Chapter 10: The Beach Festival
The Beach Festival. One of the most exciting festivals I had heard of, and I could barely stand up! Cliff helped me set up a spot on the beach, right where I could see all the action in the water. He left to go warm up, as I put on sunscreen.
I looked over to the dock and saw Kai stretching out. He noticed me and ran over.
"Woah! What happened to you?" He asked with the funniest look on his face. I laughed at the sight of how big his eyes got.
"I tripped... I fell... I got 6 stitches... and now I'm here," I said looking up at him, trying to shade my eyes from the bright sun. Kai looked great. He had the tannest body I had ever seen, and a great pack of muscles.
"Awww.... I'm sorry babe. Are you gonna be alright for tonight?" He asked, sitting down next to me.
"Tonight?" I asked. I had completely forgotten about our date tonight, especially after my incident this morning. "Oh yes, of course I will still be able to go. You might have to help me walk a little though," I replied laughing.
"Hey... anything to be with you," He said, leaning in to kiss me. All of a sudden, Cliff came running up. I quickly pulled away from Kai, and turned to the side hoping to hide my blushing face from Cliff.
"Jen I want to ask you something... and Kai! The race is about to start... woah... sorry you guys, I didn't mean to interrupt anything," He said, seeming to be embarrassed.
"No it's fine dude," Kai said and stood up. Cliff looked at me with a sad look on his face. I felt horrible. I had just told him that nothing was going on between us... I lied to him.
"What did you want to ask me Cliff?" I said after finally getting rid of my blushing cheeks.
"Never mind, you wouldn't be interested," He said turning around.
"No... what?" I asked him with a concerned look on my face.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the church with me after the race today," He said, rubbing his hand behind his neck as he stared at the ground. As I looked at Kai, I saw him glare straight at Cliff, and right when I was going to answer, Kai interrupted.
"Sorry man, we already have plans to go up to Moon Mountain tonight with me," Kai said, with quite a different tone of voice.
"Yeah sure, no problem... I'm sorry to bug you Jen," He said with a disappointed look on his face and walked away.
"God, the nerve that guy has to just come up to you like that," Kai said looking at me. Kai looked over at Cliff scowling. I could tell he was jealous.
"Yeah I guess," I said looking at the ground. What was happening! I had recently fallen for Kai, and now, Cliff had to come back and start problems all over again. I did like Kai, and I couldn't wait for our date tonight, but those hidden feelings for Cliff seemed to spark up every time I saw him.
"Ladies and Gentleman! The race is about to begin!" the mayor announced. "Will all participants line up at the starting line; we will start when the bell rings." All of the young men of Mineral Town lined up on the beach. Kai looked over to me and waved, and Cliff just took a glimpse my way. I smiled at him, and he seemed to smile back.
Everyone around me was cheering for someone, but I was completely unsure of who to cheer for. I decided to cheer for both, which was my first big mistake.
"GO KAI! GO CLIFF!" I screamed out at the top on my lungs. Cliff smiled over at me, but Kai just turned toward Cliff, and scowled once again. The race was about to begin.
"On your mark... get set... GO!!!" The Bell rang and all the guys ran into the water. Rick fell over right when he hit the water, which was quite a funny site to see. Karen ran over to him and helped him up... she truly did love him no matter how geeky he was. Grey went about halfway to the buoy before giving up, and Tim got just a little bit farther than that before giving in
Cliff and Kai were the only one's left in the race! Right now Kai was just a little up ahead, but Cliff was still going strong just a little ways behind him. As they rounded the buoy, Kai was still out front, but Cliff was not giving up. I was still screaming for both of them as they raced back to the beach. It was so exciting!
Closer and closer they came, and now they were neck in neck. It was anybody's bet on who was going to win. There were a lot of people cheering for Kai, but there were still a few people cheering for Cliff... including me. Only about 10 yards until the end. Just then, Cliff gave a sudden burst of speed, pulling just a little in front of Kai, but just enough that when they crossed the finish line, Cliff was awarded as the winner!
Both Cliff and Kai were completely knocked out as they pulled themselves on shore. Everyone congratulated Cliff for his victory and he was beaming. Kai quickly recovered and walked toward me.
"Great job," I told Kai, giving him a hug. He pulled gently away from me and started to dry off with his towel without saying a word. Cliff was awarded with a gold metal and given some weird prize by the mayor. I limped over to him and gave him a huge hug.
"That was awesome Cliff... and I was cheering for you the whole time!" I said still hugging him. Cliff lifted me off the ground and spun me around.
"Thanks a lot," he said as he set me back down on the ground. I kissed him lightly on the cheek. My second mistake of the day. Kai walked up and pulled on my wrist.
"Are you ready to go?" He asked. I looked over to Cliff and saw his smile turn into a frown.
"Yeah I'm ready," I said. I said goodbye to Cliff and Kai helped me walk out of the beach. I was going on a date with Kai, and yet I was falling in love with Cliff.