Atlantis was warm with the beating sun and filled with teenage girls. The Jonas Brothers were in town for a concert and the air held the allure of Abercrombie perfume. My mom flew my sister and I out for the concert as our Christmas present.

“Joe Jonas here I come!” I shouted once we arrived at our extravagant hotel.

“I found which hotel the Jonas Brothers are the most likely to stay in. Let's go,” my sister, Lindsay commanded. We changed out of our smelly airport clothes and changed into our cutest bikinis to track down the loves of our lives. My sister and I have an unspoken pact that I would marry Joe and she would marry Nick. As a seven year old girl, I was obsessed.

“Our first mission is to ride the Leap of Faith, then we can find the Jonas Brothers.” Lindsay had her to do list, but I was not so prepared. The Leap of Faith is only one of the steepest and fastest waterslides in the world. You push off and drop sixty feet into a shark filled lagoon. Lindsay, being thirteen years old, was not nearly as scared, but I was terrified. The slide was like sitting on the edge of a cliff, awaiting doom.

“I’ll find the Jonas Brothers, but I’m not sure about the slide,” I said quietly.

“Don’t be a baby, let’s go on the small slide first just to warm up, then I’ll go on the Leap of Faith by myself.”
“Ok that sounds good. You lead the way,” Lindsay took us up a winding staircase that seemed to be never ending. I could hear faint screams coming from the top, muzzled by the sounds of gushing water.
My voice shook. “Are you sure this is the small slide? It feels like we have been up a lot of stairs.”
“Ya, it’s fine. Trust me.” I was skeptical, but I trusted my sister. When I saw the top, my body become weak. It was a small tube that seemed to drop straight down into a lagoon of sharks. In my mind, I would either fall off the slide or get eaten by a shark.
“This is not the small slide!”
“I know, but it will still be fun,” Lindsay shouted.
“No. I’m going back down!”
“If you go down you will look like a baby, everyone will make fun of you. I will never talk to you again if you leave, you’ll have to get ready for the concert by yourself,” she wasn’t messing round. Lindsay has a very unique talent of holding grudges for extended periods of time. Her bad side is not a place you want to be.
“Fine!” I don’t want to, but there’s no turning back now. After reluctantly stepping into the water, she gave me a hearty push down the slide. My screams were fueled by anger, as the wind blew past me. I managed to stay on in the slide and quickly entered the shark lagoon, which I watched in amazement from the comfort of the plexy glass slide. Sharks of all different shapes and colors glided around all sides of me. They looked so peaceful and thus began my love of sharks. I trudged through the water and checked my body to make sure I hadn’t lost any limbs. Still mad at my sister for tricking me, I stomped up to her. “Why did you trick me!”
“Because I knew you would have fun if you did it once. So how was it?”

“It was pretty fun, but let’s go do something else.”

“Ok! Next up is finding the Jonas Brothers,” Lindsay stated

“No. I don’t want to stalk them, I want to do a dolphin encounter.” Dolphins have been my favorite animal since birth and there was a cool place to swim with them near the waterpark.

“We did a dolphin encounter in Mexico. Now, let’s start at the penthouse suite, I’m sure the Jonas Brothers are staying there.

“I said I’m doing the dolphin encounter you can do what you want to do!” My voice was unwavering.
“Uh, fine. We can do the dolphin encounter, then find the boys.” Lindsay seemed taken back. We headed to dolphin cove, where the dolphins were. After signing up, we got into the water with three friendly dolphins. The pool was circular and we were on the shallow side with a beach gong half way around. The side across from us was a tall grey rock formation and the deeper side. When our encounter started to come to a close Lindsay shouted, “Emily! Look!” The Jonas Brothers emerged from a secret entrance in the rock formation and were shown a few dolphins and sea lions by some trainers.

“Oh my god! They are so close I can almost touch them!” The trainer helping us brought us to the middle of the pol with some dolphins. I eagerly waved to Joe Jonas and he waved back. I almost fainted. “This is the best day ever!”

Lindsay looked pale also, “I know and we still have the concert tonight.” They eventually left and we dried off to go to the concert. The next few days,  rode the Leap of Faith countless times. It was an amazing trip. I can say Joe waved at me and I rode the Leap of Faith. Now I’m not afraid of any water slides or sharks. I found my voice and stood up to my sister. Going down the slide was almost as fun as seeing the Jonas Brothers, almost. I took a leap of faith and it payed off.