Loren Aalto

November 18, 2018 1:38 PM

Washing it away [tag: Jehan] by Loren Aalto

Loren was aware of the summer break looming ever closer and was surprised to find she wasn’t nearly as excited at the prospect as she had thought she would be. Now well into her fourth year, she had grown more accustomed to life at Sonora and how different it was to what she was used to and had begun to relax and start enjoying herself more, even if Luke was still the only real friend she had at the school.

Ever since she had convinced her father to have custody of her last year, things had not gone quite as she had imagined. The fact that she had had to persuade him should have been some indication of the kind of man he was but despite his immaturity and lack of parenting skills, she couldn’t help being somewhat in awe of him and desiring his approval. She passed it off as dedication to surfing but deep down there was more to it.

Yet all her dreams of living happily ever after with her dad had been short-lived. She hadn’t realised quite how much he travelled prior to moving in with him full time and had spent most of her first summer in Brad Aalto’s custody being looked after by Luke’s mom and his (Great) Uncle Mack. Loren understood that Brad was new to properly being a parent but she had expected him to try harder. It was all better than living with her mother and Brian, that was for sure, so she didn’t regret the transition, but it definitely wasn’t all that she had pictured in her mind.

It had only got worse in the midterm break when her father brought his girlfriend Marni to their “family” Christmas celebrations. Marni was also a professional surfer and Brad had been dating her for a while but it hadn’t seemed overly serious, which had always comforted Loren. Marni didn’t seem particularly interested in her and Loren had actually thought her moving in with her father might push her out of the picture entirely. But since Loren had returned to Sonora it seemed that the couple had become a whole lot more serious and Marni seemed to be spending a lot more time at their home, known by its residents as The Lot. It wasn’t that Loren didn’t want to see her father happy, but she couldn’t help being jealous of Marni. She was jealous of anybody who took her father’s attention away from her, even Jordy who she had always got along with. He was in his twenties and lived in the same hut as Loren, her father and Uncle Mack and over the years of visiting her father Loren had come to see him as an older brother. But her father also seemed to see Jordy as a son and she was so jealous to think that they were off surfing around the world together while she was stuck at school. It did at least give her even more motivation with her surfing.

Loren had never been the type to sit about and wallow in self pity. She had a lot of anger and insecurity from her childhood that she bottled up and channelled into her surfing, perhaps part of the reason she was so competitive and ambitious. Today was one of those days where she felt particularly determined so she headed down to the MARS room to get in some practise. It was times like this when she chose not to invite Luke to join her. He was better company for cheering her up, when she was already in a good mood or desiring competition. But today she was good enough competition for herself.

The Pecari was very grateful for the water room in MARS and had initially been rather stunned by it and all that it could do. She spent as much time as she could in the water, whether it just be swimming or surfing (the latter undoubtedly more often than the former). For Loren, surfing was the solution to just about anything. From a very young age, it had been her escape and that still remained true.
8 Loren Aalto Washing it away [tag: Jehan] 393 Loren Aalto 1 5

Jehan Callahan

November 18, 2018 1:45 PM

the waters rushing past remind me of nothing by Jehan Callahan

Jehan was feeling slightly on edge today. Not in a serious way, as there wasn’t anything wrong, but for some reason he was feeling somewhat restless. It was the kind of restless that made classes a little hard to sit through, the kind of restless that made him tempted to see if Victor wanted to go flying. Flying wasn’t something that Jehan did often, but you couldn’t have Victor as a brother and not know how to fly, and maybe a bit of physical exercise would take the edge of this almost itchy feeling that had settled beneath his skin.

However, it was raining outside, and so flying was out of the question. Jehan’s usual weekend pursuits seemed less appealing too, which was a rarity given that he generally loved spending time with his friends and his books. He considered going to find Dorian, but he wasn’t in the mood for hugs and reading. Sighing in frustration, he decided to head to the MARS room, in the hope of finding something to do there.

The music room was not an option, because that was where Jehan and Dorian went, and Dorian wasn’t here. The dance room was equally non-viable – much to Jehan’s disappointment, he wasn’t especially gifted when it came to dancing. The sports and arts rooms were also rejected as Jehan decided upon the water room. You couldn’t go far wrong with water, really, as it offered so many options. Water could be played with, swum in, drunken (although Jehan didn’t think drinking the MARS room water would be advisable), floated in, and gazed into. It had a function to suit every mood.

Upon entering the water room, it quickly became evident to Jehan that somebody else had decided to take advantage of the multipurposed nature of water. The room was set up with a large body of water, with pretty big waves crashing onto the shore. Any resentment Jehan might have felt at having his as-yet-unspecified water-related plans derailed was forgotten at the impressive sight of Loren Aalto in her element, surfing.

“What’s the highest wave you’ve ever surfed?” asked a suitably awestruck Jehan as Loren arrived on the shore. Socially-demanded pleasantries were forgotten in the interest in finding out about Loren and her surfing.
9 Jehan Callahan the waters rushing past remind me of nothing 1398 Jehan Callahan 0 5

Loren

November 25, 2018 11:06 AM

...and we arrive at the beach by Loren

It took Loren a moment to realise that she had company, but as she came to the end of a wave and plopped down into the water, she saw someone on the shore out of the corner of her eye. Despite having wanted to be alone, Loren didn’t mind that her session was interrupted. Evidently she’d got out all that she needed to and the idea of some company in this lonely school didn’t seem so bad. The intruder was Jehan Callahan, who was in the year below her. She knew him well enough from a couple years of sharing classes and he seemed nice, not snobby for starters.

Loren paddled the short distance to the shore to join Jehan. She smiled at his immediate question and shrugged. “I don’t know exactly,” she admitted. “But I have competed on 8ft waves before.” She didn’t know if that would be much to Jehan, but she was proud. The time she was thinking of had involved some pretty big waves with 10 ft sets. That was another thing she missed whilst she was at Sonora, the competitions. She could admit that Luke was better than her, although she did her best to give him a run for his money. Loren missed the thrill of winning, of competitions that really mattered, the adrenaline rush.

“You ever surfed before?” She asked, subconsciously looking the boy up and down as though to check his athleticism. Not everyone came to the water room for sports apparently. Loren wondered what Jehan had come for.
8 Loren ...and we arrive at the beach 393 Loren 0 5