I turned around to see the guy from earlier. Great just what I needed. I turned around.
"May I help you jerk face?" I asked.
"Huh Jerk face, that's a new one, but I prefer the name Ryder." He said with a laugh.
"Well mystery guy looks like I now know your name." I said with a smile.
"Yes you do now whats yours?" he laughed.
"Lexi. Lexi Ree." I told him. His eyes went wide.
"Ree as in the Ree brothers?" he asked.
"Yep. I'm guessing you've heard of them?" I said with a shy smile.
"Yeah, who hasn't." he laughed, I laughed with him. I grabbed my glowsticks from my bag, putting them on my neck, head, and wrists. I gave Ryder the rest of them.
"Put them on, they make night surfing so much more fun." I told him. He gave me an amused expression before shaking his head and putting them on. We both grabbed our boards and ran into the pitch black water. The moons reflection on the water looked so pretty. Me and Ryder raced each other, to see who could surf the best wave. He won, but only cause I'm a little rusty. We took a break and just floated on our boards, enjoying the silence.
"So whats your story?" His question kind of caught me off guard.
"My story?" I asked confused.
"Yeah whats your story, your life?"Ryder asked. "umm, well I have 9 older siblings, 6 brothers, 3 sisters, I have a mom, and my dad just recently passed away. I love music and the ocean, but I'm kinda mad at myself for not coming here for a while. There was a big accident and I almost died. It was rough and the accident caused me to lose my memory of my friends which I'm still trying to remember. I just got back in the water as a surfer today." I told him. I wiped a tear away. Ryder gave me a symthetic look. I looked at him. "So I told you mine, what's yours?" He took a deep breath.
"My parents god divorced when I was 8, my older brother was 12 while my older sister was 11. My mom Just had my little sisters at the time. Dad tried the co-parenting for the first few months, but then kinda gave up and left my mom as a single parent. My dad met a new girl, and started a new family with her. He gave up on mine and I gave up on him. My siblings still go and visit him, but he hates me, I haven't seen him in years. The last time we saw each other resulted int a huge fight. My mom became a work-aholic and my older siblings took care of me and my little sisters. When they moved out it became hard for me. My little sisters moved in with my dad and his new family, and my older sister and brother hang out with them all the time. I haven't talked to really any of them in a long time. They kind of just forgot about me I guess. So I put my heart into surfing, and I know they all think low of me for it, but It's something I enjoy." He said, with a sad smile. I reached over and gave him a hug.
"Thanks for sharing that with me Ryder, especially since we just met." I smiled.
"No problem, I feel like I can trust you." He looked at me with a small smile back. We stayed up surfing and talking about life. It was awesome. We swapped numbers, and agreed to surf at least twice a week together. The sun rose, and I began my walk home. On the way I couldn't help but think, how lucky I am, that I decided to clear my head that day. I would have never met Ryder. When I reached the garage I noticed familar cars in the driveway.
"Oh my god please no." I mumbled to myself. I went through the garage, putting my board back. I quietly shut the garage door, and started tip toeing my way to the stairs, I almost made it when I heard Mason's voice. "Where do you think your going?" Crap I thought to myself. I turned around and saw all my siblings, and an amused mom by the door.
I laughed awkwardly "Hey guys, whatcha doing up so early." I asked nervously. Tristan Snorted. "We could ask you the same."
"Why's your hair wet?"
"Are you in my wet suit?"
"were you with a boy?"
"Do we know him?"
"Why are you wet?"
"Calm down, I don't know, yes I am, maybe, no, cause I am." I answered their questions. Landon rolled his eyes.
"Listen hear idiots, and you say I am the stupid one, jeezzzzz, She went surfing fucktards." He said with a smirk.
"Language." mom glared.
"Wait you went night surfing?"
"You haven't even surfed for years?"
"Do you know how dangerous that is." I rolled my eyes.
"Mason just give me a break okay, Mom knew about it. Last time I checked it doesn't really matter if you know, your not my parent." I told him with a little bit of attitude. My siblings were shocked. No one talks to Mason like that. Masons face started to grow red and his veins started to pop. Hannah put her hand on his arm and whispered something in his ear. You could see his body start to relax. Man talk about being whipped. Mason just nodded his head at me.
"Your right, I'm not your parent but I am your Older brother and I care." His words kinda struck me. They all care. Why on earth would they keep coming back if they didn't care. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Um well I did go night surfing last night, and your right I haven't been surfing in a while, I needed to clear my head yesterday, and I went and finally surfed a wave again. I went again last night because I couldn't fall asleep. It felt so good to be back in the water." I told them not making any eye contact especially since i didn't tell them the whole CJ thing made me go last night. Everyone was shocked. I mean I don't blame them, I haven't gone in a while and after everything with dad it doesn't really make since. Bree was the first to speak up.
"Well you can keep my wet-suit, we haven't gone in years. Also who's the boy?"Of course she had to remember that. You could see my brothers stand up straighter and cross their arms. "yeah I met a cool guy, his names Ryder, he's a cool friend." I told them honestly.
"Wow this is the first time you've actually told us about a guy?" Alex said.
"Well because we are just friends, were like surfer friends if that makes since." I said with a small laugh. I think everyone was a little weirded out at how positive I was. I looked at my mom directly. "Mom I think dad's funeral should be on the beach. That was his favorite place." I told her with a small smile. The room grew quiet.
"We already chose a place." Josh said nicely.
"But-" I was cut off by Tristan.
"We've already found a place while you were busy doing the stupidest shit ever." He snapped at me. I was mad, dad loves the beach. Josh always hated surfing.
"No the beach is dad's favorite place, and you all know it." I argued, with tears in my eye. Everyone grew quiet.
"Lexi we already made a choice, your just a little kid, I don't think you understand." Alex glared at me.
"I am 15! And last time I checked I just went through way more than you could have at 15." I yelled with tears in my eyes.
"ENOUGH. LEXI JUST STAY OUT OF IT!" Mason roared. I looked at him with not only fear put hurt. Everyone was looking at me. They all looked mad too. CJ was right they do hate me. I looked at them one last time before running back to the garage, I grabbed my board and ran. I ran like my life was on the line. I could hear them yelling after me but I just kept running and running even faster. I made it to the beach and just kept running, till I found the most beautiful spot. No one was there, it looked so peaceful. I threw my board down and just started sobbing. I couldn't stop. All I could think about is how mad they all were, why don't I get a say in this? He's my dad too, actually me and him were probably the closest out of everyone. I stared off at the ocean. "What do I do dad. I know you would have wanted your funeral at the beach. It was your favorite place." I spoke out loud, even though no ones here. I went and sat by the shallow water. I just sat there, looking at the ocean. It was so beautiful. Something small hit by foot. I picked it up. It was a seashell, but if you looked closely, the words "Stay Strong" were engraved in it. I smiled, "Thanks dad, I'll try."'I went back to my spot with my board. The waves were coming in big, It would be a good surf, but pretty dangerous. I've never rode waves these big, I put the seashell in my spot and put the wrap on my foot. I stood up, and looked at the ocean again. No one was around, I started walking to the water. I jumped in and started paddling out, once I was far away from shore, I sat up on my board, and waited for a good wave. The current was getting strong and I saw the lifeguard on the other part of the beach change the green flag to Red. "Oh no." I whispered. I saw a wave coming and quickly went under. I stood up and started riding when the wave crashed down hard, sending me flying of the board, and right into the current. It kept pulling me down, I was running out of breath. The next wave slammed me on a rock. My vision became blurry, and I was far away from shore. "Help." I could barley whisper. Before everything went black.
************************** HELLO READERS! I can't believe this book has 79K reads!!!!! I've worked so hard on this book, and I know its a bit cringey, but its my first book! Thank you again, and a new chapter is coming soon!!