Page 56 of You Had Me at Hello World
Once the last firework fizzles into nothing, Jenni-with-an-i is about to steer us back to shore when another boat speeds past.
“Race you to the Esplanade!” Diego shouts. Next to him, Obi pumps his fists in the air.
“Bet,” Aisha yells. She’s drunk. “Captain Jenni, after them!”
Jenni-with-an-i frowns at the water. “I don’t know, the winds are starting to pick up…”
“Babe, fuck the winds!Fuckthem!”
“Not anatomically possible,” Haru mumbles.
“It’ll be fun,” I say, not wanting the night to end just yet.
With a sigh, Jenni-with-an-i tacks, and soon we’re whizzing after the other boat.
She’s right; the windisstronger than before. Hair whips into my eyes and mouth. On the bright side, at least it’s myownhair.
“Woooo!” Aisha hoots. “Somebody doTitanicwith me.” She stands up and holds her arms out. “I’m the king of the world!”
Then there’s an aggressive gust and she totters.
Khoi rushes over to her. “Are you okay?”
With Khoi on the left, the boat tilts from the uneven weight distribution. Jenni-with-an-i stumbles. Haru drops the rope and throws his arm out to keep her from falling.
“Fudge, the sail is luffing!” Jenni-with-an-i cries. “Somebody secure the sheet!”
The boat lurches again. The hull is almost entirely perpendicular to the river. I scramble for the rope, but I’m not quite sober and it’s slicker than I thought. It slips out of my grasp.
The metal arm of the sail swings back wildly and knocks Khoi clean into the Charles.
It takes me a moment to remember he can’t swim.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I’ve plunged into the icy water, the cold slicing through my clothes. I frantically grope for Khoi in the darkness. My fingers finally find fabric—his shirt. I lock my arms around his midsection and kick upward with all my might. The water breaks over our heads, and we both gasp for air.
“Char, what are you doing?” he sputters. “We’re wearinglife jackets.”
I stop thrashing. He’s right. We’re both buoyant. We’re fine.
“Oh,” I say, feeling immensely dumb. “Right.”
They’ve tilted the boat upright again.
“Y’all alive?” Jenni-with-an-i calls.
“Babes, you’re lucky this is a coding camp and not a swimming camp!” Aisha shouts.
Our friends drag us back onto the boat and we decide tohead to shore. Even though it’s, like, eighty-five degrees out, I’m shivering. My body is one giant goose bump. As we sail, Haru brags to Jenni-with-an-i about his motorcycle, which was apparently a bribe from his dad during his parents’ divorce. He says “torque” like it’s the most erotic word in the English dictionary.
“We could go for a ride,” he says to her. “The suspension is phenomenal. Buttery smooth. You gotta feel it for yourself.”
Jenni-with-an-i squirms. “Ummm, aren’t motorcyclists twenty times more likely to die in a car crash?”
“I’ll ride with you, dude,” Khoi offers in his completely oblivious Khoi way. Aisha makes a choked-up noise that sounds like a stifled snicker.
“Maybe if we have time,” Haru says in a tone that means he’s never bringing this up again.
Meanwhile, all I can think about are fluffy cotton towels and a mug of hot chocolate. Not the powdered packet crap. The rich, smooth stuff that makes your insides feel like liquid gold.
