On Thursday morning, you head downstairs at 5:30 AM, and the sun hasn't even begun to rise yet. You grab some toast for breakfast, and pack your backpack with some snacks and necessities for the journey.
You're meeting Ari at the bus stop at 6:00, so you get moving. As you get to the end of the driveway, there's a little more light now as the sun warns that it will make an appearance.
You make the two mile trek to the bus stop in twenty minutes, making sure you have enough time to catch the 6 o'clock bus. When you arrive, Ari is waiting, his surfboard in a bag under his arm.
"Hey." he smiles as you approach. When you're close, he bends his neck down and kisses you in greeting. It's starting to feel more...normal now. There's still that excitement like the first time he kissed you, in the sea that time when you were messing around with the others, but now it's not as surprising when he does it - not as unfamiliar.
Just as the bus pulls up, there's a call from down the road.
"Hey! Wait up!" Summer shouts.
Ari sighs. "Oh, no, no, no, what is she doing here?" he exclaims, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Haven't you got to wait at home for your mum to come get you?"
"That's exactly why I'm not staying at home," she replies with a grin. "Hey, what's your name?" she asks the bus driver, who is probably losing patience by now.
"Stan." he replies confusedly.
"Well step on it, Stan!" she exclaims, strolling on the bus without even bothering to pay. You and Ari share a glance as you both step forward and you put some change on the counter for the driver.
As you're about to take a seat next to Ari, Summer sidles in beside him, leaving you to sit on the row in front of them.
"Aren't you meant to be covering for me right now?" Ari asks Summer.
"Relax, I put Honey on it," she replies. "See what I did there?" She smiles wryly.
"Anyway, you can't lecture me about breaking the rules; from what I remember, you're pretty banned from surfing right now," neither you or Ari have anything to refute her allegation, considering Ari has snuck out to a surfing comp despite being banned from surfing.
"So where are we going?" Summer asks enthusiastically, probably desperate to go anywhere her mum isn't.
"Jarrah Island." Ari replies.
"I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I'm guessing we can't get to an island on just
a bus. So what's the plan?" Summer asks.
"Yeah, we've got to get a ferry. Then another bus." Ari says warily - even he must realise we're probably going to be very close to being late for his heat, if not miss it completely.
"Wow, I guess you've really thought this through." Summer grins.
From the front seat, you get this weird sense of bitterness, like you're missing out on something. You shuffle round in your seat to face them. "If the ferry's on time and the bus isn't late, we should make it with ten minutes to spare." you say, with a slightly confused nod from Ari. You had a lot of time to spare last night.
"Wow, sounds like you got this all figured out, huh?" she replies, and you shrug in response. It's not a crime to want things to go well today, for Ari's sake.
Summer seems to spend the whole bus ride talking to Ari in that weird way where it sounds like she hates him but is actually just friendly banter. Probably. Eventually the bus pulls into the ferry port, where suspiciously there's no cars. Maybe they're all already on the ferry, you think. And that suspicion is confirmed when you arrive at the ticket desk which is embellished with a 'SOLD OUT' sign.
"Oh no, no, no," Ari curses, catching his breath. "My whole season finished because I didn't buy a ferry ticket."
"Guess you didn't add that to your perfect planning for this trip Y/n," Summer raises one eyebrow. "But it's okay. I knew you guys would give up at the first hurdle. C'mon." she says as she ducks under the barrier without a second glance back. You and Ari follow her onto the ferry, feeling the floor beneath you become slightly unstable as you walk forward and weave between each car and caravan.
"Um, is anyone else seeing a major flaw in this plan?" you whisper, ducking behind a truck as you see one of the ferry staff going from car to car. "As in the fact that we don't have tickets?!"
"Relax, Y/n, d'you think I haven't thought this through?" Summer replies, barely looking at you as she makes a quick sprint to a campervan parked a few metres away. Ari follows her, and you have no other choice but to follow them inside.
Before you step inside, however, you hear a member of staff say something about the ferry being delayed and it will be another twenty minutes before it leaves. Great.
Summer opens the door to the campervan with ease and slips inside without a sound.
"I've got some bad news." Ari says suddenly, putting his phone away.
"What is it?" you ask once you're all inside the vehicle. There's no one inside, thank goodness, or else Summer's surprise entry could have ended in an arrest.
"Well, I just went on the bus timetable and it's been cancelled due to traffic." Ari says defeatedly, and you and Summer both sigh in sync. Pair this with the ferry delay and you're screwed, you think.
"Also, guys, I just heard one of the ferry people telling someone there's a delay and we're not going to be going anywhere for at least twenty minutes." you recount the information exactly as you heard it.
"Y/n, shut up a second. I need to find a place for us to hide." Summer says suddenly.
"Uh, did you not hear me?!" you whisper-shout. "There's no point in us even trying to find a place to hide because there's no point in us even being on this ferry because the ferry is late and there Is. No. Bus!"
"So...we're going to have to walk." Ari suggests, and you glare at him incredulously.
"That's like an hour by foot; you'll miss your heat entirely."
All of a sudden you feel yourself lose your balance as Summer pushes you and Ari into a cupboard and shuts the door. It's tiny. Your face is about five inches away from Ari's, and even closer to Summer's.
"Sorry, but there were people outside the window and I couldn't deal with your arguing anymore." Summer says definitively.
"We're not arguing, we're just..."
"...having a discussion." Ari finishes your sentence, and you're glad you're on the same page.
"Yeah, about how Ari's never going to get to his heat in time." you say.
"Okay, Y/n, you need to stop being so negative." Summer replies.
"It's not being negative, it's being realistic," you correct, feeling a slight pang of annoyance at Summer. "And when I don't show up at Jarrah Island on time, my mum is probably going to call the police. But it's fine, because as long as I'm stuck in a cupboard in a campervan on a delayed ferry I don't have a ticket for, there's nothing to worry about!" you say sardonically, feeling the stress that has been building for a while now seep out in your outburst. "Was that positive enough for you Summer?"
"Oh my god, get a grip. Who cares if you're a little late you're not even surfing." she shoots back.
"I just don't get how we're going to get there in time, and surely Ari's dad's going to realise he's not in fact on the way to the airport right now with you, he's on his way to a surfing competition he's banned from." you hiss.
Summer looks like she's about to respond when the sound of a phone notification fills the room. "It's your dad." she smiles deviously at Ari.
"Why is my dad texting you?"
"I took his phone and swapped Abbie's contact details for mine." she grins, and Ari laughs incredulously.
"That's actually kind of genius." he smiles, and you have to admit it's pretty smart.
Summer reads out the text from Thommo, something about her and Ari going to the airport with Abbie. She responds with something about them being with her, before Ari interrupts.
"Put three kisses and a smiley face. That's how mum always signs off."
Summer grins up at him. "Nice, you're learning Gibson."
Suddenly, a jolt sends you forward, knocking into Summer and Ari and sending all three of you and Ari's surfboard out the door into the main section of the campervan. Right in front of the owners, who are gazing at you in shock as you scramble to your feet.
Ari is practically holding Summer off the floor with his surfboard on his other side. Summer seems to blurt out the first thing she can think of.
"SURPRISE!" she yells, and you don't hesitate when the other two scramble for the door, ignoring the perplexed faces of the owners.
When you're outside, Ari bursts out laughing. "Surprise?!" he repeats in disbelief, and you can't lie, it was pretty funny when you think about it. Especially as you realise the jolt you felt earlier was due to the ferry finally leaving the port. Earlier than expected, as well. Maybe you would get there in time after all.