Free The Only Exception by Abigail Moore Page A

finishes the wave with style. I’m going to have to pull out all the stops to impress this kid. I have an idea how, though.
    There’s a jump I’ve practiced a bit this week on the water called the Stalefish air reverse, in which I jump, then, as a regular footer (meaning I surf with my left foot forward), grab my heel-side rail (the edge to my back) with my right hand and spin either 180° or 360° in the air. It’s a pro surf trick that I do all the time in the half pipe. It’s how I’ve won several snowboarding competitions. I’ve been debating whether or not to pull it in finals. To give you an idea of the difficulty, pro surfers have won competitions with this move in certain combos.
    Because the grab is so awkward, you have to be really coordinated to spin and hold the board at the same time. If I do it, it will be either as a hail-Mary play or just to show off if I’ve already cemented a win.
    After Mac has finished, she’s scored in third place again. Sawyer has kept his position in first. I wait for my heat to come along and when they call the heat before me, I wax my board. Guess I haven’t explained that one yet, have I? Basically, you take a chunk of surf wax that looks a lot like a bar of soap and rub it all over the top of your board, coating it in wax. The wax gives you enough traction on the board to do things like shove-its, when you spin the board around under your feet, and snaps and keeps it from getting slick with water.
    Next thing I know, I’m up. Papaw lays a hand on my shoulder just before the alarm sounds. “Remember not to just take any old wave. Wait for the good ones. It’ll be worth it, trust me.” I nod and the loud beep sounds over the speaker. I paddle out and kneel up on my board in the lineup, board pointed towards shore. The first wave that comes is almost always a paddle battle, which means multiple people battling for one wave. I decide to let them battle it out and play it down. A few more roll by and then comes my wave. As it slowly builds, I paddle into it at just the right time and pop up easily.
    Once I’m up, I clear my head and just go for it. I kick it off with a vertical backhand snap, following with a bit of clidro and a slob air reverse, showing off by pulling the board in close to me and kick the tail down a bit, like I would on my snowboard. I hit the water smoothly and with Sawyer’s “junkyard dog” comments in mind, show off just a bit more by performing a perfect 360° shove-it, turning the board all the way around beneath my feet. I finish with a kickout, which is when a surfer ends a ride by riding over the top of the wave. I bail and start paddling out to the lineup again.
    Remembering what Papaw said, I wait patiently for another wave. Then I see it. Being just slightly ahead of the other girl trying to ride it, I paddle in and pop first and from then on, it’s my wave. I even hit it so well timed and placed that I drop back into a perfect curl for a nice tube ride, which should earn me extra points. This time, I piece together a 360° carve, a big slob air reverse, and a layback, adding a slash at the end and shooting up loads of spray. At this point, I’ve probably secured my spot. Deliver a third wave like that and I’m sitting pretty for semi finals.
    And deliver, I do. The next two waves are of equal or maybe even better than the first two. After that, I sit back and let the other girls go for their waves, but if a good one comes, I go for it just for fun (and to rub it in Sawyer’s face). We all head in at the horn and I’m now sitting in first place going into semi finals. “I told you, that slob air reverse is your best play, with the layback close second,” Papaw says. “Use them when you can, because they can turn an average wave into a winning score.”
    “Got it,” I assure him. Grammy gets the semi-final heat sheet. This time, the first heat is Kara, Paige, McKayla, Sally and I. After the long beep of the horn, I pull ten