Matilda's POV
My alarm goes off much too early. The mid-Autumn mornings are not my cup of tea. I groan at the thought of this morning. Usually I don't mind waking up early since that's the price you pay when you love to surf, but today is just ridiculous.
Today is the day of our first competition. So far, we have spent the last three months training. Now we get to put all the training to the test.
Throughout the year, a number of competitions that we receive points for will occur. The male and female with the most points at the end of the year will win the spot of the World Tour.
Beth and Scott requested a five am morning start. Since the comp is here at Bells Beach, we have to help set everything up.
I leave the comfort of my warm bed and pull on my lucky blue bikini. Yes, I have a lucky bikini. I throw my hair into a messy pony tail and jump back into my bed.
I lay in bed, not caring that I should be eating breakfast before the comp. I groan when I hear the click of my door being opened.
"Tilds, come on," Justin says, walking over to my bed.
"It's too cold! Please don't make me," I pout, flashing him my puppy eyes. Justin catches on and laughs.
"Nice try," he says and I frown. "Come on, you can't miss the comp unless you don't want to win."
Reluctantly, I inch out of my bed. Justin grabs my waist, pulling me closer.
"Here," he says, pulling one of his large hoodies over my head, a huge smile plastered on my face.
It was miles to big and looked like a dress on me, but it was warm so I didn't mind.
Hand in had, we skip down the stairs and into the kitchen. After breakfast we all head down to the beach.
We help set up tents with seats and tables for the judges, we bring out food and drinks for everyone and we put up competition flags along with all types of surf brand.
After everything is all ready to go, we all head back up to the house to finish getting ourselves ready.
The time flies by and before we know it, we all stand on the beach, surrounded by our competitors about to start the first heat.
They really picked the perfect day for the competition. Despite the freezing morning, the cold had cleared into a nice temperature. Not to mention the swell was amazing! Bells is producing some of the best waves I've seen all year.
The first heat was starting in around five minutes. Of course it's ladies first.
"Okay guys," Beth says bringing us all out of our thoughts. "It's time to see how well your skills have developed. Treat this as nothing more than everyday training. No need to be nervous, it's only surfing. Try your best and remember to have fun."
"You ready?" Justin whispers into my ear after Beth has finished talking.
"Yeah, a little nervous but I'll be fine," I reply. He places a swift kiss to my cheek before us three girls make our way over to the marshalling area.
The siren finally blares and all the girls dash to the water. I follow at the back of the pack knowing that I'll paddle faster than most of them.
I'm right. I'm the first one to reach the line up and the first to catch a wave. As soon as I reach the line up a perfect set come rolling in and I know I can't pass them up.
"First wave of the day, Matilda Ryan from Bells Academy!" The commentator says through the megaphone.
The first heat went well. I didn't surf the best I'd ever surfed, but I was pretty close to my best.
I was currently sitting on top of the leader board. Milly sat a close second behind me and Vicky was in fifth place.
As for the boys, they were all so talented. It was a strong heat to compete in, but they managed to come away clean. In first place was Blair and equal second was Justin and Kai.
Each boy was surfing the best I've ever seen. They were so competitive. From the beach you could tell they were competing with each other to see who could pull off the best tricks. Unlucky for Justin and Kai, Blair's surfing style is unlike any I've seen before. He is so slick and precise that he almost never fails.
After the first two heats, we have a lunch break. Once the lunch break is over, we each have one more heat then the final.
The leader boards haven't changed much. The only person who has moved is Vicky. She's risen up to fourth place. The scores between Milly and I was only a few points. If I messed something up in this next heat of final then I'll loose my first position.
Even though they are my friends, I came her to win, we all did. I will not let anything get in the way of having a surfing career, not even Justin.
In my perfect world I see Justin and I both taking out first with the most points and winning our way onto the World Tour. We'd spend the year travelling the world, surfing the best waves on the planet. I hope to believe we could place in the top ten. Once the years over, we'd move back to Harrton Bay.
"You okay? You haven't said much," Justin's whispers in my ear as he bumps my shoulder with his.
"I'm just focusing. This is a big deal and if I don't stand out Milly will beat me," I say, turning my head away from the ocean to look at his face.
"Tilds, it's one comp. Stop worrying so much. It doesn't matter if you come second, hell it doesn't matter if you come sixth, there will be more comps. If you bomb out this time, which you won't, there's always next time to improve, understand?" He says and I nod. "You're surfing amazing today and you have nothing to worry about."
Everything he says just seems to be the right thing. I should never doubt my talent. Winning is something I strive for, but I don't have to win all the time. It's okay if I don't.
I scramble over so I'm siting on Justin's lap. I wrap my arms around his neck and burry my face in his shoulder.
"You always say the right things," I lift my head and whisper into his hear, "thank you."
The lunch break shortly ends and the girls are summoned to the marshalling area once again. With Justin's words still fresh in my mind I control my nerves.
The heat quickly begins and we all surf. Stand out, stand out, stand out keeps repeating through my head. The head almost over and with the perfect opportunity, I carve up the up the wave and into the air. My arial almost complete, I just have to land perfectly.
My board hits the water and I sink underneath, only one world playing through my head; fail, fail, fail.
I try for one last wave, but there's not enough time. The siren blows and we all make our way to the beach. I watch as Milly jumps around ecstatic with her performance.
"It's a few points Tilds. You can come back in the final yeah?" Justin tries to assure me as he makes his way to marshalling.
A few points? I couldn't possibly win now. Milly will never have a bad heat, she will never fail like I have and now I'm too far behind to catch up.
I sit in the sand and watch Justin's flawless surfing. Maybe my mum was right. Surfing is a career option. I should have listened to her and applied for university.
I'm being such a baby. It's one small competitions. There will be other opportunities for me to win. I just really wanted to prove my mother wrong. I wanted to show her I was good enough. And I know I am. I just keep letting these small insecurities get to me.
After the boys heat, we have a ten minute break before finals. Everyone sits closely together as they share their achievements from the past three heats. I sit off to the side as I think of tactics.
"Hey," I hear Justin say from behind me.
He sits down behind me so I'm sitting between his legs and wraps his arms around my waist.
"Remember what I said before?" He says after a few minutes of silence.
"It shouldn't matter, I know that! But it does to me. Why does winning matter so much?" I say, leaning back into Justin's chest as I play with his fingers.
"It matters to everyone," he confesses and I raise an eyebrow at him. "It does. It matters to me, but I learn to accept that I won't always win everything and you won't either, but it's not the end of the world Tilds. Having you and all our friends, being able to do what we love with the people we love everyday, that's what matters. Not wining. Just go out and surf you hardest, but have fun doing so."
I was so close to saying the word. The way he makes me feel like the most important person in the world is such an incredible feeling. I still can't comprehend that I'm lucky enough to have someone her cherishes me so much. I've never had that before.
They soon marshall the girls final and I make my way over to the tent after receiving a good luck kiss from Justin.
I surf my hardest, but I don't try anything risky even through I know I should. I don't want to moved further down the ladder.
The finals end and we are given our medals. First Milly, second Matilda and Vicky in fourth. First Blair, second Justin and Kai in third.
Second is still an achievement and I know that, but I can't mask my disappointment. All I want was to be able to ring my mother and tell that I'd won. I wanted to make them proud and make Justin proud.
Justin, Milly and Kai are happily talking in the kitchen when I enter. Kai nods his head in my direction making Justin turn around. He smiles at me as I make my way over to them.
"Hey," I whisper as I lean my head against Justin's shoulder.
"You alright Tilda?" Kai asks, his eyebrows furrowed as I nod my head.
"Help me make dinner," Milly says to Kai, dragging him away so that Justin and I could be alone.
Justin turns his chair so he is now facing me. He looks me over in silence, his eyebrows forming a frown.
"What's wrong?" He asks and I shake my head. "Tilds I can tell somethings up, I'm not stupid. Is it about the comp? Because if it is, you need to stop feeling like this. I'm proud of you okay?"
"It's not that, really. I'm just exhausted and in not feeling great, okay? It's been a big day," I mumble as I watch Milly and Kai cooking together. Kai's arm flung around Milly's shoulder as they joke around.
"Come here," Justin sighs, standing up he wraps an arm around me a leads me up stairs.
"How about you get some rest?" Justin asks and I nod. Sleep sounds good right now, really good. Justin reaches for my bedroom door but I stop him.
"Your bed is more comfortable," I say, a small grin tugging to my lips.
"If you weren't my girlfriend this would not happen," Justin says, pulling me into his room.
"I'd hope not. Just letting girls into your bed," I smirk and he rolls his eyes at me as I jump into his bed.
Justin starts to walk away, but my arm snakes out and grasps his wrist to stop him.
"Can you stay?" I ask suddenly not feeling like being alone right now. He nods and I move over to let him in the small single bed.
His arm wraps around my waist, I interlock our hands and play with his fingers. I quickly relax into his embrace and I feel myself inching closer to unconsciousness.
"Tilds... Tilda," I hear as someone shakes me awake. "Are you up for dinner?" Milly asks after I've slightly woken up.
"I think I'm just going to get more sleep, but thanks," I say as I snuggle back into the warm comfort of Justin's bed.
"I hope you feel better in the morning, goodnight," Milly says as she exists the room. I quickly fall back into unconsciousness.
"I totally whipped your arses!"
"Whatever."
"Seriously though, you've gotta make it a little more of a challenge for me."
"We'll get you next time, mate."
"I'd like to see you try!"
I groan as the boys fly the door open.
"You could at least try to be quiet. My girlfriend is asleep," Justin scowls at them.
"I was asleep, not anymore," I croak, turning around to face the boys.
"Sorry Tilda," Kai smirks, "wouldn't want to wake sleeping beauty how would we?"
"Shut up," I groan, burying my face in the pillow. "I guess I let you guys sleep," I say, starting to climb out of bed.
"It's okay you can stay. Just go back to sleep," Justin says and I raise an eyebrow at him.
"It's fine Tilds, just don't do anything while we're in the room," Blair smirks, throwing me a wink.
"You boys are filthy animals," I groan, moving over to make room for Justin.
"Goodnight," I whisper once Justin has firmly wrapped me up in his arms, my back pressing against his chest.
"Night Tilds."
"I love you," I hear Justin whisper thinking I was asleep. I open my mouth to respond, but I'm asleep before any words can come out.