The Air Out Of [Wattys2018 shortlist]

14

LOUIS WOKE UP TO THE SCENT OF ROTTEN EGGS, a strange surprise if you ask him. One would normally guess that it was a fun-loving daredevil egging someone's house as what you would call, a prank, but the unnecessary act of interfering with one's period of recovery, before an intense two-hour core workout program, followed by Covian practice, was not his cup of tea. At all.

At first, he thought Scar had left their squad room, also known as, Scar's actual house, to egg his house as revenge for all the beautifully crafted playful pranks he had done throughout the past year, but when he opened his window to yell at Scar, he realized that his house was squeaky clean. And also, the fact that Scar would probably be trying to feed his ego with more information to brag about later during this time of crisis.

Jess, however, was not as lucky.

Louis had only found out today that Jess' house was right across from his, and Leo's, two streets down. He nearly felt a pang of guilt for the girl when he found someone egging her house, but seriously, this was Louis, and he simply thought it was all in good nature, so, he stays still and watches.

His window still happens to be open as crouches underneath the frame, his back against the wall. He hears her scoff, "Britney." His mind read blank, who was that supposed to be, and it took him nearly three full minutes to realize this was in fact, bullying. Jess, was still an outcast.

A cylinder-like packaging is thrown in Jess' direction, which she dodges successfully. Louis laughs at the text written on it, Personalized roll-up matte, tear-resistant two-ply polyester fabric embedded between two white vinyl layers, text in devil calligraphy. Price $18.50

Devil calligraphy.

Whoever organized such prank clearly had a loose budget, unlike him, 'broke boy', that one kid everyone hates because he doesn't have enough dollar bills to throw around like a spoiled king. Unfortunately for Jess, however, is the noticeable fact that the eggs are not so easily removable as the poster is disposable. Constant scrubbing of her deft fingers proved insufficient against the stained cement.

Fast forward an hour later, Louis peeks out his window to the sight of Jess and Leo actually making progress cleaning up the hazardous mess. Wait, pause. When did Leo come, swift child, that is, come into the picture? Or did he simply feel guilty for the girl?

Louis slips on the first shirt he finds, reused from three days ago, of course, and some surfer shorts before biking over to Scar's place. Quick note, biking. That's right. Seventeen-year-old Louis had no car or even a vehicle that came close to such. Embarrassing to a certain degree, but motorcycles were becoming the 'in' thing these days. A bike was simply a low-tech, manual, nineties version of it.

The water slaps him cold. A surf at this time has the waters in an aggressive mode, drifting non-experienced passengers away in a swift motion, but this was Louis' forte, and he wasn't going to lose his anchor. He lets out all his anger when he surfs, moving into swift turns, angry curves, stellar quick flips, the water splashes reciprocating his anger. Why an outcast, why Covia, why me?

Maybe he was special, just in a different galaxy.

A tanner, golden boy walks into the squad room, not too early, not too late. Louis feels all eyes on him as he walks through his routine of storing his surfboard in a meticulous manner. Turning around, he speaks. "What?"

"You look tanner than usual," Jess speaks, looking particularly out of breath from all the cleaning she'd been up to this morning.

"Been practicing." He nods, acknowledging her, "Scar?" He trails, sucking in a breath.

"Overslept," Leo confirms.

Ellie stands in the doorway, looking fresher than anyone. Her hair is blown helplessly at her face, accenting her cheekbones. Louis grabs a cup of tea just as Scar rushes back to join the group, he nearly drops the paper cup out of shock. He had never seen Scar so flustered in his lifetime. "Okay, we're all here."