Consequences | Teen Ink

Consequences

May 29, 2009
By Ashley Santelli BRONZE, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Ashley Santelli BRONZE, Green Bay, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

It was a blistering July day, when a group of friends decided to take a small vacation. The leader of the group was Krystal, whose parents had just finished remodeling their cabin and bought a new speed boat. She immediately volunteered her cabin for the their vacation destination. As her and her boyfriend, Adam, finished packing his truck, her best friend Heather and her boyfriend, Gavin, pulled up with his jeep, which was overflowing with suitcases and coolers. As the two couples made sure everything was accounted for, they were off.

After a three hour trip, they finally arrived. As they stepped out of the cars, the sunset along the lake took their breath away. The crisp summer breeze, danced around their faces, forcing the fresh scent of pine to play with their noses. The sounds of the loons on the lake and children laughing as they splashed in the water, filled the heavily wooded area. With their bags still packed, they all went out to the pier to watch the rest of the sunset. Once the sun was down, they made their way back up to the cabin and started making dinner. Both Adam and Gavin got the grill ready for the hot dogs while Krystal and Heather unpacked and started getting other foods ready for supper. Once dinner was finished they got ready for bed, awaiting the long day that was around the corner.

That next morning, Gavin and Adam were the first to wake up, anticipating to drive Krystal's speed boat. As if they were little boys on Christmas morning, they woke up the girls and told them to quickly get dressed. Then with that said, the two boys went down to the pier to get the boat ready. After ten minutes, they become impatient and started yelling for the girls. Almost instantly, Heather and Krystal ran out of the house carrying a small cooler packed with sandwiches and sodas and a beach bag filled with cards, sunscreen and towels. As they boarded the boat, Adam shot them an angry glance and scolded, "Wow, take long enough?!".

As Heather turned sharply to shoot Adam a dirty look, her foot tangled in the anchor rope, leaving her to topple over the side of the boat. Rising from the lily pad forest, Heather had her hands clenched into fists and her jaw bones were popping out of her skin. "UGH! Now look what you did Adam!" she growled.

Laughing so hard that tears rolled down his sun kissed cheeks, "How is that my fault?" he managed to choke out.

Adam's laughing didn't help Heather's anger level. She looked over to Gavin, to find him laughing just as hard.

"So, you think this is funny too?" she questioned him.

"Umm....yea.", he said cautiously, trying with all his might not to laugh.

With that answer Heather stomped out of the water and climbed back into the boat. As she made her way in, Krystal tip-toed behind Gavin and pushed him in. As she heard the water russle, she looked at Heather and they both started laughing. By this time, Adam couldn't contain himself, he was practically rolling in the captain's chair, holding his stomach from laughing so hard. Swinging his leg up into the boat, Gavin's eyes flickered to Adam, "Okay, enough with the funny business. Lets go."

Heather walked over Gavin, smiling up at him and asked, "Not so funny when it's you, is it?"

Gavin just smiled then turned to Adam, "Well, we going or what?"

With that, Adam turned on the boat and easily backed away from the dock. As they sped through the water, water splashed up, providing a cool mist to cool down the group of four on this scalding July day.

After a few laps around the lake, Krystal suggested that they go back and get the tube and skies. Making their way back across the lake, the boat started to slow. At the back, the motor started to whine and gargle. After about a minute, the boat came to an abrupt stop. Everyone looked at Adam with questioning expressions painted on their faces.

"Adam, what did you do?" Krystal was the first to ask.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Gavin go back and see if something is in the motor."

Gavin moved to the back and leaned over to see the propellers. He reached his hand into the water and pulled out a few strands of seaweed. "There. I think i got it. Try to start it."

Adam turned the key, but the motor just made the whining sound again, then died. He waited a minute then gave it another try; however, this time not even the whine sounded, just silence. "What the heck?"

"Now what do we do?!" Heather asked Gavin.

"Let's just wait a few minutes and try again."

After about ten minutes, Adam gave another turn of the key. But again - nothing. Just silence.

"Oh my god, my dad's going to be so mad! Adam what did you do?!?!" Krystal screamed at Adam.

"I didn't do anything. It just stopped."

"Well you had to do something. The boat is like three weeks old. It doesn't just stop for no reason!"

"Apparently, it does."

"UGH!" Krystal growled through her teeth and rolled her eyes.

Heather and Gavin sat near the back of the boat still looking for an explaination.

"Is there gas?" Heather asked.

"Yes, there's gas." Adam hissed at her.

"Are you sure? Maybe we ran out or something."

"I'm not dumb, Heather! There's gas."

"Don't get mad at her, Adam. It's not her fault, she's just trying to help." Gavin said using his husky voice.

With that comment, all four sat in silence. Krystal, in the bow seats, holding back her screams from Adam. Adam, still sat in the captain's chair, tried to think of something. Heather and Gavin still leaned over near the motor, trying to find something - anything. After a few minutes, Adam stood and took off his shirt.

"What on earth are you doing?" Krystal asked, trying to hide the anger in her voice.

"Swimming back to the cabin."

"You can't do that, it's too far."

"Whatever, I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing."

"Ugh, whatever Adam, do what you want." Krystal said, rolling her eyes even more heavily then before.

"Adam wait." Gavin yelled.

"Yeah?"

"Heather's right. Its the gas."

"Oh not you too. The gage says we have over half."

"No, look." Gavin waved him over. "Its bone dry."

Adam shoved his way between Heather and Gavin to get a good look. "Well, for a boat that's three weeks old..." Adam started to say, looking over his shoulder to look at Krystal, "...the fuel gage works like crap."

Krystal again rolled her eyes at him. Then suddenly had a smile twinkle across her face. "Well, we have the oars to row us in. Problem solved."

Adam and Gavin both gave each other a cautious glance. "Umm..." they both started to say.

"What did you two do?" Heather and Krystal both hissed through their teeth at the same time.

The boys looked at each other again. "Well, take it away captain." Gavin told Adam.

Once again, all eyes were on Adam. "Hmm, how do I explain this. Well..." Adam started to say, until Krystal interrupted him.

"JUST SAY IT! What did you do?!" She barked at him.

"I took them out to make more room, then I forgot to put them back in..." Adam said trying to smile and see the humor in the situation.

The anger in Krystal's face returned with even more intensity. "You've got to be kidding? How dumb are you? Honestly, Adam! What would make you do such a stupid thing. Oh, I'll tell you why, because you were too fricken excited to come boating. Honestly, you act like you're two years old! UGH!, you make me so mad!"

"Just shut up Krystal. It's not like he totaled the boat, he just forgot the gas." Gavin sneared at Krystal.

"And the oars..." Heather reminded Gavin cautiously.

Everyone fell silent. They didn't even look at each other, scared it would start another up-roar.

"This is ridiculous, this was supposed to be a fun weekend get away and we're all fighting. Gavin, Adam you guys swim back to the cabin and use that paddle boat thing to get gas back here or at least the oars. And once that happens, we're going to go on having fun!" Heather annouced.

With that, Gavin took his shirt off and dove into the water. He surfaced from the water, then looked left to Adam asking if he was coming. Adam dove in after him and started swimming strong strokes. Gavin was soon behind him, keeping pace well. As the guys disappeared into the distance, Heather and Krystal laid out on the bow and discussed their immature boyfriends.

"What is taking them so long?" Krystal asked Heather after about an hour.

Heather sat up, looking out by the shore.

"There they are."Heather said sarcastically.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but they're still pretty far away. I'd give it about another 15 minutes or so."

"Ugh. Well, at least its better then another hour."

They both laid back down and waited. About a half an hour later, the sound of the paddle boat grew louder as it approached the boat. Heather lifted her head and smiled out at Gavin.

"Don't be giving me that smile. I'm tired as hell and I'm not in the mood for your attitude." Gavin growled at her.

"I wasn't going to say a word." Heather stated through her smile.

The boys finally reached the boat and threw both the paddles and gas up into the boat. Heather and Krystal, rolled up their towels and moved to the back of the boat to help their boyfriends.

Gavin unscrewed the gas cap and filled the tank.

"Try it now." Gavin hollered over to Adam.

Adam sat back down happily into the captain's chair and turned the key. Again the engine groaned a little bit, but then fired back to a constant hum. Adam and Gavin grinned at each and looked towards the girls.

"What?" Krystal asked.

Adam's smile grew then started to laugh. Gavin joined in then looked down at the paddle boat.

"Well, if you girls think that we are paddling that boat back, you're wrong." Gavin laughed.

Heather and Krystal both looked at each other, then down at the boat, then at the boys.

"Fine. Be that way. We'll paddle back, it can't be that hard." Krystal whined at Gavin.

Both girls slipped out and sat into the paddle boat.

"Bye! Have fun!" Adam winked at them. Then turned to Gavin to laugh again.

As the girls made their way back to the cabin, Gavin and Adam flew by, making sure their waves would tip over the paddle boat.

The waves made their way to the boat, rocking it back and forth. Both girls laughed and screamed at the same time. However, as the waves intensified the laughs turned into mostly screams. As the girls tried to paddle against the waves, the boat grew more unsteady. Finally with the last intense wave the boat flipped over, throwing the girls in different directions. As Heather and Krystal bobbed to the surface they swam over and turned the boat over.

"I'm going to kill them!" Heather yelled.

Krystal hit Heather in the arm, "Wow, they have a lot of nerve coming over here."

"Just get in and start paddling."

Heather helped Krystal into the boat and started to paddle. Adam and Gavin idled closely behind.

"Heather..."Gavin started to say.

"Don't you even try to talk to me Gavin!" Heather shouted, not even turned her head to look at him.

Finally reaching the pier, Heather and Krystal hopped out the boat and walked quickly up to the cabin. Gavin and Adam quickly ran after them, after tying the boat to the pier.

"So ladies, want to go tomorrow?" Adam asked jokingly.

Krystal turned sharply on her heels and looked up at Adam, "Haha. You're real funny."

"I know." Adam said smiling.

Gavin walked up to Heather. "So what are the plans for tonight?"

Heather still not turning, "Whatever pleases you. Go flip over some other paddle boat maybe?"

"Oh come on Heather. I'm sorry."

Heather hesitated, the turned to face Gavin, "Yeah, I know. Let's just go swimming for the rest of the day."

"Sounds good." Krystal said.

They all made their way back down to the pier and jumped off.

The four friends swam and splashed around in the clear blue water, watching the sunset. When the colors set behind the trees, they headed back up to the cabin laughing about the day they'd just experienced.

The author's comments:
When my advanced composition teacher assigned our class this cause and effect project, I wasn't sure what I was going to write about. At first I thought about a research paper but after the idea pondered in my head for a while, that idea bored me. When I told him that I wasn't sure what I was going to write about, he told me to be creative about it and think of someone interesting. Therefore, I decided that I would write a story. The cause would be that four teenagers hadn't prepared for a boating trip and the effect would be running out of gas in the middle of the lake. When my teacher handed my paper back on it, he explained that it was, "one of the finest essays he'd ever read." I took that complement to heart and figured I would submit this story. My friends that read the story really enjoyed it and found it funny. Therefore, I figured that other teens would be drawn in as well.

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