Surfing Midland (Complete/ First draught).

Chapter 3

After retrieving my bags with my dad it was a quiet and awkward walk back out to the truck, I don't think he knew what to say. Several times he stopped, opened his mouth, closed it and carried on walking. There was a confused look on his face like he didn't know what was happening, but I knew. He was trying to connect with me and didn't know how, though I had promised my mom I'd be well behaved for him I barely knew the guy and wasn't going to make this easy for him.

When I climbed into the minivan, I was sat up the in the front seat, not the passenger seat next to the driver but the one behind that. Too bad for me that Valerie was in the seat next to me and didn't look at all pleased with the seating arrangements.

"So Leah, tell us what you do after school?" Trisha asked the atmosphere in the mini van wasn't very warm or welcoming. My mom was right about the kids; they didn't seem to like me at all. In fact, I got the distinct feeling that they hated me, especially Valerie who scoffed at the question.

"What do you mean?" I asked, I did a lot after school but most of it wasn't worth sharing with adults, and I doubted even Valerie did half the stuff that I had done. She didn't seem like the kind of person to go against her parent's wishes like I did, then again I barely had an adult around.

"I mean, what are your hobbies? What do you enjoy doing on the weekends?" Trisha asked, pushing for an answer. I tried to keep myself from doing the eye roll as my dad looked back at me using the rearview mirror, I didn't know what he was like yet and didn't want to push all his buttons in a single day.

"I surf, go driving on the weekends. Hang out with friends, party that sort of stuff." At the mention of partying Trisha turned to look at me like I'd said something wrong, just because I was out here in Montana didn't mean I was going to lie about what I did or had done in the past. If Trisha or my dad didn't like what I did that was their problem, I knew who I was, what I liked and how I enjoyed it and I wasn't changing for anything.

"Did you say partying and driving?" Yep, I had shocked both Declan and Trisha by what I'd said and just confirmed.

"Yeah, I did. I have my license, and I don't drink to excess. And I don't drink and drive, so you don't have to worry about me driving off the road drunk or anything." I explained. Even if they couldn't see it, I still had a lot of common sense to me, though no one in the mini van seemed to understand that.

The answer didn't seem to satisfy Trisha as she turned back to the front, that appeared to end the conversation. Even Valerie didn't have anything to say or add, not even a little scoff; she could think whatever she wanted about me. I'd already made up my mind about her already; she was a snob plain and simple.

For the rest of the trip I sat listening to my iPod, Valerie obviously didn't like me, and I hadn't impressed either Trisha or my dad with my 'hobbies', but I didn't care. I was who I was; they could either love it or not.

I hadn't expected the ride out to the ranch would take so long, two hours later and we were still driving! My mom and dad hadn't even told me how far away from civilisation we were going; I would surely die if there were no reception or the internet. Even slow wi-fi would be a godsend, and I would take it over nothing any day.

After feeling a tap on my shoulder, I pulled the headphones from my ears and glanced over at Valerie, "what?" I asked, looking at her oddly.

"I wanted your attention, Leah, I just wanted to know what car you drove down in California. Did your mom buy you your car?" This time the questions came from my dad, would it make me sound pretentious if I said yes?

"Yeah, mom got me my car as soon as I passed my driver's license test. It would be a jeep wrangler, black if you wanted to know. But it carries my boards and goes off the road if ever I wanted to, ya know?" The truck was yellow and a soft top, which was convenient when I wanted to take more than one board or it was longer than the vehicle. I never actually took it off the road as I wasn't confident driving off of the tarseal but a few friends had taken it for a ride down to a few isolated beaches.

"How'd she afford that?" Trisha asked, I saw it as blatant snooping but shrugged my shoulders at the question.

"We split the price down the middle, I gave half the money from my winnings while out on tour, and she made up the rest," I said it like it was nothing but back when we'd bought the truck it was a huge deal. As soon as my mom had agreed to half with me I'd been jumping around like a lunatic; my mom had thought I was crazy. Plain and simple.

It went quiet again, but this time I didn't put my headphones back in, I just sat and waited for someone to ask more questions. And soon enough they began flying again like nobodies business.

"Why didn't your mom contact me? I would have helped get you that truck." This question came from my dad, my mother was a proud woman and wanted to prove that she didn't need to ask her ex-husband for money or anything. That was probably why she was so obsessive about working and making things happen in her life and probably where I got a bit of my rebellious nature.

"Not to mention, how'd you get enough money even to afford to pay half a truck." This question came from Valerie, what she said was okay. But it was the way she said it like I was some useless piece of trash that couldn't tell heads from tails. If she kept going at me like this, then she and I were going to start clashing soon enough.

"As I said, I surf. I'm pretty good at it too, and the paychecks are decent on a good run, mom didn't want to ask you because she didn't need to." Turning away from Valerie I had to remind myself to ignore her; then she could be a b*tch. I'd show her soon enough that I wasn't as weak and stupid as her.

This time when everyone lapsed back into silence, I did put my headphones back in and leaned against the window, pretending to sleep seemed a lot easier than pretending to like a van load of people I had just met.

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Sorry if this is short and doesn't make much sense! I have the flu and I'm writing while doped up on pain killers and other medications, if it does make sense then that is good...if it doesn't I'll fix it when I'm coherent!