(Just when you can't possibly be any more discouraged someone reminds you just how good you have it. Blue crush/Soul Surfer. Anne Marie/Bethany friendship.)
Anne Marie Chadwick groaned. Loudly. That last wave... it had turned her every way but loose. Just when she thought she was on top of the world the world had come crashing down on her. Her board had gone one way and she had gone the other, both of them tumbled and tossed by the power of the ocean. To top it off the wipe-out had happened right at the end of the semi-final round. She had needed a good score to move on to the finals and she certainly wasn't going to get it with that disaster
She had scraped her shoulder against the coral of the reef and then banged her head on the sand. Could have been worse, the order of injuries could have been reversed. Then the line connecting her board and her ankle had pulled the board back to her and smacked her on the outside of her knee. It had taken the Jet Ski to pull her to shore and she had been darned grateful for its assistance.
Her board wasn't damaged any more than a little wax could fix and she had several good scores up till that rather spectacular spill so she had nothing to be ashamed about even though she was out of this competition. There would be another one next week. Heaven knows she had been banged up more than this before. So why did she feel so completely out of it? It was like all she wanted to do was grab her board and take off, away from the ocean, away from all the spectators, away from everything.
Ever since her comeback had started back in Hawaii at Pipeline she had grown in confidence and yes, in ability too. Her form was better, her balance greatly improved and her scores reflected how improved her surfing was. She hadn't won any competitions but she had finished several times in the top five; twice in the top three and once been runner-up. With Billabong's sponsorship and the prize money she had won she was better off than she had been in ages.
And not just her. She had extra money now, enough to send some back home where Eden and Lena were taking care of Penny. Her sister and two best friends now lived in a nice house and Penny was doing better at school. She had even quit smoking. All the bills were paid each month now and there was even money in the bank.
It had caused problems at first. After years of scrimping and saving she had got crazed with money in her hands. She had blown through it at first, spending it on clothes and toys like fancy cell phones and upgraded hotel rooms until she found she was worse off than she had been when she was working at the hotel. And she hadn't stopped. She had felt like she deserved it after all she had been through and put up with.
Fortunately someone had seen what was going on and had summoned someone else to sit her down, calm her down and make her see what was happening. She had got hold of herself but she still winced whenever the credit card bills arrived. She was making substantial dents in the balances she had accumulated but she had hoped to win enough money with this competition to pay one of them completely off. Oh she would get a token payment, enough to cover her living expenses for the week but not at all what she had hoped for. So maybe that contributed to her mood.
Okay so her mom had never come home, wrote home or called home. Well she hadn't expected that. But it would have been nice. Nice? It would have helped heal the hole in her heart. It wouldn't have had to have been much. Just a note, just a little "I'm proud of you" or "I'm sorry for having left you two" or even "Hope you're okay".
Where had that come from? She thought she had made peace with herself over her mother's abandonment of her and Penny. Maybe it was just everything just seemed to be weighing her down right now.
She missed Penny. She missed Eden and Lena. The tour swung through Hawaii quite often but the schedule didn't send them back there for months right now. And she couldn't just up and fly home on a whim, skipping an event or two. Not with the financial hole she had dug herself into. Maybe in a month or two. In the meantime she kept to a strict repayment schedule that was allowing her to continue to support Penny, reduce the debts she owed and deposit just a little money in savings each month. But that didn't leave much for her.
She missed Keala. Ever since she had paddled back out to sit with and encourage her the older professional surfer had acted as a mentor to Anne Marie. They had roomed together on the tour until she had been forced to take a leave of absence from the tour because of family reasons. It was Keala who had recognized Anne Marie's spending addiction and got the one person out to her that was able to make her see what she was doing and help her to stop.
She missed him most of all. Now-a-days she KNEW without a doubt that she was more than a "Matt Tollman Makeover" to the NFL quarterback. When Keala had called him he had dropped everything to fly out to see her. It was right at the beginning of Spring Training and he had skipped the first part to be with her and talk her through what was going on. He had told her, with that wry grin she loved, how he had completely blown his signing bonus and had needed two years to dig himself out of his hole.
She knew that he could have offered to cover her debts. He had the money and they were officially a couple now. She wasn't wearing it right now of course but locked in the hotel safe was a diamond engagement ring. They were planning on getting married next year when they would be back in Hawaii. Maybe once again it would be the combination of the Pipeline competition and the Pro-Bowl at the same time. That would be great mostly because it would bring them full circle but it really wasn't important. The most important thing would be that dawn they would stand on the beach together and exchange vows.
But he hadn't offered money and she hadn't asked. She had got herself into this mess and she needed to be the one to dig herself out of it. "Just be the girl on the beach" he had told her again. This time she knew what he meant. She needed to stand on her own two feet.
Maybe that was what was making her feel so low. Sometimes it was very tiresome being the one to take a deep breath and deal with everything. She shifted slightly on the blanket she was sitting on and the sigh that had started to build was replaced with another groan as her gloomy thoughts were swept away by the very real aches and pains of her body.
"I'd ask if you were alright but that really would be a silly question wouldn't it?" a bright cheerful voice broke into her thoughts.
Anne Marie turned her head as a girl just a little younger than she was settled herself on the sand beside her, a surfboard under her arm. Anne Marie would have preferred to nurse her bumps, bruises and grumpy mood in solitary but the other girl's smile was so infectious that she found herself smiling back in spite of herself.
"You really a tumble there," the other girl remarked. "I know it's part and parcel of surfing but golly sometimes I get awfully tired of bouncing along the bottom of the ocean." She laughed and in spite of herself Anne Marie laughed with her.
"Yes, well, I'm afraid I'm out of this competition with that spill," the older girl replied.
"But it could be worse. I saw you last year at Pipeline. I couldn't believe that you got back on your board after being banged up the way you were. And then that final ride! It was amazing!"
Anne Marie studied the smiling girl next to her. "I'm really sorry but I don't remember you from Pipeline," she grimaced, hoping she had embarrassed the other girl with her tactless remark."
A silvery laugh again and a toss of long hair reassured her.
"I was in the crowd with my parents and brothers. I didn't turn pro until just a few months ago."
For a moment the mention of "parents" brought Anne Marie down even a little more. But the bubbly girl beside her wouldn't let her lapse back into her grumpy thoughts.
"It was so great to see a girl on the cover of 'Surfing' and you deserved it without a doubt."
Faced with the girl's enthusiasm Anne Marie found it hard to hang on to her desire to feel sorry for herself. She held out her hand.
"Anne Marie Chadwick."
The girl shifted slightly, bracing her surfboard with her knee up against her body, a surfboard that Anne Marie noticed had a small handle built into the forward third of it. She took the offered hand with enthusiasm.
"Bethany Hamilton. It's wonderful to meet you. You've been one of my heroes like forever." The younger girl cocked her head to one side. "Now then, what's really bothering you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I know you wiped out in a rather spectacular fashion and got a bit banged up but you've been staring out past the waves as though you were looking way over the horizon with a look in your face like you just lost your best friend."
Anne Marie struggled with herself. Normally she wasn't the kind of person who paraded her problems especially not to someone she had just met. Only to Matt had she ever done that before. But something about the earnest teen reminded her of how she had felt about Matt. Not the romantic parts of course but a feeling that here was someone who understood, you could be trusted. And before she knew it she was pouring her heart out to Bethany.
When she was finished with her recital the other girl smiled happily.
"Feel better?"
Part of Anne Marie wanted to cringe as she realized how open she had been to someone she didn't even know. But darn it, she DID feel better and with a wry smile she acknowledged the fact.
"Good." Bethany cocked her head to one side. "I don't want to preach but you're never given more than you can handle, no matter how much it seems that way sometimes."
It was on the tip of Anne Marie's tongue to ask the bubbly blonde teen what she could have possibly been given to handle when the nagging feeling of familiarity that had been pecking at the back of her mind finally broke through.
Of course, Bethany Hamilton. Memories raced through Anne Marie's mind. The report of the sudden, massive shark attack on a teenaged surfer, the battle to save her life and the loss of her arm. No wonder the other girl was shifting her board like she was. She couldn't pass it to her other hand because she didn't have one.
In spite of that Bethany had made a tremendous comeback, reentering competition only months after the attack. And now she was a professional. Anne Marie nearly groaned. With all she had been through this girl was sitting here and listening to someone else moan and complain about things not even in the same league as what she had been through.
Anne Marie started to apologize and then stopped. Now that her brain was awake again and out of its self-pity rut she remembered something she had read in "Surfing" about the girl besides her. It had been an interview with one of the brightest rising stars of women's surfing Malina Birch. Malina had remarked on Bethany's determination and her lack of that same self-pity, recalling how Bethany had once thanked her. Malina, surprised because at that time they had not been friends, recalled blurting out "For what?" and the answer that had nearly floored her.
"For never taking it easy on me."
Anne Marie knew apologies or expressions of sympathy or anything else were not what Bethany was looking for. She remembered something about Bethany going on a mission trip to Thailand after the tsunami there and how the one-armed surfer had commented how it put her loss into perspective to see people who had lost everything. She deserved to be treated with respect and as an equal. And Anne Marie found that was exactly how she wanted to act towards the new-found friend she had discovered.
"Thanks Bethany, You're right," was her simple reply. "So," she smiled at the younger surfer, "you want to watch the rest of the competition or go grab some coffee?"
"Coffee sounds wonderful," Bethany returned her smile.
The pair got up and made their way up the shore towards the tent marking the sign in/sign out site. Already they were chatting like comfortable old friends. Anne Marie made a mental note that perhaps she would have a new roommate shortly after all. She'd like that.
(The End)
(Just happened that I saw both films on almost the same day recently on TV and was struck by the idea of writing something involving both Anne Marie and Bethany. So much is different between them but there seems to be a lot in common too.)