Take a Risk

Chapter 3

I put the clutch on reverse and switched my foot to the gas, backing up and then turning onto the street. My silver Honda began cruising down the little street that was lined with cottage style houses. I smiled thinking of the day's previous events and also what the future's held. Chelsea and Caroline willingly agreed to skydive with me. We are all at least 18 anyway, which is the important part. After talking to my parents for a little while, they didn’t see any reason to say no. Even though I was legally an adult, I felt better having their permission. Chelsea and Caroline agreed after talking to their parents as well. They had to come back over so we could all go together and we decided to grab lunch before too. We just didn't want to eat too close to the appointment. No need to throw up in the middle of the atmosphere. We had to do lots of research, and the nearest place was an hour away. Now that we were on our way there, I could finally start getting excited. We all laughed and played Maroon 5's album while we tried to calm down. Finally, we arrived at the Florida Skydiving center. I looked over at Chelsea and behind me at Caroline with a huge grin across my face. Chelsea looked pale.

"I'm fine, really I'll do it," Chelsea assured me.

"I'm not forcing you guys," I stated.

They reassured me that everything was good and so the three of us walked across the parking lot and into the large building. There was a long wooden desk right when you walk in, with managers and receptionists sitting behind it. On both sides of the desk there were racks with brochures and panphletes on skydiving. To the right and left were long hallways which had many doors, one of which led to training and preparation.

"Hello, what can I do for you today?" asked the one receptionist with a nametag that read Martha.

"Hi, my name is Sierra Cali and I called earlier about a skydiving appointment," I told Martha.

Martha looked up our reservation on the computer and once she had found our information she led us to the right hallway where we entered one of the doors. Caroline, Chelsea and I walked into the room, which was one of the largest rooms i had ever seen. The room mainly consisted of equiptment and skydiving gear. I guessed that it was the training and preparation room. To the right there was a glass door with a glass wall that separated the training area from an area with an office appearance. There was a long  desk and receptionists behind it. We were told that that room consisted of waiting in line and paperwork. Soon, we were all called to gather. There were ten normal beginners, including us, and four pilots. One of the pilots intoduced himself as Tim. Time lectured us on safety, risks, and what the training would consist of. Then, as a group we all traveled across the hall into another room, which had a t.v and chairs set up. 

We began watching a movie on skydiving. The visual aspect was supposed to help us learn. Halfway through the video I looked next to me at Caroline.

"Caroline, are you okay?" I asked.

"I don't think I can do this. I really don't want to anymore," she whispered while her voice quivered.

I had known Caroline for ten years, since we were about nine. I should have realized that Caroline wouldn't be up for something as daredevil as skydiving. Caroline was always the cheerleader and girly girly type.

"It's okay, you don't have to," I assured her.

"I think Caroline is right on this one," Chelsea said. "I don't think I can do it. It's not worth it."

I really had thought that Chelsea would be up for this. I had known Chelsea as long as I'd known Caroline. Chelsea was always a little more daring. She loved animals and wanted to go scubadiving and I had thought that skydiving and scubadiving were both daring activities. I misjudged how different they were.

"Sierra, go for it, though," smiled Caroline.

"It's fine guys, I'm not forcing anyone to come with me," I said.

The video finished up and the group headed back over to the training area. Caroline and Chelsea talked to the pilots and then decided to leave. They took my car and decided to go shopping somewhere near by instead of waiting around at the skydiving place. It was also too far for them to go home only to have to come back to get me.

I stood with the rest of the people and listened to the pilots lecture again. Then, we were all learning how to suite up and also all of the steps it would take to jump. We then learned the emergency steps. Finally, we went through practice drills and were tested on our knowledge.

I was nervous. I was alone. But I was also ready to fly up high and plummit through the atmosphere back down to earth.