Free Picture Perfect by Catherine Clark

hang out,” Adam saidwhen we caught up.
    I took off my helmet and brushed a damp strand of hair off my forehead. “Sounds good to me.”
    “Then maybe we can find a place to go windsurfing,” Spencer said as we locked our bikes to the rack in the parking lot.
    “Oh, yeah, we’ll do that, we’ll totally do that,” I said, grabbing the towel I’d fastened onto the back of the bike.
    Heather laughed. “Can you picture me on a windsurfer? I’m too short. I’d get knocked down.”
    “Not necessarily,” Adam said. “It’s all about balance, which you’re good at. But you need upper body strength, too.”
    “Can I have some of yours?” asked Heather as we traipsed onto the beach.
    I watched Adam and Spencer strip off their shirts and dive into the ocean. Heather was wearing a bikini under her T-shirt and shorts, and she stripped down and followed them.
    I took out my camera and took pictures of the long beach, the rolling surf, and the trail ofclothes leading to the water. There were a few small children farther down the beach playing in the water and building sand castles, and I tried to get good photos of them, too. I put my camera away, stashing it inside my shorts pocket and covering those with a towel.
    “What are you waiting for?” Spencer called to me from the surf.
    I stood there, water up to my ankles. Then my lower shins. Then my mid-shins. Then my knees.
    Spencer swam a little closer. “What’s the matter? Are you scared?”
    “No, I’m not scared,” I said. “I like to think of it as smart, actually.”
    His arms cut through the water as he made his way toward shore. He didn’t have the same gigantic biceps that Adam had, but he was definitely in good shape. Just not the same weightlifter look. “How do you figure?”
    I wrapped my arms around my waist. “It’s freezing! Why would I want to go all the way in?”
    “Because the water feels great once you’rein. But hey, if you want to stand there and shiver, feel free.” He stood up and pointed. “We’ll head out past the break, float for a while.”
    He turned to swim back out. I didn’t want to go in, but I didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t, either. “But I—I can’t just leave my camera here, without anyone watching it.”
    “No one’s going to take it. Do you even see anyone else around? That’s not it. You’re afraid of seaweed or jellyfish or something,” he teased.
    “No, I’m not!” Although, come to think of it, I didn’t like slimy, gel-like stinging creatures floating past me in the ocean. “Well, maybe. Have you seen any?”
    “Come on, live dangerously for once. Do something not on your mom’s list.”
    I slowly tiptoed farther into the water until it came up to my waist. “Since when do I not live dangerously? I mean, I’m here with you, right?”
    “You are so going under.” Spencer struggled to get close enough to push me into the ocean,but before he could, someone else pulled my leg out from under me and I went straight down into the water.
    I came to the surface and saw Heather standing behind me, laughing. “Sometimes you just have to give Emily a little push,” she said to Spencer, who was laughing.
    “Oh, my God, you should have seen your face,” he said.
    I glared at both of them, then dove under an approaching wave and escaped out to calmer water by myself. I floated for a minute or two, looking up at the deep blue sky. It was very peaceful, and I felt myself getting lost in my thoughts as I gently bobbed in the waves. I was so lucky to be here, lucky to have this vacation with my family and friends.
    I didn’t want to get too deep—either in thought or in the ocean—but I couldn’t help thinking that this was some sort of turning point, between high school and college. It wasn’t just that it was the last summer before college, and not that I was one to make swimming metaphors…but I felt like I was on a divingboard, about to plunge into a new life. Sort of like how I’d