I looked around the beach. Damn. Santa Monica State back never gets old.
It was one of the hottest days of the year today, and there was nobody on the beach. The water was crystal clear and sparkled like diamonds under the intense gaze of the blazing sun. The sand was the perfect golden colour and stretched down the seaside. There were no clouds to cover the endless cyan sky.
Before I could even comprehend the beach's other beautiful features, JJ had thrown his shirt off and was running to the water which was rippling due to the slight wind. JJ dived into the water right by the sand. I flinched knowing it was quite shallow by the shore.
'SHIT, I HIT MY HEAD!' He yelled, his voice echoing around the deserted beach. I laughed and joined everyone in taking off their clothes and running to the sea.
'IT BURNS!' I yelled, my feet coming in contact with the burning sand. There were some reclined beach chairs which were closer to me than the sea. 'Hey Tobi.' Tobi looked up at me. 'Race to the beach chairs?' I asked.
'I'll count you in.' Lux volunteered. 'Go when I say go.'
'3'
I put my right leg in front of my left leg.
'2'
I rolled my shoulders.
'1'
Deep breath. I wasn't going to lose- even if it was just a casual race.
'GO'
I bounced up off my front leg and took running. I put all of my energy into the first 25 meters, hoping I could secure a first place. No. Tobi was hot on my tail. I pumped my arms faster (don't be fucking dirty minded) and raised my legs higher as I ran, looking far ahead and into the distance. The sand was burning hot, and gave me a sort of energy, that gave me motivation to go faster.
There was approximately 50 metres left to run. My chest was starting to burn up, and my breathing was becoming uneven. Was I going to slow down to regain my breath? Hell no! The last 50 meters or so were the most important.
I ran faster than I knew I was capable. The sun was beating down on my neck, beads of sweat were starting to form on my forehead and back. I saw Tobi catching up in the corner of my eye. I speeded up one last time, racing ahead and leaving him far behind.
I hopped onto the beach chair and panted, raising my hands above my head and stretching my chest to get as much air as possible, to so slow my heart rate down.
Tobi arrived.
'Fair... Play...' I managed to say between pants. Tobi just put his thumbs up and bent over, trying to regain his breath.
'Jesus Christ, I don't remember you being that fast!' Viddal exclaimed, eyes wide.
'I do try.' I smiled, now less breathless.
'Hey Addie, come tan with us!' Saoirse called my over to the beach chairs she, Talia, Freya, Mier, Sarah, Katie and Gee were sitting on. I skipped over, trying to minimalize the amount of sand coming in contact with my feet.
'My legs are going to be so stiff tomorrow.' I groaned.
'Mine are going to be browner than Mier.' Sighed Freya contently. I would have given shaken my head at her silly comment, but she was lying face down and couldn't see me.
Deciding it would be better to be orange than paler a vampire all Summer, I got cozy on my back and tried to fall asleep whilst tanning. I slid my shades over my eyes and listened to the soothing sound of the waves, before taking a nap.
...
'Addieeee' Someone was shaking my shoulder.
'Fuck off.' I mumbled, turning over.
'But Addie, we're going to play volleyball.' I could hear that JJ was speaking.
'Well I'll join later.'
'But if you don't come, then the teams won't be equal.'
'Make someone the ref.'
I heard him walking away. For a moment I thought he had gone to play, until I felt a bucketful of ice cold water, trickling down my back.
'OLAJIDE WILLIAM OLATUNJI...' I screamed. This bitch thought he could do that?
'Come play volleyball.' He whined. I rolled my eyes and got up.
'Fine, I'm coming. Happy?'
'Very much so.' He replied smugly.
I rolled my eyes at him before walking to the pitch. The teams were:
RED TEAM: Talia, Simon, Gee, Chip, Saoirse, Tobi, Randolph, Lux, Sarah, Freezy,
BLUE TEAM: Will, Mier, Freya, Josh, Ethan, Viddal, Niko, Harry, Katie, Vikk, Lewis, and somebody I didn't recognise.
'I guess we'll go on the red team.' I shrugged, taking place at the back of the court.
We started with the ball. Simon started by hitting the ball over the net. Harry dived into the empty space where Simon had hit it, and punted it over to where Talia was standing. Talia was scared of the ball, and stepped out of the way of it.
It was 1-0 Blue team.
They surfed this time. Will hit the ball over the net, to where Sarah was. Sarah was quite tall and belted it over and towards Katie, who tried to hit it, but missed.
1-1
...
It was 9-9. The next point was going to win.
Randolph surfed this time, whacking the ball over to an empty spot on their half of the pitch.
You could feel the tension. Nobody was going to lose without a battle.
Viddal being the big person he is, managed to get there just in time and throw the ball over the net and to JJ, who threw the ball with so much force, it looked impossible to stop. But then big old Ethan managed to grab it and throw it forcefully over the net at Talia.
They had found out that Talia was our weak spot. Before the ball had even passed the net, I yelled;
'EVERYONE CLEAR.' Making everyone in my pitch go to the sides. I took a massive jump up, and absolutely hammered the ball down, just where Niko was. Niko had skinny little arms, and for his own good, didn't even try to stop it.
The ball hit the sand, and my team starting jumping up and down, cheering.
'LET'S FUCKING GO!' JJ yelled, celebrating the most out of all of us. Before I could even laugh at him or celebrate anymore with the others, JJ had hoisted me onto his shoulders. I cheered as he spun me around.
'Well played.' I managed to smile at the opposition.
'Wow.' I heard Gee whisper.
'What?' I asked, climbing down from JJ.
'The sunset.' Talia gasped
I turned around, and sure enough, the sun was setting. It was gorgeous- the golden bead reflecting on the surface of the sea. The sky was a perfect mix of bright yellow, energetic orange, blood red, and evening pink.
'Wow.' I gasped.
Usually when I saw something beautiful like this, I would take a picture on my phone and put it on my snapchat or Instagram. But I was enjoying it now. Not feeling pressured to show the world.
JJ's slid his arm around my shoulders.
I didn't need to show anyone.
Everyone I wanted to see it was already viewing it with me.