Once Upon A Surf

Chapter One

"Hey, Linds!" I heard my friend Jenna call. I grinned and waved at her, splashing into the water.

"What's up, Jenna?" I asked, meeting up with her about sixty feet away from shore. She glared at me.

"We agreed on 5:00. It's almost 5:30. What took you so long?" She teased, shoving me aside. I laughed.

"I almost ran over Courtney Jenkins.  She wasn't thrilled."

"Oh my gosh, you did not!" Her eyes widened. Jenna was a good sized surfer, with bleached blonde hair, almost white, and stunning blue eyes. I shrugged, and she burst into laughter, toppling right off her surfboard. She came up out of the water, gasping, and wiped her hair away from her face.

"You are such a mess, Lindsey Fisher," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"Are we here to surf or what?" I asked. Jenna made a tsk-tsk sound.

"Fine," she said. "But you've gotta compete with this." I cocked my head and soon we were paddling out to the deeper surf, where the real waves were.

I breathed in deeply, thankful for the opportunity to surf.  Surfing was unlike anything imaginable. Waiting for the waves, I could think about a million different things, my mind frazzled. But when I caught a wave, there was only one thought on my mind—pure joy. The thrill of it all, I lived for it.

Jenna and I managed to have a decent run, catching a couple waves each. I had just wiped out and was clambering back up onto my surfboard when I saw my watch. My eyes widened at the time.

"Crap," I muttered, paddling towards shore. It was already 6:30. Which meant my sisters—Taryn and Kelly—would be up, not to mention Donna. I was dead.

"Where you going, Lindsey?" I heard Jenna shout.

"I gotta run! I'm late!" I waved and ran up the beach, the surfboard barely slowing me down. I scrambled to get it in the back before jumping into the car and racing towards the house. I was practically out of the car before it had even stopped, bursting through the garage door to reveal Donna in her pink bathrobe, hands on her hips.

"Out surfing again, Lindsey?" she asked viciously. My mouth opened and closed as I wracked my brain, searching for something to say, but found nothing. So I just swallowed and nodded with a meek smile.

"Lindsey Marie Fisher, how many times have I told you? You are not to go surfing in the mornings! You know you have chores to do and it's busy around here, and I can't go through this every day!" she glared at me. I winced at the use of my middle name, slightly irritated. Knowing arguing with Donna would get me nowhere, I looked down, mumbling, "I know."

"Now please go take a shower. It's bad enough you're not going to be able to do all the chores-I can't have you smelling like dead fish," Donna said, stepping aside and wrinkling her nose in disgust. I walked past her, letting out a heavy sigh and rolling my eyes.

My head pounded painfully from both the exhilarating surf and the run-in with my step mom. I tried to push the thoughts from my mind and took a quick shower, not even bothering to dry my hair.  I was starting to feel the throbbing pain of the surf; my arms felt like noodles and a cut on the back of my leg burned. When I was finally ready, I glanced at myself in the mirror.

I was a relatively average surfer.  Light blue eyes and tan face dotted with freckles, the light brown hair, with natural streaks of blond. I had picked a pair of blue jean shorts and a yellow t-shirt that advertised Rick's Hardware service.