Mav was too busy concentrating on staying above the waves to notice Holly in the water behind him. He glanced to shore and saw Pete standing on the water’s edge, obviously waiting for him to put his plan into action, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to go through with it now. For one thing, it would make him look a real idiot and he would never hear the last of how he had foolishly gone swimming in the dangerous part of the beach and needed to be rescued by Pete. Not just Holly would think she was stupid, but all the girls would. He’d never live it down. The other thing was, he wasn’t sure whether he really wanted to make Pete look like a hero. What if it really did impress Holly and she did start going after him?
‘I have to do it. I made a promise to Pete.’
As Mav prepared to begin floundering, he heard a distant scream. He turned.
It took a moment to spot her through the choppy swell, but when he did, Mav gasped. Holly was flailing in the waves behind him, her face rigid with terror.
‘Help me!’ she screamed. Her head went under and then she reappeared, her hands slapping at the water.
‘Holly!’ Mav forgot about Pete and the plan to turn him into a hero. He changed direction and slashed through the water to her. His chest tightened as a wave crashed over his head, stealing her from sight. Mav pushed himself harder.
Holly sputtered to the surface, spitting out water and coughing. Her arms beat at the water frantically and tears shone in her eyes. A sob escaped her lips as Mav grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.
‘I've got you,’ Mav said, struggling against the tow to get her into shallower water. ‘Hold on.’
His legs burned and he gasped for breath, but his feet finally found the sandy bottom. He was still holding onto her when Pete ran out to meet him in the shallows.
‘Are you okay?’ Pete asked, his frantic eyes on Holly as he helped Mav walk her to shore and lowered her onto the wet sand.
She coughed and spluttered some more as their friends assembled around her, expressions of concern on their faces. Holly was finally able to speak, ‘The current was too strong… cough cough... It got too deep, too fast. If it wasn’t for you Mav, I might have drowned.’ She placed her hand on his.
Mav glanced over at Pete, who stood at the rear of the group looking glum.
Jacqui touched Mav’s shoulder. ‘We should get her to a hospital. Just to check to make sure she’s ok.’
‘No.’ Holly sat up. ‘I’ll be fine. I just want to go back and sit down for a bit.’
Relieved that she was ok, Mav accompanied her back to the sunbathing area. They sat but Mav had no clue what to say to her and she said nothing to him, only delivering him the occasional smile. A little later, the rest of the group decided to go swimming, wisely choosing the safer area. Holly was hesitant to re-enter the water, but once she saw that the other girls were quite comfortable in there, she ventured back in, along with Mav and Pete.
Mav found that the waves were quite rough out there too, but the water wasn’t as deep and the current not so strong. They all had a good time, tackling the waves and sometimes each other. Wherever Mav went, Holly followed and not far behind her, Pete, always watching, perhaps waiting to see what Mav and Holly would do next.
In the end, Holly complained, ‘Pete, do you have to follow us around all the time? Can’t you go and swim somewhere else for a while?’
Pete paddled away, but Mav noticed him watch from a distance.
‘I wanted to talk to you, without him around,’ Holly said, still having to speak loudly because of the roaring of the waves.
‘No problems, direct your voice this way.’ A wave rolled over them and they resurfaced, meeting each other face to face.
‘I... I just wanted to say that...’
Mav smiled, hoping it would stave her nervousness enough so she could finish what she was trying to say. Suddenly she lurched forward and pushed her lips against his. By the time Mav registered what happen, she had pulled away. Her cheeks flushed and she dove into the water, heading back to shore.
Mav’s jaw dropped, his mouth still tingling from the kiss. For a moment, Mav bobbed up and down, staring after her and then a wave crashed over him, bringing him to his senses. When he surfaced, he saw Pete swimming towards him. Pete pulled up in front of him shortly before another wave came in.
Once the wave had passed, Pete spoke, ‘She kissed you! I can’t believe it. She kissed you!’
‘No she… I…’
Pete’s voice grew louder. ‘She definitely kissed you. It was deliberate.’
Another wave came down around them.
‘Yeah, you’re right, she did, but I didn’t encourage it. Anyway, what the heck happened earlier? What was Holly doing in the water?’
‘She decided to go in. Nobody could stop her.’
‘Why didn’t you rescue her when you saw she was in trouble?’
‘I… I don’t know. I froze. I didn’t know what to do.’
‘Ah well…’ Mav said, no longer feeling any negativity towards Pete for not having done his bit. ‘At least she’s ok. But you sure missed out on a golden opportunity.’
‘Story of my life.’ Pete sighed. ‘But anyway. She sure took off fast after kissing you.’
‘She was probably scared of what my reaction might have been.’
‘You lucky dog.’ He spoke without emotion.
Mav barely heard him over the rushing of the waves. ‘Sorry about that, Cooks. But hey, don’t worry about it. The war isn’t over yet. Just because she likes me doesn’t mean that she doesn’t like you. We can still turn her around yet.’
Mav didn’t get to see Pete’s reaction as an extra big wave engulfed them. Pete disappeared from sight and when Mav came up, he could see that Pete had been carried back into the shallow water. Pete made no effort to swim back out, crawled back onto the beach and lay on the sand, letting white water rush over him.
Mav continued to swim amongst the waves for a little longer. He could see Holly back on the sand, sunbathing again, along with Chelsea and a couple of other girls. He began to wade to shore, but halted on reaching the shallows when Sam’s boyfriend, Craig McLeod entered the water. Mav would have walked right on by him, if he could have.
‘You!’ Craig recognised him immediately. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Ah gee, I don’t know, I actually thought I was swimming,’ Mav said, making no effort to be civil. Just his luck Craig had decided to visit the same beach as him that day.
‘Typical smart mouthed year-eleven! I ought to knock you from here to next week and teach you a lesson. I still haven’t forgotten what happened in the library the other day you know.’
‘Surprise, surprise. I didn’t think that your brain would have the capacity to remember anything.’
‘Are you getting smart again, peon?’ Craig clenched his fist. ‘I oughta smack you one right here and now!’
‘Go on then. Why don’t you?’
Craig eyed him with an evil glare for several seconds and spoke again. ‘You think you’re so hard, don’t you? Well, we’ll see how hard you are.’ He paused to look around him. His eyes fell upon a steep bank at the eastern point of the beach. ‘We’ll have a race. A climbing race, up that cliff.’
‘No way!’
‘Don’t you think you can handle it?’
‘I don’t see any point in it...’ his words trailed off when Samantha arrived.
She greeted them. ‘What’s going on?’
‘This little peon here is trying to rub me up the wrong way as usual. He’s got a smart mouth and I intend to teach him a good lesson.’
Sam glanced at Mav, then turned back to Craig. ‘Can’t we just forget all about this? What happened in the library was only an accident.’
‘He was hitting on you. I’m not having that. You’re my girlfriend.’
‘So what if he was hitting on me? He knows that you’re my boyfriend now. He knows that I’m loyal to you and you should know it too.’
‘So you admit he was try
ing to sweet-talk you?’
‘I didn’t say that! I was just saying that it didn’t matter anyway.’
‘Well, it does to me.’ He eyed Mav with a piercing glare. ‘So how about it? Do you have the guts or are you all talk? I reckon you’re all talk.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Sam asked. ‘You haven’t challenged him to a fight have you?’
‘I wouldn’t want to get my hands dirty on this piece of garbage,’ Craig snarled, his eyes still on Mav. ‘How about it? Are you game or are you chicken?’
Normally Mav wouldn’t even consider such a foolhardy venture, but he itched to put this conceited senior to shame again in front of his girlfriend. Maybe he even had a chance of leaving an impression on Samantha in the process. ‘Let’s do it!’
‘What?’ Samantha glanced from Craig to Mav, then back to Craig again. ‘What the hell are you going to do?’
‘That cliff.’ Craig pointed. ‘We’re going to have a little climbing competition.’
Sam’s face turned to horror as she stared at the steep incline. ‘You can’t. Not up there.’
‘Just a little contest.’ Craig smirked. ‘No real risk involved. I just want to put this peon in his place, that’s all.’
‘There is no way you are going to do that, Craig!’
Craig delivered a haughty laugh. ‘Come on.’ Craig strode off in the direction of the cliff. Mav took one look at Samantha, shrugged and advanced after him. He glanced over in the direction of his friends and noticed Holly peering at him, a puzzled expression on her face. He glanced back at Samantha and could see her still standing in the same spot she had been before.
Mav was even more determined than ever to beat the snotty senior. How he could ignore someone as beautiful and caring as Sam was beyond him. He continued to walk after Craig, but then ground to a halt. This was nuts. What was he doing? He was no climber. What was it going to benefit Mav in the end? Would Sam really be impressed just because he beat her boyfriend in a climbing race?
He halted and decided to go no further.
When Craig glanced back, he scowled and strode back towards him.
Both Sam and Craig reached him at the same time.
‘What’s the big idea?’ Craig snarled. ‘You’re chickening out aren’t you? You can’t go through with it.’
Sam stood on the spot, gazing at Mav hopefully, as if willing him not to go along with it.
‘I won’t do it.’
A smile appeared on Sam’s face while Craig’s scowl intensified and his lip quivering in rage, ‘Why you lousy no-good coward! You really are afraid, aren’t you?’
‘No, I’m not afraid. I’m just not stupid, that’s all. What do we have to gain by climbing that cliff? Sam doesn’t want you to, but do you give a shit? No. It seems to me that you couldn’t care less what she wants. ’
‘Oh and I suppose you do, do you?’
‘Maybe. But it doesn’t matter. One thing’s for sure, I don’t wanna be responsible for you plummeting to your death.’
Sam had that radiating smile decorating her face. Her blue eyes sparkling.
Craig grabbed Mav by the arm and drew his free fist back, his face red with fury. Mav made no move to retreat and waited to see if Craig had the guts to do what he was about to do.
Sam interceded and grabbed his arm. ‘Leave him alone Craig. I’ve had just about enough of your bullying.’
Craig’s eyes diverted towards Sam, an expression of surprise on his face.
‘He’s right, you know,’ Sam snapped. ‘Sometimes I wonder if you really do care about me.’
A small audience gathered, Holly and Pete among them. Craig’s lip quivered in anger, but he said nothing and glared from Sam to Mav, then back to Sam again. ‘You know what? Fine! If that's how you want it, Sam, I'm gone.’ He turned to leave.
‘Don’t be stupid Craig, you’re getting carried away ag...’
Craig marched off across the sand.
‘Craig, come back!’ Sam shouted out.
He kept on walking.
‘Damn him!’ she growled and strode away in the opposite direction.
Mav turned slowly away, not quite sure how to feel. He didn't get it - what would it take for Sam to see what a creep Craig was?
Chelsea stepped through the water towards him. ‘Gosh, what was all that about?’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Mav replied. ‘It was nothing.’ He paused to glance at Holly. She had her head turned slightly away as if trying to avoid direct eye contact with him. He wondered what she had made of the incident, but it seemed she was not going to make any comments.
They returned to their beach towels. Some of the other swimmers were returning in dribs and drabs too.
‘Man.’ Pete smiled at Mav. ‘Looks like you got Craig McLeod really riled up.’
Mav didn’t want to discuss it, not with Holly around anyway, so he said nothing. Holly applied more suntan lotion, refused to make eye contact with him and remained silent. It troubled Mav greatly. He had a habit of losing friends and maybe as usual, he’d lost yet another.
CHAPTER 14:
Magic Words