Walk on Water or Drown

"Mom, I'm home." Kane kicked off her flip flops and tossed her keys into a ceramic bowl on the kitchen counter. No once answered her except for Max, who came bounding into the kitchen, his paws clicking on the tile floor. "Hey Maxie, how's it going?" He wagged his tail and licked her hand as she let him outside to go to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and walked over to the counter to find a note from her mom.

Dinner is in the oven.
I fed the dog.
-Mom

Kane pulled the dish of chicken and potatoes out of the oven and poured herself a glass of milk. In the living room, she set her dinner down on the coffee table and walked over to the Tv set to turn it on; the remote was still packed in a box somewhere. On top of the Tv case, an old family photo smiled up at her: her mother, her father, her older brother, and a younger version of herself all showing off their teeth. Kane turned it facing downward and went back to her dinner.

.......

It was almost 8:30 when Zack arrived at school the next morning; he had woken up really late. Pissed that he didn't get to go surfing that morning, he quickly slammed his locker shut and headed to class. By the time 6th period lunch came around, his mood hadn't improved much. He'd forgotten his homework at home when he actually had it done for once, along with his lunch, and had gotten a bad grade on a quiz he'd expected to do well on. Now, as he walked into the cafeteria, he saw that Alex had his on top of Kane's.

To be honest, Zack wasn't sure why this bothered him so much, she wasn't anything special. Sure, she had long brown hair, but it didn't smell like flowers or springtime the way some girls' hair did. She was in relatively good shape, and had some sort of curves hiding beneath that hoodie she wore, but her facial features were square and somewhat masculine, and though her skin was clear, there was nothing about her face that made her stand out, and she wore no makeup to help it do so. As he got closer, he saw that she and Alex were having a thumb war, Alex laughing at Kane's desperate attempts to win.

"I play winner," Jack called as he set his lunch down between Kane and Rian. Zack walked up and sat across from him between Alex and Kara.

"Ah-ha! I win!" Alex cried. "Finally."

Kane pouted. "That's not fair. You have gorilla fingers and I have nubs."

"Don't worry woman. I shall defend your honor." Jack rolled up his sleeve and whipped his hand across the table to begin thumb wrestling Alex.

"Hey Zack, where's your lunch?" Rian asked. "It's mama Merrick's Meatball Hero Wednesday."

"I forgot it at home," Zack grumbled.

Kara laughed at the resentment in his voice. "Aw, Zacky, here's 75 cents."

"Thanks, now I can get a pretzel," Zack replied.

Kane dug a quarter out of her pocket and slid it his way. "Sorry, but it's all I have."

"Great. A pretzel with cheese."

By the end of the school day, the wind had picked up, the sky turned gray, and it had started to rain. Hoping to catch some storm swells, Zack drove down to the beach after school. There was already another car parked off the beach, a white 2-door Explorer with a few dinks on the side of it. On the beach, a golden retriever was romping along the crashing shore line. Somebody in a wet suit was sitting in the sand next to their surfboard, watching the choppy water.

Maryland was small, and didn't have many good nearby surfing spots. Fortunately this place was only a ten minute drive from Zack's house. A small jetty on the northern end of the beach was the only reason why this place was able to produce any surfable waves.

Zack frowned at the figure on the beach. He didn't like the idea of any one else surfing at his beach, and was almost tempted to tell them to leave, until he remembered that he wasn't a local on the North Shore of Oahu. After five minutes of watching the figure watch the waves through the rain, he decided that the surf wasn't good anyways and drove home.

The next morning, Zack woke up around five and managed to catch a few good waves before school. He even made it on time with his homework and his lunch, and found the perfect parking spot, close to the entrance that was nearest to his locker, which also happened to a parking spot next to a white Explorer. A white Explorer with dinks on the side. With his brow furrowed, Zack walked into school trying to think of who at school drove a white Explorer. Or who drove a white Explorer and surfed, was a better question.

In math, a few hours later, his question was answered as he stared out the window in a bored daze. It had started to rain again as he noticed a girl running across the parking lot. She ran to Explorer next to his Jeep and pulled something green out of the passengers seat, slammed the door shut, and ran back into the school. He was still trying to think of who that girl could be when Kane walked into class a minute later with a green folder in her hand, apologizing for being late as she wrung the water out her wet pony tail and took her seat.