Before I let you guy run off I wanted to take a second and explain to my best abilities how a surfing competition works. So here goes nothing.
Basically there are heats. A heat consists of 2 or 3 surfers at a time in the ocean. They catch waves, the two best waves are counted towards each person's score. You get up to 10 points per wave, a score of 20 being a perfect score. Winner of each heat moves on to the next round, like any tournament. While the surfers are out in the ocean they have maybe 15, or 20 mins per heat.
Getting barreled will give you huge points on a wave.
If someone is on the inside of you catching a wave they have priority. If you drop in on them you lose points off of your best wave.
Well that is all you need to know, I think. So without further ado, enjoy.
Cutback- Making a cutback is reversing the direction that you are surfing in one smooth fluid move.
Pocket- The steepest part of the wave where the most power is. It is right in front of the white water or barrel.
Rail¬- Are the sides of the surfboard, running from nose to tail and back again.
Booger / Boogieboarder - Slang for body boarders.
Lexa was frustrated with herself, she needed her body to cooperate with her and it was just not happening. Right in this moment as she sat on her board surrounded by water the element that always gave her reassurance she felt like her body had failed her. It was the second round of the competition and she had been doing great until she took a wrong turn and hurt her ankle again. Lexa tried to ignore the pain and maybe it would go away, but it was impossible every time she stood on her board her ankle felt like a thousand spikes where tearing though her skin and muscles making her have to drop out of a few waves.
Lexa wiped water on her face with her hands and looked around, trying to distract herself from her throbbing ankle she had underneath the water.
"What's wrong Lexa? Don't tell me that you hurt your ankle again" Lexa turned to look at Costia and narrowed her eyes, she wondered what she had done wrong to deserve to be put in the same heat as Costia.
"Nothing, I'm perfectly fine" Lexa answered, Lexa was lying ever since she stood up to Costia that night at the bar she knew that her ankle wasn't okay, but she wasn't going to say that to Costia or anyone else for that matter. Lexa hated lying to Clarke when she checked her ankle, seeing the blonde smile because Lexa was making a 'full recovery' made her feel sick with guilt with no swelling what so ever it was up to Lexa to tell Clarke about the pain she was feeling every time she put weight on her right ankle and Lexa never told her about it, she thought that it would go.
Until it didn't.
"Really? Because you are sucking out there" Costia said.
"How do you know it's my ankle Costia?" Lexa asked, without bothering to look at the girl next to her. To say the truth the question had been roaming her mind since the day, she talked to Costia in the bar.
"A little bird told me, that you had an accident with a Boogieboarder last week. You know Lex you have a lot people that don't like you" Lexa looked at her then, like really looked at her. Costia still looked the same, she still had the same golden hazel eyes, long dark brown hair and a perfect white smile, for a second Lexa saw a glint of guilt and regret in her eyes but she ignored it, she didn't want to be in the same space as her anymore. Maybe she just didn't want to read into what she saw in Costia's eyes.
Lexa moved to mount the wave coming towards them. She paddled hard ignoring Costia's comment, she already knew she was sucking but she didn't let it get to her in any possible way. Lexa learned to ignore comments like that throughout her whole life, men would always judge her for being a female surfer, she used as fuel when she was riding a wave.
As Lexa got to the top of the shoulder she began to redistribute her weight through her back foot, wincing when it started to hurt and began to lean her outside hand down the wave. Lexa's front foot stared pushing against the deck of the board while she engaged her fins by applying force to her back foot.
She dropped her outside hand in to the wave and began throwing her inside arm across her body. Lexa turned her head, twisting her shoulders and throwing her arm to the direction she wanted to go. Lexa's mid-section and hips will followed and arced the board back towards the pocket and put it on a rail. Her front leg is almost totally extended on that part of the turn, maximizing the amount of power that she can push through the turn and exchanging her down the line speed for a hard direction turn.
Lexa's arm was across her face now, driving the direction change with as much power as possible. She began to bend her front leg to absorb the board coming back under her, and get chance to push the tail through the turn. Her back leg began pushing against the tail to really flare the turn and re-engage all the fins as the board came off the rail and went flat as it pointed completely the opposite direction.
She got her center of gravity as low as possible, go in to a squat and transfer all her weight from leaning towards her left hand to get her weight on to her toes, put the board back on the rail and leaned back in to the wave ready to drive out of the pocket and line up for next turn, and there was next because she pushed herself though it, right before the horn that let the surfers know that the heat was over sounded.
Lexa didn't know how but she managed to ride the wave without passing out from the pain but she did it. Relive washed over her when she heard the horn, she knew she had done good enough to win this heat and move to the next round. She also knew that she wasn't going to be able to put any weight on her right foot, she had done too much damage to her ankle, but it was necessary she knew that. Lexa knew that she had made the injury worst and for some reason the only thing going to her head in that moment was Clarke and how disappointed and hurt she would be, because Lexa had lied and hid her pain from the blond when it was her job to care for her.
"PEOPLE WE ARE GETTING REPORTS OF A HURT SURFER … AND IT SEEMS TO BE OUR ONE AND ONLY PRODIGY, ALSO THE WINNER OF THIS HEAT ALEXANDRIA SMITH. SHE IS BEING PULLED UP INTO THE BOAT BY THE CREW RIGHT THIS MOMENT"
Everyone not participating in that moment listened to the announcement, Anya who was getting ready for her heat walked over towards Gustus giving him a worried look. She knew something was up, Lexa had reassured her that she was fine but, her gut told her that she shouldn't believe her friend and now she knew why. It made Anya angry, at herself and Lexa, because she should've pushed her to tell her the truth and because Lexa should've told her, they were best friends.
Lexa was carried toward them, two guys in each side holding her up while, another one carried her board. Lexa could see it the worried faces being filled with anger.
"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Anya "Why didn't you tell her?" Anya pointed at Clarke who sat in a chair in front of Lexa wrapping her ankle up.
"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry Anya" Lexa said, she knew she was going to get lectured the minute that everyone went back to the hotel. It had been six days since the night at the bar and forty-eight hours since they traveled down to Namotu, Tavarua, Fiji for the competition and in all that time she never told a soul about her ankle or seeing Costia at the bar.
"Lexa, first you keep the fact that Costia came up to you in the bar and second you keep the pain in your ankle to yourself until now?"
"We will be fine. I won my heat and so did you and everyone else, I am going to keep competing even if I have to drink pain killers to numb the pain for every twenty minute heat, I will make it to the finals" Lexa looked over to Anya.
"I you can even surf in that ankle" Anya scoffed.
"I can and I will"
"No. Lexa if you compete it will be defying medical advice. Anya this sprain isn't a first degree anymore, unless she wants to damage her ankle even more. She. Can't. Surf. At least not until its fully healed" Clarke said as she stood up.
"You have to be kidding me" Anya stooped right where she stood and looked at the blonde, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she couldn't believe that Lexa could've been so careless.
"From what I've seen her sprain seems to have gotten worst, she tore part of a ligament, maybe even a third of it. I can't really tell I need more equipment to run more test, but either way her ankle is not good" Clarke looked over to Anya avoiding Lexa's pleading eyes, she could feel them boring holes on the back of her head, but she ignored it.
"What am I supposed to tell Gustus? Lexa he is talking to Marcus right now, telling him that everything is going to be alright" Anya continued her contestant pacing from each side of Lexa's room until she stopped, the long lose cardigan she wore to cover up her bikini almost dropping to the ground behind her. Anya looked at the ground taking in a deep breath as the next few words poured out of her mouth. "I need to get some air, because I really can't be in this room with you right now, I'll see you guys later" Anya walked out of the door, slamming it leaving Lexa and Clarke on their own, so that they could dwell on their own problems.
Anya was feeling too many emotions at the moment so she unconsciously went over to Raven's room and laid face down on bed next to the brunette, it was something more like second nature now, whenever she had a problem she would go to Raven. The brunette waited for the surfer to pick up her head, take a breath and spill out all her problems, but when she didn't Raven decided to take matters into her own hands.
"Everything alright?" Raven asked already knowing the answer.
"No" Anya answered without moving her head, Raven looked at the surfer and putt the book she was reading down with a sigh sometimes she felt like she was the oldest one of the two.
"Come here" Anya got up and clawed her way to the Raven, snuggling to her side. "What's wrong?"
"Lexa's ankle is worse than ever, Raven. I barely managed to win my heat and Echo keeps having issues with her board. God, I think Octavia is the only one without any problems"
"Come on now, Anya you really don't believe that do you" The Raven wrapped her arm around the surfer, pulling her in a little bit closer. "O, always has problems"
With that Anya laughed not because the statement it was true but, because it was the reason she enjoyed the brunette's company so much, Raven always managed to make her lough, even when she was at her lowest.
"Also don't worry about Echo's board, I'll stay up late so that I can get it ready for tomorrow. I promise" Anya snuggled closer to Raven, shivering when her bare legs came in touch with Raven's metal brace. The hate that Anya had for the thing was so great that the word 'hate' was an understatement, but it was all forgotten every time Anya heard Raven laugh, because the brunette found Anya's 'hate' amusing.
Like it was happening right now, Anya could feel Raven's lough rippled through her body causing her to smile. Driving all her problems away. The older girl picked up her head from Raven's side and kissed the brunette on the lips briefly, before she went back to her former position on Raven's side.
"Thank you, Raven" Anya whispered enjoying the girl's warmth.
"That's what I'm here for Anya. Always" Raven whispered back, picking her book up and kissing the top of Anya's head.
Clarke wasn't mad not anymore at least, she understood why the Lexa did what she did, it wasn't the first time one of her patients had done that before or at least tried to pull it off. She wasn't mad, she just refused to meet Lexa's eyes.
What bothered her was that she thought that maybe she and Lexa where pass that state of 'doctor-patient' and Lexa trusted her but apparently she had thought wrong. It made her wonder if the last few days she spend with the brunette was just a bluff, a way to distract the doctor, so Clarke didn't notice the injury. The voice on the back of her mind kept telling her that Lexa was better than that, that she wasn't a lying scumbag like Finn.
"Where you ever planning on telling me? Or where you just planning on sweet talking me until one of you guys won?" Clarke asked and turned around fast enough to see Lexa flinch, hadn't mean to sound so harsh as the words flooded out of her but, she couldn't back out for some reason she needed the reassurance.
"The way that I treat you doesn't have anything to do with why I didn't tell you. I like you Clarke so will be honest with you. No, I wasn't going to tell you, I thought that the pain would be gone by the time I ever even got to compete and it did for a while, until yesterday"
Sky blue eyes met forest green ones then, after Lexa finished speaking and Clarke could see the Lexa was being honest. They stayed like that for a while, Lexa sitting on the edge of her bed, nose and forehead still stitched, her right ankle on a brace and Clarke standing in front of her hands on her waist debating all her feelings.
"Lexa I like you a lot too, but I'm also you doctor and I think we should kept it that way." Clarke said looking away from Lexa's eyes and began heading for the door.
"Clarke I am sorry I didn't tell you and I respect you decision. But please when this all done we can figure out 'us'?" Lexa pleaded as she watched the blonde stop in the door way.
"Maybe" was all that Clarke said before leaving the room without saying another word.
So I hope you guys enjoyed that and I just want to say a quick thanks to that one person that encouraged me to upload a new chapter here.
