Community service isn’t so bad when the girl next door tags along. I check in and grab my gloves before we head down the beach to a new section of sand to comb through. After my debt to society is paid, I may still stroll the beaches and pick up trash just out of habit. Emily always wanted to start up her own beach cleanups back in California. She had it in her head that she could save all of the turtles.
It makes me sad that I let her down. She was tied up in the middle of that whole administrative leave ordeal at Drenaline Surf until they could figure out who the true culprit was. I’m certain Vin let her have her job back, but I wish I could apologize to not only her but her boyfriend too. Miles deserves an apology. He was always the innocent bystander who got sucked into Topher’s games and apparently mine as well.
“You okay?” Leilani asks, bringing me back to Hawaii and out of California. “You seem like you’re a million miles away.”
“Not a million,” I say, reaching down for a tiny piece of plastic. It’s amazing how easily I can spot these now. “Just California. Thinking of all the people there who hate me now.”
“Don’t do that,” she says, bending down to pick up a bottle cap. “In time, things will change, even for them. They’re still reeling from the whole thing. Eventually, they’ll learn to forgive too. Even Colby Taylor.”
We stroll along, talking about her plans for college and how she’s only going to please her parents because she actually wants to work at Surf-N-Swells with her brother. As we clean up, a group of kids with surfboards walk by and one in particular waves at me. It’s Tao, his dark hair standing out among the blonde kids he’s walking with. He holds up his board, a proud smile on his face. There’s a Hurley sticker and a bright green Surf-N-Swells logo with an orange hibiscus flower sticker.
“That’s the kid I helped find a board for the other day,” I tell Leilani. “I was nervous about helping him at first, in case he knew who I was, but he didn’t react, so maybe he’s too young to know. He knew about John John Florence, though.”
She laughs. “I dare you to find a Hawaiian child who doesn’t know who John John Florence is,” she says. “He’s a legend now. Two-time world champion? He’s a superstar of the sport.”
He was also Topher’s favorite surfer. He always wanted to be better than his idol, to get on tour and compete against the best of the best. Even with all that’s happened, I hope he does. I hope he wins a world title, and I hope it happens at Pipeline so I can hide out in the crowd and watch it happen in person. I can already see Miles chairing him up the beach, American flags flying all around them.
Someone shouts in the distance, and Leilani and I both spin around to see what’s going on. There’s a commotion in the water. And then I see it spike up above the waves. A lone board with a Hurley sticker, an orange hibiscus flower, and the words Surf-N-Swells in bright green.
“Tao!” I shout, ripping the gloves from my hands and running toward the water.
The ocean engulfs me instantly, my shirt clinging to my body like an extra layer of skin. I hear nothing as the water rushes into my ears. I blink a few times before duck diving under a wave and propelling myself forward with Spartan warrior strength. I pop up long enough to look around and grab another gulp of oxygen. The board rocks around in the water.
I duck back under, scanning the water for Tao. A panic settles into my chest, reminding me of the night Topher wiped out and went under. I froze that night, scared out of my mind that I’d never find him in the dark waters. But Haley was there that night. She was able to channel the calmness before a storm and find him.
Right now, I don’t have Haley, but it’s daylight, and I do have Vin’s nickname for her – sunshine. I focus and swim ahead, letting my eyes absorb the glittery particles of water as the sun beams down, casting a spotlight under the sea. I spot his surf leash and paddle toward him.
I latch my arm around the kid’s waist and pull him to the surface. He chokes out, spitting water, and gasps for air. I don’t have time to say anything to him because a flock of surfers have surrounded us, helping pull him above the water and onto someone else’s board. I try to catch my own breath as they carry him into shore.
“Are you okay?” a voice asks, but I don’t turn around because I know my sense of sound is off right now. The water makes my ears ring.
“Kale!” the voice shouts. “Man, are you okay?”
A hand lands on my shoulder and I glance back. It’s my cousin. Makana. The same one who looked away the other night and pretended not to know me. Now he’s inches away, staring back at me with the same dark eyes we inherited from our fathers.
“I’m fine,” I say, looking toward the sand.
“Paddle in with me,” he says. “You probably need to go to the hospital too. Just to make sure you’re good. I’ll drive you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I tell him. “I’m okay. I just want to make sure the kid is. I mean, he’s the one we all ran into the water for anyway.”
Makana inhales. “Kale, I didn’t run in for the kid. I ran in for you,” he says. “I thought you were on a suicide mission. You remember when we were kids and we used to watch Lilo and Stitch and boycott other Disney movies because this was the Hawaiian one and it was made for us? Ohana means family, dude.”
The sun streaks across the ocean, as if symbolically bringing me from the dark side back into the light.
“And family means no one gets left behind,” I say. “You want to drive me to the hospital to check on Tao?”