by M.M. Shelley
Chapter Three – The Dare
Arriving at the beach was easy enough. Kye was right to say it was just down the rode. Kye and his friends had set up a pit with a fire and he was yelling out to someone who was in the water and who was paddling out into the ocean on a surf board.
“Which one is he?” Grasiella asked. She and Tatiana parked the motor scooters and sat looking at the group around the fire pit.
Scanning the sea of people, Tatiana held her hand above her eyes to block the sun. “He’s that one over there,” she said. And as she pointed him out to Grasiella a smile broke out onto her face. Kye had a slender, he was also a head taller than most of the people in his group.
“Hey you made it,” Kye said as he made his way over after having spotting them. “I’m Kye,” he said to Grasiella. “Come on. I’ll show you around to everybody.” He led them back to the group gathered around the fire pit.
“Out there are Brody and Jessica,” he said with an easy smile and he then added, “They think they know what they’re doing out there.”
Tatiana laughed along with him. He crouched down to see how the cooking was going and said, “Hey you better be cooking those right.” He introduced the guy doing the cooking to Grasiella and Tatiana. He told them he went by the name Manuku. “He’s a barney so anything he says,” shaking his hand out to gesture no, “don’t buy into it. And they are Lolani and Alanna.”
“Hi,” Alanna said. She and Lolani were seated next to each other on the sand near the pit.
Lolani became excited as she sat up and drew Alanna up with her. “They’re coming over here,” she said and turned to Alanna asking her, “How do I look?”
Kye glanced over to see who Lolani was so excited to see. The moment he saw who it was that Lolani was excited to see, he mumbled something under his breath that Grasiella couldn’t quite hear.
“Who is he?” Grasiella asked him.
“His name’s Eros,” he said with a bit of disdain. “He and his crew like to come by this beach every now and than.”
“That’s a funny name,” Tatiana said with a small laugh. She hand the tendency to laugh when something made her uncomfortable.
“Yeah, I heard it’s an old family name or something,” Kye explained.
Eros was tall with very blonde hair bleached from the hours he must have spent in the sun. His skin had a golden hue. Nearly all the locals had a nice tan but his coloring was different. As he approached the fire pit, Grasiella could see that his eyes were extremely dark blue almost unnaturally so.
“What’s going on over here?” Eros asked, looking not the least bit interested in what they were doing. Grasiella was not sure why he even asked the question.
Eros looked over at Tatiana then Grasiella. He looked at Grasiella a bit longer then he should have, which upset Lolani. She rose from her seat. “Hi, Eros,” Lolani gave him a smile that said she was up for a lot more than just an innocent beach party where he was concerned. Her smile grew two times wider as he looked over at her. Her smile dropped when he did not return it.
Without a word Eros motioned to his friends who stood on either side of him that they were not staying. They headed further up the beach for a clearer spot, one that was a nice distance away.
Tatiana drew Grasiella aside so that they wouldn’t be over-heard by the others. “He has magic in him,” she said with a bit of excitement. It wasn’t everyday that they came across someone who had power. Maybe the trip out to the island wouldn’t be a waste after all. “Could you sense it?” she asked.
Kye moved closer to the twins and brought Tatiana’s attention back to him with his question, “Would you like a surfing lesson.” It wasn’t really a question, as it was more of a challenge that he was issuing to her and Tatiana never backed down from a challenge.
She looked out into the water which caused her to hesitate a moment. “Out there?” she asked, unsure. Out in the water there were huge waves crashing into the beach and they didn’t look kind to her.
“It’s not all that bad … once you get in,” he stated. Grabbing his board from where he had it perched in the sand. “Once you try it, I won’t be able to get you out,” he promised. As he moved out in the water, the waves pulled at his feet beckoning him in. “Come on,” he encouraged as he looked back at her.
“Shouldn’t I practice on land first?” She pointed down showing him that further down the beach were several people who were standing on boards on the sand and were practicing their balance.
Kye seemed to be giving it some thought, but than he said, “You need to see how the water feels first. See how it likes you.” He raised his palm out to her. His teeth were gleaming white compared to the golden tan of his skin. The moment her hand rested in his, he closed his palm over hers and led her out into the water. There would be no going back, she had accepted the challenge although with every step she made she was quickly reconsidering.
They were waist deep when he asked her, “How does it feel?”
Laying her hands on the waters clear surface, it seemed almost electric and she looked up at Kye to see if he noticed the change in the water. If he had he didn’t seem fazed by it. Kye had his surf board lying on the water next to Tatiana and he asked her to climb on.
Looking at it, she watched as it rocked back and forth above the water, challenging her. After a few encouraging words from Kye, she jumped onto the board.
Lying on her stomach, her hands gripped the edges of the board. The water underneath was pushing up onto the board. “It feels crazy,” Tatiana said, as she turned her head to Kye.
“That’s alright.” His hands were holding the board steady, “Try straddling the board.”
She grimaced; her hold on the board was tight as she did so. “It’s the best view of the island,” he assured her, his hold remained on the board.
He was right; she did have a good view of the island. It started to drizzle down around them. Laughing, Kye told her that it was normal and would let up soon. He said, once she adjusted to the island, she wouldn’t notice the rain much. Kye was right as the drizzle stopped moments later almost as if it had never happened.
Tatiana looked across the water. She noticed that Manuku was on his board and he was waiting to catch a wave.
“You want to give that wave a try?” Kye asked.
Tatiana couldn’t keep her nervous laughter at bay and told him that she would hold off on that. He led her back to the shore after realizing he wouldn’t be able to convince her to give it a try.
She sat on the board as he directed it in, and watched Manuku she wasn’t sure that she would ever be able to do what she just saw Manuku do as he caught the wave and rode it.
