The group gave a hearty cheer in response, Isaac included. They had ten people—everyone who’d been invited had shown up. Himself, Sadina, Trish, Dominic, and Miyoko from the east side, Carson, Lacey, Boris, Jackie, and Shen from the west. Isaac didn’t know the west-siders as well as he knew the others, but they all seemed cool enough. Boris was a quiet, deep-thinker type with a buzz cut and giant ears. Jackie had the darkest skin Isaac had ever seen, matched with the longest hair, always tied up into one thick braid. Shen was loud and brash and full of energy, even though he was as skinny as Carson was thick. With nine personalities like what Isaac saw before him, the day’s adventures should never a dull moment find.

“You’re with me,” Sadina said to Isaac, gesturing toward one of the kayaks, in which she’d already thrown her backpack.

“You don’t wanna go with Trish?” he asked, the words coming out a little sheepishly. He absolutely wanted to ride with Sadina—for one thing, she seemed the most seaworthy of the bunch.

Sadina scoffed. “You kidding me? We’ll kill each other if we ride together.”

Trish gave that comment a shrug but didn’t argue the point.

“Alright, then,” Dominic said. “Let’s quit pussyfooting around and do this.”

Isaac slipped into Sadina’s designated kayak, sitting in the front because she’d thrown her stuff toward the back. Just enough water seeped through his shorts that his breath halted mid-throat, his skin burning from the icy cold. How was it that the ocean didn’t warm up with the sun beating on it all day every day? Every last centimeter of him shivered.

Sadina plopped into her seat and pushed off with the oar. Then she dipped it into the water at her right. “You remember how this works?”

He wanted to reply that he wasn’t an idiot, but he worried that his words might come out a little mousy. With a nod he dipped his own oar to the left. Then, following her cadence, they slipped out to sea. No one could keep up with them.

I’m not afraid of the water, he thought. I’m not afraid of the water.