“At least the waves are perfect,” Paige said as they walked to the edge of the shore, the shale rock sliding beneath their feet. The waves were huge, rolling toward shore and curling in on themselves, absolutely ideal for surfing. If it wasn’t for all the sharp rocks, there wasn’t a doubt in Maya’s mind that people would be surfing here all day, every day.
The storm clouds were still covering the horizon, but the darkest of them were still a long way off. The girls would have plenty of time to ride waves before it started raining or the waves became too unpredictable.
Maya eyed the waves, trying to decide the safest way for them to surf the cove. “Here’s what I’m thinking: we paddle out a little farther than we usually do, and then once we’re surfing, we’ll bail out before the water’s shallow enough for us to hit the bottom.”
“How do we know where that is?”
“We’ll do a few spot checks on our way out.”
Paige tilted her head. “It actually doesn’t look so bad. Yeah. You’re right. I think we’ll be fine.” She smiled at Maya. “Let’s make the most of summer. All in favor say ‘aye.’”
“Aye,” Maya said, smiling from ear to ear.
They both took off their shoes and pulled their towels out of their bags before dropping their backpacks next to their shoes. They each put their towel next to the backpacks and set out toward the water.
Maya was extra careful walking barefoot to the water’s edge. The last thing she wanted to do was cut open her foot before getting into the water. Slowly, she and Paige made their way down the beach to where the waves washed up on the shore.
With the water splashing over their feet, they attached their ankle leashes, four-foot bungee cords that made sure they would always be attached to their boards. Maya undid and reattached her ankle strap three times, making sure it would stay strong when she bailed out early on the waves.
They got in the water and started paddling out.
“Check it out,” Paige shouted to Maya over the crashing waves. She nodded to something off to Maya’s left, a sand bar pretty far out from the beach itself, a narrow little strip of dry land that pointed out to sea like an arrow. “If something goes wrong and we can’t make it to shore, let’s head there.”
“Good plan,” Maya shouted back.
They headed out about as far as they would normally go before Maya did the first spot check to see how shallow the water was. She dove under and felt around gently with her hands. It was about seven, maybe eight feet down before she hit the rocks. “We’ve got to head farther out,” she said when she came back up. “Too shallow here.”
Paige nodded, and they continued paddling into deeper water, diving under the waves as they rolled in.
Maya did three more spot checks. On the third, the water seemed to be nearly fifteen feet deep. It was perfect. If they bailed here, there was virtually no chance they’d risk hitting the rocky bottom.
“This is it,” she said when she popped out from the water and back onto her board. “We should be safe if we bail here.”
They continued paddling out to sea. The waves were getting bigger the farther they got from shore. Their size only excited Maya. The bigger the wave, the faster the ride, she thought.
Eventually, when she thought they could have a nice ride before bailing at the safe spot, Maya turned her board back toward the shore. She hopped on the next wave that came rolling by.
This was what she loved. Riding a board along a wave, she felt almost weightless but in perfect control. She could go faster than she ever could on foot, and it was impossible for her to have any care in the world. The dread of the new school year, Kai’s obnoxious behavior, it all faded out of her mind. All she cared about was the wave and her board. And the rocks, Maya reminder herself. She had to care about them. She kept a close eye on the spot where she knew it was safest to bail off the board.
When she reached the spot, she kicked the board out from under her, flicking it forward while she herself jumped backward over the crest of the wave. She hit the water and felt the ankle leash go taut for a second. Then it loosened as the bungee cord snapped it back toward her body. Maya resurfaced. She hadn’t hit a rock. She hadn’t hit anything. This was actually turning out to be safer than she’d expected. She made her way to her board, which was floating just a few feet away.
Maya wrapped an arm over her board, swooped a leg across it and swiftly pulled herself back on top of it. Paige was still waiting, obviously making sure Maya was okay before she took a ride herself. Maya gave her a big thumbs-up, and Paige grinned back. Maya watched as Paige waited for a wave and hopped onto her board.
Paige jumped off further out than Maya had. She’s probably still a little nervous, Maya thought as she waited for her friend to resurface. When Paige did pop up from the water, she had a big smile on her face.
“Let’s rip this cove up!” she shouted.
Maya just laughed and started paddling out again.
They each caught another wave. Then another. Maya was a little surprised at how easy surfing this area really was. The people who got injured must have been really careless, Maya thought. As long as they bailed out before the wave got too close to the shore, there was virtually no danger that they’d get hurt.
Each time Maya jumped off her board and popped her head above water, she was reminded of the storm. They sky was getting darker and grayer with each passing moment. Not only that, but the waves were also growing less manageable, and the wind was starting to pick up.
After Paige caught a particularly big wave, she resurfaced and called out to Maya. “Maybe we should think about heading back.”
Maya looked at the sky. “We came all the way out here. We should make the most of it!” She had to shout the last bit so that Paige would hear her over the waves crashing nearby.
Paige seemed a little hesitant about continuing but shrugged and started paddling back out.
They surfed for another half hour. Maya had just started riding a massive wave when it swelled, becoming much larger than she anticipated. The wind whipped into a frenzy, and she nearly lost her balance as she rode toward shore. She corrected her footing, and then leaned into the wind and angled the board a little bit, steadying herself. This wave was moving faster than the previous ones. It only took about half the usual time for her to reach the point where it was still safe to jump off, and she nearly missed it, getting too close to the dangerous rocks beneath. When she came back to the surface, she looked for Paige. It was definitely time to head back to shore. The conditions were becoming treacherous.
Paige was out where they were catching the waves, just about to ride an approaching swell. Perfect, Maya thought. After this one, we should both head in. The storm was picking up in a hurry, and by the time Maya made it back to where they were catching the waves, the water would be too choppy to ride anyway.
Paige jumped up on her board, riding the surf in. She wasn’t far from Maya when the wave swelled and crashed in on itself without warning. Just before Maya pushed her board down to swim under the wave she saw Paige disappear into the crashing water. When she popped her head out of the water, Paige was nowhere to be seen. Maya couldn’t even spot Paige’s board. It was as if she’d vanished into the ocean.
Much farther out from shore than she expected, there was a splash, and she heard Paige’s voice call, “He—” It cut off. “Help!”
Maya paddled toward Paige, ducking under the waves as she went and fighting the water pushing against her. The storm was coming into full effect now. Not only were there waves washing in toward the shore, but the wind was whipping water down the coast. Maya was getting splashed from the side as she made her way to Paige.
Paige would appear for a moment, only to disappear behind a swell. Maya knew she was moving in generally the right direction, but she kept losing sight of her friend.
We stayed too long, she thought. They’d missed their window to make it back to shore by mere minutes, and now Paige needed help. Maya tried to reassure herself that her friend was probably fine—fighting a pulled muscle or dealing with a cracked board.
But then Maya heard something that cut through the noise of the waves. Paige was crying.