~Song: Queen of the Waves
I stood on the sand, my nerves high.
Jumping up and down I tried to remain calm.
Like Josh, who seemed completely unphased.
He made no attempt to warm up, he sat on the sand eating a cliff bar watching the water.
"The more you jump around, the more you'll lose energy." Josh stated, not taking his eyes off of the water.
I looked down at him and stopped jumping.
Josh had his hood pulled up over his hair, so it was hard to see his face but I could just feel the death glare.
He patted the sand next to him.
"Sit and watch the 17-18s the first heat is about to start."
I sat down next to him watching as everyone was moving about.
The beach was hectic to say the least.
Lifeguard ready to put jet skis in the water, spectators all crowded around the announcers table, which was raised up, had crowds of people under it.
Food trucks were packed making the beach smell like grease.
This event was big, one could tell just by looking around, the cameras, the people.
Yet all of the older, better surfers, seemed unphased.
Like Josh or Kia who was just staring at the water. She seemed almost bored.
Luke and Ryan in the masters tent alittle ways away were playing a game on their phones while the girls were getting ready to surf.
Nora sat alone, outside of the tent. She probably wasn't aloud around the masters or brookies during a comp.
So she sat alone.
Her long hair was down and she was wearing a black and pastel pink wetsuit that matched her board.
She sat there listening to music, though I'll never know which song, and stared out at the water.
Brady stood next to her but made no attempts to talk with her.
A second guy stood next to Brady, also not speaking to Nora but looking at other surfers out of the waves.
The back of his shirt read O'Neal and I quickly put the pieces together.
Though I knew each heat was 30 minutes, two heats seemed to go by faster than expected.
"And that wraps it up for heat 2 of the girls 17-18 division!" The announcer called out over the mega phone, "scores will be posted up here or online soon. On to heat 3! From the Masters we have..." the announcer continued on.
"Hey, what heat is Kia in?" I asked, figuring it was better not not mention Nora's name.
"4" was all Josh replied.
I nodded my head, turning my eye sight back to Nora.
She stood up and began stretching out her arms, taking out one ear bud she allowed Brady to talk to her. He pointed out breakage in the waves and different rip currents Nora could take out to save some energy.
The O'Neal guy stayed quiet.
Doing her last stretches, Nora took out her other ear bud and put her leash on her ankle.
Letting out a long big breath she stood up and turned to Brady and the O'Neal guy.
Brady gave her a side hug, no doubt telling her 'not to stress' and that 'she'll do great'. Then Nora turned to the O'Neal guy and formally shook his hand.
He wished her good luck, with a quick marketing type smile.
Nora moved away from the two of them towards the cone on the sand.
At that moment Kia came towards us, handing Josh her necklace and rings before putting on her leash.
"Wish me luck you two." She said with a cheeky grin
"I hope you eat shit out there." Josh said with a serious face, still keeping his eyes on the water.
"Good luck." I said with a half assed smile, ignoring Josh.
Kia smiled at me before walking up to the cone next to Nora. They said nothing to each other, not even a glace was exchange.
As other athletes joined them at the cone a big buzzer went off from the announcers stand.
"And athletes that concludes heat 3 of the 17-18 womans division, your scores will be posted up here or online." The announcer paused for a moment as he flipped to the next screen.
"And onto The final Heat of the woman's 17-18 division, heat 4! Now this is the exciting heat ladies and gentlemen. Finals heat, all other scores are posted lets see if these females have what it takes to win!"
Nora stayed focused, her eyes frantically scanning the water looking for the best entrance.
"Keep an eye out for the star of today's woman division Nora Baker, a little fishy told me thats she's bringing out a new trick today if the waves are right."
That got Josh's attention, he looked away from the water and towards the announcer. He stood up and I felt inclined to do the same.
"Alright heat 4, go surf!" And the buzzer went off.
I watched as Kia and Nora ran into the water, hoping on their board and paddling out.
Immediately Nora was hit with better luck as she took a rip past the break, noticing Kia followed closely behind.
Once out there, Nora sat on her board letting Kia take the first wave.
She was ignorant to, as the wave died out shortly after she stood up. She was only able to do a mini carve up the face before she was forced to kick out to stay in the line up.
Behind me Mr. Brooker cursed under his breath.
Nora waited watching the waves, two more surfers went. She was wasting time trying to find the right one.
Eventually she took one, and everyone held their breath waiting to see the new trick.
She popped up and immediately sheaded the wave, carved up the face and down the face several times before riding the lip.
It wasn't the best ride, but it put her scores even with everyone else.
The second wave Kia took was way better, she managed to get a few aerials in as well as a rodeo.
I bit the inside of my lip, Nora was gonna have to start stepping up her game.
That first wave was just a warm up.
Though when Nora got up her second wave pretty much mirrored Kias.
Almost like a taunt, telling her, we can do the same thing and I'll still beat you.
I looked over at Brady who was nervously chewing his nails. He called over one of the guys on the jet skis, telling him to be ready.
Nora had one more wave.
The crowd held their breath, and though I'd been tuning out the announcer I now decided to listen.
"10 minutes left folks and Nora has to catch at least one more wave to be considered for top 3."
Two waves passed beneath Nora, good waves, and she was just letting them go.
Had she gotten in her own head?
I tapped my toes on the sand nervous as I watched Nora finally take a wave.
Paddling hard she popped up, I looked over to Brady who was nervous.
He stepped closer to the shore line, almost wanting to be closer.
Nora pumped to pick up speed, going into a 360 areial before harshly landing and pumping to gain more speed again.
She carved back up the wave into a floater on top of the lip before dropping down and gaining more speed.
I bit my lip, noticing both the O'Neal man and Brady step forward.
As Nora climbed the wave and took air I though she was going for a rodeo but it quickly turned into a sushi roll, I held my breath as mid air Nora let go of her board before quickly grabbing back onto it to finish the roll.
I watched in amazement as Nora came back down on her feet, a smile present on her face.
"Holy shit." Was all Josh could mumble next to me.
Nora finished the wave off with a few more throw away tricks but the announcer didn't seem to care.
"Wow! Folks you saw it here! Nora Baker and a sushi roll with no hands upside down, well i'm impressed folks and you should be too."
Nora kicked out of the wave, hands up in celebration.
"Yes!" Brady shouted so loud everyone could hear him.
There was a smile of him face and he looked beyond thrilled for Nora.
The O'Neal guy nodded his head with approval.
"Fuck, this is not good." Mr. Baker said shaking his head back and forth.
The buzzer rang for the surfers to come in.
"Alight! That wraps up the woman's 17-18 division! Male surfers we will have a 15 minute break for you to prepare while we do awards." The announcer stated over the mic.
I kept my eyes on Nora as she walked onto the beach.
Setting her board down she ripped off her leash and pulled off the top half of her wet suit.
Brady ran up to her hugging her tight with a big smile.
"There she is! Queen of the waves absolutely shredding it out there!" Nora laughed, as Brady said that to her.
"Good job Nora." A few of the other girls said as they left the water as well.
She thanked them before being bombarded by the O'Neal guy.
He handed her a hair brush and a towel.
"Brush your hair and wipe your face, I've got a photographer her for photos. I also got a photo of the sushi roll for next weeks magazine."
Nora just nodded her head, the smile still present of her face.
She quickly brushed through her hair and wiped her face before running to the medal podium.
Brady grabbed her board and followed.
And suddently Nora's posture changed, the Nora I new was gone.
She wasn't shy and quite, suddently she chose to take up space. She held herself in a way that attention grabbing.
She stood in front of the podium with the other girls in her division, but instead of waiting anxiously she was calm almost knowing.
A lady with a microphone stepped in front of the podium, she smiled and waves at the crowd that grew around her.
"Good evening Ocean Bay!" She shouted through the mic. "Didn't the females of the last division do amazing?"
Everyone clapped in response. I took my eyes off the female announcer to see a professional photographer start to make his way to the front of the crowd, kneeling down ready to take photos.
"Well I'm sure the girls are anxious so let's get starts awards!"
"As Normal for Ocean Bays tournament, we will only award top 5 per division. The top 2 automatically qualify for state championship is a month away and the winner gets a 500 winners prize."
Everyone cheered at that, I raised my eye brow. I had no idea there was a winners prize.
I never looked at the comp sign up sheet, Mr. Brooker had done it all for me.
"In fifth place! Margaret Rogers from White wash surf academy!"
I clapped watching as a girl from some out of town academy walked onto the podium.
There were 25 girls in the 17-18 division and only five were receiving medals. All of the other girls looked nervous.
"In 4th place from Brookers surf academy, Becky Granger!"
Becky looked shocked and disgusted as she walked up to the podium.
But truth was, she was lucky she even placed.
Her preformed had been average, she'd done the same tricks as everyone else but with slightly better technique.
"In third place! Sam Morgan from Masters surf academy!"
Sam squealed as she heard her name called. Nora smiled at her, dimples forming in her face.
Sam walked up to the podium and bent down to get the medal around her neck.
Though she didn't receive championship status, or get the winning prize, Sam looked like the happiest girl in the world to be getting third.
"In second place, and receiving a spot in the state championship, Kia Richardson from from Brookers Surf Academy!"
Next to me Kias mouth dropped open. Not in an excited way but in disbelief, she turned around to look at Mr. Brooker.
"I don't pay you extra to come in second." Kia harshly stated, her voice quiet so no one else could hear.
"It doesn't matter how much I pay the judges Kia, people aren't blind. If someone surfs a lot better than you I can't change the outcome." Mr. Brooker stated.
Kia scuffed before turning towards the podium.
She received her medal with her arms crossed.
Biting her lip she stared down Nora, who paid no attention to her.
"And your woman's 17-18 division champ, winning a spot in the state championship and a 500 cash prize... Nora Baker!"
Nora didn't act shocked, instead she smiled and calmly walked towards the podium.
She shook the judges hands and politely bent over to receive the metal around her neck.
The second the judge stepped away the cameras started flashing.
It was like a lighting strike.
But Nora picked one camera to look at, with confidence and a hand on one hip she gave a powerful smirk towards the professional camera man in the front of the crowd.
I tried not to think about how gorgeous she looked, but she was.
It was strange, to see the outspoken confidence, but it was so pretty it could make anyone fall in love with her on the spot.
But honestly, I liked the quiet and reserved version of Nora more.
This one seemed fake and like a show.
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