The scent of chlorine fills the warm air all around, as many girls cram into one small locker room. Sounds of laughter and girly high pitched voices fill the room. This is what a typical swim practice ends like, but today it was different. Instead of going home to fall asleep in my warm soft bed like I usually would do, every girl on the swim team was coming over to my house. And since they were all coming over that means no sleeping for me or anyone else.

Everybody was so eager to come over since I told them that I lived on the lake and that we could go swimming and tubing. By the time everyone showed up on this hot summer day, me and some of my friends were dyeing to jump in. Four of us slowly walk down the tan dock, lining up in one straight line. We all look down at the calm sea green water and clutch each other’s warm anxious hands. Girls around us start counting “1…2…3 jump!” we fling ourselves into the air. In that instant time feels like it freezes for that one second when were in the air, when it feels like a million seconds. Immediately we all land into the cold water. We kick up to the surface gasping for the warm air.

Sooner or later all the girls jump into the water and we all swim out to the square raft. There were forty-two girls on the raft at one time. We get this random idea to sink one of the rafts corners. I stand at the end of one corner then bodies creep closer together and we all hang onto each other so no one falls in. The corner starts to slowly sink as cold water starts to slowly make its way up onto the raft. The opposite side of the raft lifts up out of the water into the air and we all lose our balance and scream. We all try to run to the opposite side of the raft as some girls fall into the water and the raft crashing back down onto the water with the few girls who were able to stay on.

Meanwhile this is a party there is obviously food down at the lake. A group of girls sit at tables eating and filling their faces with the sweet and salty fattening foods not caring about how much junk they eat. We all figure that next swim practice we can just burn it all off. My step dad starts grilling hot dogs and hamburgers and all the girls’ line up waiting to fill their stomachs. After lunch we decide to go tubing. I love tubing; you never know what’s going to happen and who’s going to fall off first. Some of us hop onto the boat and my step dad drives us out into the middle of the lake. Me and three friends put on our life jackets and jump down onto the tube. We start floating away on the tube; our heart beats faster as we anxiously wait for the boat to pull us. We grip tightly as we slowly start to move and then we go faster and faster. Moving so fast that my eyes start to water and if I let go of the handle I would fall off. My step dad is the best at giving a fun tubing ride. He does turns and flings us all over the water. He has a special way to make us go over huge waves. My family calls it the shark, he goes around in a circle a few times and when he does this it make huge waves in the middle of the circle, then he goes quickly through the middle and we fly a couple feet in the air and land hard on the water. Usually someone falls off because we lose balance and fall off or the tube flips over and we all end up falling off. Since he was pulling girls he went easy on us because he didn’t want to hurt us because we are girls.

After everyone has had their ride we are all tired out. Little by little the big group of girls starts to leave and go home. After everyone is gone my step dad and I are left to clean up all the trash and to put everything back where it was supposed to be.

In my memories I will always have that picture someone took of me and my friends jumping off my dock. It will be one of my favorite days ever.