had me pushed up against your car with her mouth suffocating mine. Before I could even push her off, you were punching me to the ground.”

My mind flashes back to the moment I found them and the shock as well as confusion that was written on his face after I punched him. I don’t want to believe his story. I want to stay angry with him and blame him for all my pain, but what he says makes more sense than anything I’ve managed to come up with on my own in the past six months, but why did it take him so long to tell me what happened?

I stare at him, trying my best to make sense of that part but I can’t. The airhorn blows again, signalling the end of the heat. Colton and I both finishing at zero points which means instantdisqualification from the rest of the competition today. I laugh dryly and start paddling back to shore, away from him.

As I reach the shore, Gabriel stands alone, his arms crossed, watching me stiffly. He doesn’t say anything as I pass him and that’s almost worse than him yelling at me. At least when he yells, I know how he’s feeling and what he’s thinking. I walk over to the tent, tossing my board to the ground and slumping down beside it. I release a frustrated groan as I fall to my back and cover my face with my towel as warm tears stream down the side of my face.

After some time has passed, I discretely wipe away the tears and sit up. Maliah has a first-place medal around her neck, matching Koa’s, as the team makes their way back to the tent where I sit. Not wanting to talk to anybody, I put my headphones on and pretend to listen to music as I watch them celebrate the winners.

THIRTEEN

ELIANA

Griffin issilent the whole drive home, his hands curled into fists on his lap, as he stares out of the window. He’s been silent ever since finishing his heat, listening to music, and tuning us all out. We all tried to cheer him up earlier into the drive, but we quickly realized he couldn’t hear us over his music.

The whole team, minus Gabriel who is gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles and is just as silent as Griffin, discuss dinner plans for the rest of the drive. The uncomfortable feeling of being in a moving vehicle continues to grow the longer I sit in the car, but I don’t want to be rude by forcing myself to fall asleep for the rest of the drive.

As my leg begins to fidget from my discomfort, Griffin presses the side of his leg against mine to stop the shaking. The act is innocent, and more of an indication of his annoyance, but it calms my nerves enough for me to get through this drive awake.

I stare down at my phone, scrolling through the photos I sent through my camera’s Bluetooth, and decide I’ll keep myself distracted by spending the next forty minutes focused on editing my favorite photos and scheduling them to post atdifferent times today and tomorrow. The drive back to The Shredder House is faster than the drive was to Dolphin Bay, in part due to less traffic since we left earlier than others, but mostly due to Gabriel’s urgency to get back.

Gabriel has been just as quiet as Griffin except his anger is palpable. Even though Koa and Maliah came in first place individually, their scores weren’t enough to push the team to first place. We came in third, next to the Rip Raiders, who came in second. I can tell that upsets Gabriel more than anything and I have no doubt that the practices leading up to the next competition will be intense.

I'm almost certain that Gabriel has decades worth of animosity and rivalry toward the coach of the Rip Raiders. They didn't speak at all today, but I saw them shooting each other dirty looks throughout the whole competition.

---