In my senior year of high school, I went on a school trip with all my peers and teachers. After educational visits to some historic sites, we made a stop at a famous theme park with various attractions, and we were given a few hours to hang out with our friends and enjoy the rides.
My friend and I, the two awkward ones in our class, were happy to be free and start our own little adventure. We walked around the park, trying some low-key attractions and talking about life and other things while other girls rushed to different roller coasters.
Roller coasters – they were the most popular attraction, matched only by the haunted house. Everybody must have been riding a rollercoaster or exploring the haunted house because my friend and I didn’t come across anyone from our school during our visits to the non-mainstream attractions.
Just as we passed under the twisting and twirling structure of another roller coaster, suddenly, I thought maybe we could try at least one roller coaster. I’d never been on one before, but my friend had been.
“It’s not as scary as you might think,” she said as I shared my thought. “We can try a beginner one.”
The next thing I knew, we were standing in a queue to the twisting and twirling structure we’d seen a minute ago. After some moments of anxious waiting, I recognized two familiar figures in front of us: our two homeroom teachers! One was a math teacher and the other was a chemistry teacher. Both were popular among students, but unlike some other teachers, their charisma was found in their almost too low-key personalities.
“Oh, hi,” they didn’t look too surprised or excited when we called them from behind. When we asked them which attractions they’d tried so far, we learned that this was going to be their first roller coaster ride of the day as well.
Before long, our turn came, and we were paired and put in a circular cart. Several carts were tied to each other to share the same journey through the twists and turns.
The reason behind the circular shape became clear as soon as we started ascending. Due to gravity, each cart span as it travelled along the twisting track. That meant my friend and I could see our teachers spinning in front of us. As we picked up speed, they span faster and faster, while their faces remained straight.
“You’re spinning!” My friend and I shouted as we burst into laughter. “You look funny spinning?”
Soon, our cart started spinning, too, and all of us were flying through the twists and turns of the three-dimensional track. But none of that bothered me since I was too busy giggling at our spinning teachers. When the ride came to the end, I’d had the most amazing roller coaster experience. That was the only time I ever rode on a roller coaster.