"Hey guys, Marlon's gone."
"What do you mean, 'gone'?"
"I mean, he's gone."
There's a sudden chaos of frantic voices in front of you as you and the girls walk back down to the beach, ready for the final.
Summer tells you that Marlon's gone, which you can't say is surprising.
"What are we going to do? We need Marlon to surf in one of the final rounds." Bodhi says.
"I could talk to the organisers," Poppy suggests. "Maybe they'll let me surf twice?" But her exasperated tone suggests that even she knows it's a hopeless cause.
"Pops, you know the rules. If someone drops out, the sub surfs." you say, suddenly realising what this meant, and to which Poppy sighs.
"Wait, the sub?" Summer repeats. "You mean me?" she exclaims excitedly.
Poppy offers a curt nod as a response, probably thinking of all the ways this could go wrong with someone with limited surfing experience having the fate of the club's success weighing on her shoulders.
"Oh my god!" Summer exclaims. "I'm on the team!"
"Yeah, but don't get too excited, you'll be up against Griff."
"Don't worry, I can take him." Summer smiles.
You're up first in the final round, going up against Lily Tran. You both have pretty equal scores, but your best wave ends up being an 8.4 to match her 8.2. As you tag Bodhi and she races out to the sea, you see Summer waxing down her board in the tent, and Poppy pulls you aside, barely taking the time to congratulate you, but you put it down to nerves and anticipation for Summer's debut.
"How are you so cool about Marlon?" she whispers. "He's your brother and you don't even care what he's done?"
You shrug, contemplating what to say next, when Poppy jumps in.
"You know my brother's probably going to kick him out of the club now, right?"
"No offence, Poppy but I don't think he wants to stay. Otherwise he wouldn't be trying to leave to go to a rival surf club?" you say, slightly sarcastically. Why could no one else see that Marlon's lack of commitment isn't simply a spur of the moment decision. This all started weeks ago.
"Well let's just hope Summer pulls through for us; it's all down to her."
"I doubt Marlon wanted to jeopardise our chances at the comp; he probably just...was going to tell you guys later."
"Why are you defending him? This is serious, Y/n; if either of us want any chance of making the state team, we need Marlon. Stop acting like it doesn't matter he's gone, we at least need a replacement..." Poppy's voice drowns out; you doubt she's saying anything of value - from what it sounds like she's just blowing off steam, but taking it out on you is unfair, after all, it's not your fault he decided to leave, you tried to stop him. Poppy's voice just seems to keep going on and on, berating you as you grow more and more irritated, until you hear one sentence that really throws you over the edge. "He's betraying you too!"
"Betraying?" you repeat. "Betraying? God, stop taking everything so seriously!" you realise you're talking louder, nearly at a yell. Tensions between you and Poppy have been bubbling up for weeks now; the little argument you had earlier in the day must have just been a little warm up.
"Sorry that I want a future in surfing. Sorry that I want to make the state team!" she counters.
"You can still make the state team without Marlon," you yell. "This isn't even a proper comp, it's a team event!"
"And Marlon's really playing as a team now isn't he." Poppy snarls. By now, there's a few people watching, including Ari and Griff, and the crowd is only getting bigger.
"I can't control him! It's not my fault that he wants to become an asshole with the other Anchor Coves."
"You knew though, didn't you." she says quickly.
"What?" You stare at her, bewildered.
"Earlier. You said 'he was probably just going to tell you guys later', implying that you already knew something."
"...Well...uh..." you stutter, knowing there's a load of people watching and listening, catching every movement and sound you make. "I knew he was thinking about it, and I knew that he might have a meeting with them-" you lie, but Poppy catches you straight away.
"Stop lying. You've been doing that a lot recently." she snaps.
"What's that supposed to mean?" You counter, but you can't help feeling that she's right.
"Ari."
"Oh my God, why does everything come back to Ari?" you yell mockingly, very aware that Ari is standing not ten feet away from you.
"Maybe because you denied that you liked him," she shoots back.
"I didn't."
"Well you never bothered to mention it. And I know you're together. Griff told me." she mutters.
You scoff. "Told you what exactly?"
"He saw you two. In a board shop in town."
Crap. You were wondering when that was going to get out. And now everyone knows - half the beach is listening now.
When you don't respond, Poppy jumps straight in. "Look, I'm just trying to get my life figured out so I can make the state team. I'm fed up with people lying to me!"
"Well you must have everything so figured out in your life if you keep on insisting on meddling in mine!" you yell, and that's when you've had enough.
You walk, and don't look back, towards the stairs up the cliff face, not looking back. Screw commitment to Manu. Screw Boardriders. Screw Poppy. When did everything get so complicated?
A fresh bout of tears threaten to fall as you reach the gravel road at the top of the cliff, next to the carpark, when you realise you've left your board, dry clothes and your phone on the beach below, and it would be far too humiliating to go back down there now.
You fall back on a bench in the carpark, grateful that no one's around thanks to the comp on the beach, but you're also a little disheartened that no one followed you. As your eyes dart around, shifting through the objects around you in your mind, you come across a bike thrown carelessly on the ground next to a fence. Marlon's bike. He must have left it here when he disappeared after the announcement.
Your anger makes you restless, and within minutes you're on the road on your brother's bike, racing away from the beach with little care for oncoming traffic. You get to a curve in the road, where there's a viewing point over the sea, and suddenly you're colliding with a pedestrian.
"What the hell?!" someone yells as you pick yourself up from under your bike, a scrape
forming along your bare arm. "Wait, Y/n? What are you doing here?" the familiar voice asks. "Did you take my bike?"
"I'm sorry, Mars." Your lower lip quivers, from both the pain of the fall and the previous confrontation with Poppy. You watch his expression soften as a single tear forms around your eye. You feel his arms wrap around you tightly, and you melt into the embrace as he holds you on the side of the road, both of you now on the ground, finally letting the tears fall.
"It's okay." Your brother says softly, not pressing you to know what happened which you're grateful for. But he seems to guess what's happened anyway, saying "forget about them."
Screw them, you think again. Maybe it's time to take a leaf out of Marlon's book.