Still Believe

Chapter 13: Waterpark

Alana's family went on vacation, and asked if I'd like to go. I know my problems are gonna be there when I come back, but I decided to go anyway.

We went to Cedar Point. They told me I could bring a friend, but I really didn't know who to bring. I brought a girl named Jennifer from one of my classes, and we really had a fun time.

We rode roller coasters all day, then went to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was a really nice hotel, I was surprised. Me and Jennifer hung out in the waterpark, checked out the lifeguards, then sat down and talked about this drama.

"So James hasn't talked to you since?" she asked.

"Nope." I said.

"Didn't he tell you? His sister, she died."

"What?!" I asked.

"Yeah.....it happened before school started."

No wonder he was having problems.....I didn't even know about it.

"He didn't tell you?" she asked.

"No, he didn't."

"Man, you guys had a misunderstanding, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess that's why we were fighting.....I didn't even know."

"Welp, when we get home talk to him about it. He really needs it."

I leaned back and closed my eyes. I opened them again.

"Hey guys." James said, walking up. What? I giggled. Thanks, Wesley! I thought.

Jennifer smiled at me. "Hey James." she said.

"Hey." I said. "What are you doing here?"
"Here with my church." he said. Whoa, he started going to church? "How are you guys? Are you here together?"
"I'm alright.." I said, even though I knew I wasn't. "Alana's parents were going on vacation and invited me to go and said I could invite a friend, so I brought Jennifer."

"Cool. You guys went to Cedar Point?"
"Yeah, we did."

"That's awesome! How was it?"
"Good.....didn't you go?"
"No, I'm going tomorrow. Hey, you guys want to go ride some water slides?"

"Sure." we said, getting up and walking with James to get inner tubes and wait in line.

When we got to the top, we all went alone. But after a while, Jennifer and I went and James went along. Then James asked to go with me.

We got situated and sat in the double inner tube, me in the front and him in the back. Before the lifeguard gave us the signal, he said, "Hey Leslie?"
"What?" I asked.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't want to hurt you."

And then the lifeguard gave us the signal to go, and we went. I didn't know what to think, but I wanted to forgive him. He had faith in me, and we got along really well.....at least, we did. And maybe I could help him with the things he's dealing with. I miss having him around to tell me he has faith in me. I miss being able to smile.

We had so much fun going down the waterslide, and when we got to the landing pool we put our inner tube up. Jennifer had gone to the lazy pool, how did she know? Did James tell her his plan?

If I know anything about James, he always backs out of things. Always. When he says sorry, or something nerve wracking, he backs out. But with me, he doesn't. And it took a lot of guts for him to tell me.

We walked around and talked for a little while, he explained how his sister died and I explained how things were so messed up.

"I guess we both have problems." he said. "I honestly am so sorry, Leslie. I hurt you because I was hurting."

"I'm hurting too James....and I miss having you around to have faith in me and be my friend."

He hugged me when we got to the part of the kids' playground in the waterpark, and there was water falling like a waterfall. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying." he said.

"What?"
"I mean I'm staying in your life."

I looked up at him and looked into his eyes. He has a lot going for him. Slowly, the two of us awkwardly kind of leaned closer to each other and.....he kissed me. I'd never been kissed, except for when James kissed me on the cheek the night Wesley died. It was a sweet, innocent kiss, and it was over too soon. I missed James. But we still needed to earn each other's trust back.

We walked over to Jennifer, who had been going around in the lazy pool. I'm guessing they planned it so if we ran into each other it wouldn't be awkward. Jennifer smiled at us. "Are you two friends again?"

"Yeah." James said.

"Good. I miss seeing you too together."

"I miss seeing us with Wesley." I said.

I miss seeing a future for me with you guys around, too. Wesley said to me.

--

The next day, we went back to Cedar Point. James, Jennifer, and I went on rides together. I was so scared to go on the Miliniem Force, but James told me I'd be okay.

"I promise I'll hold your hand." he said. We got in the seats and Jennifer sat in front of us.

"Hey, I'll get to see what it's like before you do." Jennifer said.

We got in the seats, and we buckled up. We pulled down the restraints and the people working checked to make sure they were on right. The ride goes straight up once you leave the tunnel the car comes in, and so it was really scary. When it started going up, James looked out at the lake near the roller coaster.

"Look how pretty that view is." he said.

"I don't think she's thinking about the view." Jennifer giggled.

"James, if I die I will sue you. But please, tell Jason, my dad, my mom, and Alana and her parents that I love them.

"You're not gonna die. If you do, tell Wesley I love him. But you're not gonna die."

"Here we go, guys!" Jennifer said excitedly as we got to the top. I was bursting with excitement from James kissing me last night, but the air escaped into my lungs as we got near the top and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even see where we were going, all I knew was we were going down. Straight down, actually. I couldn't breathe and the ride did corkscrews and it was just all so.....fun. There were times when I couldn't breathe, but hey, we had fun. It went in dark tunnels and.....we just had a good time. When the ride stopped, we were all laughing off excitement saying how much fun we had.

I haven't smiled like that in a long time. And even though I felt disey when we got off, I was smiling.

We went on the Iron Dragon, a sort of kid ride, but it was still fun. We went on the Wicked Twister, the Drop Tower. The Drop Tower wasn't as fun as the one at Kings Island, but in a way it was more fun. The one at Kings Island is absolutely scary, but this one was just fun. Then we went on the Drop Tower that shoots you up in the air. James and Jennifer went on the Mantis, but I didn't. I couldn't do loops. The last time I went on a loop roller coaster was when Jason took me on the Vortex at Kings Island. Kings Island. I couldn't do it without Jason.

And all I remember from that day is sitting on the bench, then everythting went black.

Hey guys, did you all like the name of this chapter? I didn't want to give what was gonna happen away by saying "Waterparks and first kisses" or something like that, and it was gonna be called "Waterpark." Ugh, I might change it. I'm not sure. Haha. Thanks for reading :) -Sarah