Junior Year Box Set

Brook had the windows down and the rock music blaring as we blew past an obvious speed trap. She just waved at them and kept going. I was shocked when they didn’t pull out to chase us. Brook must have met the local police before.

As she drove, it became apparent that she could handle the car. Brook wasn’t joyriding, she was focused on what she was doing. I wasn’t really paying attention to where we were going, so was caught off guard when we pulled into a little airport at the edge of town. I became nervous when I read the sign in front of the building. It said ‘Bulldog Skydiving.’

“Have you ever been?” she asked.

“No,” I said, contemplating whether this was a good idea or not.

There was a difference between living a life with no regrets and dying. I decided I wouldn’t tell my mom about it and got out of the car.

“I haven’t either. It’s on my to-do list, though. I thought you might enjoy it.”

I cocked my head and had a whole new appreciation of Brook Davis. I could tell that if I hung out with her, I would get to try new adventures that I would never do if I were focused solely on school and football. I hadn’t realized I’d stopped, but when she grabbed my hand, I followed her into the building.

“Hey, Brook, is this David?” asked a good-looking young guy who was either in college or just out.

“He is. David, I’d like you to meet Ben. He and his sister will be taking us up today. They wouldn’t just let us jump out of a plane, for some reason, but we can do it in tandem with a jump instructor,” Brook explained.

“How safe is this?” I asked.

“We haven’t killed anyone lately,” a voice said behind me, and I turned to see it was Ben’s sister Jenna. “Brook, you didn’t tell me he was cute.”

They apparently all knew each other. I didn’t have time to think about it because Ben and Jenna wanted to get the jump in while there was good sunlight. They dressed us in jumpsuits and goggles. I wasn’t sure what good the goggles would do if we crashed, but I played along. Then I remembered my GoCam. I wanted to video my jump.

“Attach it to your wrist and point it at you. When you jump, hold your wrist out, and you can catch all the action,” Ben advised.

When I came back in, Ben had us sit through a safety video and we had to sign a waiver. We then were each put into our harnesses, hooked to our respective instructor, and practiced moving around. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. It reminded me of a three-legged race we used to do in grade school. They explained that when we landed, we would put our legs out in front of us and drop on our butts. Ben told us that, until we learned how to land, that was the safest way to prevent leg injuries.

“I think you’re ready,” Ben said.

The pilot had finished his checklist and was ready for us. He ran through safety issues. We were shown a ledge attached to the wheels. We would sit down at the door of the plane, facing the back. When the door was opened, I was to swing my feet out and put them on the ledge to stabilize myself. When Ben was ready, he would roll out of the plane behind me to start the jump. We were told we had to have our seatbelts on until we were ready to jump. On takeoff, I finally relaxed and began to enjoy the experience. I peered out the window and saw that there was a little bit of cloud cover.

“Are you ready for this?” Brook asked.

“This is great. I would’ve never thought to do something like this,” I shouted over the noise of the engine.

I was caught up in the moment and had the nervous feeling in my stomach I get before a game. I was glad I hadn’t eaten yet. I couldn’t believe how high we were climbing. We looked out over the farmland, and it looked like a miniature toy set. From where we were, we looked out over the scattered clouds below us. Ben motioned for me to come forward and I sat down on the floor with him, facing the back of the plane. He hooked us together, and we put our goggles on. On the other side of the aircraft, Brook was doing the same.

I took a deep breath as the doors were popped open and we were buffeted by the wind. Ben tapped my shoulder, and I put my feet on the little ledge. Then he got his leg through the door and we rolled out. There’s a rush of adrenaline when you do something like this. We seemed to tumble through the air for a full rotation. It gave me a chance to see Brook exit the plane above us. Then as we rotated so I could see the ground, Ben popped a little chute that stabilized us.

It was hard to hear because of the roar of the wind as we fell. I felt my cheeks pressed into my face and they rippled from the force of air as we descended. It reminded me of the videos I’d seen of astronauts training for zero-g. It’s hard to describe the absolute freedom I felt as we crashed towards the earth. When I watched the video later, I had been yelling all the way down and had an ear-to-ear grin on my face. This was better than falling off my Jet Water Board.