Diving Into The Wreck

Surf Wax America

The week before Thanksgiving break, the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club (yes, they really do call themselves that) put up posters all over campus advertising a surfing trip. They have done this every year for as long as I can remember. I asked Jonas about it once, and he said that the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club was an established organization at Egmont College when he first started teaching there, and he's been at Egmont for most of his career.

Despite the fact that the EATC has been around for all of my college career, I had never been on one of their trips when the posters for the surfing trip started appearing in the dining hall, on the bulletin board in the Rhodes Center, in the GUAC, and anywhere else where the administration would let them hang up posters. I even found one on the door to my dorm room, as if the club was targeting me specifically. At first, I thought that the poster was like the fan letter - a way for Blake to prove that he was watching me wherever I went - but when I saw a poster on my neighbor's door, I knew that Blake wasn't involved. The EATC were just aggressively recruiting people for their trip. There wasn't any foul play.

After seeing all of those posters everywhere, and realizing that I didn't have any plans for Thanksgiving break, I thought about going on the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club surfing trip. I had never been surfing before, but the poster promised that new surfers would have a chance to learn from the experienced ones, and it seemed far more exciting than sitting around in my dorm. The only problem was that I didn't have anyone to go on the trip with. I didn't want to go by myself, surrounded by complete strangers.

That night, I ate dinner with Aditi, and I decided to bring up the surfing trip. As she took a bite of her pasta, I asked, "Have you seen the posters for the surfing trip?"

"Who hasn't?" Aditi replied.

"I thought that it might be fun to go this year."

"Dani, do you even know how to surf?"

"No, but I'd like to learn."

"I don't know why you want to go on that trip. You're just going to be left behind by all of the Extreme Thrill Adventure Club people..."

"Extreme Adventure Thrill Club," I corrected her.

"Whatever," Aditi said. "They all know how to surf, and you don't. You're going to get left behind."

"Exactly, and that's why I need you to go with me."

"I'm going home for Thanksgiving break, Dani."

"You are?"

"Yeah," Aditi said. "I want to see my family, and they're all in New Jersey right now."

"Do you know anyone who's staying?" I asked.

"I don't know," Aditi said. "Kara's going home, and so are most of the other members of our D&D party. You could ask that girl in your bio class that you're always talking about."

"Joyce?" I said. "She lives in Miami. There's no way that she's staying for Thanksgiving."

I asked around, but it was just like Aditi had said. Most of my friends were going home for Thanksgiving. A few of them asked why I wasn't going home too, and I always made up some sort of excuse about plane tickets to Cleveland being expensive at this time of year. In reality, I desperately wanted to see Sydney again, and I could have flown or driven out to Cleveland, but it was just too much to deal with Jason. It had been hard enough living in the same house with him that summer. I had plans to go home for winter break though, if only to see my sister. I knew from Skyping with her every week that she desperately missed me, so I couldn't stay away from Cleveland forever.