Chapter 6
Twenty heads turned to look at Jill and Meg. Jill felt heat crawl up her face. She didn’t like to attract attention, especially negative attention. Now she’d have to come up with an excuse for why they were late.
But Meg spoke up. “We’re sorry, Krista,” she said. “Jill was just giving me some extra pointers down the beach. She didn’t want anyone to see how bad I was.”
“That’s not hard,” Abby said loudly.
“If you girls had been on time, you would have heard that we’re going to have to postpone the surfing competition,” Krista said. She sounded annoyed.
“For how long?” Jill asked.
“As I was just explaining,” Krista said, “it’s hard to tell. Hurricanes can be very unpredictable. We know it’s coming up the coast, and we know it’s going to hit North Carolina. We don’t know how strong it will be, and we don’t know where, exactly, it will land.”
“I think it’s exciting,” Cal said. “The waves during a hurricane are awesome!”
“And dangerous,” Krista said. “Once we put up the red flags, I don’t want to see anyone surfing. In fact, you shouldn’t even be near the water. Is that understood?”
Everyone nodded.
“Good,” Krista said. “Now, for those of you who have already mastered how to find and catch a wave, let’s work on angling and leaning. The rest of you will work with Jon on perfecting the basics.”
Jill looked longingly at the advanced group of surfers. She could handle the basic stuff in her sleep. But she didn’t want to leave Meg.
It was as if Meg were reading her mind. “You should go with them, Jill,” Meg said with a nervous smile. “I’ll be fine with the basics class. At least I can stand up on the board now, right?”
Jill was torn. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You’re probably in better hands with Jon than with me at this point.”
Meg nodded. “Since the competition is postponed, I’ll have time to practice more. And you should, too.”
Jill didn’t hesitate. “Remember what we did at the pool!” she said. Then she sprinted away. “You’ll be great!” she called back.
Jill liked helping Meg, but as she ran toward the advanced class, she felt free. She dashed into the ocean after the other surfers and slapped her board on top of the water. She threw herself onto her board and paddled toward the small group.
Suddenly, she saw it. A wave. A wonderful, beautiful wave.
It would roll right by the class. Her fellow surfers were sitting on their boards, listening to Krista. They would miss it.
But it would reach her just in time.
Jill turned her board around and pointed it toward shore. She began paddling, moving with the motion of the wave, waiting until she could feel it under her. She would wait until she sensed that it was just the right moment.
One more second. One more second.
Now!
Jill pushed herself up on her board. She put out her arms to steady herself and angled her feet to maintain her balance. She could feel the power of the wave. The wind and spray whipped around her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jill saw a flash of movement. A second later, something hurtled into her.
Jill flew off her board.