Laguna Cove Read Free

totally party. But if I were you, I’d just lie down and take a nap,” Jake said, setting her bags on the travertine-tiled floor.
    “Well, where are you going?” she asked, suddenly dreading his leaving. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone in the big unfamiliar house.
    “Hittin’ the beach. There’s six-foot swells out there.” He smiled.
    “But, don’t you have more work to do? You said in the airport that you were on a time crunch.” She hated herself for sounding so needy.
    “I didn’t want to miss the surf. You were my last chore.” He shrugged.
    “Thanks a lot,” she said, rolling her eyes.
    “You know what I mean.” He turned and headed for the door. “See you around,” he called over his shoulder.
    “Whatever,” she said, standing in the foyer, watching him leave.
    When the door closed behind him, she was left with nothing but an overwhelming loneliness and complete silence. I better get used to it , she thought. Then she grabbed her bags and walked down a long hallway in search of her new bedroom.

chapter three
    Ellie weaved her long white-blond hair into a single braid that cascaded all the way down her back, landing just short of her bikini bottoms. She wriggled into her wetsuit and looked at the clock one last time. It was already five forty-five and there was still no sign of them.
    Grabbing her surfboard, she headed out, closing the glass sliding door slowly and carefully behind her. The last thing she needed was to wake up her brother, who had come in late the night before, or even worse her dad, who was on her case for just about everything these days.
    She made her way down the stairs leading from her house to the beach, and scanned for her friends, hoping they were already out there, but secretly knowing better.
    After a few stretches and beach sprints to warm up her tired muscles, she headed into the water, dropped her board, and began paddling out. When she got past the break, she lay resting, with her chin propped against her folded arms, enjoying the mellow sway of the water and the quiet solitude of an empty beach. She loved getting out early and watching the ocean change from a moonlit sparkly sequin to a sun-warmed velvet. But even though she liked having the waves to herself and not having to wait in a never-ending lineup, she still missed the company of her best friends, Lola and Jade.
    It had started last spring. The early-morning surf ritual that had bonded them all through elementary, junior high, and well into their freshman and sophomore years of high school began to gradually taper off. First to three times a week, then two, and now, by early September, she was lucky if they surfed together on a random Saturday. And even then, by the time they showed up practically all of Laguna Cove was in the lineup and it took all day just to get a turn.
    But Jade and Lola didn’t seem to care. Suddenly, they were content to just lie on their towels reading fashion magazines and checking out all the guys, just like all the other beach Barbies they used to make fun of, and Ellie just didn’t get it. For one thing, the guys they were looking at were the same old totally immature, unfocused bros they’d known since grade school. And Ellie knew for a fact that not one of them was worth talking about, much less missing waves for.
    Well, except for Chris, who was not only amazingly cute, with his aqua-blue eyes (the same color as the Fiji waters on a cloudless day), tanned skin, and shaggy, sun-streaked hair that was constantly falling into his eyes, but also incredibly smart (he was in all the same advanced-placement classes as she) and an accomplished surfer, maybe even the best in Laguna Cove (well, after her older brother, Dean).
    But nobody knew how she felt about Chris—not Jade, not Lola, and definitely not Chris ! To him, they were just good buds who went way back, and that’s the way it would have to stay. Ellie couldn’t afford to waste time obsessing over some guy.