Turning Tides

6. Capsize

The air was thick and humid. Humdity was not a thing back home. Sweat clung to my skin trying its best to cool me, but the humidity wouldn't allow it. 10 minutes into my walk, my shirt was beginning to cling to my back and absorb the desperate sweat. But, I pressed on. I had to see Jayden.

The sounds of a bass bumping signified to me that I had found the party, and the sand dunes protected me from the start of the rest of my life. I was appreciative of their protection as my heart's rhythm matched the tempo of the thumping club-type music. I took a deep breath before finally looking over them. Giant upside-down ship: check. Fire surrounded by drunk people: check. Jayden: no check yet. The generic party music continued on a speaker with overrated sound quality (too much bass) as I began my descent onto the beach. I inhaled another gulp of miserably warm air and followed the trail of footprints and shoes people had kicked off down the dunes and onto the beach.

First thing first, I had to find a drink. There was no way I could talk to these people without feeling a little buzz. I walked to a large blue cooler and stuck my hand in. My God, the ice counteracting the heat felt amazing. I couldn't see, so I grabbed a mystery can. To my delight, I grabbed a nice refreshing White Claw. As I clung to the outskirts of the party, I scanned the various cliques looking for Jayden's. I had no luck because I realized all the boys wanted to be Jayden, so they all copied him. They looked the exact same when lit by nothing but a fire. My ferocious thirst for both hydration and a buzz drove me back to the cooler only a few minutes later.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who the fuck told you that my cooler was a Goodwill for people who can't bring their own alcohol?" A voice said accompanied by a hand on my shoulder.

"Uh, my- my bad bro I didn't know. My bad." I had already cracked the can, so I was unsure of what to do.

"Wow, the new kid is a dumbass, what a shock. I didn't expect you to actually come tonight."

"The guy from the orientation tour?" I ask slightly giggling and standing up from the inside of the cooler.

"Yes, it's Drew." He snatched the can from my hand. "Mhm, and the beer you stole was my good beer. Expensive shit. I was fine with the White Claw, but this? No way."

"Dude, I'm sorry. I didn't know. Do you want me to Venmo you or something?"

"No. If you had to pay me for everything you should be sorry for, I may be able to buy this island from the Kingsleys."

Hearing that name woke up the butterflies in my stomach, but so did another part of his statement. I responded feeling a bit bold by the darkness of the night, "What else do I have to be sorry for? You don't even know me, Drew."

"Oh come on. It's painfully obvious. You're into dudes. You may want to take some of that pride shit off of your Instagram. Having your he/him pronouns in your bio is cringy as fuck. I'm just trying to help you out. This place isn't for all that woke shit. People may praise it where you're from, but they laugh at it here. We are concerned with more serious things."

This had to be satire. "Oh come on, seriously? You are really giving me that crap in this day and age?"

"It isn't just me. It's everyone." A crowd started to form around us, and I think Drew noticed now was his time to turn up the pressure. He drank the majority of the can he took from me, and then scooped a load of sand into the drink. He continued his attempt to humiliate me, "If you drink the rest of this, I'll forget about the drinks you stole from me, and I'll forget that you crashed our party."

"But- you invited me." The circle of people was getting closer to me, and my heart was getting closer to beating out of my chest. The crowd started murmuring, and I saw some phone lights come out as they attempted to video the unfortunate situation.

Drew smiled as he knew I was screwed. He replied, "Come on new kid. This will help you make friends. You will have something to be known for once school starts."

My armpits stung with nervousness and embarrassment. My blushing was thankfully covered up by the orange-red glow of the fire. I really had no choice. He sprinkled some more sand into his can of humiliation. I wanted nothing more than for the crowd to go back to their mindless activities. I approached the can and grabbed it much to the crowd's pleasure as they cheered. "Fuck this," I said as poured the half-beer-half-sand concoction into my mouth. I swallowed it and began to cough as the sand tickled my throat. My tongue was covered in a thick coating of sand, and every attempt to swallow the tickles away just brought new sand into my throat. I coughed until I gagged which brought me to my knees. The crowd loved it, and the phone lights grew stronger than the fire.

"He's fuckin' drooling, oh my God!" Some asshole said. Unfortunately, he was right. My body was doing everything it could to help rid the sand from my throat. That included tears falling from my eyes.

Drew had to get more verbal punches in. He said through a sarcastic chuckle, "You didn't actually have to do that. You're pitiful, new kid. Here, I think you need this." He cracked open another beer and poured it on me. I hated him infinitely more, but I was the smallest bit grateful that there was at least something to help wash down the sand. I heard someone exclaim something, but it wasn't in the tone of voice that was making fun of me. This scream was made in response to genuine fear. That's when I saw blue and red lights flashing against the sand. A cascade of similar fear-filled expletives went down the beach as I saw tanned legs sprint past me. I joined the crowd having no idea where we were going. I was still coughing. Part of the group ran up Beach Access 8, and I followed. We ran past some houses onto a little backroad. The pitter-patter of bare feet on the asphalt was a welcome change to the droning bass of the party.

Some girls blurted out, "We gotta get the fuck off this road! The marsh smells horrible, and it's way too dark to be comfortable."

She was right. The marsh really did smell extremely bad; however, she was incorrect in her assessment of the lighting. Blue and red lights made an appearance at the end of the street to our left. A voice told our group to dive into the marsh because it sat below a wooden barrier when the tide was low. Nobody wanted to, but nobody wanted to get caught either, so we descended into the mud below. My insides were full of sand and my outer body was covered in mud, thanks, nature. As the headlights turned down the road, we all went down to the prone position. It was pitch-black dark down there. I felt a shirtless stomach land on the back of my hand in our haste. It pushed my hand deeper into the cold, smelly mud.

Some other girl that was to my left whispered, "Jayden, if we get caught and have to spend the night in jail covered in mud, I swear to God I will beat your ass."

Wait, Jayden was in this mud with me?!

"Oh, I'm sure you will, and I would definitely deserve it," said a voice directly to my right- so close that I could feel the whisper. I put it together that the stomach my hand was stuck underneath was Jayden's! I began to cough again as the Jayden surprise stirred the sand back up in my throat. I was immediately shushed but when I couldn't stop coughing, Jayden Kingsley put his hand over my mouth as the cop got out of his car.