Faded Memories

“Are we seriously riding in that?” I asked, looking at the white creeper van they owned. The van was slightly filthy, making the paint look like an off white and the windows were tinted.

“What’s wrong with the van?” Cameron was clearly offended. “The van has been with us since…forever.”

How was I going to make this sound nice? “There’s nothing wrong with the van, it’s just…creepy.” I admitted. “Aren’t people going to think that you guys are criminals or something?”

Cameron moved his hair out of his face. “We already established last night that I’m innocent, remember?”

“An innocent person doesn’t climb onto people’s balconies in the middle of the night.” I told him. I looked at Zach who almost choked on his water.

Zach gave Cameron a weird look, “You climbed onto her balcony?”

“Hey, Romeo nearly did the same thing to Juliet.” Cameron tried to defend himself.

“But you’re not Romeo. Plus, I’m pretty sure Juliet was awake at the time.” I pointed out.

“Just get in the van.” He pushed me towards it. When I sat down, I didn’t know what surprised me more: the fact that the van was clean or that it smelt great.

He read my mind, “I know. I’m surprised that it’s clean and smells good. Good job, Nate.” Nathan turned his head and flashed us a quick smile. Zach drove, Nathan got shotgun, Michael sat on my left and Cameron sat on my right. Nathan turned on the radio and soon the van was filled with today’s hottest songs. I placed my bag on my lap and began to search through it: towel, sunglasses, sunscreen, a book, iPod…bingo. I took out my good ol’ pink Gameboy color.

Michael gasped, “No way.” He grabbed it from my hands and turned it on. The familiar sound came on and the words Gameboy lit up across the screen. Followed closely by it was the beginning of Pokémon red. Michael’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “You’re officially my favourite person.” We all looked at the screen, focused on the miniature Ash walking around Palet Town.

Cameron lay back in seat and put his hands behind his head, “Those were the days.” He then shifted his body and looked at me. “Why did you bring it, anyway? I thought I was going to teach you how to surf.”

“I already planned it out and figured out what will happen.” I pulled out a pad of paper and pen from bag and drew out exactly what was going to happen. “First, you’ll show me how to do everything on land and I’ll be all ‘oh, this is easy’. Then I’ll get in the water and be all ‘okay, I can’t do this’ and chicken out. Once the wave comes, I’ll get up and wipe out right away.” I explained to him and wrote in big block letters the word FAIL across the page.

He grabbed the paper from my hands, crumpled it up and threw it behind him. “I’ll make sure that won’t happen. Besides, I’m an awesome teacher and there’s no way I’m letting my student fail.”

Nathan turned around and gave Cameron a dirty look. “Hey, I just cleaned the van.” He turned back and Cameron grabbed the crumbled paper.

Cameron whispered to me, “Do you have a straw?” I gave him an odd look and started to search in my bag. Surprisingly enough, there was a straw at the bottom of my bag and I handed it to him. He took it from my hand and said, “Thanks.” I watched as he ripped up the paper and made tiny little spheres out of all the pieces that didn’t have ink on them. He put one in his mouth and brought the straw to his mouth. It wasn’t long before I saw the spitball hit Zach on the cheek. Cameron and I tried to hold in our laughter as Zach looked at us for a split second. Cameron continued to spit spitballs at Zach until he finally snapped.

He said in a stern voice, “Cam, I’m trying to drive.” He gripped the steering wheel tight enough until his knuckles turned white.

“Alright, prankster. I think you’ve had enough.” I took the straw and paper away from him.

We finally pulled into the beach. Zach parked the creeper van and we all filed out of the van. The guys all grabbed their surfboards and headed for the sand. I looked at the beach: the sand was nice beige and the water was a nice blue. The weather was surprisingly warm considering it was the beginning of April.

Cameron shielded his eyes and looked at the water. “The waves are perfect. And look, not a lot of people are around.” He nudged me. I looked at the water as the waves crashed against the shore. I stepped foot onto the sand and tried to find a good spot to place all my stuff. I tied my hair into a ponytail, preparing for my surf lesson courtesy of Cameron Quiseng.

He clasped his hands together, “Okay, so let’s get started. Now, let’s see if we can get one of the guys to lend you their surfboard.” His voice slowly faded. The guys had already headed for the water, getting ready to surf. “Change of plans. I’ll just show you what to do and then I’ll let you try.” I nodded my head and watched as he showed me step by step how to surf. Everything turned out as I thought it would. On land, I was doing great. But as soon as I hit the water, it all went downhill.

“I was terrible.” I said, getting rid of the excess water from my hair. I kept wiping out and it took me at least 25 times until I could actually stand on the surfboard without falling.

“Hey don’t sell yourself so short. It was your first time trying.” Zach patted my shoulder and smiled.

“Yeah. Besides, I thought you did pretty well for the first time. The first time I tried, I couldn’t even stand without falling.” Cameron wrapped his arm around my shoulder, his surfboard in his other arm.

I smiled at him, “Thanks. You’re a good friend Cameron Michael Quiseng.” I lay my head on his shoulder as we walked to the van.

“Yeah, friends.” I heard him mumble.