Pitch:

During a petty argument over a stolen wave, 17-year-old Jaydon impulsively throws a sucker punch, killing another surfer. He is sentenced to a youth rehabilitation program working with wild horses deep in the Australian bush, where he is forced to confront how his life has gone so wildly off-track. But as Jaydon lets go of his anger, his victim’s mother embraces hers and comes after Jaydon, jeopardizing his tenuous hopes for redemption. JASPER JONES x BOY SWALLOWS UNIVERSE.

Excerpt:

Number one rule of surfing…

Don’t drop in.

It’s pretty fucking simple.

I sit on my board, past the break line, my feet dangling in the warm sea. My board buoys me over a small swell and there’s a familiar tug on my leg rope as the undercurrent sucks back towards the horizon that tells me the next wave will be big.

Anticipation prickles as the ocean slopes, slow and relentless, growing fat and high. I pivot onto my stomach and begin paddling. I can see exactly what shape the wave will take, what angle it will pitch at, what spot on the wave’s face I will own.

I launch in and claim it.

Adrenaline explodes in my core. The wave rushes up and my deck rises to meet my feet. I fly along the bank, my fingers trail across the face, spraying white water behind me. I lean onto my front foot, my board firm and sure, and tilt downwards, my fins rising as I head for the inside rail.

The lip of the wave is frothing when the surfer crests up and over, skimming into my path. I whistle, loud as a car horn, the way my brother Brock taught me as a kid and wait for the drop-in to do the right thing and kick out.

But he doesn’t.