Hit the Beach! by Harriet Castor Read Free Book Online

You’re still around then, right?”
    We nodded. Saturday would be our last full day in Rawnston – we were due to head home on Sunday morning.
    “Cool,” said Aidan. “We want loads of support. The idea of the Display Day is to raise money for this anti-pollution charity called ‘Surfers For Clean Water’. Believe me, there’s nothing like surfing in skunky water to teach you how important it is to keep our beaches clean.”
    “What makes the water bad?” asked Lyndz. “Is it like when oil tankers leak and the birds all die? I’ve seen that on the telly.”
    “It’s not just accidents like that,” said Aidan. “Lots of waste gets pumped into the sea the whole time – industrial chemicals, sewage…”
    Sewage, I thought. Like – human waste? Imagine surfing in that. Gross!
    “Anyway, maybe we shouldn’t talk about it while we’re cooking – it’ll put us all off breakfast,” said Aidan, as he went to help theothers light the gas on the cooker. “The other thing the Surfing Display Day is for is to improve our image with the locals round here. Lots of the older people think surfers are just scruffy layabouts. There’s going to be a couple of surfing competitions – one for adults and one for kids – and then stuff on the beach like face-painting and food stalls.”
    “Sounds brilliant!” said Frankie.
    “Are you going to enter the competition?” asked Fliss.
    Aidan nodded. “Bethany too,” he said. “And Jude. It might just be his day for getting beaten!”
    By this time, we could hear chattering and laughter as our classmates thundered down the stairs and into the dining room. I reckoned everyone would be majorly hungry after all that sea air yesterday – and it was a good job, because we seemed to be making enough porridge to feed an army.
    An hour later, we were on our way to the beach. “Urgh, talk about a heavy breakfast,”said Lyndz, rubbing her stomach. “Put me in the sea today and I’m going to sink like a stone!”
    “So, girls, how are you getting on with your surfing?” said a voice behind us. It was Mrs Weaver, wearing a big floppy sunhat and sunglasses. Isn’t it dead weird seeing teachers in holiday gear? She said, “I hear from Miss Walsh that you had fun yesterday.”
    Yes, if you can call swallowing seawater fun, I thought.
    “It was brilliant,” said Rosie. “I want to do it all week!”
    “Mrs Weaver, have you heard about the Surfing Display Day on Saturday?” I asked.
    “No, Laura, what’s that?”
    I repeated what Aidan had told us, including the bit about raising money for the anti-pollution charity – I thought Mrs Weaver would approve of that.
    “Can we go?” I said at last. “Please? It would be so good to see some expert surfers after we’ve had all these lessons.”
    “See how it’s really done!” added Frankie enthusiastically.
    Mrs Weaver pursed her lips. “Well … I’m afraid I couldn’t let you five go on your own,” she said. “It would have to be an activity for the entire group.” She considered for a moment. Then she said, “Let me talk to Mrs Daniels and Miss Walsh, and find out more from Aidan and Bethany. We can see exactly what’s involved and have a think about it – OK?”
    When we got down to the beach, Bethany was already there. It was clear she’d been in the water. She was wearing a really cool wetsuit, with short sleeves and cut-off legs. She’d rolled the upper half of it down to her hips, so you could see the waterproof version of a crop top she was wearing underneath. I could tell from the look on Fliss’s face that she was wondering where she could buy the entire outfit for herself.
    “All right, guys,” said Bethany, “let’s carry on with what we were doing yesterday. Remember,try to move smoothly from one position to another when you’re on your board.”
    No problem. I was very good at moving smoothly from one position (lying on my board) to another (flailing around in the water). Somehow, though,