Page 6 of All I Feel

“Thanks, Dad. I just hope I can land one of the jumps before the end of the day.”

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and tugged me toward him, my body colliding with his. “You will. With all the years of dance classes, you’ve got excellent body awareness and control. Start small and get comfortable first.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll try.”

“I’m not sure if we’ll be able to convince the boys to go off one of the small jumps, but I can do it first, so you can watch, if you think that’ll help.”

“I was hoping to watch everyone else go before I made my attempt.”

Placing his head on my helmet, he angled my head back and smiled. “I’m really, really proud of you, Tessa.”

I smiled back, feeling my insides warm.

At that moment, Archer walked up and said, “Hey, Tessa. You’re hanging with us today?”

“I am.”

Dad immediately cut in. “Any chance you’d be willing to do a simple air off the small jump? Tessa wants to try, and she’d like to be able to watch first.”

Archer shrugged. “That’s easy enough.”

He strapped himself into his bindings, waited until it was clear, and took off. With almost no effort, Archer went off the jump. It was so easy for him; he really did look like he was floating through the air.

“What do you think?” my dad asked.

“It seems easy, but I’m nervous about being airborne,” I admitted.

“That’s normal, sweetheart,” he assured me. “You’re just going to try a straight air off the jump. Be sure to pull your knees up and keep your shoulders square.”

I nodded and took in the jump, trying to build up my courage.

Ace walked up, dropped his board by his feet, and asked, “Are you still planning to try it?”

“I want to. Archer just went, so I was able to watch him and get an idea.”

“Would it help if I went off that jump, too? Maybe seeing it again will make you feel more comfortable.”

“That would be really nice of you, Ace. I know you can do bigger jumps, but it would help me a lot.”

He strapped in as he said, “It’s cool, Tessa. We all had to start on the small jumps when we got started.”

When he stood up, Dad said, “Thank you, Ace.”

“No problem, Uncle Stone.”

A moment later, Ace turned his board and made his way to the jump. Much like Archer, though not nearly as high, Ace had gone off the jump. He didn’t do any fancy tricks, and if anything, I felt a little less intimidated after watching him. It was probably because my brother was so accustomed to the bigger jumps and crazy tricks that the basics were hard for him to make small.

“Alright. Do you think you want to try now?” Dad asked.

I nodded and strapped myself in. Then I stared at the jump and took in a few deep breaths. Not wanting to psych myself out by thinking too much, I decided to just go for it. The next thing I knew, I was in the air.

But it freaked me out so badly, I panicked a bit, and then I fell with a thud. “Ouch, that felt awful,” I grumbled to myself.

“That wasn’t bad, Tessa.”

Startled, I looked up to find Ace standing over me with a hand held out to me. I placed my hand in his, and he gave me a swift tug. “Thanks.”

We made our way to the bottom of the trail, with me steering clear of the obstacles.