Summer Loving by Nicola Yeager Page B

my mouth. I start choking. A terrible feeling of panic starts to overcome me. I pat the sand with my hands to work out which way up I am, then attempt to stand up. Just as I’m doing that, a second wave comes crashing into me. This one somehow brings my surfboard with it and it narrowly misses my head.
    Kirstan grabs my shoulders and puts himself between me and the third wave, as it threatens to push me back into the water. He’s laughing.
    ‘What’s so bloody funny?’
    ‘Nothing at all! That was a good go. You were, er, on the board there for a good couple of seconds. It was the wave. It came in at an angle. Took your balance.’
    ‘But you told me to take it!’
    ‘I thought you might be able to catch it. No matter. We’ll wait for another one.’
    Which we do. We catch another and another and another and another. Each one of them throws me off the board and into the water. Sometimes I don’t even get on the board in the first place. Well, at least the water isn’t freezing. I’d never be able to take this if we were in Cornwall. Kirstan doesn’t get irritated or lose his cool with me, though. I can see how he’d be quite good at this.
    ‘Come on, now. Don’t worry about going in the water. It’s nothing. As long as I’m here with you, nothing will happen to you. We’ve only been out here for about fifteen minutes. We’ll let these ankle snappers go by; they won’t be much use. I’ll get you a good one. Just be patient.
    As long as I’m here with you , nothing will happen to you .
    Oh god. That’s what he used to say when he was trying to persuade me to learn surfing all those years ago. I really must stop this. This is unhealthy.
    ‘Here! Here we go! Get up on the board. Look behind you. See it? It’s about five seconds away. Now paddle! Fast!’
    My arms, which are aching by now, paddle as hard as they can. I try to keep the board from wobbling and try to keep it pointing in the direction of the beach. I must keep looking at the bloody beach. My back hurts. I can feel the surge of the wave behind me and suddenly, it’s like I’m flying. It seems like I’m travelling unbelievably fast and the rush is incredible. Water sprays over my face. The beach, which seemed pretty far away a few seconds ago, is now looming up to meet me. I’ve done it! I’ve bloody done it!
    Kirstan runs up to me as the sea recedes and leaves me and the board on the sand.
    ‘Great! Well done!’
    ‘Woo! That felt great!’
    ‘That’s just the start.’
    He takes my hand and helps me to a standing position. I stand facing him, grinning like an idiot. It’s all I can do to stop myself putting my arms around his neck. This is so, so confusing. It’s like the present and the past are all getting mixed up in my head. I have to keep reminding myself where I am, who I am, and when this is.
    I probably try my luck with about thirty more waves before we finish the lesson. I’m feeling exhausted and I’ve no idea how long we’d been in the sea. According to Kirstan, I managed to ride about twelve or thirteen of those into the beach. Lying down, of course. I still can’t stand up. On the three occasions I attempted to stand, I ended up drinking most of the wave, not riding it.
    When we’re finished, he helps me off with my wetsuit. I have to say, it was a bit peculiar when he pulled the zip down my back! He rinses both our wetsuits under a beachside shower and we head towards one of the bars. The amount of salt water I’ve had in my mouth over the past hour or so has made me feel even thirstier than I was before.
    On our way along the beach, I spot five small cabin-looking things as we approach the hotel. They’re about a dozen feet apart and each one has a different coloured, single door. They have straw roofs, as if whoever made them tried to get a Caribbean theme going. They look like extra-large changing huts that you see in Britain. Kirstan points at them.
    ‘Yellow door is Janica, Orange door is me.’
    ‘Wow!