I Finally Got Adopted..Dang

I was standing towards the back of the boat just looking at the water when Alex started the boat. You couldn’t even call it starting; it was more like flooring it, and I almost fell of the boat. Jeremy grabbed my arm so I wouldn’t fall off.

“Hey let's not speed when Marley’s at the end of the boat.” I said sarcastically.

“No one told you to stand at the stern.” Alex said using technical boat lingo. I stuck my tongue out at him.

We rode around for a while before Alex stopped and went to a set of seats that opened up into a cubby hole. He pulled out an inner-tube and a robe. I briefly wondered how that fit in there. He then threw me a life jacket.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“You wear it so you don’t drown Marley.” Alex said slowly.

“No shit. I mean why did you give it to me?”

“Oh, you’re first on the inner-tube.” I gulped.

“How come I’m first?”

“Ladies first.” He said with a smirk. I slowly put on my life jacket. Eli told me to go ahead and climb down the ladder and swim out to get the tube and rope. I was taking my time when he huffed, picked me up, and threw me in.

“What the hell?” I yelled when I bobbed back up.

“You were taking to long. And what’s the matter with you? Are you scared?”

“I’ve never rode on an inner-tube before.” I answered honestly.

“Do you want me to ride with you?”

I thought this over. I was nervous about this to be honest. When you get thrown into the water at fast speeds, it hurts, badly. I nodded slowly, letting Eli know I wanted him to ride with me. He grabbed a life jacket and dived in.

“Well come on, lets go.” He started to swim away. I followed after him.

“Okay, I’ll let you get on first, and then I’ll get on. All you have to do is jump up and grab the handle.” Eli explained when we got to the inner-tube.

I tried my hardest to get up. I wasn’t very good at balancing it, so it would either tip or I would slide off. Finally Eli helped me up. I felt chills when he touched me, but I dismissed them by convincing myself that it was just the water. Eli got on the tube on his first try.

“If you feel yourself slipping, and you can’t re-grip, then just let go. It will hurt less if you do.” I nodded. “And here, put your arm under mine so you have more grip.” I did as I was told. “Are you ready?” Eli didn’t wait for me to answer; he just went ahead and signaled to Jeremy. While the boat was gaining speed, Eli turned to look at me, he smiled and I smiled back.

Tubing was amazing. It was such a rush. I loved it. I had no reason to be nervous.

“Oh crap, I’m slipping.” I yelled to Eli.

“Try to re-grip!” He yelled. But before he could finish, I was already off the tube. I didn’t fall off gracefully; it was like a force threw me from the tube. I fell into the water with a huge splash. Every part of my body stung. When I came up from the water, I saw that Eli was only a few feet from me. I swam up to him.

“When did you fall off?”

“When you fell off, I fell off.” I smiled at him.

We all rode on the tube for at least two hours. When I rode with John, he deliberately pushed me off when we were going fast; I gave him a dead arm. To be honest, I never thought hanging out with Alex and his friends would be fun.