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Alexa Play: New Perspective by Noah Kahan

“ Y ou bought a house!?”

Turtle’s mouth was hanging open in shock. His wavy, chestnut hair was tied in a low bun at the nape of his neck, and he had a Billabong hat on backwards.

Both of us were toned and tanned from spending so much time in the ocean, but Turtle was naturally darker than me overall.

He was wearing a loose tank with the sides cut out, showing off his stick and poke tattoos. There was a goofy cartoon shark on the chest of his shirt, and his navy blue boardshorts had white pineapples on them, making him look like the beachy himbo he was.

I, in contrast, had a mop of sandy hair with some pretty shocking white streaks from all the sun and the salt water. I was also wearing a white tank, but mine just had the Volcom logo on it. Though I was just as fit as the Turtle Man, I was leaner and about a head shorter.

We passed a few local girls on our way to Sharkies, where Turtle said he’d already secured us both jobs as busboys. Which was awesome, considering I was officially house-poor.

I watched the girls check us out as we walked by, and I shot them a big, flirty smile, enjoying the way their cheeks flushed and the gentle sound of their tittering giggles.

“Yeah, man. It’s dope as fuck. You should come live with me.”

“ And abandon Shelly!? brO, who even are you?” He gasped, holding his hand over his chest like I had mortally wounded him.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. You and Shelly need each other.” I laughed.

“Shelly and I need you too, bro. What about our plans to travel to every beach in the world together!? The adventures of Turtle, Shelly, and the Finn Man—over before they could even begin!” I didn’t bother pointing out that it would be impossible to drive Shelly to every beach in the world.

We wouldn’t even be able to take her to every state. We obviously couldn’t drive to Hawaii.

Instead, I shoved him playfully in the arm as I walked onto the boarded deck that made up Sharkies’ dining room. The place didn’t open until nine am, so it was deserted. We’d been asked to come in early for orientation, and it was nice to get a sense of the place before it got busy.

I looked around the open-air structure and grinned.

It was awesome.

The entire place was open to the elements and so close to the water you could hear the waves as they lapped greedily at the shore.

The border of the dining room was basically just a line of big, thick nautical rope strung through waist-length wooden posts.

The roof was thatched, and there was a big square bar in the center of the wooden floor, surrounded by fifty or so tables.

Turtle assured me Sharkies was almost entirely staffed by kids our age who were just as obsessed with surfing as we were. I was looking forward to getting to know more people in what I was now considering my home.

“I don’t know, man. I have a good feeling about this place. I want to stick around.”

In typical Turtle fashion, he quickly got over his initial distress and smoothed right into the flow of things.

Shrugging, he grinned. “No worries, Finn Man.” He roughed up my hair, and I laughed, shoving him away from me again. “You wanna grow some roots? We’ll grow ‘em together. Imma probably still chill with Shells, though. I can’t leave her, man. Not after everything she’s done for us.”

I nodded solemnly. “I understand. I would never get between a man and his van.”

“You have a van?” A pretty feminine voice chirped from behind us.

We both turned to find a petite blonde girl with a surfer’s tan smiling at us.

She had straight, white teeth and was wearing what looked like a lifeguard’s T-shirt and little red shorts.

Upon closer inspection of her shirt, it was actually a Sharkies’ shirt, made to look like a lifeguard uniform, which I guess made sense for the beach theme of the restaurant.

She was holding two men’s versions of the same shirt, and she handed one to each of us as she approached.

I took mine on reflex and grinned at the girl, and Turtle gave her a flirty wink.

“Yeah, babe, wanna come meet her? Shelly loves making new friends.” Turtle smiled, and the girl rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling good-naturedly.

“Does that line work on all the girls?” She laughed, and Turtle chuckled, shrugging.

“Some of them.”

She snorted and shook her head in amusement.

“I’m Blake.” She smiled, reaching out a hand to shake. Her wrist was covered in those colorful friendship bracelets made of thread and knots, and I smiled. Blake seemed cool .

“Hey, I’m Finn, this is Turtle.”

“Oh, I know who you are,” she informed me, her bright blue eyes shining with curiosity. “You’re the kook that bought Jake Whittling’s old place.”

Huh?

“Who’s Jake Whittling?” I asked dumbly, and Blake’s eyebrows rose.

“You’re telling me you bought that place without learning anything about it first?” she asked, sounding shocked.

Turtle and I exchanged a confused look, and I shrugged.

“I dunno, it was right on the beach and a sick price. I just snatched it up.”

“Oh my god, dude. You didn’t snatch anything up. No one’s bought that place for a reason.”

My good mood was quickly evaporating and being replaced with a small twinge of doubt. I had been so excited about buying that place. The last thing I wanted was to learn that I had wasted all my mom’s money on some shack that was condemned and full of black mold or something weird like that.

“What? What do you mean?” I yelped, hating the high-pitched squeak my voice seemed to have taken on.

Blake gave me a sympathetic look before reaching out and giving my arm a comforting squeeze.

“Jake Whittling was, like, a local surfing legend. He died last year surfing Leviathans.”

Turtle squawked next to me in shock. “What!? Dude died ?”

Blake nodded, her eyes shining with what I could have sworn were tears. She swallowed so hard I heard it.

“Yeah. It was awful. Everyone loved Jake so much. He was such a rad person. No one’s bought his spot because I think it hurts too much, you know?

Like, that’s his place. It has been for as long as I’ve lived here.

He was one of the original guys who discovered Leviathans.

It’s messed up that the beach that made him famous is what ended up killing him. ”

Guilt welled up in my chest at the real pain in Blake’s eyes as she told me about the tragic death of someone she’d clearly really cared about.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” I croaked, gripping the T-shirt she had given me tighter in my fists.

She shook her head gently as if trying to brush the painful memories away. Her bleach-blonde ponytail swished behind her in the early sun.

“It’s not your fault, Finn. Just… don’t be surprised if you get a little pushback over buying his place. People around here have this weird thing about it. Like only someone worthy of it should live there or something.”

“What, like, only another Leviathans’ rider?” Turtle asked the question I had already been thinking.

“Something like that.”

I brightened slightly and gave Blake a reassuring grin.

“Well. Good thing it’s my plan to shred Leviathans this winter. That’s why I’m here.”

Blake barked out a laugh, then seemed to realize I was being serious. The second she took in the earnest look on my face, the blood drained from hers.

“What? No! You can’t! Leviathans will eat you alive, Finn.”

I frowned, suddenly feeling annoyed and defensive. “You don’t know that. You don’t even know me! I’ve been surfing my whole life. I can handle it.”

Blake looked me up and down. She clearly didn’t mean it in a judgemental way, but it came off that way anyway. I bristled further.

“I may not know you, Finn Summers, but I know Leviathans, and I know you can’t surf those waves without someone to coach you.”

I was about to argue further when what I assumed was the manager walked into the bar and called Blake’s name.

She abandoned our conversation to head over to where the manager was starting to stock the bar, but she paused after a few steps and glanced back over her shoulder at us .

“Let’s meet up after work. I’ll take you to Leviathans and show you what I mean.”

“Deal,” I barked back, a little more abruptly than she deserved.

Turtle tossed his lifeguard/uniform shirt over his shoulder, his usually carefree brown eyes dark with concern.

“Well. She’s got the tea; I’ll give her that,” he said, shamelessly staring at her pert ass as it swayed back and forth in her little red Sharkies shorts.

“Apparently,” I mused, though I was much less interested in Blake’s ass than I was in her complete and utter lack of belief in me.

She didn’t even know me.

I wasn’t one to boost myself, but I wasn’t exactly a beginner. I knew what I was doing, and I planned on training all year to ride this wave.

However, when she came back and got to work teaching us the ins and outs of the restaurant and what would be expected of us in our new roles, I couldn’t shake the cold pit that had formed in my gut.

Had buying that shack been a mistake?

Had coming here at all been a mistake?

I watched Turtle flirt with Blake and did my best to keep up with what she was telling us, but I was too distracted.

Dead surf prodigies and the monster waves that devoured them filled my mind.

Clenching my fists at my sides, I felt a stubborn swell of determination roll through me.

No.

I was doing this. I was Finn Summers, and I knew I was born to surf since the first day I stood on a board by myself.

If this town wanted to see someone worthy of living up to this Jake Whittling guy’s legacy, then that was what I was going to give them.