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Seven Years Ago–15 years old
“Tell me you’re kidding, butter bean. You can’t actually believe this is a good idea.” My friend Kam laughs nervously below me, head cocked back as he watches me climb up the massive tree stretching out over Lake Cowan.
I’ve been climbing this tree since I was a child – having spent nearly every summer here with my Aunt Carol since I was little. I love everything about North Carolina. The weather, the sights, the smells, the sounds, the people, the ocean – I love it all. I keep telling my mom I’m going to move here one day but I don’t think she really believes me.
“Come on, El,” Kam continues to object from below.
“Don’t be such a wimp,” I call over my shoulder, grabbing onto another branch as I pull myself higher.
I met Kam only a couple days after arriving here this past June. His family had relocated from Nevada a couple of years ago and even though they purchased the house next door to my Aunt Carol’s, surprisingly enough, that’s not how we actually met. I had been riding my bike down the large hill that runs through the middle of town a little too fast when I wiped out, ripping my knee up pretty good. He was working at the local hardware store and saw the whole thing through the front window. The look on his face when he reached me was priceless. You would think the boy had never seen blood before. It was only after he insisted on walking me home that I found out he lived next door. How he had lived next door that long and I never knew is beyond me. Then again, the houses are far enough apart it’s not something I would have easily known.
The rest is history. We’ve pretty much been inseparable since that day. Though I’m kind of surprised I haven’t scared him off by now. I’ve always been a bit of a dare devil, pushing myself and my abilities to the absolute limits. Whereas Kam is a bit more cautious. I think that’s what makes our friendship work so well. He pulls me back when I go too far and I push him forward when he needs to let loose a little.
“El, that’s high enough.” Kam’s voice is further away than before. I turn, looking down to see him several feet below me.
“It’s not that high. You should come up here and see for yourself,” I holler, a wide smile on my face.
“So we can both break our necks? I’ll pass,” he retorts, shaking his head.
“Suit yourself.” I turn, balancing myself onto a thick branch that extends out over the lake.
“Come on, Elara. You aren’t seriously going to jump, are you?”
“Why else do you think I climbed all the way up here?” I respond without looking in his direction.
“I don’t like this.”
“You don’t have to like it. You’re not the one jumping.”
“Come on, El. That’s enough. Just come down.”
“If you insist.” I turn, smiling widely down at Kam, not entirely sure if he can see my face from this distance, before very carefully letting go of the branch above me that I’ve been using to keep myself steady.
Kam says something else right as I jump, but his words are lost to the wind that rushes through my ears as my body free falls through the air, hitting the water seconds later.
Pushing upward, I break the surface just moments after going under, a wide smile on my face.
“You’re crazy. You know that?” Kam’s standing on the edge of the dock, arms crossed over his chest, a backward baseball cap covering his messy brown hair.
“And you’re a baby.” I splash at him, treading water to keep myself up.
“No, I just don’t have a death wish.”
“Neither do I,” I object, swimming toward him.
“You sure? Because it sure seems like it sometimes.” He steps forward and reaches down, helping to pull me out of the water.
“It’s called living, Kam. You should try it sometime.” I slide onto the dock and turn, taking a seat on the edge before patting the space next to me.
“This from the girl who stripped down to her underwear and climbed a good thirty feet up a tree barefoot,” he grumbles, sliding down beside me.
“Well how else would you have had me do it?” I smirk, knocking my shoulder against his.
“Um, not at all,” he says like he’s stating the obvious.
“You need to learn to relax every once in a while. I made it out okay, see?” I hold my arms out. “Not a scratch.”
“I just don’t get you sometimes.”
