Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 40 - Secret's Out

"Let's go, Poppy!" You hear shouts all around from the Shorehaven team as Poppy wades into the white water, throwing her board down purposefully when she gets past the shallows. The heats are only 10 minutes long, so she only has time for one wave, but it's a good start. Next is Bodhi, and she secures the best wave of the set, earning an 8.9 score for the team.

"We're doing pretty well huh?" Ari nudges you as you watch Thommo line up on the sand.

"Not as well as Anchor Cove." you correct, after noticing that the other club is still a few points ahead of you.

"Hey," you hear Marlon come up behind you, wedging himself between you and Ari. "So, when was the last time Thommo surfed in a comp?"

"Oh, mate I don't know - late 90s?" Ari replies, sceptical, as Bodhi runs in from the water and tags Thommo. He's quick on his feet, and he seems confident, but you've rarely seen him surf. Before Ari's accident, you used to see him and his dad on Back Beach one morning a week, always at sunrise when it was quiet, but you've never seen him surf competitively before, and you didn't think you ever would, especially after what happened last year.

After a hopeless set has passed through, another comes in to take its place: perfect 5 footers which curve like a bend in a road. Within two minutes, all competitors had caught waves, but Thommo was outshining them all, cutting through the water like a knife through butter, slashing the white water on his top turns. It's clear who the winner of this round will be, but back on the shore, Thommo's success is bewildering the club, least of all his son.

"I hope you surf like that, brother!" Marlon exclaims to Ari, who simply gazed on in shock at his father, muttering out a quick "so do I."

Eventually the time runs out, and Thommo paddles in, looking exhausted but exhilarated at the same time. He tags Ari, who then follows in the same footsteps as his father, catching an enervating four waves in the ten minutes. You only manage to see three of them, as you grab your board and rub some last-minute wax on it, and head to the starting line. As you're lining up, Ari is racing into shore, and he tags you with only a couple of seconds to spare.

As you sprint into the shallows, you hear Manu behind you shout to Ari "That's the way to surf, boy!", and you're sure that Ari's scores have done enough to put Shorehaven on top. You still need to surf your best though - being up against Lineker is hard enough in a comp, but in a team event, the whole club is depending on you.

She catches the first wave, probably hoping to psych you out, but she's abandoned a perfectly good 5 footer behind her - one that you're in perfect position to catch.

You feel yourself being picked up by the wave, and as it pulls you down you quickly hop up onto your feet, feeling slightly shaky, having not been in the water for a few days. But you eventually get into the rhythm, trying to perfect the technique on your turns.

You hear the horn blare as you catch your final wave, so you paddle in quickly to avoid a time penalty. Despite your best efforts, your best wave was only a 7.9, not good enough to beat Lineker's 8.5, and you can't shake the feeling of disappointment as your hand connects with Marlon's, who is waiting on the starting line.

The disappointment obviously is not well hidden on your face, as Ari immediately pulls you into a light, friendly hug which you hope looks just like a teammate supporting another teammate. Why wouldn't it? You really need to stop overthinking things, you scold yourself internally.

"Good effort, Y/n," Manu says approvingly, and you can't find any hints of disappointment in his voice, which is great, but...surprising. "Your score still puts us in contention for the final, so don't worry."

"Thanks, Manu." You hope you've finally redeemed yourself in his eyes, but with Manu, you never know.

"If Marlon gets above an 8.7, we're through to the final." Ari says, eyeing the screen with the scores.

_________________

As Marlon runs over the finish line, Ari's previous statement comes true, as your brother's last wave scores 8.7.

Poppy's enjoying a short celebration with Bodhi and Summer, and you take the time to remove your wetsuit and dry off your board on the warm sand.

It's only when you get to the carpark that things start going wrong.

Marlon is placing his board in the back of the van, when Ari sidles up behind him, congratulating him on his last wave. The others have made their way up here too, all celebrating their advance to the finals, when Griff walks up to the group, his wetsuit pulled down to his waist. He seems like he's about to approach Marlon, and given his well-known disposition it's unlikely he's there to offer his best wishes. Just before he comes within five metres of your brother, he quickly swivels his head towards Poppy.

"Hey, Pops," he says. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry your mum's not here to see this. She was super cool."

Poppy's reaction is to be expected, having known what Griff is like for so long. "Okay, thanks." she says gently, quietly surprised but appreciative.

Then, Griff turns to Marlon, the similar vindictive look returned. "And bro, when the oldies at Anchor Cove take this long to make a decision, it's normally a no."

And there it is. You watch your brother's face drop, feeling a pang of sympathy, but it's gone in a second when you remembered he's betrayed all these people around you, the people who welcomed you both three years ago from Brazil, when you knew nobody and barely spoke the language.

"So I had a meeting with them? No biggie." Marlon tries to shrug it off like it was nothing, as if this fact hasn't been hanging over you for weeks.

"No biggie?" Poppy repeats, her face more than irritated, mixed with a small amount of hurt and confusion.

"Why would you do something like that?" She berates him, but Marlon is quick to defend himself - he must have had a lot of spare time to think of all these excuses.

"More resources, better support," Marlon pauses for a second, looking around at the others with a helpless look on his face. But soon that helplessness is removed for the sake of not looking weak, and he puts up another wall between him and his friends. "As if you guys haven't thought about it!"

"I've genuinely never thought about it." Bodhi replies, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice.

"Shorehaven is family. Where's your loyalty?"

It seems Marlon doesn't have an answer; he goes back to pretending to look busy packing his things away.

Thommo leads Ari away, Manu leads Bodhi and Poppy towards the beach, and you follow them - you can tell that this isn't a conversation you want to get into with Marlon right now.