Surf's Up

by Chrissie Perry

  It had been a great day, and Lucy thought about writing in her new diary.

  But she couldn’t find the energy to get it out of her bag. In her head, she said goodnight to her mum and dad, and then to Frankie. She did miss them a bit, but she didn’t feel sad.

  Bonnie’s voice drifted up from the bottom bunk.

  ‘Hey, what about Mia? Don’t you think she’s weird? I reckon Karen’s nice, though. I can’t wait until tomorrow. We are going to … ’

  Soon, Bonnie’s voice was just a part of Lucy’s dream.

  ‘Can we swap wetsuits?’ Lucy asked when they got to the beach the next morning.

  ‘Why?’ Bonnie asked.

  ‘Well, I just thought that maybe your wetsuit would fit me better,’ said Lucy.

  In her dream, she had been riding the waves like Layne Beachley. And in her dream, she was definitely wearing Bonnie’s wetsuit with the green swirls.

  ‘Sure,’ Bonnie said, peeling off the wetsuit and throwing it to Lucy. ‘But they are exactly the same size.’

  Luke walked over to the girls just as they were zipping up their wetsuits.

  ‘Hey, grommets. How’s it shaking?’ asked Luke.

  ‘Good,’ Bonnie and Lucy replied, giggling. Luke really talked like a surfer.

  Lucy was so excited. She felt like she was about to shock Luke and the others in class. They wouldn’t believe how much better she was at surfing in the green swirly wetsuit.

  It would be just like in her dream.

  The group ran out into the ocean.

  Lucy lay flat on her tummy on the board, and steered it through the swell. She was ready to try out what Luke had taught them.

  Lucy tried to jump from her belly to her knees. On the first go, she managed to get one knee on the board. But the other knee slipped off, and the rest of Lucy followed.

  She tried again. This time, she counted. One, two, three, up.

  Both knees were on the board, but only for a second. Lucy lost her balance, and fell into the water with a big splash.

  She wasn’t going to give up, though. On the third try, both of Lucy’s knees landed on the board, and they stayed there! Lucy was kneeling! She was really doing it.

  She felt the board move under her, gliding through the water.

  It was fantastic.

  ‘Bonnie, watch me!’ she called. Lucy turned her head to look for Bonnie. She was probably under the water somewhere. Finally, Lucy came off the board. She was breathing heavily.

  ‘Well done, grommet,’ said Luke.‘And look at your mate out there. She’s a natural.’

  Lucy put her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun. She looked out, far into the water.

  First, she noticed that Karen was out where the waves broke. As she watched, Karen actually stood on her board. Lucy clapped. Karen was amazing.

  She wanted Bonnie to see what was happening. She glanced around the shoreline, searching for Bonnie. She started to get a bit worried when she couldn’t see her anywhere. She was just about to tell Luke, when she looked out to sea again.

  Bonnie was standing on her board, riding a big wave! She twisted and turned through the surf. For a moment, she disappeared inside the tunnel of the wave. Then she came out the other end, looking wobbly but still standing! It was incredible.

  Luke put his fingers in his mouth and gave a loud whistle.

  ‘Nice surfing,’ he called out. ‘Gee, that Bonnie has talent,’ he said to Lucy. ‘Isn’t she great?’

  ‘Totally great,’ Lucy agreed.

  Just then, Lucy realised that Mia had come up beside her. It seemed kind of spooky to Lucy, the way Mia did that. It would be OK if she talked, but she hardly ever said a word.

  At the end of the lesson, the four girls sat on the beach in front of Luke. He had a piece of paper in his hand.

  ‘You guys did really well today,’ he said. ‘A couple of you even did well enough to go up to the next level.’

  Lucy held her breath. She was doing better with her kneeling. Maybe, just maybe …

  ‘Bonnie and Karen, you will be going up into Aaron’s group,’ said Luke.

  Bonnie and Karen squealed, and gave each other a high five.

  ‘Mia and Lucy, you guys are stuck with me for another lesson,’ he said. He ruffled Lucy’s hair, and gave her a friendly wink.

  Luke was really a lovely teacher.

  So why did Lucy feel so miserable?

  That afternoon, Lucy lay her towel down on the sand next to Helen’s beach chair. Ross’s feet stuck out the end of their sun tent. Lucy could tell where Tom got his snoring from.

  ‘Come and play soccer?’ Bonnie called, squeezing her wet hair onto Lucy’s hot, dry back.

  ‘No,’ said Lucy, getting out her book.

  ‘I’m just going to read for a while.’

  Lucy tried to get into her book. It was an exciting bit, but she couldn’t concentrate. She read the same page three times before she gave up, and lay her head down on the towel.

  ‘Are you OK, sweetie?’ Helen asked. ‘Would you like some cordial?’

  ‘No, thanks, I’m fine,’ Lucy replied, trying to sound happy.

  But she didn’t feel fine. It was hard to explain exactly what she felt. She was sad, for sure, about Bonnie going up a level in surfing class. It meant that they wouldn’t be together. The whole idea of this holiday was that they would learn to surf together!

  And now Lucy was going to be stuck with Mia in beginners.

  It wasn’t fair.

  She couldn’t help it if she wasn’t as good as Bonnie. She felt like she was being punished, having to stay down while Bonnie went up to a higher level.

  ‘Sweetheart, if you want to talk about anything with me, you can,’ Helen said kindly.

  ‘Thanks,’ Lucy said quickly, ‘but everything’s fine.’

  She didn’t want to talk about her feelings with Bonnie’s mum. It was all too confusing. She would probably end up saying the wrong thing, and Helen would make a fuss. Or she would worry that Bonnie was being mean to her.

  ‘You know,’ said Lucy, getting up off her towel. ‘I might play soccer with the others after all.’

  She raced off to join the others.

  ‘You’re in luck,’ Bonnie said, as Lucy joined them. ‘We’ve finished the soccer game. Now we’re playing hide and seek. You can go anywhere between the kiosk and the trampolines. I’m it.’

  Bonnie put her hands over her eyes and started counting. The boys scattered. Lucy ran up a sand dune. She squatted inside a bush. It was a good hiding place. She was out of the hot sun and she could see between the leaves.

  She sat there and waited. It seemed ages before Bonnie walked in her direction.

  She had already found Shane, and he was helping her find the others. Lucy tried to stay perfectly still. Then she heard Shane’s voice.

  ‘What’s wrong with Lucy today?’ he asked Bonnie.

  ‘Nothing’s wrong. What do you mean?’ Bonnie asked.

  ‘Well, she’s really quiet.’

  ‘I guess she’s a little bit quiet today.’

  ‘Maybe she’s angry about something?’

  ‘What would she be angry about?’ Bonnie asked, looking under a picnic table to see if anyone was hiding there.

  ‘I don’t know, maybe she’s jealous that you got put up a level in surfing?’

  Lucy held her breath.

  ‘Lucy isn’t like that,’ Bonnie said crossly. ‘She wouldn’t be jealous that I’m going up a level. She’d be happy for me.’

  Their voices were getting softer. They had walked right by Lucy’s hiding spot.

  Lucy finally let out a sigh.

  Maybe she was jealous?

  Lucy felt terrible. How could she be jealous of her best friend? She just wouldn’t let herself feel that way. She would make herself feel happy for Bonnie, even if she did have to stay in the beginners’ class with Mia.

  Suddenly, Lucy felt homesick.

  It was strange. She had always thought that if she
got homesick it would be at night time, when she was tucked into someone else’s bed, with somebody else’s family down the hallway. She had never imagined that she would feel homesick in the middle of the day. Or while she was hiding inside a bush!

  She wished she could see Frankie, or her mum. At least then she could talk honestly about her feelings.

  She thought about what Frankie had said about writing in a diary. Lucy decided she’d write about this bad feeling so it would escape out of her head and onto the pages of the diary. Then everything would go back to normal.

  When they got back from the beach, Lucy sneaked into the bedroom. She took out the diary and its tiny key from her backpack. Then she climbed up to the top bunk and pulled the doona over her, like a tent. She had to leave a hole for air, and for light.

  At first, it was hard to put her feelings into words. But she really wanted to get this bad feeling out of her. She was worried it was making her mean on the inside. Soon, Lucy was writing away.

  It did make her feel better!

  Lucy was so busy writing that she didn’t hear Bonnie walk into the bedroom.

  ‘What are you doing, Lou?’ Bonnie asked. ‘Is that a game? I’ll come in with you, and we can pretend we’re camping.’

  Lucy looked through the hole in the doona.

  ‘I’m just having a rest,’ she said. Bonnie climbed up the ladder to the top bunk and pulled back the doona.

  ‘What’s that book then?’ she asked.

  Lucy shut the diary quickly, and locked it.

  ‘It’s nothing. It’s just my diary,’ she replied.

  ‘Can I see?’ Bonnie asked.

  Lucy shook her head. There was no way she wanted Bonnie to read what she had written.

  ‘It’s actually private,’ Lucy explained.

  ‘Come on,’ said Bonnie. ‘I won’t tell anyone what it says. Anyway, we’re best friends. We shouldn’t have secrets from each other.’

  Lucy tucked the diary under her pillow. She kept the key in her hand.

  ‘It’s not about secrets,’ Lucy said. ‘I just wrote a bit about what happened to me on this holiday.’

  ‘Then you must have written about things that have happened to me as well, because we’re on this holiday together,’ Bonnie pleaded. ‘Please? Please with sugar on top? Let me read it.’

  ‘Don’t worry about my diary,’ said Lucy. ‘It’s only boring stuff.’ She slid down the ladder and onto the floor. ‘Why don’t we play hide and seek outside?’

  ‘Come on, Lou. Now I’m going to wonder about – ’ Bonnie stopped as Helen called out.

  ‘Hey, you girls. Come downstairs. I want to talk to you about something,’

  Thank goodness for Bonnie’s mum, thought Lucy, as they turned to go downstairs. She felt like she’d been saved.

  ‘We’d better go,’ Lucy said. ‘It sounds important.’

  Bonnie gave her a funny look as she walked out the door.

  Lucy ran back to her backpack and dropped the key in the front pocket.

  She didn’t notice that Bonnie had also turned back, and was peeking at Lucy’s hiding place for the key.

  ‘Let’s have a big barbeque tomorrow night,’ said Helen, when they got downstairs. ‘You can ask the girls from your surfing class. The twins are going to ask a couple of kids as well.’

  Bonnie seemed to have forgotten about the diary. She looked really happy.

  ‘Wicked,’ she said. ‘Let’s do a gigantic concert. Lucy can teach everyone the moves. I hope Karen can come.’

  Lucy felt that bad feeling drift through her mind. She imagined Bonnie and Karen dancing and having fun together, while she was stuck sitting in the corner with Mia.

  ‘What about that girl in your level, Lucy?’ Helen asked. It felt like she was reading Lucy’s mind.

  ‘Oh, we don’t have to ask Mia,’ Lucy said.

  ‘Well, I don’t think you should leave her out. You might hurt her feelings,’ said Helen.

  Lucy nodded. ‘OK, that would be nice,’ she said. She didn’t want Helen to think she was the kind of girl who liked to hurt people’s feelings. Anyway, she would just make sure she was included with Bonnie and Karen, so it didn’t really matter. And she was determined to improve at surfing lessons tomorrow. Maybe she would get to go up a level too.

  Everything would work out.

  The next morning, Lucy watched as Karen and Bonnie walked along the beach with their new teacher. They had their heads together, and she heard a tinkle of laughter drift back towards her.

  ‘Hi,’ she said to Mia, as they both walked

  ‘Hello, Lucy,’ Mia mumbled, looking down at her feet.

  As they walked into the water, Lucy tried to concentrate. She lay down on her board and paddled. The waves were bigger today, and it was harder to get over them. But she was going to do it. She felt Mia follow at her heels.

  ‘Hey, Lucy, don’t forget to smile,’ Luke said.

  Lucy didn’t feel like smiling. She shot him a fake grin. Luke grinned back at her, but his smile was for real. Lucy felt her face relax, and soon she was giving him a proper smile.

  ‘Phew, that’s better!’ he said. ‘Now, up on your knees, girls.’

  Lucy took a deep breath. She jumped off her feet and landed on her knees, first time!

  She felt the movement of the ocean under her. She rose slowly, from her knees to her feet. She was surfing!

  It felt amazing. Lucy looked around. Mia was in front of her, clapping.

  Next thing she knew, she was underneath a swirl of water. She felt the pull of her leg rope. She tried to twist her way up to the top of the water.

  Her board was above her, coming towards her head. Lucy covered her face, and got ready for the bump.

  But it didn’t come.

  Instead, Mia grabbed the board and held it away from her. Lucy rose to the surface safely.

  ‘Hey, thanks for that, Mia,’ she said, gasping for breath.

  Mia grinned. Lucy noticed that her whole face changed with that grin. She looked like a different person.

  ‘That’s OK,’ Mia said. ‘You were awesome, Lucy!’

  Lucy giggled. ‘It was awesome!’ she said. ‘You have to try it.’

  Soon, Lucy and Mia were riding the waves together. Mia was trying really hard. At the end of each ride, they talked with Luke about how to make the next one better. It was the best fun.

  The lesson went so quickly that Lucy couldn’t believe it when their time was up.

  Afterwards, they waited on the beach for Bonnie and Karen.

  ‘Mia, we are having a barbeque tonight,’ Lucy said. ‘It would be really great if you could come.’

  They were having hamburgers and sausages for the barbeque. Ross put on a funny apron with ‘World’s Best Chef’ written on the front.

  Lucy and Bonnie helped Helen make red jelly for dessert.

  Then they went into the playroom to decide on what music they would use for their concert.

  ‘Karen really likes Jesse McCartney,’ Bonnie said. ‘Let’s make up a dance to one of his songs.’

  ‘He’s not that great to dance to,’ Lucy replied. ‘I think we should choose someone else.’

  ‘What about Avril?’ Bonnie asked. ‘I think Karen likes Avril as well.’

  Lucy sighed. She couldn’t really say that Avril wasn’t good to dance to. But somehow, that’s what she wanted to say.

  ‘I don’t think Mia likes Avril,’ she said.

  It was weird. She didn’t know why she said that – Lucy had no idea what sort of music Mia liked.

  Bonnie looked puzzled.

  ‘How would you know what Mia likes?’ Bonnie said. ‘She hardly talks!’

  ‘She does talk,’ Lucy replied. ‘She’s just shy at first. She’s actually really nice.’

  Bonnie shrugged. ‘OK, then. Let’s just choose something we like,’ she said.

  ‘Good idea,’ said Lucy.

  The CD player in the car was much more powerful than the one in the playroom,
so Bonnie and Lucy decided to use that instead. The back door of the car was open, and music pumped through the air.

  The front yard looked amazing. Shane and Tom had strung fairy lights in the trees. As it got dark, the little lights started to twinkle and glow.

  Karen and Mia arrived at the same time. It was strange seeing them out of their togs and wetsuits.

  Lucy thought Mia looked beautiful. She had her hair up in a high ponytail, and a little bit of glitter on her eyelids. She ran straight up to Lucy.

  ‘This looks awesome!’ said Mia.

  The twins’ friends arrived just as Helen started serving the sausages and hamburgers. It was delicious, but the red jelly for dessert was even yummier.

  After dinner, the kids all went outside.

  ‘Are we going to do one of your stupid concerts?’ Tom asked.

  Bonnie nudged him. ‘If they’re so stupid, you don’t have to join in,’ she said.

  Tom shrugged. ‘I think I have to,’ he said. ‘You girls would be lost without me. The concert would be too boring.’

  He did a little twist and shimmy to prove his point. Bonnie, Shane and Lucy jumped on him and started tickling him.

  ‘Say “Lucy is the best dancer, and her concerts are fantastic”’, Bonnie insisted, as the others held Tom down.

  Everyone was laughing so hard that they almost missed what Tom said.

  ‘OK!’ Tom panted, still trying to get the others off him. ‘Lucy is the best dancer.’

  It was so much fun tickling Tom that Lucy didn’t notice everyone else had stopped.

  ‘Hey, Lou, you can stop now,’ Bonnie teased.

  Lucy felt a bit embarrassed. ‘OK, let’s dance!’ she said.

  There were a lot of people to teach, but that only made it more fun. It was like having her own dance class. She showed them all the actions, and they copied in their own way.

  Finally, the concert was ready. Ross and Helen and a few of their friends came outside to watch.

  Dancing in the moonlight was beautiful. Lucy felt the warm air whoosh over her as she moved. She felt the music flow through her, and all the actions seemed to happen without even trying.