Chasing Swells

by Nikki Godwin

  “I’m not letting one stupid guy crush that,” she declares. “There’s no way I’m letting him have that kind of victory. Him or anyone else, really. One day I’ll be the heroine, and I may go through a few wrong heroes in the meantime, but I refuse to believe that I won’t have a happy ending.”

  Maybe Sloane has more fight mode inside of her than I realized. “So, you really want to meet Dominic?” I ask.

  She smiles because she knows she’s won. “I’ll do whatever you need,” she says. “Bonfire on the beach? Taco truck? Pool day? You name it. I’m officially your fairy god sister – because I’m not old enough to be your fairy godmother.”

  Chapter Six – Dominic

  The rain thumps against the thatched roof, a rhythmic drumming behind the sound of my alarm. I silence my phone and sit up immediately so I won’t drift back off to sleep. There’s a sliver of daylight outside, a mild hue of gray, but it’s definitely not surfing weather.

  I step onto the wooden floor and stagger toward the door. I crack it open, but there’s no hint of black coffee brewing, which means Glenn isn’t up yet. I’m careful not to be too loud because I don’t want to wake Kaia, so I tiptoe to the front door. I crack it open. The ocean is hidden under the misty rain.

  “Go back to sleep,” Glenn says from behind me.

  I jump upon hearing his voice.

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he says. “I say let’s take a day off. There’s no training to be done in this kind of weather. You deserve a break, and I wouldn’t mind one myself.”

  I push the front door shut before the wind can sling rain into the living area of the bungalow. Glenn starts brewing his coffee, but I make my way back to bed to sleep in just a little longer. Maybe my boards will be in today, and I can stop using this pathetic excuse of a board out here. Training seems pointless when you don’t have proper equipment.

  Maybe I can spend some time in the gym today. Or I can catch up on what’s happening with the world tour and the title race. It’d be cool to get out and take some pictures of the island since Cassie complains that I never update Instagram or send enough pictures back home. She says if I’m going to see the world, she deserves to live vicariously through me. If I ever make the world tour, I’m going to make sure she gets to see some of these places. Dad can stay home if he wants, but my stepmom deserves that chance. She’s helped me get this far. It’s the least I could do.

  I make my way back to my room, reset my alarm, and fall back into the sheets.

  Glenn is at the gym when I wake up later in the morning. Kaia sits in the living room, holding her phone out with her arm, probably trying to get a decent connection.

  “You know the resort has Wi-Fi,” I remind her.

  She nods. “I’m not walking down there just to get this text to go through.”

  I pour a glass of orange juice and linger behind the kitchen counter instead of joining her. We haven’t talked much since the other night when she told me about her mom’s new baby and how badly her dad needed to be coaching again. I’m not sure if that brought the walls down or not, but I don’t want to overstep my boundaries.

  “This is ridiculous.” Kaia groans. “I think I’m going to just get ready and go down to the resort. Sloane will know I’m going with her when she sees me there.”

  I don’t overstep, but I decide to push the boundary and see if she lets me cross. “Where are you going?”

  She doesn’t look up from her phone. She stays curled up in the chair, staring at the device in her hand like if she gives it the evil eye long enough, it’ll grant her wishes.

  “Some place with waterfalls,” she says. She dares to look up now. “Jumping off waterfalls, actually. Pretty dangerous stuff. My dad wouldn’t approve.”

  I take another swig from my glass before pouring the rest down the drain and leaving the glass in the sink. Then I walk around toward the living room.

  “So you do have a bit of an adrenaline junkie in you,” I state. I fold my arms over my chest, but I instantly realize that this smug grin is going to rub her the wrong way. I don’t know how to undo it either.

  “I’m not some kind of thrill chaser,” she says. Then she shrugs like it’s no big deal. “It’s something to do. Better than sitting around here all day.”

  She’s right about that. Live streaming surf clips is probably out of the question without setting up in the resort lobby. Definitely can’t do it from my bed with this hit-and-miss connection.

  “You want to come?” she asks.

  I guess that’s one way to undo the smug grin and cocky chest puff. I’m completely off guard, and I’m sure my face shows it. I don’t know how to recover.

  “You sure?” I ask, trying to downplay it. I don’t want her to know that I really want to go. “I don’t want to hijack your day. I’ve done enough damage already.”

  She brings her phone down and studies me for a moment. “No, I’m sure,” she says. “I think you should tag along. We’ll see if you’re as brave in the water without a surfboard as you are when you’re on one.”

  I’ve never met this girl Sloane who Kaia keeps talking about hanging out with, but the moment she walks into the St. Catalina Resort, I’m certain it’s her. She’s already in a bikini with a towel around her waist. Kaia said this girl was a real life mermaid with a dash of unicorn and a hint of rainbow, and seeing her now, that description – as crazy as it was – makes sense.

  She rushes over to Kaia and hugs her. I’ve never understood how girls can go from strangers to best friends in a matter of hours, but it’s just weird to see them hug like they’ve known each other forever. Sloane looks at me next.

  “You must be the surfer guy,” she assumes, even though I’d bet money that she knows my name and has already seen my picture.

  I may not be fluent in girl speak or girl code, but there’s no way she doesn’t know who I am. Even if Kaia has lowered her pitchfork, there was a moment when she wanted to ram it through me, and I’m pretty sure she told Sloane all about how I’d ruined her summer.

  “Dominic,” I clarify before reaching out to shake her hand. “But yeah, I’m the surfer guy.”

  She introduces herself and the linebacker of a guy behind her, her brother Will. I almost ask him if he plays football, but I don’t know if they even have football here. To them, ‘football’ may be soccer, like other places around the world. I decide not to ask about sports to keep from embarrassing either of us.

  “I’m not sure if Kaia told you,” Sloane says, tugging at her beach bag. “But we’re going to Serenity Falls today. It’s about thirty minutes from here. It used to be pretty popular with tourists, but most people don’t want to leave the resort area now. Don’t wanna be away from their phones too long.”

  I don’t throw Kaia under the bus, even though the thought crosses my mind. She probably wouldn’t appreciate it if I mentioned how she huffed around the bungalow all morning, waving her arms in the air because she couldn’t get a signal. I’m used to spending time away from my phone. I’d rather be literally surfing than web surfing anyway.

  “So, this whole waterfall jumping thing – I’m guessing you guys have done it before?” I ask.

  “Oh yeah,” Will says, his voice as deep as I expected it to be. “I go out there all the time with my friends. Sloane’s only been doing it for about a year, but she’s pretty much a pro now.”

  Kaia heaves her bag onto her shoulder and rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry,” she says, annoyance in her voice. “You won’t break your face. You’ll still be able to pose for surf magazines.”

  “I’m not worried about my face,” I snap back. “I’d prefer not to break my legs. Can’t exactly surf without those.”

  So much for warming up to me. I wish I could convince myself that she only said it to look like a badass in front of her new friends, but I think deep down, she probably meant it. Sloane and Will head through the lobby, leaving Kaia and me to follow.

  Kaia looks back at me once they’
re out of earshot. “Hey, if you’re scared, I’ll hold your hand,” she teases.

  She smiles when she says it – a real smile rather than the fake one she gave me when we met in the airport. And honestly, I’m only more confused now than I was before.

  For the last thirty minutes, Kaia and Sloane have been texting in the backseat, sometimes even passing their phones back and forth when cell service drops. Will has talked about sports (football is soccer here), how he didn’t realize surfing was a popular thing, and then he asked me about multiple places in the USA that I’ve never visited. Until recently, I rarely left California. I thought Hawaii was an adventure. I didn’t know I’d be jetting across the globe eventually.

  Even though he’s done his part to keep the conversation moving along, I’m much more interested in what’s being said behind my back. I’m sure I’m oblivious to a lot of things, but I’m not naïve enough to believe that they’re not talking about me. Then again, if they’re genuinely talking about something else, I’d feel like a pretentious asshole for assuming they were talking about me. This is probably why Kaia still doesn’t like me.

  “Here we are,” Will says, steering off of the road onto a dirt path.

  A sign on the road reads Serenity Falls with a painted waterfall behind the words, but I don’t think this is the path that’s meant for tourists. Once the tree limbs begin to slap his truck, I know this isn’t where we’re supposed to be.

  “You come this way often?” I ask, cringing as another limb snaps outside of the truck.

  Will laughs. “I’m not walking a mile down the trails to get there when we’re jumping in the water anyway. This is a shortcut. It’s worth it if you don’t mind the tree damage.”

  Sloane huffs in the backseat, so I turn back to look at her and Kaia. Neither says a word, but Sloane is definitely not happy with her brother.

  “There are other places you could’ve parked,” she says. “You know I don’t like it when you do this.”

  “The trees are fine!” Will yells, looking up at her in the rearview mirror. “If anything is damaged, it’s my truck, but I can live with the scratch marks. Storms do worse damage to trees than I do. They’re made to weather through these things.”

  He pulls into a clearing, and I bet there’s one hell of a story behind how he and his friends discovered it. Tire marks slice through dirt and grass. He warns us that he’s leaving his truck unlocked, so anything that’s left behind is not his liability. I really doubt we’ll get robbed out here, so I take my chances. I pull my shirt off and leave it in the passenger seat. I throw my towel over my shoulder and exchange a glance with Kaia who seems all too unimpressed.

  We trudge through the trees down a path that Will has probably traveled more times than even his sister knows. The sound of rushing water grows louder as we step over a few fallen limbs. My heart races as we draw nearer. I’ve jumped off piers before, but this is much more extreme. The more I think about it, the more I realize that Kaia was right – this is really dangerous. It only makes my heart thump harder.

  Will stops in his tracks and spins around. “You only get this moment once,” he shouts over the sound of the water. “When you step through here, you’ll see her in all her glory. The waterfall Kiagwa.”

  I don’t know if it’s common practice to name a waterfall, but at this point, I don’t really care if it’s normal or not. My inner thrill seeker is about to burst out of my skin. Will motions his arm ahead, like a butler greeting someone in a fancy mansion, and I don’t bother to hold myself back. I push through the trees to the opening.

  She pours over the cliffs, a natural beauty right here hidden away on St. Catalina Island. A light mist floats around her, ghostly and serene, as she plunges into a massive bright blue natural pool of water. She roars at us, somewhat inviting but also taunting. She knows she could destroy us, but she also wants us to revel in her magnificence.

  “Whoa,” Kaia says, easing up next to me.

  I look down at her. “You’re really going to do this?”

  She shrugs it off like it’s no big deal. “Yeah, are you?”

  “Definitely.”

  Chapter Seven – Kaia

  Water ricochets off the rocks as we follow Will through the caves behind the smaller waterfalls on our ascend to Kiagwa. I may have to bring my dad back here before we leave the island this summer. He’d love to see this as a tourist. I don’t think he’d be down with strolling through caves behind waterfalls, but nonetheless, he’d like it.

  My calves burn as we continue up the side of the rocks, toward the top of the cliff where the water meets at a point and rushes over. Kiagwa is actually scarier than I expected it to be, but I don’t want to admit that out loud. High school taught me not to show fear, not to show annoyance or hurt. I learned fast and hard that the moment you show any weakness, people will pounce on you like a lion, picking away at your soul like a vulture, until only pieces of you are left behind for your yearbook photo.

  It didn’t matter if people said I was a slutbag whore who partied too much on weekends. I didn’t react when I was accused of sleeping with guys I’d never even heard of. I never cried when rumors tore friendships apart or resulted in a horrible breakup that led to weight gain from ice cream intake. Okay, so maybe I did cry, but they never knew it.

  So naturally, there’s no way I’m going to admit to Dominic or Sloane that I’ve never jumped off of anything other than my bed, and I’m not going to mention that the thought of drowning is rushing through my brain every 2.3 seconds. I can swim, which was required learning with my dad being who he is, but I also know about currents and whitewash and pushing the limits. That came from Lessons From Dad 101 as well.

  “Almost there!” Will shouts out from up ahead.

  Thank God. I feel like I’ve climbed Mount Everest, or in this case, Mount Catalina. I should’ve dragged myself down to the gym with Dad and Dominic, but who wants to exercise when you’re on a tropical island for a few weeks during your last summer before adulthood?

  “You’ll want to stay on the rocks,” Will instructs us, still yelling over the sound of Kiagwa. “It’s pretty flat but can be a little slippery. It’s an easy jump, though. Plenty of room.”

  The louder Kiagwa gets, the closer I know we are to an opening. Soon we’ll be standing on top of her, looking over the edge to the place where she plunges… and hopefully I won’t plunge to my death.

  I wouldn’t mind chickening out in front of Sloane and her brother, but I’ve worked waaaay too hard to keep up a tough girl façade in front of Dominic, so there’s absolutely no way I can back down now. He can’t see me give in to fear.

  I honestly didn’t think he’d tag along. I thought he’d debate it back and forth for a bit and then eventually decide that it was too awkward or not really his thing and say no. What I didn’t expect was the actual adrenaline junkie inside of him to come frothing out like a grom in an empty lineup. Who knew he was actually into this stuff? I didn’t think pretty boys were this tempted to play with danger.

  Will looks back at us, and his mouth moves, but I hear no words. Kiagwa swallows all sound. He motions to the side of the cliff, where the rocks are jagged and slick but safe enough to step onto. Sloane follows him, and I trail along from the very back.

  My knees turn to cowards, turning into themselves like they’re hiding in a dark closet from a childhood monster, hoping to blend into the shadows and not be caught. I remember staying in a hotel with my parents as a kid, and my dad was so stoked over the balcony with the beachside view. I ran out there to join him, all hyped up on sugar and excitement, and then I looked down and turned into a puddle of jelly. My knees seem to think I’m that same six-year-old girl all over again. If she could say something to me in this moment, I’m pretty sure it’d be, “Kaia, you’re stupid.”

  In the distance, our towels are colorful dots on the ground, staring up at us like they’re waiting for this big moment so they can embrace us again. I’d much rather be swimming aro
und in that pretty blue water than shaking like a wind-up toy from a million miles above.

  Will wastes zero time. He shouts that he’ll see us on the other side before taking a flying leap off of the cliff, falling alongside Kiagwa into the great blue unknown. A splash bursts around him, and seconds later, he waves up at us before swimming backward to get a better view for our descend.

  “Here goes,” Sloane says, laughing before spreading her arms and diving away.

  It’s obvious that it’s just another day at home for them. Dominic looks over at me.

  “Ladies first?” he asks.

  I shake my head, but I’m hoping if he jumps now, I can turn around and find my way back down to solid ground. By the time they realize I’m not jumping, I’ll already have a head start for land.

  “Well, I’m not leaving you up here alone,” he says. “Your dad would kill me. Actually, he’d kill me if he knew where we were, but abandoning you at the top of a waterfall? Not exactly the most gentleman-like move.”

  Damn it. I didn’t mind letting my guard down at the bungalow the other night because I was in a safe place, but having to be vulnerable and hand over another piece of my soul while on top of a waterfall?

  “I sort of lied to you!” I shout, hoping maybe he didn’t actually understand what I said.

  “About what?” he calls back.

  Uggghh. Kiagwa, why couldn’t you have swallowed my words too? Will’s voice is ten times deeper and louder than mine, yet my words don’t get eaten by Mother Nature. It’s like Kiagwa actually wants to see me suffer.

  “I’ve never done anything like this,” I say, leaning closer to him so he can hear me without us being in a shouting match. “I don’t like heights, and I don’t want to drown.”

  He steps back toward the path we followed to get up here. He reaches for my hand, and because I’m afraid I won’t be able to move without him to stabilize me, I take it. He leads me back into the cave, away from Kiagwa.