Tides

Chapter 16 - (Un)Lucky Day

BLUE

Today is one of those days when I want to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it. The bad luck started on Sunday when we arrived in the village. We flew into the city airport, and from there a bus brought us to the house.

We had a marketing party the evening before, and Ryan drank the bar empty. The day after, he was still drunk and being obnoxious on the airplane. The flight attendant warned him to behave, or she would have the police wait for him at the airport. It was so damn embarrassing!

I realized Camilla thought of everything when we got to the villa. A paper with each of our names and a schedule was taped to the bedroom doors. The room I got assigned has a window which faces the wall dividing this villa with the next. I probably got the worst room so Max and Ryan didn't claim it. The logic behind Camilla's choice is the small fridge for my insulin hidden in the closet.

The Wi-Fi connection in the whole property is terrible and falls every few minutes. I could video chat with my family for about five minutes and then lost the connection completely. I tried it from my phone, but the signal sucks.

On the positive side, we have a TV with good cable signal in every room, so I don't even need to see my teammates. As this is a full-service apartment, we get daily groceries. I have plenty to pick from as Max and Ryan leave the fruit and vegetables untouched. They eat like teens and live on junk food. Ryan is the worst of them. This morning, I saw him spread peanut butter on a piece of bread with his finger. I will never eat from that jar again. Every day, they litter the living room with empty beer bottles. It seems as if they drink nothing else. The key to the liquor cabinet is missing, but it will be a matter of time before they open it.

A truck arrived this morning with our gear. I wanted to bring my board as special baggage in the flight but was convinced to send it by ground transportation. When the crew unloaded our stuff, the rack with the boards fell. My board now has a ding in the middle and needs a repair. I felt furious!

Max and Ryan laughed about it and called me a whiner. Max even gave a kick to one board, splitting it in the middle, to show me how pointless it was to get angry.

They don't understand that this board has been with me since I was 15 years old. I always take good care of it, unlike these two asses who treat their equipment like shit. They think because they get everything from Oceancrush for free, they can be careless.

I walked around the villa complex and called Camilla the moment I got a better signal on my phone. She was incredibly pissed with the transport company. She told me about the surfing store on the boulevard in front of us and that probably they know about a good a shaper. I'll go there tomorrow as we have an interview with Rip Curl in a few minutes.

As I come back into the house, I see the empty bags of chips and crumbs everywhere. I want to grab a trash bag and clean everything, but I don't want to support their filthy habits. Max and Ryan are lucky we have a cleaner who comes every morning. As I prepared my breakfast this morning, I could hear the woman mumble and curse while dealing with their mess. She gave me a grateful smile when she saw me wash my cereal bowl.

I head through the side door into the backyard where we will have the interview.

"Where the fuck were you? We have been waiting forever," Max rolls his eyes as I join them.

They sit on the lounge set, and the friendly face of a girl with shaggy pink hair grins at me.

"Valentina! I didn't know you would be here. How are you?" I give her a hug. She has interviewed me many times before and we get along well.

"Doing great. Working, but I can't complain when I do this for a job."

"When your romantic exchange finishes, can we start the interview?" Max says in an impatient voice.