Page 57 of New Day at the Beach House

The girls got out, grabbed their stuff, and went to meet them.

Trina leaned up and gave Miles a kiss on the cheek. “Hiya.”

“Hi.” He smiled. “Ready to catch some waves?”

“I hope so.”

He glanced over at Alex, then said, “We have something for you guys.”

“Yeah?” Kat said. “You mean a surfboard?”

Alex shook his head and took a plastic shopping bag out of his car. “Something else. We got you each a rash guard.”

Trina didn’t love the sound of that. “Surfing gives you a rash?”

Miles snorted. “It can. From laying on the waxed surface of the board. But the shirts are good for sun protection, too.”

“You put wax on the boards?” There was so much Trina didn’t know about surfing.

Miles nodded. “To help you grip the board when you’re standing up. Otherwise, the deck is super slick. That’s the part you stand on.”

“The deck,” Trina repeated. She felt cooler already from learning some of the terms.

Alex pulled the rash guards out of the bag. A blue one for Kat and a pink one for Trina. “I think we got the right sizes. They’re meant to fit snug. The last thing you want is a lot of loose fabric tugging you down.”

He handed them to the girls. Trina put her bag down and pulled the long-sleeved shirt over her head. It had the logo of the surf shop on the front. Chauncey’s. She smiled. “How do I look?”

Miles nodded appreciatively. “Like a real surfer girl.”

Kat had her rash guard on, too. Alex gave her a thumbs-up. “All right, let’s get down to the beach and get this lesson underway.”

Miles carried both of the boards he’d brought. Alex did the same. They found a nice open spot on the beach and put their stuff down.

The guys put the boards down, too, setting them all parallel to each other and flat on the sand.

Alex rubbed his hands together. “Okay, first things first.” He went through some of the words they’d need to know, explaining terms like how the front of the board was the nose and the sides were the rails. Then he pointed out the fins, which were on the underside of the board, and the leash, which was connected to the top of the board and would be used to keep the board attached to them by a Velcro ankle strap.

Next, he talked about the waves. “The shoulder of the wave is where it hasn’t broken. You always paddle toward that part when you’re surfing.”

Trina nodded. “Paddle toward the shoulder.”

He went over a few other parts of the wave before pointing at Miles. “Rules.”

Miles stepped up. “Basic surfing etiquette, especially for newbies like you guys, is don’t cut in on other people’s waves. Now, this beach gets a lot of newbies, so there won’t be too many hardcore regulars here, but when there are, you defer to them.”

Kat put her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you guys hardcore regulars?”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, we are. And you’ll get cut some slack, since you’re with us and you’re chicks, but you still shouldn’t cut in on a wave someone else is already riding. Don’t sit in the way of anyone already riding a wave, either. Move as best you can. Some of the gray bellies will go mental on you.”

“Gray bellies?”

Miles grinned. “The old-timers. Gray bellies are another surfer term for sharks, which is what we call the old-timers, since they’ve been in the water so long.”

Trina giggled. “Good to know.”

Kat didn’t look so amused. “Are there actually going to be sharks?”

“Always a chance,” Alex said. “But also pretty rare. Even more rare when you’re in a group. If you were alone, your odds might go up.”

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