DropZone

‘That your new boyfriend?’ His dad was pointing at the TV with the can in his hand. ‘Bit old for you, isn’t he?’

Ethan said nothing. He wasn’t going to let his dad ruin this. No way. So he went over to the TV, ejected the DVD and put it back in its case.

‘I hope I haven’t spoiled anything,’ said his dad. ‘Put it on, son. I want to see it.’

‘It’s finished,’ said Ethan.

As he made to leave the room, his mum reached up and touched his hand. ‘I’m really proud of you.’

Ethan smiled. ‘Thanks, Mum,’ he said, and headed for the door.

But his dad was blocking the doorway. ‘Where are you going, son? Come on, let me watch it. Make me proud,’ he said sarcastically.

‘Get out of my way,’ said Ethan, and heard his mum and Jo coming up behind him.

‘Ethan,’ said his mum. ‘Don’t…’

He stared at his dad. For a moment no one moved, then his dad stepped to one side, a fake smile slapped across his fat face. ‘After you,’ he said.

Ethan edged his way past, but as he did so, his dad snatched the DVD from his hand.

He snapped round. ‘Give that back.’

His dad looked at the DVD, then waved it in front of Ethan’s face. ‘I just want to watch it, son, that’s all.’

‘Don’t call me that. Don’t call me son,’ said Ethan. He lunged for the DVD, and missed.

His dad laughed, then held the DVD out. ‘Go on, then,’ he said. ‘Take it.’

Ethan reached for the DVD and his dad threw it down the hall. It clattered into the front door.

Ethan turned in fury. ‘You bastard…’

But his mum immediately stepped between them, pushing Ethan away. ‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘Please, Ethan, don’t let him spoil it.’

‘Yeah, listen to Mummy,’ said his dad, and laughed.

Ethan moved towards his father, but his mum resisted and he thought better of it. Instead, he went to pick up the DVD. It seemed fine. He turned round to see his dad still sneering at him, but his mum was smiling. And so was Jo. And that was enough.

The day after the tandem jump Ethan was helping out in the shop at FreeFall. The buzz was still ripping through him.

Joh

‘What?’ said Ethan.

‘Think you’ve got it bad, mate,’ said Joh

‘Got what?’

‘The addiction. Some people jump once and that’s enough for them – been there, done that, got the T-shirt. But others – you, for example…’

‘What about me?’

‘You want up again, don’t you?’

Ethan nodded.

‘Can’t think of anything else, can you?’

Ethan shook his head.

‘Like I said,’ Joh

Ethan called him back as some of the other regular skydivers came to look around the shop.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said. ‘What do I do next – you know – if I want to get into this? At least if I know what it’ll cost, I’ll have something to aim for.’

‘The AFF,’ said Joh

‘Sounds cool,’ said Ethan.

‘Oh, it’s cool all right,’ said Joh

‘A week? No way.’

‘That’s why it’s called accelerated,’ said Joh

Ethan remembered hearing a few people talking about the AFF, but he’d never taken a booking for it. ‘Why don’t more people do it?’

‘Because it costs about fifteen hundred quid,’ said Joh

Ethan ran the figure around in his mind. It didn’t get any smaller. ‘Bollocks,’ he said.

‘Steep, isn’t it?’ said Joh

Ethan shook his head. ‘You’ve seen where we live. We all chip in together. We’re not exactly poor, but no way have we got that amount of cash just sitting in the bank…’

‘What about the job?’ asked Joh

Ethan shook his head. ‘It’s a great job, but I’m hardly raking it in.’ He attempted a smile. ‘Hey, at least I managed to bag a free tandem. I mean, how many people can say that, eh? And a couple of weeks ago I’d never have thought I’d be able to do something like that.’

‘There’s nothing stopping you doing another tandem,’ said Joh

‘I guess,’ said Ethan. He knew about static line jumps, but he wasn’t really interested. Jumping from a plane and having the canopy open automatically just didn’t seem to have the same buzz about it as skydiving. And you didn’t get the freefall rush either. It was just a jump from the plane and then a glide down. That was it.

Ethan tried not to think about how much he wanted to do the AFF – and how much he couldn’t afford it. He smiled at Joh

‘We use the same one for all the DVDs,’ said Joh

Ethan turned and saw Sam’s head round the door; he was looking at Joh

‘Yeah, no worries,’ said Ethan, and Joh

Ethan thought again about the AFF and felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. The tandem had been amazing, had totally blown his mind. He didn’t want to just do that again; he wanted to skydive properly, do what Joh

For him, it was just impossible.

The next day Ethan arrived at FreeFall dead on seven thirty, skidding to a halt beside the café. To his surprise, Joh

‘So,’ he said, slipping into a chair in front of Joh

Joh

Ethan nodded. ‘Too right I am. Can hardly think of anything else. Bit of a pisser about the AFF, though.’ He still felt gutted.

‘True,’ said Joh

‘I’ll get over it,’ said Ethan. ‘I’ve been thinking I might do it next summer. You know, celebrate the end of school with it or something. If I keep working here and maybe take another job as well, I should be able to save up enough.’

Joh

‘What thing?’

‘It’s all been taken care of.’

Ethan didn’t understand. ‘What do you mean? What are you on about? What’s been taken care of?’

‘You. The AFF. It’s sorted.’

‘Shut up,’ said Ethan. ‘And don’t be a dick.’

‘I’m not being a dick,’ Joh

Ethan opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Surely Joh

‘Sam will be teaching you,’ Joh

‘You’re not serious, are you?’ said Ethan, but Joh

‘I’ll be doing the filming. I need the practice anyway. We’ll be able to assess every single jump you do, show you what you’re doing wrong, what you’re doing right. And you’ll have a nice little souvenir at the end, won’t you? A little bit of Ethan Hollywood all of your own.’

At last words formed in Ethan’s head. ‘But… who?’ he asked. ‘ Who’s sorted it? This doesn’t make sense…’ And it didn’t. He’d spent the whole of yesterday dealing with the fact that he wouldn’t be able to do his AFF until next summer at the earliest, and now here was Joh