“It’s a rush. You’re going to love it,” Ben said. And then he took off his shirt and his baggy biking pants that were half shorts and half pants, and his dirty shoes. He had faded swim trunks underneath. He walked out to the edge of the rock, and without saying one more word, he jumped off the edge. He didn’t even scream as he fell. All I heard was the splash.

Eventually, I got up the nerve to go near the edge. Ben was waving up at me from the water.

Oh no. I’m telling you, Larry, I didn’t want new friends enough to do it.

“Come on!” He was so far down I could hardly hear him.

Even though I knew I wasn’t going to jump because that would be crazy, I took off my shirt and shoes. I left my socks on because I was definitely not going to do it.

Next thing I knew I was standing at the edge of the cliff. My heart bashed around in my chest, and I thought I might be having an anxiety attack, even though I’m so easygoing. I took off my socks. None of the rules covered this. Maybe #2: Look for the Upside? Or was it #10: Avoid the Negative? There was no rule that said real men do death-defying jumps.

I got this rushing noise in my ears and my legs were numb. But I also felt like nothing mattered, which made the decision easier.

So I jumped. On the way down, something touched my back. Bumped it. But I couldn’t think about it because I hit the water feet-first and it felt like smacking into something solid. I went down, down, down until my heels hit the bottom of the river. My breath stopped from the cold and I thought maybe my heart stopped too. Then I swam up, and it was like my body didn’t even need me anymore. It had its own life. When I came out of the water, I felt ten times more alive and it was amazing.

“Dude!” shouted Ben. He’d swum up to me so he was right in my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“You were so close to the edge. I thought you hit something. You sure you’re okay?”

“Sure,” I said. But when we got out of the water, I felt something warm on my back, and when I felt it, my hand came away all covered in blood.

Ben was all excited. “You’re injured. Awesome.”

I didn’t think it was awesome at all, but it was cool that he thought it was.

“Yeah,” I said, like I meant to hit a big rock ledge on the way down.

“Want to go again?”