Wrong Direction

Chapter 9: The Red Sea

Only half of the rainbow made it. Liam, Louis and Ed were being absolutely thrashed by the waves, unable to make it past the break. Niall, Zayn and Harry had somehow managed to paddle out to where I was, but collapsed on their boards from exhaustion as it had taken them a good twenty minutes.

“I – need – to – workout – more,” Niall huffed between breaths.

“How the hell – did you get – out here so fast?” Harry breathed, staring at me in astonishment. I sat up on my ridiculously pink board and shrugged. He shook his head at me. “What other secret talents – are you hiding from us?” He asked, before sucking in another couple of deep breaths.

“I write songs,” I said plainly.

“Seriously?” He sat up on his board then.

“Only for fun though.” I quickly shrugged it off. Maybe I should’ve just kept my big babbling mouth shut? Hardly anyone knew about my song-writing. I then spotted the next set of waves rolling in – saved by the waves. “Ready?”

“Ready?” Niall gasped, following my gaze to the three mounds of ocean rolling towards us.

“No way, they’re way too big!” Zayn exclaimed.

“It will be fine, just make sure you keep your body weight to the back of your board as the wave takes you.” I looked to each of them. Zayn still looked worried, Niall a little apprehensive but with a hint of excitement in his eyes, and Harry – he looked absolutely petrified. “Once you feel the wave under the board, push yourself up onto one knee and then into a stance if you can, otherwise just ride the wave in on your stomach.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at Zayn – obviously they weren’t planning on trying to stand. Niall was completely attentive, his eyes swimming with anticipation.

“But if you want to stand,” I continued, glancing at Niall, “place one foot forward just over halfway on the board, the other on the grip at the back. Jump off sideways if you’re going to fall, but I’m sure you guys will be fine, you made it out this far.” I raised my eyebrows at them. I was definitely impressed that they had made it this far – even if it did take them a while as the waves were actually quite brutal today.

“Yeah... right." Zayn swallowed hard. "Sounds easy.”

I quickly checked on the approaching set – it was almost time.

“I hope this raises a lot of money.” Harry pushed his hair out of his face nervously.

“Okay, time to paddle!” I called out to them, spinning my board into position. The three boys followed my lead. “Go, go, go!”

I felt my arms slice through the icy water down the sides of my board. As I paddled, I kept an eye on the guys as they tried to keep up – pink, blue, red and yellow, all in a row. I felt the wave catch up to us then. It lifted the back of our boards, and carried us forward until we were at the top of the barrel. I pulled a knee forward and stood, just as the tip dove downwards onto the perfect wave break.

I quickly glanced to my right to see a blue figure right next to me and a red one just beyond that – but no yellow; Zayn had obviously stacked it or chickened out. I then saw Niall slip a foot under him and pull himself to his feet.  His arms were stretched out sideways as he tried to balance, before suddenly tilting over, one leg lingering in the air as he fell sideways. Then there was only red – only Harry.

“Try standing!” I yelled out to him, steering my board closer to his and away from the fierce barrel that threatened to swallow us up.

“You’ve got to be joking!” His eyes widened as he gripped the sides of his board, holding on for dear life.