Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 12 - First and Last

You wander back down towards the part of the beach where the competition was being held, grabbing your board and running towards the starting line when you see that your heat is about to begin.

You guess Poppy must have won her heat, and your quick glance at the leader board confirms it: she's in first place.

You line up next to Summer and Bodhi, quickly zipping up the back of your wetsuit. Every thought of Ari and his panic attacks and how much he causes you to worry gets pushed to the back of your mind as you look out at the surf on the horizon. 

Bodhi's eyeing Summer suspiciously, probably wondering if she should even be in the competition, and to be honest, you have your doubts too. You haven't seen her surf much, but everyone at Shorehaven's been surfing since they were little, and Summer only started a couple of weeks ago, if that.

As you hear the horn blare out your signal to start the heat, you sprint into the water, paddling hard to get out there first. Even if it's not much of an advantage for catching a good wave (they come along in spades most days), it gives you a confidence booster to be out there first.

Despite your best efforts, Tran catches the first wave, but you get the second and Bodhi the third, everyone posting good scores.

Summer...well, she catches waves, but out of the corner of your eye you see her wipe out a few times.

Nearing the end of your heat, you line up to catch the last big wave of a set - it's risky, as the  wave is already breaking, but it's worth it as you score a 9.2.

You can only just hear a trace of the commentary over the sound of the ocean, but you somehow hear that you're first. First.

Tran is in second, which means Bodhi's third, and needs a pretty big score to take second place. After surfing your last wave, you don't bother paddling back out, instead sitting  on your board in the shallows and watching the last contestants surf.

You see Bodhi line up for a wave, but Summer is in front and obstructs her. A few seconds later the horn blares again and that's that. Bodhi comes in third. You can't help but feel a little bit happy for Summer as she stands up and rides in on the best wave of the set, but you catch a glimpse of Bodhi's face as she paddles in. 

Tonight's gonna be just great, you think.

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"Four finalists in the house baby!" Manu exclaims, raising a glass as he turns to his team, all seated around the BBQ on the balcony of your aunt's house. "And well done to Summer for her first comp." he adds. "A little bit unorthodox, but everyone loves a kook slam, right?"

"Hey, I do what I can." Summer shrugs with a smile. 

You and Bodhi are sat on the steps, your mum dragging a reluctant Marlon off to dance to the music blaring from Poppy's speaker, and Ari and Poppy are manning the BBQ.

"Don't beat yourself up." Manu says to Bodhi. "You picked the right waves, you just got unlucky, alright?" he turns to you. "You however, need to choose your waves more wisely."

"Why? I won." you shrug. 

"That last wave was risky. If you hadn't paddled enough that wave would have broke and you would have been held down."

"But I did paddle enough," you say frankly, "and it was my best score."

"I know that. But next time it may not be." he says simply, and goes to check on the others as you glare after him. 

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"You're seriously sending us to bed? But it's still light out!" Summer exclaims, following your mum upstairs. You can hear them from your room as you brush your teeth.

"Our finalists need their rest; I don't want tired surfers out there tomorrow, and I don't want my sister-in-law's house ruined!" she raises her voice slightly at the end.

You hear a door slam and footsteps enter your room. "Y/n, your mum is annoying." Summer says bluntly, and you can't help but smile as Summer flops down on her bed with a sigh.

Poppy joins you in the bathroom, reaching for her toothbrush. "Great heat today, Y/n." she says with a smile.

"Thanks. You too." you reply. "Not looking forward to going against you tomorrow, though." 

She laughs. "Well, may the best woman win." 

You hesitate for a second, wondering if you should even mention what you want to say next. "Um, Pops?"

"Uh huh?"

"Has Manu said anything about my surfing. Like, anything to suggest he doesn't like the way I surf."

She hesitates too, but quickly shakes her head. You know she's lying. "Please Poppy. I really need to know."

She sighs in defeat. "All he said was that he thinks you take too many risks. But it was only like a passing thought, he wasn't full on talking about you or anything." she says, a little too quickly for your liking. 

"What does that even mean 'take too many risks'?" you say incredulously. "Would he rather me play it safe and lose?"

"No, he'd rather you play it safe and not get hurt." she says, raising her eyes as if to say 'you know exactly what i'm talking about'. And you do. 

"I only got held down badly once. Once." you exclaim. "And now he's punishing me for it." you mutter. Surely the memory of that hold down being burned into your mind is punishment enough. 

"He's not punishing you." Poppy reassures. "Last time was bad, Y/n. You could have drowned..."

"Yeah, but I didn't." you reply, and Poppy puts down her toothbrush with a guilty smile.

"Hey, Poppy, Y/n!" Summer calls in from the bedroom. "Let's go have some fun!"

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A/N: Hey, sorry this chapter is a little boring, I just had to set up them being at Jackson Bay, but next chapter should be a lot more interesting 😏 Also I've recently posted a book of imagines for Surviving Summer so it would mean a lot to me if you could check that out (you can also request stuff).

Thanks for reading!

Phoebe x