A Day at the Beach

I was beginning to wonder if my hopes were too high in regards to the day at the beach. I had recently moved to Florida and hadn’t quite become accustomed to having so much water nearby. Where I came from in Kansas, the only swimming I was able to do was in small swimming pools. My younger brother and I would spend hours at the beach body surfing and enjoying the waves of the ocean.

I was nervous about school and making friends. I was in my junior year of high school and was afraid of not fitting in. It seemed as though everyone knew each other since kindergarten and that gave me a significant advantage. I gradually snuck into high society and being invited to join the popular girls at the beach on Saturday seemed to cement my position even more, plus I was able to enjoy my favorite new pastime!

I helped carry one end of the cooler to claim our spot in the sand. I examined their bathing suits and felt confident in the one I picked out. It was a string bikini that I wasn’t used to wearing, but it seemed to be all the rage and something a popular girl would wear. I bought it especially for this occasion in hopes of fitting in and also in case any popular boys came along.

When we got to a certain spot, Brandy, our leader, dropped her bag and flung out her towel. We dropped what we were carrying and did the same. Everyone took a bottle of lotion out of their bags and began to lather themselves up. My pale skin only changed to one color: red, so I had no use for the stuff. I had read an article about skin cancer that scared me, so I had my bottle of sunscreen that I began to put on. They all finished at the same time and lay on their backs on their towels at the same time. I stopped mid lather and looked at them, quickly finished up, and then joined them. I lay still and heard the waves breaking on the shore and wanted to jump in. After about fifteen minutes, I could take it anymore and sat up and asked Brandy when we were going to go swimming. She reached her hand up to lower her sunglasses so I could see her surprised look. “I’m not planning on swimming right now, but you can go in if you’d like,” she replied.

I was torn. I knew I couldn’t lie on my towel any longer, but I also knew my rank would go down if I went swimming alone. My instincts won out and I made my way to the ocean by myself.

I stood with the waves hitting my knees for about ten minutes, trying to savor get the feel of the waves. I went in deeper so that it was to my waist and waited for a good wave. The wind was strong that day, so I didn’t have to wait too long before I found one and let it carry me squealing closer to shore. I did that a few more times before I realized I was all by myself and that it might be considered weird. So I kept catching the waves, but I was very quiet. It was not as much fun. I looked back towards the girls who were still in uniform position.

I stood in the water staring back at them for a bit trying to figure out what to do. I would get bored if I went back to them, but I felt more uncomfortable being out here by myself. Deep in my thoughts I did not hear the sound of the approaching wave and was knocked off my feet when it hit me and dragged me through the sand of the ocean floor. As soon as I could, I stood up sputtering trying to cough up all the salt water I had swallowed as my throat burned. My hair came out of its rubber band and was clinging all over my face with the stickiness of the water. I could feel sand in the bottoms of my bikini from when I was dragged through the sand and the thought just passed through my mind why I couldn’t feel the sand in my top when something light hit my head. I looked down to see a beach ball and picked it up, looking for the owner. I saw a group of older guys a little ways down the beach with one of them running towards me.

“Alice?” he asked as he got closer. My eyes were still stinging from the salt and I couldn’t see very clearly until he was a few yards away from me. It was my manager, Shawn, from where I worked after school, at Crispers. I had always had a little crush on him, but when I saw him in his swimming trunks, the crush got stronger.

“Oh, hi Shawn,” I said as I tried to wipe some of my hair off my face and gracefully put it behind my ear. I would have failed miserably even if I didn’t have to remove some seaweed first. I tossed the ball back to him and gave him the best smile I could muster.

“Um, you’ve got, um . . . “ Shawn stumbled as he made motions pointing towards his chest. I looked down in horror. I had lost the top to my bikini. I quickly crossed my arms and looked around for it. “I guess I’ll see you Monday then,” he said and quickly ran back to his group. When he got there, I heard a loud roar of laughter.

If I had been thinking clearly, I would have probably been able to find the top floating somewhere, but all I could think about was my towel back by the girls and how desperately I wanted to be covered up. I ran over with my arms still crossed and my bottoms beginning to sag from the sand that was still in there. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around myself before anyone noticed my state.

“Um, Brandy, I think I’d better go home now,” I said. “I swallowed a bunch of water and I’m feeling a little sick.”

Brandy turned her head to me and made one quick nod before putting it back in place. I grabbed my stuff and walked back to the parking lot. The sand was burning beneath my feet, and it was chaffing against my legs from where it clung from the water. My hair was still sticky and I felt like chopping it off just to get it off my skin. I was starting to sweat from the heat by the time I got to the payphones. “Um mom? Could you please come get me?”