• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

They jumped a few more small waves, then Lena said, "I want to try a pop-up."

"You sure you're ready?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, on the next little broken wave, I want you to do a pushup, but this time get to your feet. Remember to put your goofy-foot forward. Here it comes."

Lena felt the swell of the wave touch the board and pass into her very soul. She pushed with her arms, then jumped to her feet. She wobbled a little, balancing, and kept her knees bent, to lower her center of gravity.

"That's great, Lena!" shouted Ani, as Lena rode the white water to the shore. "Fall away from the board."

As the board stalled out, Lena allowed her body to fall away from the board.

"You're a natural!" cried Ani. "I can't believe you stayed up the whole time! It took Kai, like, two weeks to catch a wave and stay up for the whole ride."

Lena smiled. "That was fun!"

"It's the best. You're going to be really good at it, I can tell. Must be hereditary."

Lena cocked her head at Ani.

"Wasn't your dad a really good surfer? You know, back when he used to surf?"

"Um ... I really don't know."

"My dad says they all used to surf Magic's together."

"They did?"

"Yeah. And Magic's doesn't treat fools kindly, so you know he must've been good."

The mention of her father cast a shadow over Lena's joy. What would he do if he knew she was out here?

"Ani?"

"Yes?"

"I really shouldn't stay much longer. And ... I'm getting tired."

"Thanks for telling me. Some people don't know when to come in. They stay out so long they get hypothermic. Let's head for the beach. Can you get to shore on your own? I just want to catch a couple of waves. Then we'll call it a day."

"Sure." Lena climbed out of the rolling surf and dried herself off with a towel. She sat down to watch Ani and Kai surf. They were laughing and yelling insults at each other.

"Way to drain out, Midget!" called Ani.

"Don't call me Midget, Gidget!" yelled Kai.

I want to surf with Dad, thought Lena, with a pang. I want him to tell me I'm a natural. Maybe someday.

When Ani and Kai had had enough, they headed for the beach.

The three of them peeled off their wetsuits and poured jugs of fresh water over them, to clean the sand and salt off.

Kai put his arms around Lena before she had a chance to slip back into her shorts and T-shirt. He ran his hands over her back and shoulders, causing her bare skin to tingle. "You looked great out there," he said.

"Thanks. It was awesome. I can't wait to be good at it."

He pressed her closer to him, and kissed her. "Trust, Leen. You were meant to surf."

CHAPTER 12

Lena sent a text to Pem: Surfing rulez!

After a moment, a message came back from Pem: Yayyyyy! Woo-hoo!!!

Lena: Ani is a super great teacher.

Pem: I wish I could have gone w/ u but wait til u hear what happened!

Lena: ??

Pem: U will never believe it.

Lena: Do I rly hafta guess?

Pem: Hee! I will tell u when u get here.

Lena: OMG ur evil!

Pem: See u soon. Xoxo

Lena made an impatient sound.

Ani glanced over at her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Lena closed her cell phone. "Pem has some news, but she won't tell me until I get to her house. Thanks for dropping me off there." Lena had asked Ani to take her to Pem's house so she could change clothes and dry her hair before she went home.

"No problem. Do you want to get together next Friday for another lesson?"

"Yes! I already can't wait!"

Ani smiled. "It won't be long before you're surfing on your own. You've got a really good grasp of the basics already. Although I don't mean you should surf alone. You should always take someone with you." She cocked her thumb at Kai in the back seat, who was listening to his iPod. "Like Pig-Dog there. He's ready to get in the water anytime."

"Pig-Dog?"

"Kai keeps trying to get me to call him Kaiborg or Flea or Skeleton or something like that. He's dying for a cool surf name." She flipped on her left blinker, then turned down Pem's street. "So of course I torture him with bad nicknames." She pulled up in front of Pem's house and put the Jeep in park.