“AHHHHHHH!  ” I screamed as Anna Jane and I in a one person inner tube start going in circles at 60 mph.   But before I tell you how I got into that position I have to tell you the full story.  Last summer I went to my best friend  Anna Jane’s,  lake house.  That’s where this all started.

I had heard tons of stories about this lake house and all the fun Anna’s family has had there.  That summer they invited me along.  “ You are going to love it at our lake house!  We do such fun stuff like wake boarding and tubing!  ” Anna told me on the last day of fifth grade when we left class.  I was so excited to get to go on the motor boat and get to ride a inner tube.  We left on the last day of school, and we were in the car for four hours.   “When are we going to get there?  ” I thought.  When we got there I saw the house.  It was  nice and cozy, with 3 bedrooms.  I loved it, and I was really excited about being at the lake.  It was also nice and warm outside and not many bugs: and as soon as I got there, I loved it.

The next day I got up really early and woke up Anna Jane.   “Come on I wanna go for a swim!  ” I said.  She groaned but I got her out of bed.  We walked into the kitchen to see Anna’s grandmother in the kitchen.  As soon as I walked in I smelled pancakes on the stove.  “ hi lazy heads” she said.  We sat down and ate quick breakfast.  “ Anna, eat faster” I said gazing at the water through the window.  She gobbled down her food and we were ready to go.

We found a floaty tube in the garage, and threw in in the water.  “ you get in first.  ” Anna said.  “no, you get in first!  ” I said as I pretended to push her in the water.  We decided to jump together.  “one, two, THREE!  ” we screamed.   We splashed into the water.  The water was nice and cool and I loved it.  Later that day we decided to go for a motorboat ride.  I was so excited! When we got out on the water I jumped into the tube ready to go.

That time it was just me in the tube.  As soon as the boat started to move I didn’t know if I was ready for this.  All I could see was water and the forest, and I didn’t want to fall into either.  ”Can you go really, really slowly?  ” I said pleadingly.   “ Sure just tell me when you want to stop. ”Anna’s dad yelled over the noise of all the other motorboats.  Then the tube started to move.   My heart was pounding and I was so excited, until I realized how slowly I was going.  It wasn’t as fun as I imagined because I was going so slowly.  I just couldn’t get myself to ask to go faster, I was afraid of falling off.  At the time, I had a bright green waterproof cast on my wrist, and I didn’t want to break anything else.  This was a battle for me.

If you know me and Anna Jane very well you’ll know i’m not scared of most things, and Anna sometimes is.  But in this story its the opposite.  Anna was pumped up and ready to go when I wanted to get out.   I was surprised she wasn’t scared.  “phoebe, guess what happened last time I was on the tube?  ” Anna said as I retired from the tube, “what? ” I said, scared to know what happened.   “ I went over the wake and almost fell out!  ” she said with a gleam in her eye.  Just that story from Anna made me nauseous.  I wanted to go fast, but I was scared.  “ hey phoebe.  ” said Anna’s dad, ”If you’re too scared to go alone why don’t you go with Anna?  ” I thought that maybe it was a good idea, and as soon as I got into the tube with her, I knew I wasn’t.

 Ok now I caught you up.  “AHHHHHHHHHHH!  ” I screamed as the motorboat starts speeding through the water, with me clinging on to the tube for dear life.  I looked over and saw Anna screaming in delight and I decided I wouldn’t get that hurt if I fell its just water.  I decided to calm down.  But I couldn’t calm down!  All I saw was water spraying into my face and a motor boat going 60 mph!  So I closed my eyes and calmed down.  After I got over my fear it was really fun!  “WHOO HOO!  ” I screamed as we went over the wake.  It was such a beautiful day and we were having a great time at this point, I was all laughs.  There wasn’t any more fear left in me.

        Then we started going in circles.  I started to get really scared.  “ Anna?  ” I said wearily, “I don’t think this is a good idea.  ”  “lighten up.  ” she said “nothing bad will happen even if we do fall off.  ” I didn’t want to get hurt.  But I knew something bad was going to happen.  This part of the memory is a blur.  We hit a wake from another boat.  Because I could only hold on with one hand because of my cast, I flew off the tube and hit  Anna in the head.  We both fell off the tube and our heads colliding.  When I opened my eyes I was under water.  I didn’t know were I was.

When I broke the surface of the water my head hurt a ton.  “ PHOEBE?  ” was what I heard when came above water.  “PHOEBE!!!  ” Anna screamed as she swam over to me.   “ I thought you had drowned!!  ” The adults circled the boat around to pick us up.  After that wipe-out I was fine.  I did have a bump on my head but I wasn’t scared of hurting myself anymore.  When I think back to that moment now, I realize how scared I was and how I shouldn’t have been.  I got over my fear, and today I love tubing.  If I hadn’t had my wipe-out I don’t think I would have ever gotten over my fear and i’m glad I did.