Free Hit the Beach! by Harriet Castor Page B

every so often we saw sets of rough steps that people had made in the rocks, leading down to the beach.
    This meant that by the time we got to the place the serious surfers used, the path was high enough up to give us a really good view of the water. There were quite a few people out there. We sat down to watch.
    “They are really good,” said Rosie after a minute. “Doesn’t it look great when they turn quickly and the water swooshes up?”
    “They do look cool,” Fliss admitted. “They make it look really easy too. They must practise all the time.”
    “That’s Jude,” said Lyndz, shading her eyes.
    “No, no – that’s Jude.” Frankie pointed. “The one with his wetsuit rolled down.”
    “Oh, yes. And there’s Bethany!” Lyndzexclaimed. “Look – just going into the water, with the red surfboard.”
    “I see her! Cool!” Rosie knelt up excitedly.
    We all watched Bethany as she lay on her board and paddled out. Then she sat up, waiting as a set of waves approached. At the last minute, she turned her board around. The first wave caught her and she stood up, heading across the wave, parallel to the beach.
    Suddenly, we saw Jude not far from Bethany, just about to stand up on his board.
    “Hey – what’s he doing?” I said. “That’s her wave!”
    “He’s not going to drop in on her, is he?” said Frankie.
    Bethany had explained ‘dropping in’ to us in our last surfing lesson. It’s when one person cuts in front of another on the same wave. It’s really rude, for a start – but it’s really dangerous too, because it might cause a crash.
    It seemed as if Rude Jude was living up to his name.
    “But it’s Bethany’s wave!” protested Rosie, clenching her fists in frustration. “She got there first!”
    We all knew it and we were certain Jude knew it too. But there was nothing any of us could do.
    As we watched, Bethany caught sight of Jude and pushed on her board with her back foot, desperately trying to slow herself down. But it wasn’t enough. Jude was right in her path, and though she tried to angle herself in towards the beach to avoid him, it was too late.
    A moment later, in a great spray of water, they crashed.

For one heart-stopping moment, as the water bubbled and frothed, Bethany and Jude totally disappeared. Then Jude’s head resurfaced – and Bethany’s followed.
    “They’re moving about,” breathed Frankie beside me. “They must be OK.” At the moment of the crash, without thinking, we’d grabbed one another’s hands. Now we held on, our eyes fixed on the distant water.
    It looked as if Bethany and Jude wereheading for the beach. As the wave had broken over them, it had swept them part of the way in, so at least they didn’t have far to go.
    “Jude’s trying to help her out of the water,” said Rosie.
    “And she’s pushing him away,” I said. “Look!”
    Even from this distance, Bethany looked pretty angry. Once she was in shallow enough water to be able to stand, she started wading painfully slowly towards the beach. Jude tried to take her arm and put it around his shoulders so that he could support her, but she shrugged him off.
    “She must be hurt,” said Rosie. Then she gasped. “Ohmigosh!”
    There was blood – lots of it – running down Bethany’s right leg.
    I scrambled to my feet. “We have to go and help!”
    “We can’t…we’re not allowed on the beach.”
    “Fliss, this is an emergency!” I said. “Bethany’shurt – who cares about rules? Come on!”
    I dashed to the nearest set of steps and half-climbed, half-slithered down them on to the sand. Then I set off running, with the others following close behind.
    As I got nearer to Bethany, I saw her sit down on the sand, grimacing with pain, so that she could untie the leash from her ankle. Jude bent over her, but I heard her snap, “Leave me alone, you jerk! You’ve done enough damage already!” Jude straightened up and walked away.
    A huddle of his friends soon closed round him.