Today — technically tonight — is the Summer Solstice.
(in the Northern Hemisphere; in the Souther Hemisphere, it’s Winter)
And, well, long story short, I think I have have misunderstood what a Hot Girl Summer is…
Copyright J.B. Norman
“Ugh,” Kat groans, sweaty, sandy, and unamused. “It’s so hot! Summer is the worst.”
“We’re at the beach, Katherine,” Amara notes from beneath the shade of her parasol. “There’s an entire Ocean not fifteen steps away.”
“Yeah,” Kat groans, sprawled on her towel. “But then I’d have to get up.”
“At least find some shade, Katherine,” Amara offers, turning the page of the romance book she’s been reading at the beach. “Here, you can share my parasol.”
Kat shifts across the sand
“I can’t take it!” Kat groans. “That sand is worse than the heat! It’s rough an it’s irritating and it’s getting everywhere! And people keep kicking it all over me.”
“Oh, sorry,” Dunstana says, glancing over her shoulder as she dashes by with a volleyball.
“I’m going into the water,” Kat declares.
She reaches for Amara’s arm.
“And you’re coming with me!”
“Swimming?” Amara cries. “At the beach? How utterly unseemly!”
“Didn’t you just finish saying I should go swimming?” Kat counters.
“No offence, Katherine,” Amara protests. “But you hardly have the same sheer weight of social obligation upon your shoulders as I — eeeek!”
Kat has decided to help Amara get over her reluctance by taking the simplest and straightforwardest path: tossing her into the water.
“Katherine!” Amara growls as she surfaces. “You scoundrel! I am not amused by — eeeek!”
Kat starts splashing her.
“Katherine! You are such a child!” Amara cries, trying vainly to shield herself from the splashing. “People are looking!”
She tentatively responds with a counter-splash of her own.
“Don’t worry, Amara!” Nolan says, heroically jogging towards the surf. “I’ll save you!”
“No splashing,” the beach’s lifeguard calls out to Kat. “Please stop, or I’ll have no choice but to ask you to please stop in a slightly more forceful tone.”
The position of lifeguard is a fairly recent invention in Porthaven, and it remains unclear what the exact rights and responsibilities of the position are. However, this lifeguard is nevertheless the enterprising sort, having deputised Falcata with full authority and sanction to wrestle any sharks that may appear to menace the surfers.
As such, the Amazon warrior is standing in the water, her towering frame making even the deeper water seem like shallows, vigilantly watching for any sharks that may appear. The one shark that did briefly surface within sight of the beach promptly caught notice of the Amazon’s presence and immediately made itself scarce.
Meanwhile, Dunstana has stake a claim to the volleyball court on the beach. She finds herself facing off with Pela and Matilda. Dunstana is feeling pretty good about her odds. For the first time in her life, she’s playing volleyball against somebody shorter than she is.
For their part, Matilda and Pela are just a little bemused by Dunstana’s choice of partner.
Dunstana gets ready to serve looks over to her shoulder to her volleyball partner.
“Talk to me, goose.”
The goose she recently rescued from a crew of hungry pirates has proven not only a staunch friend, but also surprisingly good at volleyball…
See?
Hot Girl Summer? And it’s funny because Kat is a girl, and it’s summer, and her temperature is elevated… and that’s a dictionary-correct definition of ‘hot?’
And I mean, like, to keep the Top Gun reference going, there had to be a volleyball scene, right?
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