Thanks for all the reviews y'all – and please feel free to correct me when I spell Stacy like a dingus and add a "e". Also, I know next to nothing about the logistics of surfing (imagine that!) so I just bullshited my way through the bigger surfing portion of this chapter.
That next morning Tovah was up hours before Skip, Jeff and Stecyk had come around to pick her up to go to Huntington. She had slept for about three hours after Stacy had dropped her off, but her mind was practically vibrating with everything that was going on. She already had her board ready at the front door, and her wetsuit was there along with it. She hadn't competed since early February, which was the competition that had qualified her to compete that day. A car horn blared from outside and Tovah rushed over to the window pushing the curtains aside to see if it was them; it was. She hurried downstairs grabbing her board and wetsuit and closed the door with her foot on the way out.
"Hurry up girl!" Jeff shouted from the passenger's side of the car "We don't have all day!"
Stecyk was already on the outside of the car to help Tovah strap the board on top of the car. It was the new board Skip had promised her for today. She had gotten to ride it a few times before the competition and it felt good, well all of the Zephyr boards were good but this one felt especially good.
"I got some new pictures developed from one of the guy's sessions at Bicknell hill" Stecyk said to her after getting her board strapped up "They're in the car if you wanna see 'em"
Tovah nodded and got into the back seat of the car, grabbing the manila envelope filled with photographs on her way down. She quickly began to sift through all of the glossy photos not paying much attention to any of them until she got to one of Stacy. Stecyk had taken the picture from above, so all you could see was Stacy's hair fanned out around him and his skateboard.
"You can keep that one if you want.." Stecyk mumbled
"What?" Tovah said shocked "No! I don't want it, or need it. No." She quickly began putting all the photos back in the envelope and tossed it onto the seat in between the two of them
Tovah stared out the window thinking about nothing in particular, Tovah didn't know if Stacy was actually going to come today, or if he had just said that to make her feel a bit better. She realized Skip hadn't said a word to her at all since she'd been in the car. Maybe he was really focused on the competition? She didn't want to push it, because she knew the moment they got there he'd get really chatty and start to tell her what she needed to do to win. It was always the same, style. In order to get on the Zephyr Surf Team you had to have style, and you had to be aggressive.
Skip finally said something "Where's your shirt?"
Tovah reached down underneath her wetsuit and pulled out the shirt that read: 'Zephyr Surf Team' and waved it in the front seat "Right here! I'll put it on later"
"You know what girl Lynne Boyer's gonna be there today" Jeff questioned "You ready?"
Lynne Boyer had been at the competition in February and had beaten Tovah by five points, she was ridiculously good. The waves broke differently in Huntington than they did back home. Lynne had been used to the surf in Huntington, so that's how she got the leg-up on Tovah - or at least that's what she liked to tell herself.
"Yeah. I've been surfing pretty much everyday" Tovah defended "I'll be fine,"
After another hour of driving they finally arrived, there were tons of people there already. Tovah looked out at the ocean and saw that the break was varying today, some bigger waves, and some of the smaller sets that she knew Boyer was good with. Tovah grabbed her stuff out of the car, and tossed off the plan shirt she had on before so she could put on her Zephyr shirt. While in the process she heard someone whistled behind her.
She quickly whipped her head around to see Jay and Tony walking up to her "What are you doing here?"
"Hot chicks in bikinis? I'm offended that you didn't think we'd be here." Tony wiggled his eyebrows in her direction
"Yeah, Tovah we know you didn't invite us because you'd be jealous that we'd be looking at other girls" Jay said as his eyes followed two girls walking by
"You two are jems" she smiled "Where's Stace?"
Before either of them could answer Stacy came walking up, car keys in hand. A small blonde girl had walked by him and she noticed his eyes trail down to her bikini clad bottom; she shook her head in his direction and he just shrugged with a smile. The four friends made their way to the line that Skip and Jeff were in waiting to hand in Tovah's papers. They all stood in the line for a few minutes as other competitors registered. Out of the corner of her eye Tovah saw Lynne walk by, board in hand looking overly confident.
"What's up with her?" Stacy asked Tovah
"Huh?" she broke out of her daze "Oh, nothing. She beat me last time"
Stacy nodded and opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Skip "You know what's important today Tovah?" he questioned
"Style…?" she answered slowly
That was always Skip's and Jeff's main concern when anyone from their surf team competed. You had to have the intense "Dogtown Style" of surfing. If you didn't go out and rush a wave with the intentions of crushing it, you might as well not even surf.
Skip nodded and slapped the girl on the back "You see the rest of these little girls out there?" He tilted her head in the direction of where some of the older girls were setting up "You have to rip them a new asshole. Your heat starts in 15 minutes"
Tovah cringed inwardly and nodded, and began to make her way over to an emptier area so she could wax her board. The boys were nowhere to be seen, they were probably somewhere on the beach bothering some girls and making some Dad's tense up.
"What's up Tovah?" Peggy had just come walking up to Tovah
"Hey!" Tovah said excitedly "Did you just get here?"
Peggy shook her head placing her board down next to Tovah's "Na, my heat was way earlier. I hung around to see yours. It should be pretty good"
Tovah and Peggy were in a different heat because of how they placed last time in Huntington, ultimately at this competition Tovah could potentially qualify for World's.
"ALL GIRLS IN HEAT 37 PLEASE COME TO THE TENT NOW!" A man announced through a megaphone
"Good luck Tov" Peggy patted her on the back and went off to find any of the guys
Tovah picked up her board and made her way over to the tent that the man with the megaphone had been shouting from. There were five other girls at the tent, Lynne Boyer being one of them, and she didn't recognize the other four. One of the judges began to tell the girls what the rules were, and how they would be judged. Tovah sort of tuned them out and began looking the other girls up and down trying to figure them out (not as if you could figure out someone's surf style by just looking at them). Tovah perked back up again when the judge began to tell them what order they would surf in; Tovah was first. She could feel her palms start to sweat and quickly looked around for someone she knew for some positive reinforcement.
"Are you nervous" It was Jay's voice behind her
Tovah gave a very short answer "Yeah,"
"Why?" he questioned her
"What?" she couldn't believe he just asked her that "Why wouldn't I be nervous?"
"Because you know you surf better than all of these girls, have you seen how big the surf is today - you surf these same waves everyday at The Cove."
Tovah hadn't really looked at the surf since they'd gotten there a little over an hour ago. Jay was right, the surf was bigger than when she had first looked, she knew she could get right in those curls, no problem.
"Number 44, please make your way down to the shore!" another dude on another megaphone
Jay flicked the number that was pinned onto her suit "That's you"
She nodded and made began to walk down to the shore where megaphone number two was there to take the number pinned onto her wetsuit.
"STYLE TOE JAM!" Jeff screamed "FUCK 'EM UP!"
A few people gasped at the use of colorful language, Tovah just smiled and began to paddle out. Like Jay had said, the set was perfect right now; Tovah caught her first wave and began it tear up and down it like a mad-woman. In the distance she could hear Tony screaming from the shore, she assumed they were words of encouragement, but he could have just as well been telling her to "go fuck herself". She got a larger wave the next time around making sure she got right into the curl - the judges loved shit like that. She was feeling confident enough so she stuck her hand out and ran it along the inside of the wave. Her set lasted for a while more, she was really showing off her aggressive surf style today; she wanted to win. She paddled back to the shore after her session, and the judges began to mutter amongst themselves.
Two 9.5's and an 8 was her final score; she let out of breath of relief and walked over to the guys (and Peggy) "Nice set Tovah!" Jeff patted her bare wet shoulder "I got some good pictures too, you ripped it up"
Before she could say thank you someone had tapped her on the shoulder, she turned around and her breath got caught in her throat when she saw who it was. Shaun fucking Tomson - why in the world was he here? The dude was from South Africa for Christ sake, what was he doing at a qualifying surf competition for women. If you don't know who Shaun Tomson is, you must live under a rock, he's a surfing legend (and a total babe, also Jewish so a win-win). He had just won the Hang Ten Pro Championships in Hawaii, so he was on the cover of every surf magazine.
"You just surfed right?" he asked her
She was completely dumbstruck and could feel her entire body turning bright red, she could also hear the guys mumbling around her "Y-yeah, I did" She mentally kicked herself for stuttering
"You were sick, I've never seen a girl rip up a wave like that before," He smiled at her
"Oh my god, his smile is perfect, his teeth are perfect, HE is perfect" She thought to her "Thanks, um why're you here?" she spat out
He laughed a little and answered her "Photo shoot," he shrugged "I heard there was a competition and I just wanted to check it out" All Tovah could do was nod "What's your name?"
"Tovah" she answered back
"Tovah?" he smiled again "Not to be rude, but that is a very Jewish name"
She finally loosened up and laughed "Yeah, well my Dad is a very Jewish man"
"Well good ride out there Tovah," he placed his hand on her bare shoulder "If you make it to Hawaii, look me up."
She could have screamed the moment he turned away, did that really just happen? Or had she bailed out during her set and this was all a dream? Either way, it was amazing and she never wanted it to end.
"Tovah." Peggy began very calmly "WAS THAT WHO I THINK IT WAS?!" she practically screamed
The two girls didn't have that much time to gush with one another over the older surfers smile, and accent before the guys butted in. They all congratulated her on her run, and she received many pats on the back, some that were too hard for her liking. The gang stayed on the shore and watched the five other girls ride, they were all good, especially Lynne. She rode so low and fast, it made Tovah nervous and her palms began to sweat again.
Once again someone was shouting through a megaphone "CAN ALL SURFERS QUALIFYING FOR THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PLEASE COME TO THE JUDGES TENT!"
During the short walk over to the tent Tovah could hear her heartbeating in her ears, it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest at any minute.
"In third place with 23 points Donna Reid"
Donna happily walked up to the tiered podium taking her place on the third place spot; Tovah held her breath.
"Second place 26.5 ponis is, Lynne Boyer" Tovah watched the red-head walk up and accept her trophy with a small smile on her face
If Tovah thought her heart was beating fast before she was definitely wrong, she could hear the blood pumping in her ears, she felt like she was going to faint; they could either call her name and she would win or they could not call her name meaning she didn't place at all.
"First place; with 27 points is, Tovah-"
She completely blanked out the moment they said her first name, she honestly couldn't believe it. She felt someone push her forward, and she stumbled up to the woman holding the first-place trophy. In a daze she stepped up to the top tier of the podium, she hardly saw the camera flashes and she was sure she looked like a complete dolt in every picture. She finally broke out of her daze and stepped down from the platform.
"Nice job," It was Lynne and she was holding out her hand
Tovah shook hand with her, said her thanks and wandered back over to her friends. She ended up being lifted up by Tony and he started to run up and down the beach with her over his shoulder. She laughed in delight, finally coming to terms with what had just happened.
"Put me down you animal!" she laughed
"YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING HAWAII!" Tony screamed with her still over his shoulder
After Tony put her down Stacy came up to her and wrapped her in a hug "Nice job Tov" he whispered in her ear
"Thanks," she whispered back "And thanks for coming" The two 17-year olds smiled at each other
Jeff, Skip and Stecyk each congratulated her giving her more slaps and pats on the back; most of them too hard again. Jay had congratulated her too, offering to give her a kiss for winning; she respectfully declined. Tovah decided to ride back home with the guys, and sat in the passengers seat after strapping her board to the top of Stacy's car.
"Are we going?" Tony asked Stacy once he got on the road
"Yeah," he answered "Our boards are in the back so why wouldn't we go?"
"What are you dudes talking about?" Tovah was very confused, where were they going that they needed their boards?
"The pool Tovah, the pool" Jay said from his seat in the back
She didn't understand what that meant, she also didn't care. She had just qualified to compete in the World Championships in Hawaii, she met Shaun freakin' Tomson and he told her to "look him up". Things were looking way up right now for her.