Back in the day, Trea and I had nothing to do but Kayak and run errands for our mothers. So after about 5 times out kayaking (This was a few trips before we went out to the middle of the bridge), he finally asked me.. "Jillianne, have you ever practiced flipping your kayak?" I gawk at him, "What? Why would you do that!" He laughed at me, "You're supposed to have done that already! So in case it happens while you're out there, you'll know what to do!" I sulk, "Oh, well... I don't plan on ever being in a situation where I'll flip over. Calm water, that's me. That's where I'll stay." He laughed some more, clearly enjoying where this was going, "No, no, no. You need to practice.." He paddled closer to me. I start paddling backwards, "Trea, you stay away from me," he reaches his arm out and nearly grabs the side of my kayak but I stab him with my paddle, "I mean it!" "Jillianne," he tries to sound comforting, "I'm only doing this for your well-being. Keeping you safe and prepared. You need to know what to do!" he reaches my kayak. Pulling me side by side with him, he smiles, "Okay, I'll make you a deal.." He looks around, "You can either.. let me flip you over right now," I squirm and try to paddle away, "or, we go out into the bay right now," I squirm even harder. "Please, Trea. This isn't fun." "Flipping it is. Here, give me your phone so it doesn't drown," he held out his hand. I laugh and yell no. "Fine," he smirks and jolts one side of my kayak up, but I stay put.. I laugh at him and he begs me some more to let him do it. "How about you flip yourself. So I can, you know, have an example. So I know how easy it is to do." He laughs but agrees and paddles a good distance away from me, thankfully. He slips his phone into his dry pack, sets his paddle on the water, and takes a deep breath. In one quick motion he is underwater and the kayak is bottom-up. I clap my hands like a child as he quickly bobs up. "Jillianne," he says seriously, "I can stand." And sure enough, he plants his feet on the sandy floor raising his chest and up to be above water. He walks forwards to catch his paddle and trudges back to get back in his boat. He flips it on its side and puts his torso on the seat as he hurls it upright, bringing himself with it, legs flailing in the air. He did it, actually, very gracefully. What followed is what makes it great. Trea's kayak is a standard one, a standard sit-in kayak. When he had flipped it back over, it had taken a great deal of water. As he gets seated, I watch as he looks down at his feet and mumbles, "God dammit." He holds his head back and sighs. I snicker, "What's wrong, hun?" He takes off one of his shoes and tells me to shut up. He begins shoveling the water out of his kayak with his shoe, his water shoe so it isn't as effective as we all had hoped. But after a few moments, he seems ready to paddle back over to me to give me another ultimatum.
When I got home that day, I told my parents how awful Trea had been and how he threatened me and tried to flip me over when I begged him not to. They completely sided with him. I think my mom even texted him giving him a direct order to flip me the next time we went out.
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