Hit the Beach! Read Online Free PDF

out?” In a spray of sand, Frankie and I dashed over.
    “Cheers, girls,” said Bethany, giving us a grin.
    Inside the hut there was a big stack of yellow and blue boards. “Hey, Leicester City surfboards!” I said, nudging Frankie in the ribs.
    “Saddo,” she mouthed, laughing at me.
    “They all need to come out,” said Bethany, nodding towards the boards. “I’ll bring the rest.”
    Outside, the boys were already kicking sand at each other, and Fliss had stretched out for a quick spot of sunbathing. As I brought out the last of the boards, I heard Bethany behind me say, “Well, you took your time.”
    I turned round. There was a boy about Bethany’s age leaning against the door of the hut as if he’d been there for hours. And – I kid you not – he looked exactly like Brad Pitt. It was spooky.
    As Frankie and I went back to sit with the others, I could see Lyndz and Rosie nudging each other. Fliss still had her eyes shut.
    “Maybe it is Brad Pitt,” Rosie was saying. “Maybe he flew over to see Madonna now that she lives in London, and he thought while he’s here he’d come and check out the beach life…”
    “Wait till Fliss sees him,” giggled Lyndz. “She’ll never look at Aidan again!”
    “What? Who?” murmured Fliss, sitting up.
    “Everyone – this is Jude,” said Bethany, raising her voice. “He’s going to be teaching surfing today, along with me. We’ll split you into two groups…” Quickly, Frankie, Lyndz, Rosie and I huddled together as Bethany waved her arm, cutting an imaginary line down the middle of where everyone was sitting.
    “You’ll be my lot,” she added, looking at our half. Phew! We were all together! Then Bethany turned to the others, “And you’re Jude’s group, OK?”
    “Fliss, what’re you doing?” hissed Lyndz.
    “The dividing line was, like, here ,” said Fliss, waving her arm between her and the rest of us. “So I must be in Jude’s group.” She looked pained. “It’s a real shame that I’m not with you guys, though …”
    I caught hold of her sarong and yanked her back over to us. “Just cos he looks like Brad Pitt you’re not splitting up the Sleepover Club,” I said.
    Fliss went pink and scowled at me, like I wasa major spoilsport. But I mean, come on – loyalties or what?
    It turned out we’d all had a narrow escape. Jude seemed really grumpy as he trudged a little way off with his group and started explaining to them what they were going to do. It looked like he’d prefer to be anywhere in the world rather than on Rawnston beach with a load of Cuddington Primary pupils.
    “Well, he’s a bundle of laughs – not ,” said Frankie.
    “And why does he keep shooting Bethany such dirty looks?” added Rosie.
    “Because she’s just obviously massively better and cooler than he is,” I said.
    And Bethany was cool. She was really fun – cheerful and friendly, and she didn’t talk down to us like we were five year olds, either.
    Our group was just the Sleepover Club, plus Alana ‘Banana’ Palmer. She’s a bit of a drip and she often hangs around with the M&Ms – which shows she’s got no taste. Sometimes, they’requite horrible to her too – she must be crazy!
    Anyhow, we didn’t much mind having her in our group, though of course it would’ve been cooler if the Sleepover Club had had Bethany all to ourselves.
    “Right – I just want to check that you’re all strong swimmers, yes?” said Bethany. “It’s really important that you tell me if you’re not.” She looked round at each of us.
    A while ago Rosie would have had to stick her hand up. I don’t know if you remember when we did that swimathon at Cuddington Baths? We found out then that Rosie couldn’t swim at all. After that, she started having lessons, though, and before we knew it she’d turned into a total mermaid! She’s the strongest swimmer of us all now, I reckon.
    Anyway, next Bethany told us a bit of general stuff about surfing. About how the idea,