Leap

we stood on the diving board, restless. I could feel our feet dancing, pitter-pattering, sloshing wet, dirty and scraping against the board’s itchy, scratchy material.

“You do it,” she says.

“No; you do it,” I say.

We laugh.

I’m too scared, I won’t admit it. It looks too high and the water too low. People were waiting.

Suddenly, I hear her tumbling out, her feet flying out in front of me.

I get the nerve, I jump immediately after her.

The weightlessness of jumping off such a height, so exhilarating, it was like time stopped.

We share a smile.

Whew!