Rogue Wave

Chapter 15

Lani paddled her kayak next to Mia and the two boys that they had met only 30 minutes ago. By this time, they had to be at least a half-mile from shore. Lani was still bewildered at the sequence of events that had gotten her out there.

After they had left Teresa to read her book, she and Mia had wandered along the beach, looking at the vast horde of sunbathers, the families playing in the water, the surfers paddling out to take on their first attempts at waves, the college students playing Frisbee, the vendors of all sorts hawking snacks and kitschy souvenirs. Lani loved it. She didn't know anywhere else you could find such a cross-section of humanity.

As they walked, she noticed how Mia kept eyeing the boys that passed them. The day was glorious. The strong smell of suntan lotion complemented the salty breeze coming off the ocean. A raucous crowd of boys played beach volleyball, and Mia waved at one of them. Lani pulled Mia's arm down and raced forward giggling. But inside, Lani could only wish for that kind of confidence.

Of the two of them, Lani had always been the tomboy, excellent at athletics, ready to try any sport. She played soccer and volleyball, surfed, loved any kind of water sports. She even played star shortstop on the otherwise all-boy little league baseball team, where some of her teammates would barely talk to her because they resented her athletic skills. And because Lani was shy, making friends with girls was even harder.

Mia, on the other hand, was a girly girl. Girls wanted to hang out with her because she was so cool and pretty and seemed to know the latest trends in fashion, even though her mom still didn't have much money to spend on clothes. She danced on the drill team, took ballet lessons, and had even been out on a date. Her mom had driven her to the mall movie theater and back, but Mia had kissed the boy. Lani felt like she was falling behind Mia.

When she and Mia were about half a mile from Teresa, Mia pulled her to a stop.

"Look."

Mia pointed at the two boys that had passed them earlier when they had been looking for a spot on the beach with Teresa. Now that she had a better look at them, Lani thought she recognized one of them. He was taller than the other boy and seemed more sure of himself. His mocha-colored hair tousled in a mop, he sported the deep brown skin of a native islander, while the other boy, blond and three inches shorter, still had the remnants of a farmer's tan. Both boys were walking ahead of them and to the side, listening to iPods.

"What about them?"

"Let's go say hi," Mia said, pushing Lani forward. Lani dug her feet into the sand.

"No. I don't want to."

"Come on. It'll be fun."

"But I know one of them."

"Really? Which one?"

"The one on the left."

"The tall one? He's cute. But not as cute as the other one. Introduce me."

"What do I say?" Lani was no good at that kind of thing.

"Say my name," Mia said.

"I don't know."

"Well, if you really want, I'll talk to them. Come on."

Mia kept pushing, and Lani reluctantly went along. They cut in front of the boys, who took out their earbuds when Mia practically stopped them in their tracks.

"Hi!" the tall boy said in recognition. "Where are your boogie boards?"

"We're not boogie boarding right now," Mia said. "We're going shopping."

"Hey, don't I know you?" he said, looking at Lani.

"Me?" Lani said, gulping silently. He had actually noticed her!

"Yeah, you go to my school, right? IPA?"

The boy looked different out of his school uniform, but it was definitely him. He was a couple of grades ahead of her at Island Pacific Academy, so she never thought she'd actually meet him, that he'd just stay a hallway crush.

"Yes. I'm a freshman."

"Her name is Lani. I'm Mia."

"Cool. My name's Tom. This is Jake. He's visiting from Michigan." Jake nodded at them. "Hey, we were thinking of heading out onto the water."

Lani felt herself uncharacteristically speaking up, perhaps in competition with Mia.

"Surfing?"

Jake jumped into the conversation. "We rented some sea kayaks for the week," he said. "Have you ever been on a kayak?"

"Sure," Lani said. "We both have." Lani had paddled sea kayaks six or seven times since moving to Hawaii, but as far as she knew, Mia had never even seen one.

"Sweet," said Tom. "You want to come with us?"

Mia turned and shook her head at Lani. When Mia had suggested talking to the boys, Lani was sure that doing something athletic was the last thing on her mind. Lani beseeched her silently, and this time, it was Mia that relented.

"Yeah," Mia said with little enthusiasm. "We'd love to."

"Awesome. The kayaks are just up the beach." He started walking, and the girls and Jake followed.

"You both from around here?" said Tom.

"Mia's just visiting from Seattle."

"Must be good to get out of the rain."

"Yeah," Mia said, "it's pretty cool here." And for the first time since she'd moved there, Lani felt like it was cool. "Are the kayaks big enough to fit two people?"

"They're single-seaters, but we have four of them," Tom said. "My parents are away for the day. Some Memorial Day ceremony."

After a few minutes of walking, Tom stopped on the beach next to a large condominium.

"OK," he said. "You wait here."

"I thought you said we were going to kayak," Mia said.

"The kayaks are back at our condo," Tom said. "We were going to go this afternoon when my parents got back."

"They're sit-on-tops," Jake said. "And we've got life jackets and paddles."

"We'll be back in a minute."

While Tom and Jake sprinted across the street and disappeared into a parking garage, Lani quickly explained to Mia about the kayaks. Instead of enclosing the kayaker inside like a river kayak, the plastic shell of a sit-on-top kayak was molded so that the seat perched on top. Although sit-on-tops were better for warm weather because you didn't get as hot, they were also less stable. Mia wasn't happy to hear that given her inexperience, but Lani tried to reassure her that paddling in them was easy.

Tom and Jake came trotting back carrying one kayak each over their heads. The kayaks didn't look that much different from the ones Lani had been on before: about 11 feet long, bright yellow, with black nylon around the seating area. The boys turned and ran back to get the other kayaks and gear.

In another five minutes, all of them had their life vests on, and the kayaks were bobbing in the gentle surf. To the left was the enclosed waters of Kuhio Beach, protected by a breakwater. To the right, waves crashed into the beach, but the sea was mild where the kayaks floated.

"Shouldn't be too bad getting past the waves today," Jake said.

Lani saw that Mia was apprehensive. She lowered her voice to give Mia some tips.

"Just keep the kayak pointed straight out. There's an undertow at this point, so the waves will be small."

Mia waded up to her knees and sat on the side of the raft to get in. She slipped off and sank to her shoulders. Jake laughed, but rushed over to pick her up. She tentatively balanced herself on his arm as she climbed in. After two more false starts, she finally perched primly on the sit-on-top kayak.

"You sure you've done this before?" Jake said.

Mia nodded. "It's been a while since I did it the last time."

"We'll head out past the breakers," Tom said. "Then maybe we could turn and head up towards Diamond Head. I've heard there are some killer houses along the beach there, but they're hard to see except from the ocean."

They started paddling. When the first waves broke over the front of their kayaks, Mia let out a little scream. Lani laughed. She was finally in her element.

"Come on," Lani said. "It's not that bad."

"Remember to put the paddle sideways into the water, Mia!" Tom yelled. "Come on!"

The boys pulled forward easily, and they looked a little surprised to see Lani keep up with them. Mia fell behind immediately, her paddling technique abysmal.

With a few more minutes of practice, and with the others slowing down, she was able to keep up with them. The trip out took longer than expected as they fought the stiffened breeze coming off the ocean. After 20 minutes, they got about a half-mile out and they turned east toward the towering walls of Diamond Head.

As they turned, Lani thought for a second that she heard a sound coming from the direction of the shore. But the breeze picked up again, whistling as it whipped over the water, and she couldn't even hear the roar of the surf.