[ JUNE 8TH, 2020 ]
↳ THE SAME DAY
ATHENA PRIACTIA:
IN KILDARE COUNTY
Athena's grandmother was already waiting at the airport when her plane landed. She was in a large black SUV, sitting up properly with perfect posture in the backseat, leaving just the driver in the front. He had on a chauffeur's hat, a suit, and white gloves. Athena had on blue tye-dye denim shortalls (overalls, that she DYI'ed to go up to mid-thigh length instead), and her scuffed skate shoes. They had burn holes in them and the laces had been chewed three times over by her dog. She felt very out of place as she stabbed her seatbelt across her chest. It was puzzling how her grandma was dead broke just a handful of years ago and now here she was, looking out of a tinted window.
The car ride to her estate was actually anything but awkward, to Athena's delightful surprise. Though her father and she had little contact anymore, Athena loved his mother so dearly. She was such a kind and generous woman. You would never be able to tell just by looking at her, but that woman did not have a selfish bone in her body. Her dad got those traits from somewhere else, I guess.
Despite all of this, the second the car was in park and Athena's lone suitcase was unpacked, she found herself at the beach. Her mother agreed to have one surfboard shipped out a week before Athena left. It was a good agreement too because, without it, her daughter was fully prepared to throw a temper tantrum and start pulling out her own hair and pounding her fists down on every breakable surface. Anyway, Athena chose to have her Pyzel Phantom board shipped over. It was two years old and completely covered in stickers from all different competitions and her favorite brands. There it was: waiting patiently by the back door.
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"Fuck," Athena mumbled as she jogged over to the deserted lifeguard tower. The beach was empty; not another person in sight. Good, she thought as she slipped off her vans. Just how I like it. She unbuckled her overalls- she only had on her bathing suit underneath now. Her white tee shirt from the plane ride had been replaced with a hot pink bikini that she got last year at a thrift store for ten bucks. Her backpack, a canvas white one which she hand-stitched patches and placed pins on months before, leaned against her leg as she pulled a white rash guard on over her head. Athena pulled her hair out of its high ponytail, which was made on her walk over to keep the sweat off her neck. She was now ready for action.
Her heart skipped a beat as she ran towards the fleeting waves. She could practically taste the salt on her tongue already. Her heart ached for the water. Even as she got closer, she missed the ocean. Finally, her toes were covered, then her ankles, then her knees. Faster than she could even catch her breath, Athena was on the board- laying on her stomach, pushing the water behind her. She was moving out fast. She had been waiting for this since she set foot on the plane this afternoon. The water wasn't nearly as warm as back home, but she didn't slow down. It was 86 degrees out (she checked about a million times), she was sure to survive with a little cool water.
As she paddled out, she felt a smile creep onto her lips for the first time in a few months. Gray clouds surrounded her overhead, but it didn't even matter. The surf would be good in the forefront of a storm. It was all worth it. Athena had gone through so much, but here she was. Without a care in the world. Every last bit of pain was worth it right now. She duck dived underneath a wave in an effort to paddle out even faster. The anticipation was killing her. She kicked hard, suddenly aware of how high the tide was. It had been just five minutes since she got to the beach, but the weather was changing fast. Whatever storm was coming, whatever bad weather, it was going to be crazy. At least the fishing would be good tomorrow. She wondered if her grandmother would like to fish with her or if she would turn her nose and frown at the suggestion. Athena kept paddling.
THE POGUES:
ON THE BEACH
JJ Maybank was two beers and one half of an edible deep as he made his way down the beach and towards a mysterious backpack, surfboard in hand. John B and Pope shot after him with Kiara in tow behind them. She had a lower tolerance for intoxication than the boys and needed a breather not too long ago. None of her friends had the decency to wait for her- too eager to see who was cramming up their territory. Each of the kids griped their respective boards as they shot down the sand. They moved faster today than they did most days since the sun was hidden behind gray clouds. The air was still burning hot. No matter how long they lived on the beach, they would never get used to that.
"Who is that?" JJ asked, still a few steps behind the mystery backpack. He pointed out to a girl that was currently about to drop in on a pretty decent-sized wave.
"Is she from the cut?" Pope asked. An obvious concern for each of them. If she was a kook, she would be off-limits, indefinitely. No matter how well she could surf.
"I've never seen her before." John B clarified, though nobody had seen her and his response was obvious. If they'd seen her before, this wouldn't be a big deal. But they hadn't. So now it was a big deal.
"She has to be from the cut," Kiara decided out loud as she threw down her surfboard. She tore off her too-big tee shirt and threw it atop of her towel. She kicked off flip-flops and finally picked the board back up. "Why else would she be on this side of the island? Kooks don't surf here."
"Do Kooks surf?" JJ asked as he also tore off his shirt. He tossed it on Kiara's towel. She rolled her eyes before pulling her hair into a low bun.
"You're dumb, man," John B retorted.
Pope looked over his shoulder at the new surfer as she weaved her way around white water. She was basically standing straight up. She didn't look stiff or wobbly at all. She looked like she actually belonged on a surfboard. Anyone who plastered a "born to surf" sticker onto the bumper of the car looked moronic in comparison to her skill set. It was clearly second nature for her.
Pope himself was definitely not the best surfer he knew. He'd never say this out loud, but JJ, hands down, was the best. Well, the best surfer he personally knew. And even JJ looked awkward on the board sometimes. This girl, whoever she was, looked like she could be the daughter of Poseidon. Especially in these conditions.
"She could be Percy Jackson's twin sister..." Pope thought out loud. He instantly regretted it as he felt the focus shift from the mysterious girl back to him and his weirdness. He basked in the glory of the quick side-eyed and judgment before it passed. "I bet she reads books though." If you're going to be weird, you better be as weird as you can manage. Pope learned that lesson a very long time ago. You can't run with surfers and stoner chicks and expect them not to think you're weird sometimes, but when they do think you're weird, it's best to just man up and own it.
"Should we go through her bag and find out?" JJ asked.
Kiara swatted his hand away. Secretly, she was hoping that whoever this girl was, wherever she came from, that she was about to be initiated into the life of the pogues. There was an unfair balance of boys and girls in their close-knit circle and Kiara had been wanting another girl for about a year. Maybe this was finally her big break? Hopefully.
"You don't just go through other people's stuff. Who raised you? Don't you know-"
She was abruptly cut off by a phone ringing. A phone that none of the kids had on them. A phone sitting patiently atop a blue towel. A very loudly decorated canvas backpack innocently sitting just in the sand before them. This stuff definitely belonged to the surfer. There was nobody else around. Nobody else was crazy enough to surf this storm. Nobody besides them.
"Dude, please, Kie, let me answer that."
The wind started to howl behind them. Nobody noticed. Or cared. And if they did, they didn't let on. Realistically speaking, though, none of them had ever been bothered by 'crazy' before. In actuality, crazy was probably an adjective used to describe them all at one point or another. JJ had surfed in some of the craziest conditions imaginable, John B had too. Kiara was always out in bad weather, finding new ways to help people or the local wildlife. Pope was always exploring, even in harsh conditions. They had grown used to it years ago. Mother nature had little to no effect on them over the past few years.
"JJ, don't."
"Look guys," John B chimed in, finally. "I didn't come here to dig through some random girl's stuff. Are we surfing or not?"
"Yea," Pope agreed. "We have to beat the storm. We're running out of time."
And so, ten minutes later, JJ Maybank stumbled into Athena Priactia's life for good.
ATHENA & THE POGUES:
IN THE OCEAN
Athena pulled herself straight up. She sat on her phantom and watched as three boys and one girl paddled towards her. They all seemed slightly to moderately buzzed. They laughed loudly and stumbled as they made their way toward her in the choppy water. They all had huge, warm smiles plastered across their faces.
Athena had many friends back in California, though she could never tell if some of them genuinely liked her or if they just wanted an in with her local legend of a father. Jokes on them. They had more of an in than her from the beginning. It's not like she really knew the guy. Even before he moved a thousand miles away. Her closest friends, though? They loved her for sure. There wasn't a doubt about it. The kids paddling out towards her pleasantly reminded Athena of them. Athena's group was nine people wide; seven boys and two girls, including her. She'd never been happier than when she was with them. They were formally created in kindergarten, adding in (and removing), some people along the way, and disbanding for two and a half middle school years, only to form again in the middle of the ninth grade.
Still, Athena crossed her fingers that the kids, approaching her at light speed, were good. She was spending her whole summer here and she didn't want any drama. Life back home was rough enough. Nothing needed to be added onto an already full plate.
Goosebumps lined Athena's cheeks and arms as the wind danced around her. Her legs dangled off of her board and into the cool water, they remained warm. Everything else was cold. The salty air combed its finger's through her hair as it flowed behind her. Her bangs had long since gotten wet and were brushed back with the rest of her hair, which was sopping wet, dripping onto her board and mixing with the ocean water. Her rash guard clung to her for dear life as she tried to pull it off her stomach's skin and let the air in.
Two of the boys stopped less than three feet in front of her. She could literally reach out and touch them if she really wanted. The last boy and the only girl paddled in a few seconds after, the same distance away.
"Hi," one of the boys started. "I'm John Booker Rutledge," he had been the first boy to stop in front of Athena. He remained on his stomach but had stopped kicking. He was a tall brunette with seemingly kind eyes. He opened his mouth to speak again.
"This is JJ," he gestured toward the boy who had stopped alongside this John Booker Rutledge kid. If Athena was going to have to address him as such every single time, she was going to need to get used to that. JJ was blond. He sported a pair of strictly light eyes and was extremely ripped, he was not her type, but looking at him now, she thought that he definitely should be. He was devastatingly handsome. Athena could already picture him ruining her life. Finally, she learned the last of the two kids' names, "This is Pope and Kiara." Kiara was obviously the drunkest and Pope seemed to be her only sober friend. Kiara was the only other girl. Interesting.
"Hi," Athena offered a warm smile. "I'm Athena." Unsure of what else to say, she looked behind the kids and toward the sky, letting the waves get more aggressive around her.
"Are you from around here? I'm assuming you're not a tourist because of the board," the boy clarified. He had a bandana tied around his neck. Athena decided that it looked utterly ridiculous. "Plus, usually people that aren't from around here would never surf in these conditions."
"So either you're stupid or you're from the cut." The blond one, JJ, added. "Like us."
"The... cut? What's that?" Athena blurted out. She felt her face grow red with embarrassment as they all pushed themselves into the same sitting positions as her. They clearly weren't going to be as friendly as she'd hoped. They were already passing judgments and fitting her into categories without even asking her anything of importance. Maybe they didn't befriend tourists? Still, weird.
"So you're not from around here, huh?"
"Wait, why are you at the beach alone then?" The other boy, Pope, asked. "Did you just move down here or something?"
"Guys," the girl, Kiara, finally spoke up. "Why are you asking her so many questions? Let the girl speak, for crying out loud." Finally, she turned to Athena. "Hey Athena, I'm Kie. What's up?" She smiled. She seemed nice enough.
So far, anyway.
Athena wasn't too trusting.
"Hey, Kie," Athena felt herself growing more nervous as the seconds ticked by. She desperately needed to make friends and this was proving to be something she might actually have difficulty doing. She had never actually had to try and make friends before. What if she was no good at it? Or what if she wasn't going to be able to fit in with these people? She suddenly wanted to throw herself off the board and drown.
"Are you just visiting?" Kie asked. She smiled sweetly up at Athena. She was trying to make a good first impression. Athena appreciated this and a switch flipped in her head. She took a deep breath in an effort to muster up any semblance of courage she could.
In the time between her deep breath and her clarified answer (which was about two and a half seconds), it began to lightly drizzle. The sky opened up just enough to let through a few drops every now and then, nothing crazy. There was practically not enough rain to actually feel. It was just the foreshadowing of a bigger storm to come, however. The drizzle was just the beginning.
"Yeah, my grandma... For the whole summer. She's lived down here for a while, but I've never really wanted to come out here. I'm from San Clemente, it's one of the best surfing towns out there." Talking about home was easy. Even if she was nervous. There's nothing like discussing topics you know literally everything about. But maybe she had said too much. Rambled on for too long. She stopped talking abruptly.
"So, kook," Pope mumbled, earning a few groans. JJ raked his hand through his hair in annoyance. The girl in front of him was cute, but not if she was a kook. He'd never go there. He didn't think a kook would necessarily be interested in him either, but even if she was, he couldn't allow himself to fall for her. There wasn't a very long list of things JJ wouldn't do, but lines have to be drawn somewhere.
"Kook?" Athena asked. Suddenly, the small hill of confidence she built up while talking to Kiara was crumbling all over again. "Like, you think I'm crazy?"
"No, no." JJ cut in way too fast. "Don't worry," his voice was dripping with intoxication. His words were slightly slurred. "That's not what that means. A kook around here is just a filthy rich dude. We," he motioned towards the other boys. "...are broke."
Wonderful, Athena thought as she realized that they were right. Hopefully, they didn't have her entirely figured out yet. That would be so humiliating. It was so impressive how spot on their assumption of her grandmother was though. She wondered how many times they'd previously been in this same situation. Wait until they figure out who her dad is, though.
"Oh... Yeah. She's crazy rich. I honestly have no clue where the money came from. It was all so fast. I mean, my parents both grew up dirt poor. I don't have much back home either." Fabrication? Maybe it would help her somehow? Score some points? Fingers crossed, because she couldn't take the white lies back now.
Athena looked up at the boy. The boy looked down at her. His eyes were extremely captivating. So much for being into guys with brown eyes.
John B perched up, snapping both JJ and Athena back to attention. No clue where the money came from? All so fast? Interesting. Very, interesting. JJ wore a smirk across his lips though. Not much back home? Good enough for him to think she's cute again. So much for not going there.
The rain was definitely picking up now, as well as the wind. The storm was moving fast. Athena hadn't thought of this until now, but she was most definitely stranded. Unfortunately, she had forced her grandmother into letting her escort herself to the beach. In all honesty, she was beyond kind of freaked out by the fact that her grandmother had an entire fleet of human beings working for her and was hell-bent on making sure she didn't take part in that. How could she possibly go from just her and her mom to living in a house with literal servants? Especially this quickly into her visit. It was still just the first day. It was going to take weeks to get used to, and even then Athena was sure it would still be strange. But either way, there was no chance she'd make it all the way back to the house before the heavy rain came.
Boom.
Thunder sounded throughout the beach. It echoed in the empty sky. It was loud and deep. Certainly, close by. Athena's ears rang out even after the noise had ceased. And just when the ringing stopped, lightning danced across the sky.
"Shit," Athena brought her hands up to her mouth. "Fuck, I need to get out of here. Oh, god." She threw herself down onto her stomach and paddled in the direction of the shore, leaving her new friends far behind. She kicked hard and pushed harder until she finally got back to her belongings. Water was sent in every direction as the other kids followed her very closely behind, laughing and joking with each other. They didn't have anything else to do right now. Plus, they didn't want to be in the water during a thunderstorm. That was a death sentence waiting to happen; they all knew that. And they were more than intrigued by this new girl than surfing.
They all dashed out of the water and up to their stuff. Athena would've questioned them on why their clothes and towels were so suspiciously close to hers if the situation weren't as dire. She checked her phone: five missed calls from grandma, one from mom, and just about fifty texts from them each. This was not good.
Just as Athena pressed all the right buttons to call back her grandma, it started torrentially down-pouring. Pope, John B, and Kiara all screamed and ran away from the beach- presumably to find some sort of cover- JJ stayed behind with Athena, who couldn't understand why they were screaming and running since they were already soaked anyway.
The rain was loud and the thunder that returned every few minutes was louder. It was almost as if they were inside a wind tunnel. Everything was on max volume and Athena was scared. For one, she was sure as hell in deep shit for this. But for another thing, she was just about as good as dead if she was to get stuck in the middle of this thunderstorm. Hopefully, the boy in front of her could help with that.
"What's wrong," he shouted over the rain. "How are you going to get back like this?"
"I have to fucking walk," she yelled in response. "I think I'm going to kill myself!"
"What? No, I'm not letting you walk. Are you out of your mind?" Thunder sounded again and Athena practically jumped two feet into the air. Her grandma didn't answer. She shoved her phone into her backpack in the last ditch effort to keep it dry. Athena slung the bag over her free arm. The other still held her phantom. Lighting lit up the beach sky again. "I thought I was crazy." His vocal cords were sore from the yelling.
"You seem like you are," Athena joked. She looked up at him again. Those eyes. She already knew they were definitely going to be the death of her. "And I don't even know you yet!" She added. Hopefully, he wasn't too upset with her for having a rich grandma. Athena had no intention of letting this boy go for the rest of the summer.
"So come get to know me, bro."
Before she could think of a clever response, JJ grabbed Athena's hand. He sprinted full force up the sand and pulled her along behind him. She was so thankful that she never got the chance to put down her surfboard because he definitely wouldn't have let her pick it back up and it would've gotten destroyed by the wind. He held his own board as well, but his shirt remained by itself in the sand, buried and drenched.
ATHENA & JJ:
AT THE ROUTLEDGE HOUSE
"Jesus Christ," Athena yelled over the booming rain. It pounded against every inch of the earth like a million rapid-fire rifles. Her chest heaved up and down as she tried to catch her breath and her ears rang out from the thunder. The girl was an athlete through and through, but god damn could JJ run.
The two of them had been full-on sprinting for the past five minutes. Athena nearly fell twice, both times JJ helped without even slowing down. They ran so fast that Athena's nerves were now remarkably calmer.
"Hey," JJ called back. "You okay?" Finally, they were standing underneath the cover of a porch and roof. It seemed to be decaying or at least falling apart, but Athena didn't specifically mind at all. She was simply happy to have the rain removed from her line of sight. She could finally see the boy again through wet eyelashes. JJ was sopping. His shirt was missing, (but that wasn't a bad thing). His hair clung to his head. His shoes, sneakers of some kind, were dirty and caked in mud, assumingely from the run over here. Athena looked down at her own feet. Was it possible that her shoes looked cleaner now than they did before?
"I'm okay. Are you okay?" She asked back, straining her voice over the noise as she shook her head like a dog drying off. Her bangs flopped down across her forehead again where they belonged. Her rash guard had been ripped off and was thrown into her backpack. She stood in front of this half-naked boy wearing nothing but her pink bikini and sneakers. Her socks were tucked carefully underneath the rest of her backpack's items so her soggy feet were practically immersed in the soles.
"Never better," he smiled down at her. His pupils seemed less dilated than before, the scare of the storm sucking some of the buzz out of his body and sobering JJ up just a tad. The run definitely helped too, along with the sheer coldness of the rain. "You look beautiful." Instantly, his face fell realizing what he just said. Clearly, he wasn't sobered up enough, though. His face started to change colors as he bit his lip to stifle a groan of embarrassment. He didn't want to come on too strong and ruin his chances of even a mere friendship.
But Athena just smiled up towards him, perhaps blushing. It was hard to tell with the horrid lighting.
"So do you," she yelled, the rain now pounding even harder. Thunder crashed again and Athena jumped, pushing her body so close to JJ's that she could feel the warmth of his breath. They looked at each other. She cleared her throat and awkwardly took a step back, averting her gaze and running a hand through her hair, catching her fingers in multiple knots. "So..." Athena searched for anything to say. Anything to clear the air. "Is this your house?"
"No, it's John B's," he clarified. The conversation dropped off exactly there and they were stuck looking at each other again. Athena felt nervous, but not insecure. JJ wasn't judging her anymore and she could tell. Maybe he was finally past the fact that she had a rich grandma. She wouldn't be ostracized for that, but something remained in the back of her mind about her dad. How would he react to that when he found out? Probably not great based on their conversation in the ocean. Beyond that though, Athena felt awkward. She had tried to start a conversation so why were they standing in silence again? Maybe his throat was growing tired from yelling over the rain, but that didn't even seem plausible.
Another crash sounded, this one ominously closer than the previous handful of booms. Athen, of course, was tossed out of her revere and sent inches away from JJ's chest. She took a shaky breath in, this time not taking any awkward steps away. Now fully aware of why the conversation had failed.
JJ stared down at Athena, his eyes swimming inside of hers. He reached out and placed both of his hands on her hips, pulling her out of her thoughts for good this time and sending a nasty chill down her spine. She was already cold from being soaking wet, but now the goosebumps were prominent on her skin. For very different reasons than the previous.
Athena used to have a boyfriend back at home. A while ago, they ended things. He felt that she didn't prioritize him or something, but between surfing and schoolwork, neither of them had time to see each other other than during math- the only class they had together. In the wake of their breakup, Athena realized that boyfriends maybe weren't worth it. She was only in high school. It's not like she would've married him. Since then, her life had been dry. She'd kissed one other guy and nothing came of that. The kiss remains a part of her life that doesn't mean anything; her life would be the same with or without it.
This on the other hand, this...
whatever this was...
she already knew wouldn't be like that.