At 7:00 AM, I had to arrive at school on a Saturday. This wasn’t the problem, though. I’m not afraid of school. But what I was afraid of was what I would have to see soon. Everyone in my class was thrilled, and when the bus came, everyone was practically jumping for joy. Everyone except for me. My heart was pounding. In class about two weeks ago, someone asked what they would do if they were scared of roller coasters. Mr. Jones said that we could just ride the little kid rides. I knew that if I told anyone, they would laugh at me and never let me live the experience down. “Come on, Zoe,” I thought to myself, “ You can’t let everyone see your fear.” Even though the bus ride only was supposed to take an hour, it felt like it took a million years, but that was probably because we almost crashed twice. When we finally arrived, I felt my stomach falling ten feet. I got a hurting feeling in my stomach. Screams emanated painfully from the three hundred foot monster of a roller coaster that towered before us. Shrieks of delight came from boys and girls alike. The June heat made me feel faint for a split second as I got off of the bus.
As we entered the line, my head begun to spin. “Oh, no. Oh no!” I thought. The gate opened and a humongous fountain cascaded to welcome us. “Hardly welcoming,” I thought to myself, “when there are screams piercing my ears every ten seconds.” In front of the fountain, there was a sign which read: “Welcome To Kings Dominion”. Mr. Jones, our teacher, gave us specific instructions to meet at the music hall by two o’ clock sharp. This definitely would not be a problem for me, as performing would be the most fun thing I would do all day. Why? Simple. I am terrified of roller coasters.
I knew it. I would be forced to go on roller coasters. I would be laughed at, humiliated, and tortured for 12 hours straight by people who I thought were my friends. On Monday, when we went back to school, I was sure that my class would tease me until I died of embarrassment.
I spotted a small group of people I knew. “Why the heck not?’’ I thought. “I’m going to be humiliated, no matter what group I’m in. Why not at least get humiliated by my friends?”
“Umm…” I asked a small cluster of my friends, “Can I be in your group?”
“Sure!” my friend Caroline grinned. “As long as you don’t make us go on any roller coasters.”
“What?” I asked, thinking that I had heard her wrong.
“Well, we’re all in this group because we all don’t like roller coasters. You don’t like roller coasters, do you?”
“N…No! Of… of course not!” I stuttered in disbelief. “How could I get any luckier?” I thought. “I guess this day won’t be so terrible after all.”
We found a ride that was not a roller coaster, one that consisted of swinging birds that you could control. My friend Anne screamed and wailed in fear, as I drove the bird higher and higher into the sky, doing insane twists and turns. It was hilarious. Hope begun to flow like a river, back into my heart. My spirit became lively once again. The ride might not have been too terribly exhilarating, but it was fun all the same. Next, we decided to test our boundaries. No, not with a roller coaster, but something like that. We decided to go on a log flume. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, except my friends forced me to sit in the very front of the log! I screamed so loud when the ride hit the drop, it was mortifying. Then, when we went to see the picture, I looked ridiculous! The funniest thing, though, was that Anne was hiding behind me, so you could only see her head! I was beginning to have a lot of fun. We went on a couple more rides, and before we knew it, it was 1:50. We ventured to the music hall, where our classmates were camped out. By this time, it was sweltering. When it was time for us to perform, the coolness of the A/C hit me like a gentle pillow. My class nervously mounted the stage, unpacked our instruments, and sat down. As we begun to play, my thoughts wandered from the music, and went to how excited I was to get back into the park. Before I knew it, we were finished playing. We sat in the back row of the theater as the Chamber orchestra played. We were thrilled to exit the theater and return to our rides. At about 6:00 pm, my friends and I decided to play a “fool the guesser” game. The guesser chose my exact weight! I was crestfallen. When my friend Anne stepped up, however, she won! She chose a blue penguin with a sailor’s hat and a cute little red bow tie. “Darn it,” I thought, “Why couldn’t I have won?” As if she read my mind, Anne said to me, “You can have him if you want.”
“What?’’ I asked, confused. When she confirmed I could have it I was so happy, I could’ve burst. I named him the name that I believed was the most appropriate; Walter the Orchestra Penguin. By then, we were instructed to go back to the Eiffel Tower (not the real one) in the center of the park to watch the fireworks. As the show began, my brother sauntered up to me, a gray and green lemur slung over his shoulder, in the position of a fireman’s carry, and a huge grin on his face. He explained how he went on almost all of the roller coasters, and one he did standing up. I shuddered at the thought, but he seemed happy, so I let the matter drop.
The bus ride back to the school was terrible. I was exhausted. Not only that, but the people in the back of the bus were so painfully loud, that the driver couldn’t focus. We almost crashed again. When I was finally able to doze off, it was only for half an hour. I woke up to a bunch of boys singing “Girl on Fire” incredibly out of tune. I liked to think that it was fate that I woke up during that song.
At about 12:30 am, we returned home. Our parents wanted to hear about our adventures, but we were much too exhausted to speak. I ended up getting sick with a fever the next day, but I thought that it was completely worth it. To this day, I still have Walter, and he comes to Orchestra parties. I like to think of him as my Orchestra adventures penguin keepsake. I still remember that trip, and I most likely will for the rest of my life. Hopefully, one day, I will conquer my fear of roller coasters, but for now, I just like to say that I went to Kings Dominion on an orchestra trip, and I had a lot of fun.
