It was all so close to being over, it was senior year, and that meant good-bye high school and hello summer vacation. Sure she was alright at school, she got good grades, and pleased her Mom, but Tovah could have cared less about school. All she cared about was the call of the ocean, and a good Hendrix song. The winter months meant a good swell but the water was cold, but to surf the cove you had to be tough. And if being tough meant surfing in 45-degree waters, she would do it, and she did. The only female surfer Skip Engblom let on his surf team in '74, the only girl Skip would even think of letting surf the pier.
Chilly morning air wafted through the open window, stinging the bare skin on her arm. The morning breeze, that's all it took to wake her up, every morning, that same cool breeze. That cool breeze that told her it was time to surf. Everyone is born for something, something you were made to do. Well this girl in particular, was born to surf, to be one with the ocean, it's how she has always been, and who she always will be. Sometimes she even swears that she has the salty ocean water rushing through her veins.
Tovah got up, eyes half open, blindly skimming the floor with her toes in search for her wetsuit, when she finally found it she threw it onto her bed and looked for her bathing suit. One thing Tovah could never understand was how she could wear something everyday but still manage to lose it. Once the bathing suit was found, Tovah slipped on the slightly damp wetsuit over top of it. Grabbing her board she managed to quietly slip through the hallways of her home, 'cause fuck, if Tovah got caught going out surfing again she'd be in a load of shit. Once Tovah was outside she hopped onto her cream colored cruiser making her daily trip down to the Pacific Ocean Park Pier. She rolled into the pier and saw that the boys were already there.
"Hey guys, how's it lookin'?"
"It's lookin' real good right about now," Jay Adams, little baby fourteen year old Jay boy, although you would never know how young he really is by the way he acts, but no matter how he acted he'll always be little baby Jay to her
"Oh yeah Jay baby? Well, you're still a couple years too young, so keep dreaming," Tovah said while rolling her eyes at him
"Yo Jay boy you've been trying for three years now, give it up. But Tovah, how about me and you take a little trip underneath our wetsuits and make some of our own waves," Tony Alva, there are only so many thing you can say about Tony. Well, what can be said is that he is not a bad lay, because that would be a lie. Because if there is one place that Tony has expertise in, it's in sex.
"Come on dudes it's like five in the morning, can you at least keep your dicks away until the afternoon." Tovah looked over at Stacy who had yet to say a word, but was blankly staring off into the ocean, watching the waves ride out. "Hey Stace, how's it looking today?"
"It's looking way better than yesterday Tov, but anything is better than the ankle busters we've been seeing lately," Stacy Peralta, such a sweetheart with his never fading pink flush in cheeks. Totally levelheaded, has a job, and he wears a watch for Christ's sake. But that's our Stacy.
"Hey you little grommets, you wanna surf or what?"
Skip Engblom had just come out from the water after completing a successful, almost perfect ride. He came striding up to them with freshly lit cigarette in between his lips. They all nodded their heads just hoping that he would just let the group go out and shred today without having to work.
"Well, then you little maggots get to work, you have to earn the right to surf the cove."
Every time, every time they came to the pier they had to work. Skip and his friends swore they owned the pier, if they even gave her a chance Tovah could surf circles around those burnouts. Stacy and Tovah were in the bone yard catching the guys' boards after they had wiped out, Jay was out on trash duty, and Tony had to keep it local, by kicking out any Val's trying to come to the POP.
"You know what song I am so sick of hearing on the radio?" Stacy said to Tovah as they stood underneath the broken down pier.
"No, and you better not say bohemian rhapsody by Queen or else I might have to slap you," she said to Stacy
"Nah dude, Mandy, every time I turn on the radio, it's Barry Manilow," Stacy huffed
"Yeah dude I guess you're right, but anything is better than that Streisand shit," She smiled and then began to sing "Memories, like the corners of my mind, misty watercolor memories, of the way we were!"
"Jesus Tov, shut up, you sing like you skate, and that's not a good thing," Tovah shot Stacy a dirty look, and splashed him with the salty ocean water. Truth be told Tovah defiantly wasn't a good skater, hell, baby Sid was probably better than her. After being splashed Stacy smirked at Tovah and began to tickle her over the wet suit. If there was one thing that Tovah hated, it was being tickled. Almost everyone knew it, if you lived in Venice you knew not to even think about tickling Tovah.
"All right! Stace, quit it!" Tovah said in between breaks in her uncontrollable laughter
Stace backed up with a smile on his face, his cheeks even pinker than normal from laughing so much, but this calm period didn't last for too long. Tovah jumped onto Stacy's back knocking him down into the water successfully, but Stacey had grabbed her around the back of her knees and through her over his shoulder, causing her too laugh even more than before.
"All right you little gremlins, get out there and show us what you got," Skipped yelled to them as he came out from the ocean.
Excitedly all three of them grabbed there boards and paddled out into the cool ocean water, right into the heavies. For a bit the four of them just sat on there boards, just hoping for a good set, and then it came it was like a perfect swell.
"Yo guys, I got the first of this wave, I'll try not to show you guys up too much, but I'm not making any promises,"
Tovah paddled hard for this upcoming wave, Once everything was set up right for her she popped up onto her feet, and felt that rush she had being looking forward to since she put her suit on. Tovah had been surfing since she was twelve, she started out going out with her dad, and once he left she kept doing it by herself. She could shred no doubt about it, and no one denied it. It was a rare occasion to see her eat it, but when she did, she wiped out hard. But today she was in her element, the ocean called to her and she answered back. Today, her ride was almost perfect; she shredded the wave like it was nothing.
"Girly, like always you are off the ritcher, good ride toe jam," Skip congratulated her quietly.
Toe jam, probably the worst nickname ever to be given to anyone. But that's what Skip called her: Toe jam. Tovah sat on the shore to watch the guys ride, first to ride the swell was Jay, and then it was Tony. There rides were good they defiantly got to ride a good set, then there was Stacy. Tovah, Jay, and Tony anxiously sat on shore waiting for Stacy to pick his wave. Once he got it he started out fairly well, but once he had popped up to stand, he bailed, and he bailed out hard. Once Stacey was back on shore he perched his board into the sand, Tony and Jay heckled him for a bit, just messing around with him as did Skip and the other guys. While Tovah was looking at him she noticed something. She walked up to him, and looked at his forehead, yep, he was bleeding.
"Yo Stace, I think you wiped out a little hard, there" she said while she put her finger up to his head "I have antiseptic on my bike, you want me to clean you up man?"
Tovah tended to keep things like antiseptic and bandaids in the basket on her bike, when you have friends that surf and skate, it's almost necessary. And although some of her friends messed with her about it, in the end they were all happy that she did.
"Uh, yeah sure Tovah," The two of them walked over to her bike and Stacey sat down on the sand "Tovah my ride was really bad today, huh?" He said solemnly
"Stace, come on bro, we all have bad rides, don't get too down about it," She said while dabbing a cotton ball with antiseptic on it on his forehead.
"Yeah but, for the past couple days my rides just haven't been good," He said wincing a little
"You worry too much Stace, you are a good surfer, you know that if you weren't, I wouldn't say that you are," she said smiling at him "All right man, you're good," Tovah held out her hand to help Stacy up, but ended up on the ground next to him after he had pulled her down with him "Oh really Stacy? Is that how you are going to treat the girl who just cleaned off your battle wound?" she said laughing as sand filled her dark curly hair.
"Stacy?" Tovah said lying back in the sand with her eyes closed
"Yeah?"
"I wish I could just surf for the rest of my life, you know? Like just go all over the world and surf like Mike Hynson and Robert August,"
"Don't we all Tovah, don't we all," He said looking out at the rising sun "But once June hits, we've got a pretty bitchin' summer coming our way, we'll be out of high school and doing our own thing,"
"You know what Stace, you're right this is our year, we're going to make shit happen this year," Tovah said as she sat up in excitement making her curly brown locks fly everywhere
"What do you mean?" Stacy said looking at her curiously
"I don't really know man, but I just have a feeling in my bones that something is going to happen, something big," with that Tovah lazily placed her head on Stacey's shoulder and stared out at the rising sun