Week 12: My Summer Vacation..

It's the last day of school, everyone is full of grins and anticipation of that sound, that final tole, that voice over the com that tells us to have a good summer. We will, of course, once we tear out of this place like a pack of crazed animals set loose from their cages. I'm so anxious I can almost taste it, smell it, the scent of fresh cut grass and my mother's barbecue are waiting for me a scant seven miles away...but when I'm in these walls they may as well be on the other side of the country. I'm watching the clock, counting down the seconds...then that sweet, sweet sound of that last bell echoes through the school... ***** "Seriously, you gonna do it or what?" I'm standing on the edge of a wooden and concrete slab, looking down into the maybe three feet of water rushing through the channel of the dam in Orrington. It's an insane idea, I know it is, but I've been bragging about it all the way here. I can feel Dan and Justin behind me, grinning more from anticipation than anything else, of the stunt I'm about to pull: a somersault plunge into the rushing, if rather shallow, waters bellow. I swing my arms scissor lick in front of my chest, stretching out my back and arms as I mentally prepair myself. "Yeah just gimme a sec, I gotta do this right..." And I knew that was the truth, for certain. I wasn't really afraid, getting hurt was an abstract notion in my mind at that point. What really mattered was executing the flip and landing in such a way that the surface area of my body will slow my descent thus avoiding some seriously nasty bumps, bruises, scraps or even breaks. "Uh huh..." I can hear the mirth and Dan's voice and something clicks inside me. The familiar rush hits my veins and I can smell the stink of adrenalin rises in my nostrils. I clench my teeth in a half crazed smile and glance over my shoulder at my two friends. "You only live once right?" And with a grunt of effort, I jumped into a somersault over the edge. ***** Over the picnic table my mom looks across her plate at me and arches an eye brow at me. I'm grinning like a cat that's caught the canary as I'm eating my potato salad. My hair's wet and I'm still in my swim trunks; Justin and Dan had stopped in for a quick bite then retreated just as quickly, sniggering all the while. "And what've you been up to today?" her tone is half sarcastic, half serious and I perk up and grin all the wider. "You seem pretty pleased with yourself." "Oh...nothing. We just went swimming at the dam." I know I'm pretty transparent at this point but I'd rather not tell my mother the nurse I flawlessly front flipped into three feet of water from twelve feet up in the air. If that stunt didn't kill my mom certainly would.