“When you see my face hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell!"

-All American Rejects

It was a sultry summers day in Salt Lake City, in early June on a choir field trip. The fifth grade choir class gets to go to Lagoon for the final concert. Everyone signed up for choir class only because they knew they would get to go to Lagoon at the end of the year. Now, I had never been on a roller coaster, nor had I ever been to a theme park, so I was very excited to ride my first roller coaster with all my friends! The plan was we would sing at our concert for about an hour, and then we got to spend the rest of the day on the roller coasters!


Shortly after the concert, there was a choir class standing at the gate of Lagoon. All of my class mates were stoked to have the whole, glorious day to have fun, while everyone else had to be at school. I got a few of my close buddies and we took off to go ride. Megan Yeates, Michael O?Brein, Max Johnson, Ed Malan and I all ran to the largest ride we could see. THE ROCKET was written in large red letters at the base. A tower rose above us, reaching a jaw dropping 217 feet in the air. We were first in line and boarded the ride quickly. Little did we know that we would crap our pants.
The ride is this big tower with a moving base. You strap yourself into a seat on the moving base, and slowly rise to the top of the tower.


Now being only a small little fifth grader, being two hundred feet off the ground is pretty nerve racking. We all sat giggling as our feet slowly left the ground and we began to climb up and up, higher off the ground. About eighty feet above the ground the giggling ended. The butterflies swirling in our stomach turned into birds, stabbing our bellies with their beaks. At the top of the ride, we all were speechless.


The workers at Lagoon are jokers to, so we stayed up there for about tree minutes, our feet dangling in mid air. The control center was inside a small shack with tinted windows, so you sat up there not knowing when you would plummet to the ground. Megan and I sat strapped into our seats with our eyes as big as the moon. My hands were clutching the harness that strapped me in so tightly my knuckles were turning white.


I finally got the nerve to let go of the harness and grab megan?s hand. The boys, seeming excited to be dangling from what seemed to be our doom, started to sing. Yes, they started singing ?Hope it gives you hell? by a band called The All American Rejects. I was slightly comforted by the song, and started singing along. Megan on the other hand stayed well aware of the drop that was shortly going to happen. Finally, after sing a couple of verses, I had nearly forgot that I was hanging two hundred feet in the air. I began to sing just a little bit louder...“tomorrow you?ll be thinki---AHHHHHHHHHH!”



And we dropped. Shooting toward the ground faster than a jet plane. I felt my stomach fly out my butt. I honestly thought I was going to die. I saw the pavement flying and screamed like a woman in labor. At the bottom of the ride, we flew back to the top, racing toward the sky. At the top, yet again, we relinquished. Slowly stopping at the bottom, our feet softly hit the ground. My face, was pale white and ice cold, and my hair was flown into a jumble on my head, making me look like an exact replica of Edward Cullen. Nearly terrified for the rest of the day. Never, Not EVER again, will I go back on ?The Rocket.? Not, EVER, again.