Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) by Brighton Hill Page A

said, knitting my
brows as I looked from the line of surfboards to him. My dad
generally encouraged me to take an aggressive stance to unusual
behavior. Usually, I didn’t listen to him, but today my mind was on
fire.
    He laughed and ran his fingers through his
bleach blond hair. “You want to get coffee with me? My shift’s
almost over.”
    I tried not to laugh, but some choppy air
released involuntarily from my lungs. “Oh—thanks.” I wasn’t
expecting that. “I can’t right now. Maybe some other time.” I had
no idea what to say. Who asks someone out when they’re about to go
surfing?
    “Oh, yeah, sure.” He smiled weakly. “The
board’s on the house.”
    “Really?” I asked in a surprised tone.
    “You betcha. Just bring it back by 9:00.”
    “Okay. Thanks,” I said as I picked out one I
liked.
    I was relieved to get into ocean. The water
was a comfortable temperature and the waves were almost perfect.
The sun was starting to set on the horizon, giving the sky a fiery
red color. It was beautiful. What a great way to end the day.
    That night I slept like a baby.
    The next day at school, Laurent acted as if
he hadn’t even talked to me the day before. He seemed even angrier
than yesterday and it looked like Marine gave me a dirty look. It
wasn’t clear to me if she was interested in Laurent romantically or
not, but I got the feeling that she was dating Pascal.
    It was the same at swim practice—Laurent
seemed to not even know I existed and he swam again on the other
side of the water, away from me.
    When I was getting out of the pool, Ashton
called over, “Hey, Grace, wait up.” He swam over to me and we got
out together.
    “How about I pick you up at seven?” He was
referring to our night surfing date.
    “That sounds fine,” I said as I looked over
at Laurent who was still doing laps in the pool like a speed
demon.
    “He’s fast. Isn’t he?” Ashton lifted his chin
in the direction of Laurent.
    I shook my head lightly and shrugged my
shoulders. “Who?”
    “Laurent Moreau,” He laughed, as if I should
have known who he was talking about.
    “Oh.” I frowned. “I hadn’t noticed.”
    “Who wouldn’t notice that? The guy’s as angry
as hell.” He laughed again.
    I squinted in Laurent’s direction, acting
like I was trying to figure out what he was talking about. “I guess
I just wasn’t paying attention.”
    He smiled. “That’s good—focused on
winning—right?”
    “Huh? Winning what?”
    “The swim meet.” He wrinkled his nose. “What
else is there?” His smile was so big now. It looked like he was
enjoying my cluelessness.
    “I don’t need a ride home today,” I said as
we got to the entrance of the girls’ locker room.
    “Ah, man.” He grabbed his heart playfully. “I
guess I’ll survive the few hours that we’re apart.”
    I laughed. “Oh, don’t pick me up at my
apartment. Instead just meet me at the beach with Agatha and Danny.
I’m going to start surfing early.”
    He chortled. “You are crazy, Grace.” He
seemed to enjoy my oddities. “Okay. See you before the peer around
7:30ish.”
    “See you.” I rushed to quickly change into my
clothes so I could make it to Ocean Avenue before Laurent.

What the Hell?
    I waited for Laurent behind a dumpster on
Ocean Avenue, but he never came. After about a half-hour I headed
to the beach in disappointment. I had so been hoping that I could
discover where he lived that Friday.
    After I arrived at the peer, I was relieved
to see that a woman was renting the surfboards out today. That guy
that asked me out the evening prior made me uncomfortable. This
clerk didn’t bother me at all. She was on her cell phone the entire
time.
    When I surveyed the boards that were lined up
against the wall, I was happy to find the same one from the day
before. I paid the lady as she talked to her friend and carried my
board out to the sand where I laid out a towel and took off my
clothes—my bathing suit was on underneath and