There are three main gangs on Minervan Beach: The Airheads (blond boys), The Betties (female surfers) and the Minervan Boys (meth toking bad guys). Since there is only one good break on the island, competition is fierce. Janny Matthews and Kyle Jung are two Betties. These girls are textbook surfies, meaning they do everything right but have no flair or style. Still, when a guy makes a sexist comment, they will spit out a good comeback line to put Mr. Dude in place. Now the blond boys – these are cool, energetic clones. They smoke weed, but avoid the hard drugs. Often clashing with the Minervan Boys, they usually end up splitting to avoid a fist fight.

Right now Janny and Kyle are out in the water at midnight. Senior year has been stressful, and both girls have their sights set on college. Their parents surf too, so they don’t have to sneak around, even on a school night. The waves are clean but small. Out on the horizon, you can see the lights from Olo’s freeways (Olo is a neighbouring island). From the corner of Janny’s eye she sees a fin trailing eerily. She signals Kyle to get out of the water, immediately. They paddle nervously back to shore. Don’t take my arms or my legs, Kyle pleads in her mind. On the sand, she slumps down. Her wet blonde hair hangs in clumps across her forehead. There is a moment of silence.

“Jesus,” breathes Janny.

“Yeah.” Kyle.

They walk slowly with their boards under one arm, back home.

***

Janny hasn’t slept well. She’s in a Physics class, and the teacher’s voice is sending her to sleep. But she must focus. She needs to get into university after graduating. She also needs to sneak in a cigarette behind the girls’ restroom to wake herself up. A couple of dexies too, to set her head right. With all these vices she could be an honorary member of the Minervan Boys, if she had a sex change. Kyle is in the library reading Stab magazine on her phone. She has a study date with Janny after school. For a long time now Kyle has had a crush on Janny. It started when they had a slumber party last year. Pillow fighting in underwear, then a slip of legs against bare skin, a knowing smile, then a light slap on the back. Oh, if only Janny could touch Kyle again! But they are separated by the bounds of ordinary friendship again.

***

Janny shakes her long mahogany hair off her face. She knows about Kyle’s crush on her. She’s known for a while, she’s seen how her best friend holds lingering glances on other girls. But Janny surfs a lot more than the others, and that is the basis of their bond. Sitting in her English Literature class, she contemplates their differences: blonde (Kyle) vs brunette (Janny). Erudite vs street smart. There are many differences and yet, neither one is better than the other. It is an even relationship for the most part. Janny will have to tutor Kyle later, because the former has book smarts and the latter excels in phys. ed. This irritates Janny, but she is obliged to help Kyle because Kyle bought Janny a new surfboard.

***

“What if we don’t get into college?” ponders Janny in a fifties style diner. Kyle is seated across her.

“We will bum around surfing everyday,” Kyle replies, having no qualms about living an aesthete’s life. The conversation turns to prom night. Both girls have declined invitations from boys.at school. They are now going together, because they already have reputations as lesbians.

***

Kyle looks at her reflection in the mirror and dresses hurriedly. In a couple of hours prom will start. She compares herself to Janny, who is an inch taller with a bigger chest. But Kyle likes that. She thinks Janny will make a good trophy wife. /Janny is mine/, she thinks. After brushing her short blonde hair off her face, she puts her shoes on. Kyle has a two-girl predrinks shindig with Janny at her house. (Minervan parents are lax about alcohol.)

The walk to Janny’s house is solitary, relaxing. Kyle knocks tentatively. Her best friend answers the door in a short red dress, long brown waves cascading down her shoulders. Janny smiles and throws an arm around Kyle.

“Come on in,” grins Janny.

They drink. Oh, they drink. They talk about boys who try to pick them up, they talk about skipping college and chasing an endless summer. Kyle wants to kiss Janny, but she holds back. She wants Janny to be her first, but she is scared of messing it up. So she leaves the moment to wallow in her imagination. Janny doesn’t suspect a thing. She’s tipsy, falling over her feet and giggling into Kyle’s hair. The normally placid brunette is ridiculously cheerful now.

***

Kyle drives. She’s holding the alcohol much better than Janny. They pull up at the beachside carpark for Minervan High. There is a hush in the air, and a mild scent of weed. A group of Airheads stand near bushes holding joints, while the Minervan Boys pass a crack pipe around. Walking past the cliques, Kyle and Janny make their way into the gym arm in arm.

As lights flash over the faces in the crowd, Kyle feels a little nervous. Social anxiety has plagued her for a while now. It keeps her from being popular, despite her golden girl looks. She hides behind Janny at school, and spends her free time surfing instead of partying. Luckily Kyle has some Xanax in her clutch bag.

***

Prom is, as expected, a bore. A laziness washes over Janny, who is looking wistfully at the gym’s doors. She takes Kyle’s hand and leads her friend out of the building to a cornered wall. Without a word Janny leans over and kisses Kyle with gentle passion. Their bodies fill the void between them, and Janny is acutely aware of Kyle’s modest chest, perfectly shaped and soft. Breaking the kiss, Janny laughs, spirited, and runs to the car. They drive to the beach.

“How come you never made a move the whole time you knew me?” questions Janny. Kyle shrugs in the driver’s seat. “I was too chicken.”

***

The following days ahead pass in silence. Janny has fallen shy and Kyle is reticent. There is nothing much to say when you have love in your heart. Kyle refuses to message Janny on the phone because she is afraid her feelings won’t be reciprocated. Janny refuses to take the first step because she has never had a girlfriend before. At lunch they sit at different tables with other Betties.

***

After dinner in the evening, Kyle musters up the courage to call Janny.

“Hello?” Answers Janny.

“Hi,” says Kyle, her voice soft.

“I .. I’m sorry,” mumbles Janny lamely. “I’m new to this.”

/Me too,/ thinks Kyle. She can’t manage any more words than a brief “see you at school tomorrow.”

***

Janny hates the feeling of longing for another body. Everything about Kyle attracts her: that mane of blonde hair, the cupid’s bow upper lip. Graceful, slender hands. But Janny catches a glimpse of Kyle smiling flirtatiously with Kaden (an Airhead) when school is out. So Janny does the same: she accepts a date with Vara (a Minervan Boy) that evening. Vara gives her free, easy and charming smiles over a lobster dinner. Then he drives her to the beach to sit quietly in the carpark. They don’t kiss or makeout, but simply talk.

“Ever tried pipe?” asks Vara.

“Nah. No, man.” Janny.

“It’s not too bad.” Vara.

“Why do you do it?”

“To get out of my head, for a bit.”

Janny accepts this response silently and withholds judgment.

“Heard you have a beef with Kaden.”

“Yeah. Isn’t he dating your best friend?”

Janny has no answer; she has been distant from Kyle since their tryst.

“Sunset or sunrise?”

“Sunrise. Nothing like a fresh morning.”

Janny smiles.

Vara tokes on his pipe for another 20 minutes, then, inordinately politely, offers to drive Janny home.

***

Exam time is gruelling for Janny, but she escapes with straight As by the skin of her teeth. She’s hardly seen much of Kyle lately as the girls no longer sit together at lunch. They’ve joined the tables of their respective gangs – the Airheads and the Minervan Boys. Though Vara and Janny are an item now, Janny misses that jolt of desire that she used to feel for Kyle. The dynamic with Vara is different, like kissing cousins or something. Janny shakes her head and looks into the horizon for decent sets of waves. The water is warmer now and the spring feels bittersweet; she wanted to spend the summer with the girl of her dreams but Kyle is now lost, defected to the other side. After an hour of sitting atop her board she goes back to shore. It’s been flat, but Janny just shrugs. She is preoccupied with her thoughts; everything around her is just a blur of environments. Memories flood back: the girly slumber parties, the feminine softness of their teenage bodies, toenail polish. So much has changed: Janny no longer paints her finger and toenails. Vara, her boyfriend now, prefers minimalism in his girlfriend’s style. He persuades rather than forces. But how persuasive he is! This is a young man who can charm his way out of drug use.

***

Valentine’s day. Janny opens her locker and finds a card atop her books. It’s from Kyle with a short, pithy message: “Hey. Miss you, love you.”

On one hand Janny wants to disregard the sentiment as too little, too late. But this is a girl who has been until this year her best friend. She shoves the card into her backpack and rushes to class.

***

What was the meaning of that card? Janny wracks her mind. Is Kyle open to starting something again, or is she just reopening old wounds? Even being a girl isn’t enough to understand how girls think and act. Now even Vara is picking up on something sentimental and bittersweet.

“It’s Kyle, isn’t it?” prods Vara in the cafeteria. He knows. He knows there is a long history between Kyle and Janny. He is not threatened by the ardour burning brightly in his girlfriend’s heart for another chick. He has his own bromances with his minions the Minervan Boys.

***

It hurts Janny to be cut off from Kyle. But sometime around 11pm Kyle sends a text message to Janny’s phone.

/Midnight ride?/ is all Kyle asks. Janny ponders for fifteen minutes, then decides to respond.

/I’m with Vara in his room. Do you really need to see me?/

There is an undercurrent of acidity in Janny’s question. But she is also excited to reunite with her ex-best friend and first love.

/Oh, f— it. I’ll come./ Janny replies finally.

/See you then./ Kyle.

***

Kyle’s figure is hiding in the shadows of the beach. Above, a bright full moon shines down. Without speaking Janny joins her and they paddle out together, simultaneously close and distant from one another. They always surfed together, back in the day. /Where do I stand with you now?/ asks Janny silently. She wants to shake her blonde friend and demand what her feelings are, what she is thinking, why she is so fucking elusive. But the waves comfort her. The tubes, glassy and long, roll on languidly. Janny carves skillfully in curves – partly for her own pleasure and partly to impress Kyle. When it is almost 2am they leave the water together and a sombre mood falls upon them. The tension of unconsummated desire returns when the girls strip off their wetsuits and change in the parking lot. Finally, Janny speaks up.

“If I could have anything in the world,” she says, “it would be you.”

Kyle stifles a laugh. “If I could have anything, I would want to lose this goddamn social anxiety.”

Janny smiles shyly. She can’t hate her friend for being awkward. At least they’ve had their moments tonight – out in the ocean just the two of them.

***

Graduation day is sobering rather than exciting. With high school out of the way, Janny has her future looming ahead like a pendulous mass, swinging haphazardly. Self doubt plagues her mind – she is a smart girl but she may not have the dedication to complete a four year degree at university. She surfs well, but so does everyone else in Minervan. Kaden, the valedictorian of the class, makes a short, manufactured speech congratulating everyone on their winning exam results (there are slackers who failed here and there, but they will not be mentioned.) Through the grapevine, Janny hears that Kyle has been accepted into business school at Yahri, a neighbouring island-state. A spot of jealousy rises in Janny’s throat. For the first time in her life she feels sadly inadequate. Kyle is dating the valedictorian, they are the golden couple off to Yahri University in just a couple of months. Vara has nabbed a place at Minervan University for Petroleum Geoscience. Of course, Janny has a place at Minervan U too, but she dreads the first day of college. She feels like a fluke, someone who somehow coasted through, but the real slog starts in Higher Learning. Perhaps packing her bag and running away would solve the problem of adult life. She’s already lost Kyle – bright, shining Kyle who had always been at Janny’s side. Why not quit the world?

***

The best sunset for the past 100 years is today. The violet sunset, where skies are awash with indigo and lavender. Janny nurses her heartbreak like a beer that has become warm in the sun. Yes, the heartbreak warms her heart. Or tingles, rather. Janny stands on the shore at Minervan beach replaying the ten years of friendship with Kyle in her mind. /She’s not here,/ she thinks to herself. Then, as if there is some invisible connection, her phone rings.

“Hey,” Janny answers. It’s Kyle.

“Hey you.”

“Where are you?” asks Janny.

“Behind you.”

Janny whirls around and sees Kyle behind her. She’s stunned for a moment, then smiles peacefully.

“I’m sorry,” Kyle manages.

“Me too,” breathes Janny.

They embrace lightly.

“Surf’s up.” Kyle.

“Shall we?” Janny.

They both catch a lot of air time. Exultant, Janny laughs to herself, tasting the saltwater in her mouth. She’s in love all over again.

The End.