PACIFIC OCEAN HANALEI BAY KAUAI HAWAII U.S.A. HAWA O AHU MOLOKAT KAUAI NI HAU LANAT KAHO OLAWE PACIFIC OCEAN HAWATI 1 CRUZ His name floated easily to him across the water Cruz turned to see his dad waving him in from the beach It couldn't be time to go already could it Knee deep in the warm surf Cruz raised an arm He spread his fingers to ask beg for five more minutes Please he whispered into the evening breeze In about three hours he would be leaving for Explorer Academy It was a long way from Kauai to Washington D.C. 4,882 miles to be exact And Cruz was scared What if he didn't make any friends What if he couldn't handle the training What if he disappointed his family his friends his teachers and everybody who expected him to be some thing even he wasn't sure he could be His father was giving him the thumbs up Yes Pushing the what ifs from his mind Cruz faced the tangerine sun set of Hanalei Bay He would think about everything else later He slid his belly onto the surfboard and began windmilling his arms through the tepid teal waters as he'd done thousands of times He'd been surf ing for as long as he could remember His dad teased him that he spent more time in the water than out of it which was probably true Cruz loved the sweeping motion of the waves Water was constant and comforting dependable
Approaching the break Cruz grasped the sides of his surfboard He pushed the nose underwater in a smooth duck dive and the swell passed over him Surfacing he paddled out a bit farther and cut a 45 degree turn that put him parallel to the beach Lining himself up with the end of the long pier he sat up and straddled his board legs dangling He liked the take off zone It was the calm before the ride as Lani liked to say Bobbing like this he could think about anything or nothing The choice was up to him On his last day at home Cruz didn't want to think He wanted to feel He wanted to feel every sensation And remember To his left beyond the crescent shaped inlet rose the emerald peaks of the mountains on the northern shore In the fading light it was easy to pick out the white waterfalls cascading down the creases of the hills Cruz spotted his dad walking through the parking lot geez sailboats 20 miles offshore could probably see that crazy bright yellow and blue zigzag shirt His father would be headed back up to the Goofy Foot their surf shop to close for the night Cruz glanced right into the deep orange sunset It was as if the glowing orb had rolled out a carpet of light across the ocean for him just to say good bye He was sure going to miss this place You don't have to go you know Lani had said last spring when he'd told her he'd been accepted into the Academy Her words stung Lani was his best friend the one who always found the silver lining Not that he blamed her They had both applied to the school yet only Cruz had been accepted It had come as a shock He had thought Lani surely would have been chosen over him she was so much smarter and more creative But then the certified letter had arrived For him It was impressive with its fancy parchment paper and shiny seal gold
Dear Cruz Coronado EXPLORER ACADEMY Congratulations The Society is pleased to extend to you this invitation of admittance to our elite Explorer Academy Upon acceptance you will be inducted into the next class of young explorers and given the rare privilege of learning firsthand from a faculty of the world's most renowned scientists explorers conservationists photographers and journalists as you travel to historic and majestic locations around the globe We select only those candidates of the highest caliber for this prestigious honor We ardently await your response Cordially Regina M Hightower Ph D Explorer Academy President Cruz's aunt Marisol who taught anthropology at the Academy said they only accepted 25 or so students per class from around the world It was quite an achievement to be admitted Still Cruz wondered had he earned it His aunt had likely pulled a few strings to get him in Or it could have been offered out of guilt Cruz's mom also once worked at the Society she had been a neuroscientist with the Synthesis its sci entific arm Seven years ago there was a bad accident in her lab It had taken her life Another Synthesis scientist Dr Elistair Fallowfeld had
