Authors: Alyson Noël
“Not anymore,” she said, opening one eye to peer at them and then rolling over to face the wall.
“We have a lot to do today, so I need you to come eat some breakfast so we can get going,” her mother said impatiently.
“I made you some eggs and bacon,”
Abuela
said, coming over to shake her granddaughter’s shoulder.
But Lola just lay there with her eyes closed, slowly counting to ten. She promised herself she would open them the second she reached that number. But she made no promises about how long it might take to get there.
“Get up!” she heard her mother say, in the shrillest voice possible.
Lola rolled over to see
Abuela
smiling down at her, while her mother listed all the very important things that had to be accomplished before this evening’s cotillion. “We have to be at the spa in an hour. I’ve booked us manicures, pedicures, massages, and a hair appointment.”
“But I don’t want a haircut,” Lola said, touching her long, dark hair protectively.
“It’s not for a cut. It’s for an updo,” she told her, while glancing impatiently at her watch. “Now come on. We’ve got a long day ahead of us and we need to get started right away.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Lola said, watching as they left her room and then glancing at the time on her clock radio.
Great
.
Ellie is going to be surfing her first heat in less than an hour, and there is no way I can get out of this.
Shaking her head in surrender, she stuck her feet in her slippers and walked down the long hallway toward the smell of bacon.
Ellie looked around nervously. She recognized a few people from last year, and everyone seemed to be having so much fun, laughing and joking, as though they had showed up merely for the camaraderie instead of the trophy. But Ellie was here to win, which made her far too nervous to sit around and chat. Last year had ended in disaster, with her getting completely worked by a wave that, if she hadn’t been so nervous, she could have handled. And the worst thing was that her father had been standing right there on the shoreline, witnessing every lousy second. So this year she had a lot to prove, but she felt physically and mentally ready to do it. Too bad her dad was gonna miss it.
She kneeled over her board, rubbing it with wax. It was also too bad that Lola and Jade couldn’t make it; it just didn’t seem the same without them. She knew Anne was already here, having seen her briefly in the parking lot, though they seemed to have a silent agreement to just ignore each other.
Still, it was weird that Anne had shown up alone. Ellie thought for sure Chris would be right there with her. But then again, he hadn’t been with her at all last night, since he’d spent the whole time hanging with her and Lola.
Maybe things aren’t so great between them after all,
she thought.
“Hey, want some hot chocolate?”
Ellie looked up to see Chris standing there with two steaming cups, smiling at her.
“Oh, I’d love some,” she said, reaching for the warm cup.
“What time are you up?” he asked.
“Nine fifteen,” she said. And then looking at her watch, “In about ten minutes.”
“Are you nervous?” he asked.
“Petrified.” She smiled.
“Don’t be. You’re an amazing surfer, Ellie. And I have no doubt that someday soon you’ll be sitting over there.” He pointed to the tent where all the sponsored girls were.
Ellie looked over and shrugged. That was her dream. Those girls were the cream of the crop. Talented, gorgeous, athletic, and smart—she longed to be one of them.
“I should head out,” she said, finishing her hot chocolate.
“Good luck.” He smiled and leaned in to hug her.
“Thanks,” Ellie said, closing her eyes and leaning into him, allowing herself to enjoy the closeness, if only for a moment.
But just as she pulled away she opened her eyes and saw Anne, not more than six feet away, standing there watching them.
Anne was bent over her board, furiously waxing it, trying to make sense of what she just witnessed. That was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that she’d seen Chris and Ellie together, and she was absolutely positive that it was not a coincidence that both those events just happened to take place after she foolishly told him all about Ellie being in love with him.
Well, that’s what you get
, she thought.
You practically threw him in her path
. And why wouldn’t he like Ellie? Other than being a total bitch (and what guy ever cared about that?), Ellie had it all—she was beautiful, brainy, popular, rich, a great surfer, not to mention how she and Chris went way back. And there was just no way Anne could compete with that. Hadn’t she already learned that lesson when Justin dumped her for Vanessa?
Picking up her board, she headed toward the water, stopping to watch Ellie paddling around and maneuvering into the best position possible.
If Ellie is a shark, then I’m her dinner,
she thought
. And I’ll surely be eaten alive.
Ellie had only fifteen minutes to be scored on ten waves, with the bottom seven numbers being thrown out. But Ellie was determined to surf all ten waves amazingly well. There would be no throwaways as far as she was concerned.
While the other girls around her laughed and talked, Ellie kept to herself, watching the waves and devising a strategy. She’d watched Anne paddle out, looking completely lost and unsure of what to do next, but Ellie just shrugged it off. That was Anne’s problem. Ellie wasn’t here to baby-sit some newbie. She had a contest to win.
When the moment felt exactly right, she started paddling, and then hopping onto her board, she rode the wave confidently and carefully all the way to the shore.
But maybe I’ve been just a little too careful
, she thought as she turned around to head back out. She hadn’t done anything remotely impressive, but then again, at least she hadn’t choked.
Lying on her board, she paddled quickly toward the break. She had nine more waves to go, and no time to spare.
Anne was totally lost. Some of the girls who seemed so nice and helpful just a moment ago were now totally focused on their own performance, and she was left wondering just what the hell she’d been thinking to even attempt this in the first place. She’d been surfing now, for what, a month? It was totally ridiculous of her to think she could pull this off. Especially after watching Ellie’s awesome performance.
Ellie had just surfed her sixth wave and she was totally carving it up out there. There was no doubt that she would be advancing to the next heat, while Anne would probably be free to go home sometime within the next ten minutes.
She tried to remember her diving days, when she had been the one to beat, just like Ellie was now. But it didn’t exactly compare, since she’d been diving since she was eight, and everything was just so much easier back then, mostly because people were pretty impressed with just about anything you did at that age. But now, at almost seventeen, the pressure was much greater, especially when she knew Ellie was out there like a vulture, patiently watching and waiting for her to fail.
Oh well. It beats wearing an ugly bridesmaid’s dress at your pregnant mom’s shotgun wedding,
she thought, popping up on her board, determined to at least make it to shore without falling off.
Lola’s nails were wet, her face was caked with makeup, and her hair was all piled up high on top of her head like a big chocolate-frosted cake. “I’m supposed to walk around like this
all day
?” she asked, shuddering at her own reflection. She looked more like a Vegas showgirl than a virginal debutante about to be introduced to society.
“Well, it’s not like we’re going anywhere else. After here it’s just home, until it’s time to put on your dress and go,” her mother told her.
“Uh, wrong,” Lola said, shaking her head carefully so as not to dislodge the million bobby pins and sparkly barrettes that were holding the whole mess together. “I told Diego I’d meet him.” She nodded, having come up with this genius excuse sometime between the massage and the body scrub.
“You are not meeting Diego,” her mom said, turning away from the increasingly frustrated makeup artist. “You will see him tonight at cotillion. You two are just gonna have to wait until then.”
Lola noticed the little smile on her mom’s face when she said that, like she was so proud of herself for introducing her daughter to her future husband.
If she only knew,
Lola thought, shaking her head. “Mom, it can’t wait. Because he wants to give me …” She hesitated; she hadn’t really thought it all the way through to this point. “ … a present. He has a present for me that he wants me to have … for tonight,” she concluded, thinking how now she’d also have to stop by the mall to pick up some little trinket and then pretend it was from Diego. She’d have to make sure she wore her sunglasses, ’cause there was no way she could be seen lurking around South Coast Plaza with hair like this.
“Fine,” her mother said, frowning as Lola jumped up from her chair. “But be home as quickly as possible. Your hair and makeup have to last until tonight, you know.”
“Don’t worry,” Lola said, slipping her flip-flops onto her feet and thinking how odd she must look with her California girl clothes and Spanish soap opera hair and makeup.
Anne could not believe when she heard her name called. “Third place,” Jake said, smiling and slapping her on the back. “That means you get to go on to the next heat!”
“It does? Are you serious?” she asked. The scoring and rules were all new to her, so she sincerely hoped he wasn’t just fooling around.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t start for a while, so you can just chill,” he said, smiling.
“Did you hear that?” she said, as her dad and Brooke approached. “I’m advancing to the next heat. I mean, I’ll probably choke on that one, but I don’t even care! It just feels so awesome to get to this point!” She was so excited, she even hugged Brooke.
“I just saw Chris,” her father said. “He’s looking for you. I told him you were over here.”
“Oh, really?” Anne bit down on her lip, wondering why Chris was looking for her. Was he going to break up with her? Right now? Well, he’d just have to wait, since there was no way she was going to let him ruin her day. The last thing she needed was for some stupid relationship drama to kill her buzz, and there was no way she was gonna let him bring her down. “Well, if he comes by, just tell him I’ll catch up with him later. I’m totally starving. I’m gonna grab something to eat.” And then, grabbing Jake by the arm, she said, “Wanna join me?”
Ellie wasn’t surprised she’d advanced to the second heat. Nor was she surprised that she came in first. But what did surprise her was the sight of Lola walking across the beach with the biggest hair she’d ever seen.
“Don’t even mention it,” Lola said, holding up her hand defensively. “In fact, please don’t even look at it.”
“How can I not?” Ellie said, laughing. “It’s huge!’
“Can you even believe it?” She rolled her eyes. “I swear, the things Lola will do to please her mother …”
“And the things Lolita will do to be a good friend,” Ellie said, hugging her gently so as not to get stabbed in the eye by a pink heart-shaped rhinestone barrette. “I can’t believe you showed up.”
“Hey, I haven’t missed one of these yet. And for your information, Jade’s here, too. I just saw her with her dad; they were talking to Chris.”
“Is she surfing?” Ellie asked.
“No. Apparently, she had to learn a lesson about the consequences of certain actions, or however her dad phrased it.” She rolled her eyes.
“Well, how long are you staying?” Ellie asked.
“Long enough to totally embarrass myself with this updo, and see you nail a trophy and a sponsorship.” She smiled.
“So why are you using me to hide from your boyfriend?” Jake asked, taking a sip of his coffee and looking right at Anne.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, feeling her face go every shade of fuchsia. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” She shook her head and sipped her drink, avoiding his eyes.
“The dude’s been looking all over for you, but you keep hiding—mostly behind me. So, what’s the deal? You guys in a fight?” he asked.
“I …” Anne hesitated, feeling frustrated because she really didn’t know how to answer. Because she really didn’t know what the answer was. “I’d really rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind,” she said, placing her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at him.
“Okay, that’s cool,” he said, looking at her and nodding. “You know you’re gonna be a real catch someday—when you grow up.” He smiled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.
But he just looked at her, tossed his empty coffee cup in the bin, and started to walk away.
“For your information, you’re only two years older than me!” she yelled after him, feeling even more annoyed when he just smiled, waved, and kept walking.
Oh, that’s just great,
she thought, standing there and staring after him as he weaved his way through the crowd of people.
Who does he think he is, talking to me like that? He works for my dad! And he should really learn to be more respectful.
He had no idea what was going on in her life, and he had no right to judge her.
She shook her head and looked out at the water. Thirty more minutes until her next heat, and there was no way she was gonna let Jake upset her.
He is nothing to me. He’s just a minor annoyance
, she told herself as she headed back toward her surfboard.
Lola sat on the shoreline with Jade, trying to forget about her stupid hair and the fact that everyone who walked past her turned and did a double take. Ellie and Anne were out there surfing, and even though on the surface she was rooting for them both, deep down inside she really wanted Ellie to win, mostly because she had the most riding on it.