CHAPTER 11:

"What just happened here" , " lanna I can explain" , " I don't need any explanations tom I saw everything" , " but lanna wait" tom said and ran to lanna , he held lanna's hand , " let go of me ! , it is over tom , I can't believe I trusted you , you're such a coward such a coward" lanna said and ran ,tom stayed there he stood in shame, the others looked at him , ritha ran and followed lanna , tom went away from the others . " Lanna please listen to me I had nothing to do with this" , " ritha I know" , " you do" , " yes I heard everything , I just can't believe I trusted him" , " lanna don't stress yourself it's okay" ritha said and hugged lanna , the others showed up, they had a deal to go surfing that day but they were going to surf as four not six , they preferred to escort lanna home for her to rest before going for practice , they then went back without her . "This is out of control tom isn't fit to be a barracuda anymore" Jennifer said , " guys are we going to cut him from the team without telling miley" , " bill I think it is good to keep this between us" , " so shall we practice this afternoon" , " ritha I think we have to because we have a competition to attend ,we have to if we want to win" , they headed to the barracuda club . After starting practice miley arrived and noticed that they were four , but she didn't mind much about it .

Thursday morning everyone had arrived to school , but couldn't see lanna , they thought she was late , they entered class to wait for her , but to their surprise she was sitting t the back of the class , they approached her . " Is everything okay lanna" , Jennifer said as they came closer to her , " kind of better than yesterday" , they all looked at each other as she said , " I managed to chill myself up" , " lanna you're a brave one but I think you have to take more time" , " don't worry guys I'll be alright and I will come back to practice very soon , though I still have to forget about tom " lanna said and they all hugged her , " lanna we shall be with you on every step" Jennifer said , the bell rang the moment Jennifer spoke to lanna and they all went to their classes . After studies ritha and her friends went for practice , after they had started miley came out again and observed them they were five now for tom had not come to practice , despite their team captain was not there , they continued to practice as hard as they could and also learnt new techniques . After practice , miley gathered them up and told them that they would be told all the teams to attend the competition , but she didn't talk about tom's absence , they had to practice as hard as they could the following day until weekends . The last three days of the week was very exhausting , she woke up on Saturday , she woke up late that day , but they was more to do that day they had agreed to never cease practice until end of the competition , she woke up and had a shower . Ritha went to the dining table to have breakfast after preparing herself , she had a bowl of muesli and milk . She received a message from jennifer after she was done with her breakfast , Jennifer told her that they would not practice that day because the waves were stronger, but they would rather meet in the afternoon fo a meeting with miley in the afternoon , she had nothing to do except watching movies with her dad until the afternoon . Ritha's phone rang as she woke up from her afternoon nap , it was Jennifer again , she told ritha that they would be meeting at the barracuda soon , ritha woke up and prepared to go she took her bag and went to the barracuda club . Ritha arrived at the club and entered the main hall , to her surprise , miley her coach was with a special guest and all the club members were gathered there , the guest stated speaking . She was talking about the tournaments to be held in two weeks the opponents were the eagles from saint Jefferson college , the rangers from east stone high and blue yachts from dawson institute of technology . All of the teams were perfect but mostly the defending champions the blue yachts , after the guest had finished miley told ritha, bill, jennifer , pete and lanna to stay behind as the others left . " I have been observing the five of you these past three days and I have noticed something strange" , " what would that be coach" ritha said but she knew it was about tom" , " nice question but I believe that you know you've been practicing five of you , where is tom" , " coach we definitely don't know where tom is he has not been hanging out with us these days" , " bill I think the only choice is to know where he is a fast as possible , despite him being a team captain he is also your friend and a barracuda , you never have to leave each other" , " but coach we've tried everything possible , but tom seems to not care about us anymore he hangs out with some other guys and they are totally jerks" , " pete I get it , it could be very hard but tom is your captain , and you can't make it without your captain , so try as hard as you can , but find tom" , miley said and they could do nothing to tell miley that tom was not interested in joining them , so they had no choice but to go find tom . Bill found him the first he was at the cafeteria the others tried to call him but he couldn't answer bill went inside to try to talk to him . " hey tom how're you doing" , " bill , I don't want you here" , " come on buddy cool down" , " buddy! , who're you calling buddy , bill we're not friends" , " tom I'm not here to pull a fight , we just want you back to the team" , " is that all , so be gone I'll not be coming back" , tom said , bill had no other choice but to leave cause bill couldn't listen . bill went back to the club , meanwhile the others were still trying to call tom , bill entered the log cabin , " any news about tom bill" , lanna said as bill entered , " yeah it's not been ten minutes since we met" , " where did you see him , it is getting chilly out here and the waves are growing bigger " , " not far from here it's at the cafeteria" , " so let's go see him", " I am afraid not, he is way too angry" , " you know what bill let's go check on him you stay here" miley said and they all went to the cafeteria near the street , bill stayed at the barracuda club . Tom arrived as soon as they left to search for him he went to the locker room and change , he got his fire ring surfing board , he went to the sea , he took a deep breath , but before he went into the water , bill arrived again " tom this is serious we need you , let's just put our differences aside and focus on winning" , " you know what bill , I'll tell why you and I will never be a team" , " but why tom I don't get it" , " oh please don't act like that , you know you took everything from me" , " but tom what did I take from you" , " bill , she was meant for me , ritha" , bill was out of word he could say nothing , he was surprised , tom took his surfing board and paddled into the water bill could do nothing to convince tom to return to the team .