Free Beach Glass by Suzan Colón Page B

he was so focused on our conversation at lunch and how he ditched Allegra to help me find a wave. Yeah, but teaching us how to surf is his job, after all. Besides, why should it matter to me? I mean, it does feel nice to have some attention from a hot guy, especially after a big bad breakup.
    Third wave, white water. Whoa, wait, what?
    “Okay, Kate,” Carson says, shoving my board toward the wave, “here we go!”
    Here we go . Isn’t that all anyone wants in life? To be a “we” and to be going somewhere? But it’s just me now, being swiftly carried by this wave as it rolls toward the shore. Yikes  . . .
    And wow. Wow! This is amazing ! Instead of being freaked out, I’m totally excited. The wind is rushing past me, the wave is carrying me, and I feel steady enough to push up to my hands and knees. When the board pitches, my body self-corrects automatically.
    “That’s it, Kate!” Carson yells encouragingly.
    Of course, that’s when I fall off the board.
    When I come back up to the surface, Carson is right by my board, waiting for me. “Nice going!” he says, giving me a high-five. “Want to try again?”
    “Absolutely!” I say, thrilled by my early surfing achievement. And yes, by Carson’s amazing grin.

9.
     
    WHEN I’M AT HOME, I eat like a girl. Egg whites for breakfast, salad for lunch, steamed vegetables, fish, and rice for dinner. Here at the surf camp, I’m eating like a dude, and a hungry one. My dinner plate is crowded with two burritos, rice, beans, salsa, guacamole, and a brownie, which I’m already scarfing on the way to the table. I’m ravenous from my very first afternoon of surfing. I pulled myself on the board, counted sets, found my waves, and launched. And fell off the board more often than not. But at the end of the afternoon, I actually stood up and rode a wave all the way to the shore. Me, a surfer!
    I’m so stoked that I don’t even sip the single-girl Haterade when Allegra starts telling our group the story of how she and her fiancé met. “Craig and I were friends in school for, like, ever,” she says. “When we went to different colleges, he sent me the sweetest, most adorable emails. There was this totally different side of him I’d never seen before. When he came home for Christmas, he gave me this.” She flashes her disco-ball ring.
    Amazingly, I feel good enough about my surfing success to join in the group Awwww, especially when I remember Allegra leaving the water after her second wipeout, saying she’d had enough. I felt kind of bad for her, but she was pouty, like if she couldn’t have Carson to herself, she was over the whole surfing thing. I notice she was much better at getting into position at the dinner table, sliding into the seat right next to him.
    “I miss Craig so much,” she says. “I mean, I’m having the best time, but I can’t wait to see him again.”
    “The next time you see him, you’ll be wearing your wedding dress,” says Lucene, one of her bridesmaids.
    This time, I abstain from the group Awwww , preferring to chomp on my burrito.
    Nicholas is getting fussy, so Brigitte and William pick him up and say goodnight. The Honeymooners rise to go back to their bungalow and, I guess, do what honeymooners do. Evan, Randy, and Carson also get up to leave, telling us they’ll see us at breakfast tomorrow. Carson’s last look and smile is for me. “’Night, Kate the Great,” he says. Since my mouth is full, I just give him a little wave.
    The only ones left at the table are the Bridal Party. As soon as everyone else is gone, Allegra turns to her girls and widens her eyes dramatically. “OMG, he is sooooo hot,” she says, fanning herself.
    “Oh please, which one?” Lucene says. “All three of them are gorgeous.”
    “Are you kidding?” Allegra rolls her eyes. “I meant Carson!” Her friends give girly shrieks of delight and high-five her.
    “You know it, girl,” says Jeanine. “He is hot .” Then they all start discussing