chapter 2

The night she had was full of both good and bad thoughts, Ritha could dream of tom on sail with her on a cool clear sky day. The day after they met would be even more complicated , Ritha had some hard time she was falling for tom second after second , Tom was a character unto himself , but it was difficult not to like him. Ritha then went back to the club after breakfast , she entered the cabin and had to great coach miley, she was the early bird always . " hi coach", she said " hello ritha how was your night", "kind of good but not very good it was moderate", " ok don't put yourself on pressure ,i know what you are passing through Jennifer told me" , " thanks coach you are really a good person besides being coach", ritha said to miley as she hugged her. Lanna and Jennifer entered as soon as ritha let goof miley , " hey there" Jennifer said , " is everything alright here", " yes nothing wrong so far so good this bright morning", miley said , " by the way girls today is going to be tough as you see the sun is bright and you have much to do so get ready for action" miley said , " ok you heard coach so lets go hit the waves" ritha said and they went and prepared their selves for some surfing , " This day truly looks hot and sunny but lets take our surfing to the next level" lanna said and they set for the sea , ritha was so focused on making it out of the giant wave but yhe more she tried the more her performance on the wave was pathetic she remembered miley`s words but she could not listen she had many voices in her head and kept her from surfing well, tom ad the other boys arrived at the beach and they also went into the water and started surfing. " hey" tom said "is everything alright there , need some help" , " ok all is is not fine ,i cannot surf the giant wave but i am going to make it on my own thanks by the way but I am fine ", " ok that was a little bit intense but trust me I was once like that but not anymore so if you let me I canteach you and you are going to make it I trust you extinct", "really" "sure ritha , here is a clue ,try to bend when you are surfing inside a giant wave to gain speed and stretch out your arms to be more stable and you are going to make it", " ok I will give it a try hope it works tom" ritha left and paddled towards the restricted area to give it a try. "Here goes nothing" ritha whispered to her self and then stood on her surfing board and surfed the wave that was coming her self "you are doing it ritha " tom shouted , ritha became even more eager and confident to surf under it and she did , she went under the wave she watched the water as she surfed under it and she could fell as a shark in the water she stretched her arms widely to gain balance and closed her eyes , she made it out of the wave she shouted in happiness and then paddled to the beach ," woo nice one ritha you finally did it" Jennifer said " tahnks Jennifer i thank tom the most he told me how to make it through the wave and now I can no longer be afraid of the giant waves" "so , go talk to him" , " ok I think I am not afraid of him either" ritha said to Jennifer and then went to talk to tom . " hey I just wanted to say thank you for helping , I normally like doing thins on my own but that wave caught me offguard I couldn't do it but then I noticed I needed a little help and now you are the reason I made it, thanks again tom", " yeah my pleasure" I think now I have to go see you", ritha said and lanna then appeared she went closer to tom. "Hey tom ,I admire your moves and I wish you could teach me as you taught ritha" , "sure I will just show you, come closer", lanna came closer , tom placed his hands on lanna`s waist and raised lanna`s hans , " band alittle bit" tom said and so did lanna " then this is how you handle agiant wave so all you have to do is to maintain position for atleast thirty seconds" lanna waited until yhe last ten seconds, tom started a countdown after lanna accidentally fell on tom ," oh sorry could have stayed a long time and my legs trembled a bit" , " it is no big deal iam glad you made it lets go give it a try". Ritha was starring at every move tha lanna made and all her happiness vanished that moment and Jennifer had been watching ritha all along . " ritha is everything okay you look worried", " Jennifer promise me you will tell no one about this ," " okay I promise", "Jennifer I think I kind of like tom but whenever i get a moment with him lanna is there to ruin" " it you know what I will go talk to her I will make things right" Jennifer said and went hurriedly to talk to lanna and ritha was not able to stop her. " Ritha I think we need to talk" lanna came to ritha a few moments later " you see about tom I think I have been ruining your time wih him but I was not aware will you forgive me", " wait who told you all that", "Jennifer did", " lanna I am so sorry I had no idea what she was about to do but I did not want to be so rude but may be you are the one to be happy with tom now let me set things right" ritha went to Jennifer " what are you doing I told you not to say anything" , " but I just made things right " no you made it even more worse" , " what are you even talking about", " never mind Jennifer but you must apologize right now" ritha said and they went to the grocery where lanna was . " lanna I know I have been had on you but may be I have to admit it I am sorry for being so hard on you woud you forgive me" , " Jennifer apology accepted but there is something even better we can go surf that giant wave it looks like fun right", "yeah sure and thanks lanna" , " that what friends are for so what are we waiting for",lanna said and they all went into the water. "Hey" pete greeted tom as he approached him at the grocery "hey pete", " so how is it going", " so far so good", " I`ve been watching you with the girls" , " you mean training them", " nah don't be silly I mean loving them you know…." , " huh come on I didn't even take a step on any of them" , and they all laughed " but pete you really have no idea how they`ve been acting strange when it comes to me especially lanna but ritha is a kind of girl who likes being on her own" , "then go for the best girl for you tom cheers by the way" pete said to tom as he offered him a can of cola , pete continued at lanna as she was surfing . After a while the girls returned to the grocery and the other club members came around the grocery pete hen took a microphone " what up barracudas , so now we are going to make history lets part as never until evening time" he shouted and then started the music and they started the party every one started dancing . The night fell and every one had a dance mate every one except ritha it was so boring for her lanna was also alone , tom approached her " is every thing fine" , " yeah kind of , I was just enjoying this cool breeze and warm sunshine", " care for a drink" , " yeah she said nodding her head" , tom then fetched her a coconut cocktail, " all I wanted in this time , you read my mind" , " I knew the right thing for someone like you in this evening" said tom and a wide smile broadened on lanna`s face " thanks" said lanna tom then grabbed a guitar and sat next to lanna and started playing it . "Wow I didn't know you could play the guitar" , " I am a guy full of tricks and new things" , " can I try" , " yeah sure you`ll do it" , " I will try but would you help me" , " yeah come closer" tom said as he passed his arms over lanna `s shoulders and started showing her how , after he took the guitar and played a song slowly and slowly tom sang it smoothly lanna fell on tom`s shoulder and sang with tom.

" Wait you knew the song" , " yeah I knew it" lanna looked closely into tom`s eyes and tom did the same tom came closer to lanna and lanna did the same tom placed his hands on lanna`s chin and lanna placed her hands on tom`s cheek she felt his beard she looked down and noded her head " what`s the matter" , " this is not right" said lanna " trust me lanna there is nothing wrong" , lanna then looked at tom again , tom went closer and he kissed lanna . Ritha was on her search to look for tom and lanna she came closer to where the two were , she found them she was shocked when she saw the two ritha covered her mouth and went back in a hurry , she entered the cabin and held a scarf on her eyes and sobbed bitterly , mike came in and upon seeing her ritha wiped her face quickly trying to hide it from mike. "what's the matter ritha" , " nothing I just was cutting an onion and started crying so I had to wipe my face" , "but something is not right ritha . I have been watching your every reaction when it comes to tom from the time he came and earlier today I saw your reaction when you found out that they kissed , I was there in secret" , " okay so then stop following me mike I don't need help I can handle this my own way" ritha said as she went and looked in the open window she could see rtom and lanna getting along , mike came to her " ritha I know you like being independent but I think I can help you you really need help" , " mike ths is grown up matter I think you can do nothing to help me" , " ritha I may look young but I am not young mentally look I can do this" he took two small alls and joggled them like a clown , ritha laughed upon looking at mike " besides I am able to surf and no child can do it right so you can trust me I am not a kid" . " Mike i know but it doesn't feel that way" , " I know ritha but you are my best role model so seeing you sad makes me sad too I don't wish to see you sad anymore" ritha smiled at the little boy and hugged him tightly she then became better. " Thanks mike you sure did make me feel better" , " it is fine with me it was the right thing to do mind if we go join the others" , " fine with me thanks to you lets go" . They went out and sat at the grocery watching he others mike kept on cracking jokes to ritha about the others and ritha cheered up she felt better . They set a fire they partied until late night. " everyone let's be silent for a while and welcome coach miley" pete said as he welcomed miley on stage , " partying hard folks , party hard because tomorrow you start working hard so without wasting much time I would like to welcome our new barracuda member , tom this is your home now , so if you don't mind stepping forward and let me welcome you to the team" tom . tom then stepped forward and ritha's face kind of changed but she tied to hide it , " tom you have got a big responsibility of contributing a lot to the club as Jackson did , you are not the coach I know but all you have to do is to perform well ad earn the club many prizes , so barracudas tom here has been helping our very own champions lanna and ritha to reach their maximum limits ad he has more to show us so lets give him a round of applause to warmly welcome tom and have a nice evening" everyone at the club clapped their hands to welcome tom and continued the part . "You know what mike, I think i have an idea of how to let tom out of my mind" , " that would help but take time to think about it , why did you just take a decision so fast" ? , " you know mike , lanna deserves love and I've got more things to focus on like being a champion and I think I was not ready to handle a serious relation ship . " Guys gather up there's some cool news for every one" pete called upon all others and gathered around , " so tom as ne barracuda member he is joining us at school we're gonna rock n roll dudes" he shouted loudly lanna was very happy and the others they were happy to receive the new guy. But only one person wasn't it was ritha she was worried she could be distracted by tom though she wanted to get him out of her head but it could be hard so ritha decided to go home . She then ran to her room and poked out of her window and sang the same song as tom sang for lanna she cried softly , she wiped her tears and took a deep breath and after getting better she went to greet her parents . She found they were not yet a sleep they had waited for dinner together then went to sleep . " Rise and shine sleeping beauty" her dad knocked on her door "can I come in" he said , " sure , dad what made you wake me up today is something wrong" , " come on ritha you can't even remember it is you birthday today", " oh i almost forgot , dad yesterday I was very stressed and almost forgot the day I was born , I'll just get ready" ritha said as her dad went out of her room aand she got prepared and then she went down stairs " dad I'm coming down" she said but she heard some whispers down stairs it sounded like many people murmuring downs stairs but she did not care much about it so she came downstairs . " surprise" the all shouted and sang her the happy birthday song all her friends were their pete, Jennifer , mike and coach miley except lanna and tom , she hugged them and welcomed them to her home they cheered up and got to know her parents and so did her parents suddenly she heard the door bell ring , her mom was in the kitchen so she went to open the door. It was tom and lanna she was shocked to see tom at her party but she disguised the look of her face and had to welcome them " hey lanna" she said as she hugged lanna , " this are yours ritha" tom said as he offered him a boxed birthday present and a bouquet of flowers " thanks" ritha said to tom and then they met the others ritha's relatives came and they partied with them . Ritha came to lanna and asked her to meet outside for a while and they went outside . " so ritha what is with the secret talk" , " lanna I want to tell to something" , " ok go on", " I really liked tom but not anymore so about you and tom I saw everything yesterday and I think it cannot be good to ruin you moment so I think one of us needs to be happy and that is you so you and I are more than team mates but we are even friends and that is the best thing for us" , " thanks lanna I really appreciate it now I am free to be your friend without any barrier lets go back inside they are waiting" . " where have you been ritha's dad said , " I've been outside trying to get some air ok never mind t is time for your speech" ritha then carried on and took the speech, after it was time for feast and more party . after the party the others departed ritha had a nice day because he heart was free he had dinner with her family . "time for my favorite birthday movie night I wish m friends would be hear we could have a slumber party tonight" , " ritha you will have time to talk to them at school right", " ok mom and thanks for this nice birthday", " ok ritha it was our duty I think it is late now better go to bed" ritha's mom said and then they went to sleep. Summer was at it last school was approaching it would be a hard time for ritha to study with tom at the same school she thought about how hard it would be and dose