Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 71 - Baxter

"And you are?" Summer asks, and a subtle smile spreads across the boy's face.

"I'm Bax," he strolls forward casually, offering Summer his hand to shake. She reluctantly does so, and he smiles wryly. "I can help distract some people if you want." he shrugs.

"Uh, yeah, that would be super helpful actually," Summer nods, but slightly sceptically. "Okay, I'm gonna go get changed. You guys head out there." she runs off to grab her wetsuit and board, and you're left alone with Bax.

"Well, I guess we better get going, he says, smiling down at you. "So what's your name?" he asks as you get going along the path leading to the officials' tent.

"Y/n." you respond calmly, although you suddenly feel incredibly anxious, desperate not to say anything stupid.

"Wait, are you Sousa's sister?" he asks, seemingly genuinely interested as he takes a step forward.

"Yeah," you reply, still looking straight ahead purposefully. "How'd you know Marlon?"

"We're both signed to BluGravity," he replies, and you feel his eyes on you as you keep looking straight ahead. "I like your accent." he says simply, and you smile, slightly taken aback but grateful for the compliment.

"Thanks." you say, unsure whether to keep talking, compliment him back? What on? Would it seem like you're only complimenting him because he did it to you?

"You're from Brazil, right?" he says before you can get any words out.

You hesitate. "Yeah." you reply confusedly - why's he so interested?

He nods as he strolls along calmly with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Do you miss it?" he asks.

You pause. It's the first time anyone's really taken an interest in your life before moving here. "Some of it. But I like it here." you respond.

"Good," he nods, seemingly satisfied, and you realise you've arrived just a few metres away from the officials' tent, where you need to initiate the plan. "Now what's the game plan?" Bax asks.

"Erm, you take that guy and I'll take that guy." you say, nodding towards two of the staff members by the edge of the pool.

"Alright. I'll see you around, Y/n." he smirks, heading towards one of the two men. After he's successfully dragged one of them away, you wander casually towards the other, and start rumbling on about someone apparently trying to fiddle with the tannoy system.

You shoot Baxter a look indicating success as you lead the official away from the pool.

Eventually, the guy is satisfied that the precious microphone is safe from any delinquent messing with it, and you can't hold him off any longer, so you just pray that Summer has made it into the pool in time.

As you rush towards the edge of the pool, you're just in time to see Summer throw her board into the water and jump in after it, followed by a frustrated 'what are you doing?!' from Wren.

Summer steals Wren's wave, paddling furiously to catch it. She's up instantly, and you can't help the gasp that escapes your lips when Summer pulls off a neat bottom turn, then a snap at the top of the wave, and continues along with speed and accuracy, finishing by landing as the wave breaks. She throws her hands up in the air in celebration as she rides the wave in.

You run down to where Summer is emerging from the water, and rush towards her. "SUMMER, WHAT?!" you exclaim, and she pulls you into a rapid hug despite being dripping wet. The others can't seem to believe it either as they crowd Summer. All except one.

Ari waits for Wren to stride up to him out of the water - she looks frustrated, sort of understandably, but you don't feel any sympathy for her.

"I'm really sorry." Ari says, but Wren smiles at him.

"Why are you sorry?" she replies. "You're not the one who stole my wave and crashed my heat." she glares at Summer, but she doesn't seem to notice.

You suddenly realise in your eagerness to help Summer, you completely missed the boys' heats. You make your way over to Manu, who's chatting with someone from another team.

"Hey, how'd Marlon do?" you ask when Manu waves goodbye to the other guy.

Manu grimaces in response. "Not great. Just wiped out on his last wave."

You sigh. "Well, where is he?"

Manu's forehead scrunches up as he thinks. "Uh, I think I saw him heading inside."

You turn and head for the door, knowing you've got to find your brother.

"Mars!" You call into the changing room. He's sitting alone on the bench, fiddling with items of clothing before stuffing them in a duffel bag. "How'd you go?"

He looks up at you, defeatedly, giving you all the answers you need by the look on his face.

"Oh." You say, unsure of how to deal with this - you don't think you've ever had to console your brother after a comp; he's normally so self-assured, confident, and knows he's surfed well. Right now is just the opposite. "You never know what's going to happen, y'know Mars. They don't just look at today's scores, it's every comp that goes towards our rankings."

"What, and you think they're going to take a chance on someone who can't even hold their nerve at State Selection?" he mutters something to himself which is inaudible, his eyes to the ground, then turns back to you. "Look, can you just...go? For a little bit? I want to be alone."

You nod. "Yeah, yeah, okay."

You head back outside, shielding your eyes from the glaring sun. Poppy and Bodhi are chatting away to Summer, probably still gushing over Summer's sudden improvement in her surfing ability. Ari and Wren are nowhere to be found, and Baxter appears to be heading for the car park, probably going home. You make your way over to the girls.

"So, Summer Torres is officially a surfer!" you hear Poppy exclaim.

"You sure kept that one quiet all year." Bodhi smiles.

"Oh, by the way, we're all meeting up at Ari's later for food and to see who made the team. You in?" Poppy asks, directing the question to both you and Summer, who grins widely.

"How could I say no to that?" she says, and Poppy turns to you.

"Y/n? You in?"

"Yeah, why not?" you smile - it'll be nice. Or not, depending on who made the team. You're suddenly struck by a thought: there's four spots available for the girls on the State Team, but there's five of you. Bodhi, Poppy, Wren, Summer and you. Not to mention the dozen other girls who tried out. Something tells you this evening is going to be tense.

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A/N: okay crisis averted it has now let me post the whole chapter yay! Hopefully everything is sorted now lol