You jolt awake suddenly, your ears ringing as you clench your fists, feeling sand beneath them and you try to get your bearings. Ari is on one side of you, and Marlon is crouched the other side, and for once in his life he actually looks like he's concerned for you.
"Y/n? You okay?" he says breathlessly, and you sit up on your elbows, before you realise the person who asked how you were was Ari, perched on the sand the other side of you.
"Shut the hell up." you say, unable to keep your anger back anymore. You know it's not directly his fault that you were held down or anything like that, but you were distracted, and that was his fault. And Poppy's. But then again, Poppy didn't know anything about the moments you'd shared with Ari.
Ari looks confused, maybe a little hurt but you don't care for now. The leg of your wetsuit feels loose, and you look down to see it's been ripped, and your leg is covered in blood. Oops. Guess it's not as healed as you thought.
"Okay, okay guys, let's back up yeah?" Manu says, ushering Poppy and Summer back as he assesses the situation. "Y/n, I've called a medic she'll be over in a second. Ari, your heat's up in a minute; you need to go."
You watch as Ari reluctantly steps away, his eyes fixed on you before he looks down with a sigh as he walks away.
"That was a real kook move, Y/n. I don't even know what that means but I know it was." Summer laughs, and you can't help but smile back.
"I'm glad you're okay though." Marlon replies, and you notice his voice is a little shaky.
"Hey where's Bodhi?" you ask, trying to take your mind off the pain in your leg. Your head is pounding too, probably from being underwater too long.
"I don't know. I texted her, but we're kind of fighting still." Marlon shrugs, and you roll your eyes.
Suddenly, looking in between Summer and Marlon you see two figures walking from one of the tents, one of them looking panicked as she fixes her glare in your direction.
"Y/n! What happened?" she says, practically pushing Marlon out the way as she drops to her knees next to you, kissing your forehead.
"Just jumped the wrong way. It's not that bad."
"Not that bad? Look at you!"
The other woman that your mum was walking with stepped forward, placing a first aid bag on the ground.
After the medic has finished checking you over and wrapping up your bleeding leg, Marlon half-supports, half-carries you to one of the tents at the edge of the beach, sitting down next to you on the sand whilst your mum mutters something about going to speak to the officials about getting you another shot in another heat. But you don't want one, and to be honest, you really don't think you'll be surfing for a while - your leg is killing you and the pounding in your head has yet to subside.
"It's sad you didn't even get one wave in." Marlon says. "You could have scored high enough to get through."
You scoff. "Yeah right. Did Poppy make it through?"
"Yeah, although Sheridon beat her."
"You should try making up with Bodhi, y'know." you say, watching his face as his smile fades. "What's going on with you two?"
"I told you what's going on." He replies. "Anyway, you're one to talk. What's going on with you and Ari?"
"There's nothing going on with me and Ari. I don't know what you mean."
"You told him to shut the hell up earlier." he sighed. "I don't want it to be weird with everyone again. Me and Ari have just made up after a year."
"It's not going to be weird." you mutter. There's about ten minutes left in Ari's heat, and so far he's winning. He's one step closer to getting the wild card spot. Your mum comes over to you, looking flustered as she slung her bag over her shoulder.
"The medic said you should probably go home and rest, Y/n. The officials said they won't give you another shot tomorrow, which is absolutely ridiculous," she huffs, "but I think it's best you both go home anyway. Marlon has his final tomorrow."
Wow, even when you're injured Marlon is still more important, you think.
Marlon looks at you sympathetically, helping you up by letting you put your arm on his shoulders as you stumble to the car. From the car park, you can see Ari's heat end, and hear the results over the loudspeaker - Ari won, unsurprisingly. You can't help feeling a little jealous, with Poppy and Ari both through to the next round, not to mention the...kissing.
"Wait, Marlon, did you win your heat?" you say weakly as you slump into the backseat of the car.
"Yeah." he smiles as he opens the car door. "And tomorrow's final is mine too."
"If i'd done a pop shuvit I would have won my heat." you mumble.
"Yeah right, like you could." Marlon laughs, which you roll your eyes at as you fasten your seat belt.
The ride home seems so fast as you fade in and out of sleep - you suddenly realise that you haven't had a good night's sleep in ages. Between the late evenings and sneaking out, not to mention the fact that you only got about an hour of sleep last night thinking about Poppy and Ari kissing.
You can't even imagine how awkward the conversation with Ari will be when you eventually manage to talk to him. At the moment, though, that seems like the last thing you want to be doing.
__________________
The sound of the sea has never been more maddening as you wake up the next morning. Not because it reminds you of what happened the day before, or the hold down a few years ago, but because the medic said you can't surf for three weeks. Three weeks.
You glance nonchalantly at your alarm clock, and your eyes widen when you see you've slept in until 12. Suptropix will have started by now. Ari's heat will have started by now.
You resist the urge to take a quick look on the 360 live stream as you open your phone. You don't feel like getting up this morning; the pain in your leg getting worse as you fade out of sleep back into reality.
It's late afternoon when you hear a knock on the front door - your mum is working, and Marlon's still at Subtropix, so you limp to the window of your room which looks out over the driveway. Ari's bike is leaned up against the fence, and Ari is waiting on the doorstep, hands in his pockets. You jump out the way of the glass, scared Ari might suddenly look up, wondering why no one's answering. Your back slides down the wall as the pressure on your leg becomes too much until you're sat on the floor below your window, your mind flicking through whether you should answer the door or not. It's almost like you're wondering if you should be angry with him still, instead of if you actually are.
You must have been sat there a while, as you suddenly hear footsteps heading tentatively up the stairs. Peering over the window sill, you can still see Ari's bike, but no Ari at the doorstep anymore. Ari Gibson is in your house.
The door creaks open slowly, and Ari's head appears round the corner. His expression seems to fade into relief when he meets your gaze, but you suddenly remember what you must look like, curled in on yourself and wearing your clothes from yesterday which you couldn't be bothered to change out of.
"Y/n? Are you okay?"
"What are you doing in my house!?" you exclaim, surprising yourself with the harshness of your voice.
"I'm sorry, the er...door was unlocked and when you didn't answer I got worried because Marlon said you were staying at home all day." he rambles.
You just nod, your gaze still locked with Ari's. "Did you have something else to say?" you ask, almost hoping he'll bring up the kiss so you can clear the air. It's hard work being in a one-sided argument.
"Well, I...seeing as you're okay, I'll probably just...go..." he begins to close the door, but stops suddenly, stepping further into the room like he's taking some sort of stand. "Actually, no. No, I do have something to say." he clears his throat. "I don't know what I've done to upset you, or I don't know if I've hurt you in some way, but the last couple of days it's just been...weird between us! Can you just tell me what I've done!"
"How can you not know?"
"I don't know! Why don't you just tell me and we can go back to how things were!?"
"Oh, you mean how things were when you were kissing me? After that will you go kiss Poppy again too?"
His face fades into recognition as he sighs, closing his eyes for a moment in frustration. "You mean, you saw..."
"Yes I did."
"That didn't mean anything! Me and Poppy, we're just friends, I think she got the wrong idea."
"And does she know that she got the wrong idea?" you question.
"No. Not exactly. I was planning to tell her that I don't feel the same way, y'know? Me and her have been friends for ages, I don't wanna mess anything up." he explains. "You're the only one I like. I swear." he says, his expression soft and genuine.
You thought it would be harder to forgive him.