Sam's mind raced as the set dragged her surfboard until it hit the sand bank. Her heart beat ran faster, she couldn't beleive the feeling she felt. The wave of shock that floated over head like rapids made her dizzy. She stumbled off her board and sat in the tide trying to catch her breath. She stared at her toes trying to replay in her head the past three minutes. One minute she was riding her board by herself, the next she felt hands on her shoulders, and the next she looked over only to see an image of Riley riding on the board behind her, something they often tried. Sam looked up and looked around, wondering if Riley's suicide was all a nightmare and she was really at the beach a year before, and Riley was still alive, but as her eyes floated from one side of the beach to the other, he was no where to be found. Nate rode the wave skillfully to shore. As he looked to his left where Sam once was, she wasn't there anymore. He panicked and looked around frantically, wondering if she had fallen. Finally his eyes came accross her tiny body sitting up on shore. He quickly paddled up to her realizing that something had changed in her eyes. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Nate asked, abandonning his board in the water, running up to her. Her eyes seemed lost and clearly her mind was lost as well. "Sam?" He asked again as he sat down beside her putting his arm around her shoulders. Snapping out of a trance-like state her eyes darted to his, tiny tears had formed in the corner of her eyes. Nate didn't need an explanation. "I'm fine." Her voice came breathless and she rubbed her eyes. "I just got a huge clump of sand in my eye..." Sam hated lying, but she knew she couldn't handle any more Riley-related thoughts. Nate left her alone with the notion that she would come around to talking, she just needed time... at least that's what he hoped. She grabbed her board and started to head out into the water again. "Sam? Maybe we should grab a bite to eat before we go back out. We skipped breakfast." Sam stopped dead in her tracks, a stack of pancakes did sound appetizing. They walked silently hand-in-hand up to the snack bar and Nate ordered the food while Sam found a table. He sauntered back carrying three orders of pancakes and orange juice. Sam smiled. "You know me all too well." Sam ate most of the pancakes herself, they were her comfort food. No matter what kind of mood she was in, pancakes seemed to calm her down and stop her shakinees. The beach was getting busy as Sam finished the last pancake. "Are you okay to go back out?" Nate worried. "I need to." Nate didn't ask again after that. Sam needed to get over her fear of Tofino, after all it was her favorite place in the world, but putting aside that fact, she was terrified of seeing Riley again. Nate picked up her board off the beach and handed it to her. She smiled, as long as she didn't think about him she would be fine, at least she hoped. The rest of the day was amazing. Nate and Sam spent the whole day surfing. She knew he was having a blast, and regardless of that hidden fear, she wouldn't rather be anywhere else but there with Nate. "Do you want to go down further?" Sam asked, motioning to the cliff that wrapped around the right side of the beach. "There are some pretty intense sets over there if you are up to it..." "Of course I am!" Nate said enthusiastically. They walked down the beach and around the bed of rocks to the other side of the cliff. There were approximately seven other surfers on the shore, and three in the water, getting pounded by the waves. Sam was the only girl. As Nate and Sam approached the group, they all turned and looked. "Locals only, sorry guys." One husky-looking blonde with extremely broad shoulders said. His tone reaked of annoyance. "I come here all the time, relax..." Sam replied rolling her eyes. "I'm sure you do babe. You couldn't handle one of those sets, it bet serious dollars on that." He answered with a chuckle. "I'm thinking the same thing about you hun." She said as he turned away. The guy looked at her again, walking towards her and Nate. Nate stepped in front of Sam. "What did you say..?" "Well, I don't see you out there getting your ass beat, so i'm thinking you're a little hesitant, or maybe you just don't have the balls to paddle out." Sam responded, folding her arms accross her chest. Just as the blonde was about to answer, a familiar voice came from the shore line. "Miss Samantha Aviitio... is that you?" The question came from another broad-shouldered guy, only he was very tanned, almost native, with longer black hair and celtic band tatooed around his left arm. "Danny! Oh my god!" Sam shreeked as she ran over and gave the guy a huge hug. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around. "It's been too long!" He said putting her on the ground. "You know this chick?" The blonde asked in confusion. "Ty, it's Sam! Remember? Back when we were like ten? Her family always came and stayed for the summer at the cottage off Thacks Road by Martin's place?" Danny said walking up the beach towards Nate. Sam followed. "Ty Barns? I thought you moved." Sam asked surprised, realizing who she just told off. "I moved back a few months ago from Calgary. You've changed a lot." He had always been a difficult one to get along with. "So who's this?" Danny asked motioning towards Nate, who just stood there. "This is Nate, he's staying at my place for a while and we decided to come up here for the weekend." Sam answered as she positioned herself beside him again. "I have always heard about the waves out in Tofino so I told her she had to bring me out at some point." Nate said. "Well, it doesn't get much better than this my friend." Danny said looking out into the water where a few more of the guys in the group had ventured out waiting for a wave to catch. "Well let's go already!" Sam said, grabbing her board and jogging down the to the shore. Danny was right, there were no waves like these ones. They came in so fast that you really had to pay attention or else you would miss it by a long shot, and were they ever rough, but the first wave that passed, Sam caught and rode to shore making it look all too easy, Danny did the same on the next wave, but Ty tumbled after realized he didn't paddle hard enough. After one wave passed Nate got the feel of how fast they came in and rode the next one in to shore. Sam had major doubts that he wouldn't be able to handle the impact the first time, remembering her first experience with these waves, a concussion and three stitches over her right temple. But shooting her own doubts and those of everyone around her Nate rode the wave perfectly to shore, not even stumbling. "Holy shit! I've never ridden anything like that before!" Everyone just starred awestruck at the fact that a first-time, non-local, rode an east cliff set without even falling. "Dude, you are welcome here at ANY TIME! That was AMAZING! I've never seen anything like that." Dan said as he ran up to Nate, giving him props. Sam just laughed, clearly still in shock. "I didn't think you were THAT good. Is there anything you can't do?" She laughed. "Well, there isn't much." Nate said, obviously sarcastically, but wide smile formed accross his face. They spent a few more hours together with Sam's old friends, catching up and catching more intense sets as they came in. By sunset they were drained and decided to settle in for the night.