Riptide - By Lindsey Scheibe Page 0,14

pressure, right?

The tallest girl catches the first wave and pulls a few

cutbacks. No biggie, but then, holy crap! Un-freaking-believable—she executes a perfect 360. The crowd’s going nuts. Um, hello. She just let everyone know she’s not here to play. I’ve never seen a regular girl pull that move. That was epic. And I know, in every particle of my being, that it’s the move I need to pull off.

After a glorious parent-free day, we walk a few blocks to the beach house. It’s almost more like we’re floating. Real life is a vague memory.

“Do you really think I can get there by August? Or am I going to look like a kook?”

Ford takes his empty Shaved Ice cup and hook-shots it into a trash can we pass. “Are you serious? You can do almost every move we saw today. You just need to tweak them so they’re bigger and sharper. You gotta showboat it, you know?”

“Maybe. But what about the 360? I’ve never even tried that move. And airs? I’m lucky to catch a little air action when I exit a ride.”

“No sweat. We’ll work on it. I’ll be your personal coach—on the days I’m not working.”

I think about that and crunch on another bite of coconut ice.

“If you’re hesitating over fees, don’t worry. I’m free.” He reaches over and guides my hand so that I feed him my next bite.

“Hey! You should’ve gotten a larger size.”

“Well, now I owe you. That seals the deal. You’re going to kick ass, thanks to good old Coach Ford. Then you’ll owe me for life.”

“Bahaha. Yeah, right. Thanks for offering to help me train.”

He takes my cup and says, “Consider this a down payment.” Then he bolts around the corner.

I chase after him, half-panting, half-screeching, “Hey! You better not finish that … I backwashed.”

He laughs and sprints toward a large stucco beach house. He waits on the front porch, holding the cup as high in the air as he can. I jump and swipe at his arm. He laughs and hands it over.

Truth is, I like chasing after Ford and roughhousing. Not that I’d say it out loud. I tilt back my head and tap the last of the coconut-flavored ice into my mouth.

Ford opens the door with a sweeping gesture and waits for me to go in first. I walk in and immediately check out the beach house. It has some of my favorite beach colors—teal and espresso. This place freaking rocks.

His mom stands up from a white leather couch and walks toward us. His dad sits there quietly, waves at us, and goes back to perusing a car magazine.

“I’ll give you the nickel tour.” Ford nudges me. “We’ll be sharing a room.”

Mama Watson steps in between us and places her arm around Ford. “Mijo, you failed to mention that you’ll be in separate beds on opposite sides of the room. And besides, the two of you are like cousins.”

He ducks his head. “C’mon. It’s me and Grace. Enough said.” She gives him a playful whack and heads off down the hall.

He flexes his arm muscle, sporting a cheesy grin, and then runs up carpeted stairs, skipping every other one.

I roll my eyes. “I’m embarrassed for you. Really, I am.” Then I follow, wondering what this weekend holds in store for me.

Ford leads me into the kids’ room on the second floor. It has six built-in bunk beds lining the walls, three on each side. Every bed has its own privacy curtain and a lighted wall sconce for late-night reading, I guess. Umm—I think I’ll manage to survive. Happy candy-pink and bamboo-green stripes accent the right side of the room, and bright blue and bamboo-green stripes accent the left side. The two sides are mirror images, furniture and all. I place my backpack against the wall by the last bed on the girls’ side, which is next to a window.

Ford drops his bag in front of the bed directly across from mine. Only fifteen feet of floor space will separate us. We’ll be in the same room with basically no adult supervision? Scratch that thought. Not going there. It’s cool that his parents trust us, and it’s not like we’d do anything, but it’s weird. Here’s the cookie jar; don’t eat the cookies.

Ford clears his throat. “There’s not really a view of the beach from this level. You have to be on the third story to get the v.to get iews, which is where the adults stay. There’s two master suites up