A West Coast Friendship [The O.C.]
Chapter 1: It's Quite Clear That I'm Stuck Here
Addison Sinclair breathed in as the crisp wave beneath her surfboard raised her up into the air. It was rare to get a wave that fluent so she tried to take in as much of it as she could; ride it out for as long as possible. Her long hair was tied into a bun, but soaking strands were falling to her shoulders with every splash of water that hit her face. This, in her opinion, is what a perfect moment felt like. The California sun blazing above her, the crystalline water raging beneath her. If there was anything she would want to do with her life, it would be surfing. It was her passion; what she had been striving towards since she was a little girl, playing on the beach and watching all the older kids running out of the water with their wetsuits on and the long boards in their hands.
Though Addie loved to surf—more than her mother was comfortable with—she was far from the typical California surfer chick. Instead of having blond locks, her hair was a dark shade of brown that got a tad bit lighter from being out in the sun, but not much. Her porcelain skin made her look like she lived in the northern most parts of Canada instead of sunny California where the sunlight never seemed to die down. The only thing she could say made her fit in were her green eyes and even then they were a rare dark colour that most people didn't have. So far, the only people she knew who had that kind of eye colour were her and her mother, Olivia Sinclair. If one was to ask someone at her high school—Newport Union high—who Addie Sinclair was, they would describe her as the anti-social girl that drifted from class to class silently. Not exactly important in the overall setting of the school. But in the water, she was something different. She wasn't the anti-social girl anymore; she was the pale chick that kicked ass in surfing competitions. The pale comment wasn't exactly how she wanted to be remembered, but at least everyone knew she was awesome.
Well, she was, until another student at Newport Union began rising on everyone's radar. Addie couldn't really remember his name, but she knew exactly who he was when she saw him. Light brown, side-swept hair, brown eyes and perfect bone structure. Though she wasn't exactly the competitive type, he was her number one competition in the water. And why was she thinking about him while trying to enjoy the only pleasure in her life? Because as she was trying to stretch out the wave for as long as possible, he came soaring right past her, almost knocking her off of her board. Addie highly doubted he did it on purpose because—let's face it—no one liked messing with her. As she began to lose balance she gave up gracefully and jumped into the water then dragged her board out to the sandy beach of Newport. She pulled her hair out of its bun and lightly tousled it until it fell over her shoulders and to her mid back.
"Yo! Johnny!" Yelled a voice then a lanky blond boy went running past her, sprinkling her wetsuit with sand. That was his name, she thought, Johnny something...Johnny...Harper! Johnny came walking out of the water with his board in hand and the blond boy stopped right in front of him and began talking to him animatedly. So much for my spotlight, Addie thought as she walked through the harbour to her car that was parked at the side of the road. When she first started surfing, the board felt so heavy in her hands, but now it was like a part of her. She could barely even notice the weight as she placed it nicely in the back of her car then circled around to the driver's side. She was just about to hop in, when a black jeep drove into the spot beside her. She stopped and waited for whoever it was to get out of the car so she wouldn't accidentally hit it with her door.
She waited. And waited. Whoever was in there was incredibly slow. What? Did these rich kids think other people didn't have things to do? She wondered. Finally—fed up, tired, and covered in sand—she banged on the passenger seat window that was only a few inches away from her car. Immediately a dark haired, lanky boy walked out awkwardly. Like Addie, he didn't look at all like the California stereotypes. His friend, on the other hand, was the epitome of what it meant to live in Cali. Blond hair, blue eyes, muscles.
"Can you guys take any longer?" Addie asked aggressively as the blond boy walked around to the passenger side to meet his friend. She wasn't always so touchy, at that particular moment she had to get home and make dinner.
"Whoa!" the lanky boy said, raising his hands in defence. "What's got your wetsuit in a bunch?" Addie pursed her lips at the comment.
"Sorry." The blond boy said, ignoring his friend. "We were just trying to get the spot before someone else did."
"I've never met a surfer chick before." The lanky boy continued. He looked Addie up and down. She cocked an eyebrow. She wasn't a surfer chick. She was just a chick that liked to surf. There was no use putting her into a group that she obviously didn't belong to. All of the 'surfer chicks' were on the beach, surrounding Johnny Harper and cheering how awesome he is. Addie didn't even think those girls could actually surf.
The blond boy put his hand on his friend's shoulder then flashed a crooked—and slightly sorry—smile at Addie. "Let's go Seth." He said, pushing his friend away from the cars and across the street to the beach. She watched as the two of them crossed the street, shading her eyes from the sun, then hopped into her car and put it in reverse. Just when she was about to leave the parking space a brown car pulled up behind her. She pressed the break, but the back bumper had already bumped the passenger side of the car.
"What now?" she mumbled to herself as she took off her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. Standing next to the brown car with his hands on his head was the blond lanky boy that was calling Johnny Harper.
His eyes were wide. "My car!"
Addie bent over and squinted her eyes to get a better look at the damage. "Relax there's nothing there." She concluded, straightening up again to face the boy.
The boy walked over to where Addie was. "You don't know my car." He said, peering at the door. "It's old and unstable." His crazy blond hair was on end and his eyes seemed to still be shocked. "It may look fine now, but I could be driving down the highway when it decides to die on me." He raised his hand to his throat and made a slashing movement with his thumb. Addie cringed at the sound effect.
"Dude, I'm sure it's fine." She said and the boy took in a slow breath.
"Yeah, it looks okay." Okay then, Addie thought, time for me to leave all of these distractions behind and go home. She spun around on the spot. "Hey, you're Addie Sinclair right?" the boy asked.
Addie spun back around. What was it, Distraction Day today? Or let's not let Addie get home day? "Yeah." She replied. Her thoughts wouldn't suffice as a good answer at the moment.
The boys eyes widened once again. "You're a kick ass surfer." He said with a smile, moving towards her.
"Was. Now Johnny Boy has taken my title." She said in a somewhat bitter town. She didn't know where it came from. Vindictiveness wasn't a quality she usually had.
"Aw, don't mind Johnny." The boy said, cocking his head over his shoulder to look at his friend who was now waxing his bored. "It's his dream to go pro. He's not an attention whore or anything."
Addie shrugged.
"I'm Chili by the way." the boy said.
"As in the food?" Addie asked.
"Well, no." Chili replied. "My name is Dennis Childress, but I'm trying to get the nickname up and running." He smiled sheepishly.
Addie cracked a smile. There was something so erratic about Chili that she couldn't help but smile at. "And how's that working out?"
"Not too well." He answered and Addie laughed.
"Okay, well it was nice to meet you... Chili." Chili smiled as Addie stuck out her hand and shook his. She was just about to turn around—
"Wait," Chili called and she let out a sigh, "You should come to this party we're having tonight."
"You and Harper?" Addie asked for clarification.
"Yeah," Chili rubbed the back of his neck timidly, "It was meant as a celebration for all the surfers, but word got out and now everyone is coming."
Addie furrowed her brow in distaste. "Ooh, I don't like everyone."
"Come on," Chili persisted, "You're the probably the only girl that can really surf here." Addie thought through Chili's proposal. She wanted to start getting to know some people and who better than people who had the same interests than she did? Then again, these partied never ended well. She had seen too many news reports to assume she would be safe. "Would it help if I said I love you?"
Addie let out a laugh. "No. That would just creep me out."
"Then forget I said anything." Chili said. He stared at her for a little bit longer.
"Okay, fine, but only because you are so damn annoying." She finally answered and Chili smiled in triumph.
He shrugged. "I'll take annoying. Annoying is only a few spots away from amazing." Addie shook her head hopelessly, but couldn't suppress her smile. Chili took a few moments to grab a pen and write down the directions to his house (Where the party was to be held) on Addie's arm. "It starts at 9." He said as he clicked his pen shut then hopped into his car. 9 was good, Addie thought. That still gave her enough time to go home, make dinner and tell her mom about the raging California party she was going to. That was going to be the hard part. She watched as Chili drove away then raised her head and looked at the beach. There, from across the sand was Johnny Harper staring at her with a confused expression. Most likely wondering what his friend was doing talking to the school's reject, she thought dully. Addie turned around, gave her intact bumper a quick look then jumped into her car and headed home.