Chapter 7: The Surf

It was just after noon when Matt's red jeep rode up to Courtney's beach house, with Kelly, Kirsten, and Jimmy as passengers and all their surfboards secured on the top of the car. Once Matt had parked, the four of them grabbed their stuff and headed to the back side of the house that faced the beach. Upon getting there, they found Brian, one of the guys on the football team, grilling, Courtney nearby blending up margaritas, and about 15 other people eating and talking and starting to head out to the water.

"Hey everyone!" Courtney called out to them as they arrived. "Glad you could make it!"

"Of course! We wouldn't have missed it!" Kelly called back.

Brian turned from his grill and asked, "So, what'll it be…we have hamburgers, hot dogs, or chicken."

"I'll have a hamburger," Matt spoke first.

"Me too," added Jimmy.

"I'll take the chicken," said Kelly.

"And I think I'll go with the hot dog," Kirsten told him.

Brian looked at her for a minute and finally spoke, "I didn't think I would ever hear Kirsten Nichol say she eats hot dogs!"

"Well, one of the many surprising things about me," Kirsten said, laughing.

After the four of them got their food and a margarita each from Courtney, they sat down to eat. Kelly and Matt started talking amongst themselves, so Kirsten turned to Jimmy.

"So, I'm sorry about yesterday…I said I'd call you about that date when I got back from Hawaii, but my dad got to you first," Kirsten said.

"Hey, no problem…I still got to talk to you yesterday, right?" Jimmy said.

"Yeah I guess…so about our date we need to plan…" Kirsten began.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that…I was thinking this Saturday, you know, the first weekend after school starts," Jimmy told her.

"Sounds great…do you have anything in mind?" Kirsten asked him.

"That's for me to plan and you to find out…it'll be a surprise," Jimmy said.

Kirsten smiled at him and a slight blush crept into her cheeks. She couldn't believe how fast she seemed to be falling for him. After a moment, she continued, "That sounds fantastic! I can't wait."

Kelly turned toward Jimmy and Kirsten and said, "Hey, so you guys want to head out now to the water…the surf's looking pretty good."

"Yeah, sounds good to me…just let me finish my drink," Kirsten said.

A minute later the four of them headed down toward the ocean. Before going in, they all pulled on wet suits, as the ocean water in southern California was never particularly warm. As soon as that was accomplished, they all went running into the waves with their boards.

After about an hour and a half, surfing, Kirsten asked, "Hey guys, want to go in soon…the waves are getting kind of big and I'm getting kind of tired."

"Come on Kirst…tired already," Matt joked with her.

"Stop teasing her, Matt," Kelly told him. She turned back to Kirsten and said, "How about a few more and then we head in?"

"That's good…what about you, Jimmy," Kirsten asked.

"Yeah, I'm good with that," Jimmy said.

As the next set approached them, Kelly caught the first wave beautifully, riding it all the way into shore before stepping off her board and heading in. Jimmy caught the next one and managed to ride in the barrel of the wave, before breaking out of it, and riding toward shore. Matt caught an even larger wave than the two previous ones, riding it fairly well, until it collided with another wave coming from the opposite direction at which point he fell off his board. He got up and picked up the board to head in.

Kirsten let the next wave of the set go, and was a bit too late catching the following wave, at which point Kelly yelled, "Kirsten, come on! Let's go!"

Kirsten turned to look at the incoming waves and the next one looked perfect…maybe a little big, but she was feeling rather confident. As it approached her, she began paddling toward the shore as fast as she could and then began her transition to stand up on the board. As she was doing this, though, she realized that she wasn't as far ahead of the wave as she needed to be, but it was too late. As the wave crashed, Kirsten and her board began to head over the falls of the wave, causing Kirsten to fall head first off her board toward the bottom with her board trailing in after her. As she was being thoroughly jostled around by the wave and trying to find her way to the surface to get a breath of air, she felt excruciating pain as a sharp object slammed into the back of her head. Then all went black.

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She began to hear a constant beeping noise in the background, which grew louder as she woke up. She slowly opened her eyes, trying to make sense of her unfamiliar surroundings. As she looked to one side, she spotted her father, who at the site of her moving turned to her mother and said something to her. Katherine Nichol smiled with a few tears running down her cheeks and grabbed Kirsten's hand gently before going out the door. It almost looked like things were moving in slow motion.

She heard her father say to her, "Thank God, you're all right, Kiki! I was really worried."

Kirsten tried to answer him for a moment, but then realized she couldn't due to the tube that was down her throat, and simultaneously she began to feel a dull pain at the back of her head. Suddenly she finally realized where she was. A hospital.

Memories of her surfing accident came flooding back to her all at once. The gasping for air as she was held under by the force of the wave. The pain she felt as she was hit on the back of the head. The momentary feeling that she might not make it. The heart monitor began to beep faster as Kirsten's emotions were stirred by the memories.

"Calm down, Kirsten. You're okay now," Caleb told her.

Kirsten looked up to see the door open and a doctor entered, followed by her mother and sister. The doctor quickly glanced at her chart and turned to Kirsten and said, "Glad to see you've woken up, Kirsten. My name is Dr. Bentley and I've been treating you since you arrived. You gave us quite a scare for a little while. Well, it looks like we can remove your breathing tube. How about that?"

Kirsten nodded her head and Dr. Bentley continued, "Okay, Kirsten, on the count of three, I want you to blow out as hard as you can, okay? One, two, three," and with that, Dr. Bentley pulled out the tube and once it was out, Kirsten began coughing and then regained her normal breathing.

"So, Kirsten, do you remember what happened?" Dr. Bentley asked her.

"Yeah, I think so…I was surfing and I was about to ride my last wave and head in for a while…three of my friends had just rode in and they were waiting for me…um, I tried to catch a big wave, but at the last minute, I realized I wasn't in position…I fell off my board, went over the falls, and I got hit in the head…that's all I remember," Kirsten told him.

"Yes, very good. You were hit in the head with the scag of your surfboard. It made a large gash on the lower part of your head and onto your neck. We stitched it up and it will be fine, although you might have a headache for awhile since you sustained a concussion in the blow. You had to be rescued by the lifeguard…you were breathing when you were pulled in, but it was very shallow…that's why we put the tube in. All the injuries you sustained will heal, no problem…you are lucky Kirsten, it could have been a lot worse," Dr. Bentley said.

Why don't I feel very lucky right now, then, Kirsten thought. "Yeah, I'm sure it could have been worse."

"Oh, sweetheart! I'm so glad you're okay!" Katherine told Kirsten.

"Me too, Mom. Sorry I worried you so much," Kirsten told her.

"I'm just glad that you are going to be fine!" Katherine assured her.

Hailey approached Kirsten then and said, "I'm glad you are okay, Kiks! I don't know what I would do without you!" Hailey got closer and threw her arms around Kirsten.

Kirsten hugged her sister back. "Oh, don't worry, Hails…I won't be leaving you anytime soon…I promise."

"Mr. and Mrs. Nichol, I need to do a few more tests on Kirsten, so you will need to leave for a few minutes…I know there are some visitors waiting for her…you can send them in one by one in about five minutes," the doctor told them.

"Very, well. Kiki, we'll be back soon, okay," her father told her.

"Okay," Kirsten replied, and with that, her family turned to leave.

Kelly looked up from her chair as she heard footsteps coming down the hall, but it turned out just to be another nurse. She had been sitting in the waiting room with Matt and Jimmy for almost 5 hours, hoping Kirsten would wake up soon. When Kirsten was first brought in, Kelly had been hysterical and Matt was doing all he could to try to keep her calm. Finally, she had settled down a bit when she knew that Kirsten was going to be okay…but she still had an uneasy feeling and she knew it wouldn't go away until her best friend woke up.

A second later she looked over and saw the Nichols coming through the entrance to the waiting room. Mrs. Nichol approached the three of them and said, "Kirsten is awake, you guys. She's going to be fine. You guys can go see her one at a time in a few minutes…but you need to keep the visits short for now."

Kelly smiled a great sigh of relief and felt Matt's arms come around her and embrace her in a hug. She didn't know what she would have done if something more serious had happened to Kristen.

Kirsten was trying to sit herself up a little better when she heard the door creak open and she saw Kelly enter.

"Kirst, I'm so happy you're alright!" Kelly said as she hugged Kirsten carefully. "How are you feeling?"

"Surprisingly, not too bad, although I think it has something to do with the pain killers they've been pumping into me. They want me to stay over night for observation and then I can go home tomorrow morning. I have to wear this bandage thing on my head until Wednesday. But it's not so bad…nothing that won't heal, anyway," Kirsten informed her.

"That's really good! I'm not going to lie, Kirsten…you scared the shit out of me. I mean there was so much blood and I wasn't sure if you were breathing and-"

"It's okay, Kelly. I'm okay. I'm sorry for scaring you so bad…I'll be more careful in the future," Kirsten said, cutting her off.

"It's not your fault at all, Kirst! I just don't know what I'd do without you, you know," Kelly told her.

"Well, no need to worry about me anymore…I'm going to be fine…thanks for waiting and making sure I was alright and everything, Kell…and for the record, I don't know what I would do without you either," Kirsten said.

Kelly hugged Kirsten again and then turned when she heard the door opening.

"Hey, Kirsten. How are you feeling," Matt asked, standing in the doorway.

"Actually, not too bad…a bit of a headache, but nothing major," Kirsten said. "By the way, thanks for coming and waiting and everything, Matt."

"Hey, no problem…Just wanted to make sure you were alright…it looked pretty bad when they brought you up on the beach. I'm just glad things turned out not to be too bad, you know," Matt told her. Matt turned to Kelly and back to Kirsten and began again, "We should probably get going, Kirsten and let you rest…I hope you keep feeling better, Kirsten."

"Yeah, feel better, Kirst…And I'll call you tomorrow afternoon and see how you're doing," Kelly said.

"Thanks again, guys!" Kirsten said as they turned to go out the door. As soon as the couple left the doorway, she spied Jimmy entering her room. This brought a bright smile to Kirsten's face. She was secretly hoping that he would be waiting for her too, but she had told herself not to give her hopes up…I mean what was she thinking…it's not like she actually knew him that well after all. But upon seeing him standing there, she knew that she had now totally fallen for him.

"Hey Kirsten…how are you feeling?" Jimmy asked her.

"Okay…you know, considering…" she trailed off. "I guess my throat is getting a little sore for talking since I that tube down it for awhile."

"Oh, well, then I won't keep you," Jimmy said, turning away.

"No, no!" Kirsten said, practically yelling. "I mean, I didn't say that to make you leave…" she stammered.

As he turned back, there was a small smile creeping to his face. "I know…I just wanted to see what your reaction would be," he said, starting to laugh.

"You jerk!" she joked playfully and threw one of the pillows she wasn't using at him, hitting him square in the face.

"Well, I guess you obviously are okay," Jimmy said, laughing. "Okay, for real, I should probably let you rest…we were suppose to keep our visits short…I'm glad to see you are okay, and I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yeah, soon…And Jimmy, thanks again for waiting to see if I was okay," Kirsten told him.

"Of course…it was no problem at all." And with that, he headed out the door.

Kirsten closed her eyes, trying to keep her mind on happy thoughts of Jimmy Cooper. But as she drifted off to sleep, these happy thoughts were suddenly invaded by ones of pain, of her accident…

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Yeah, so I just thought this might be a more interesting reason why Kirsten doesn't surf than because she doesn't like the fish in the ocean…thanks again for all the reviews!