Unleash The Island

Chapter 9

The beach was packed to the brim. Every grain of sand on the surface was covered by a towel or by the shade from an umbrella. It was a sunny, humid day. People were splashing around in the water. Girls were tanning. Adults, and a few teenagers, were drinking.

Leo and Gavin were under the water. Gavin sat on Leo, pretending to drown him. Leo would grab him by the leg and launch him into the air. The two of them were having fun in the water while Wayne and Lisa were sipping on beers in their chairs.

Lisa recalled when they were little and they would throw a football back and forth. One time, Gavin threw it too far and it got caught into a wave. It pulled towards the deep water, so Wayne got up from his chair and ran over. His legs crashed against the water and told the boys to stop. He swam over to the ball and grabbed it. He could stand on the sand. He aimed it towards Gavin, threw it, then got caught in a wave. The three of them were laughing and Lisa smiled from ear to ear.

She did not feel good this time around. Something in her gut told her something was wrong. Wayne being silent all day did not assure how she felt. He would just take sips of his beer like he hated it. The boys were swimming around in the water. She should not have been feeling this way. It was a beautiful day and her son was beaming. She should be content.

A girl was gliding around the waves. She coasted to the top of the wave, then spun herself around for the next round of waves. Leo saw her pass by, her eyes panned him, and his face went red.

"That's the girl from the diner," Gavin said as he wiped the water out of his eyes. "I'm assuming based on that face you just made."

"Yeah," Leo said, then brushed it off. "It's whatever."

"No, no, no." Gavin trailed his eyes on her. "She's cute. What'd you do?"

"Nothing." Leo noticed Gavin's eyes trailing and shoved him. "Doesn't mean you look at her like that."

Gavin cackled. "I'm not into her like that. I'm into Imani, anyway." He splashed Leo with water. "So, what's stopping you?"

"Her." Leo twirled a singlet curl in his finger. "It's her. She's just so stubborn. It's like talking to a boulder."

The two brothers watched as she paddled towards another wave and repeated the same process. She was wearing a Speedo bikini instead of a wetsuit. She looked tanned and toned. Her hair was in a long braid and it laid against her back.

"All I'm saying is she looks great. I think you figure out what you did wrong, then make it right." Gavin splashed water at his step brother again. "You're Leo Alodia." He pointed a finger at him. "Don't forget that."

They continued to swim around and tackle each other. A couple of girls tried to join, but they would ignore them. It was very unlike Gavin to turn down a ten, let alone three of them. Leo usually would ignore and they would just come back, which was happening then. The two of them would swim away, but the girls would follow. It only made Leo look even more horrible in front of EJ.

"Come to the bridge with us," one of them said.

They walked over to the bridge Leo passed the day prior, which was infamously shown in Jaws. The signs encouraged people to not jump, but it was a tradition. Plus, everybody did it anyway. Tourists would purposefully come to the island just for the bridge and to jump into the water. Leo and Gavin were finally doing their first jump on the island after three years.

The girls went first. They plopped in and barely went underwater. They gave the boys a thumbs up. As they swam away, Gavin got ready to mount on the wooden fence. It was covered in algae. Kids jumped with screams as their parents held their phones up to capture the moment instead of watching it themselves. EJ was sitting on her board with her legs dangling off the sides. The current was weak in that area, so she just stayed around the rocks and near the bridge.