When I look back on that day, I can still feel the adrenalin, or maybe it's the nerves coming back to haunt me. Sometimes I still have nightmares where I wake up in the middle of the night, feeling just awful for the longest time.

I don't blame Noah for what happened, even though it was his idea. I shouldn't have gone with him, I should have walked away, but how were we to know what would start as one idea would just get worse and lead us on. We didn't know how to take it back, so we just kept going.

Three years ago before I knew Noah, I lived in a different town. My life had been fairly normal at least from my view. Then we moved. The home I had known since birth was left behind and suddenly everything I knew was changing. I had to start a new school and we had a new house in a town near the river. I left behind not just my friends, but everyone I knew. 

My family was pretty regular as far as families go. I guess you could say I was lucky, but I never saw it that way. For me, it was just normal to have working parents and home cooked meals. As an only child I was given most of everything I wanted, if not straight away then at least for Christmas or Birthdays. I was brought up with manners, taught respect, which was the opposite of Noah. 

Noah was barely brought up at all. From six or seven he was allowed to roam and got little attention from his parents. I would marvel at stories of how he would just skip out by himself. His parents were always busy with 'other things' and if he got anything at all, it was an afterthought on their part. I was somewhat envious of that kind of freedom.

The first day at the new school had been nerve wracking, going into a room full of strangers and being the new kid. The teacher had given a brief  introduction before finding me a seat. Apart from that I spent the day quietly, being somewhat of a curiosity to everyone else, who were having what was otherwise just another Monday. I could tell Noah was different from the start, the way he lent back on his chair to the point that the teacher threatened to make him sit on the floor after numerous warnings. 

He wasn't the kind of kid I would normally hang around with but a new school meant a new start. I wasn't used to not having any friends and it showed. I was awkward, and more than once I said something dumb trying to be funny. My old friends were used to me and just laughed about things like that, but here I seemed weird. I was just starting to feel lost and like a loser in front of everyone, when Noah made a joke of it and asked if I wanted to come kick a footy. I was happy for the escape. Noah was used to people thinking he was weird. He went from being the cool guy, to being annoying, to being someone to avoid and then back again.

So me and Noah became best friends.

Three years later we were big fish in a small school. It was the year before we were to go to high school that the incident happened. I would call it an accident but my father would sharply remind me that it wasn't really.

Noah had suggested we ditch school. He was used to taking the occasional day off, choosing to spend it at the pizza bar shelling coins into the arcade machines rather than wasting it at school. When he ran out of money he would wander the riverbanks and fish or just explore. When he wasn't at school I would visit the pizza bar to check out his high scores, but he was always long gone and I would have to wait a whole day to hear the rest of his adventures. When he asked me to skip school I wanted to but the other side of me was worried about what would happen if anyone found out.

It took some convincing to get me to do it. I think it was Noah's big brother Seth who convinced me more. He laughed and said they used to do it all the time back in his day. He even got his girlfriend to ring up the school pretending to be my mum and say I was sick. He said not to worry about the doctor's note, just pretend you lost it and they won't ask, he said. It was kind of reassuring to have someone who was legally an adult, telling you it was no big deal. Seth was supposed to be at work himself.

So that was how we ended up with the day to ourselves walking along the river. I don't know if Noah had planned to steal the boat or if he decided on the spot. We found a lost canoe paddle and straight away he brought up the boat by the old man's river shack. It was always there, tied to a gum tree root. The old guy never used it, not that we knew of. Noah was adamant we could take it and they would just think it had drifted away. He said it had broken free a bunch of times and that his brother had even found it downstream and spent the day in it,  before being forced to return it. If we could get it into the creek, then we could use it and keep it hidden under one of the willow trees. It was a good idea but I really didn't want to steal a boat. It took Noah a good while to talk me around, at first he said to just come look at it. The bank was steep and the old guy never went down to the river. He would never know we were there. 

I guess I thought I could talk him out of it before we got there but Noah rarely followed my advice. It was always me looking up to him. If we'd had to sneak up to the house and steal the oars from under the verandah, then our adventure would have ended there. There was no way I would ever do that. But we had the paddle and I convinced Noah to leave the oars otherwise they would know that it hadn't just floated off. 

When I asked what happened if we got caught, Noah just shrugged it off.

"We won't get caught" he said 

I thought of last year's book report and how one of the characters felt they would get arrested if someone could hear their conversations. What we were planning could definitely get us arrested but Noah didn't worry about things like that. I mentioned it, but he said he didn't do the book report. 

The rope was old and waterlogged. The boat was full of leaves and sticks from the tree. All in all it looked pretty beat up for an old tinnie and it definitely hadn't been used in a long time. I had to stop Noah from cutting the rope with his knife, suggesting it would be better to snap the rope if we wanted to say we found it. It was a bad idea but it was all I could do to slow him up. I knew it was a bad idea.

Instead he took to kicking the boat away from the bank hoping the rope would snap. I kind of hoped it would too. Then the boat would be floating away without us in it. The rope held and when that didn't work Noah rubbed the rope along the edge of the boat slowly wearing it away. When it was part way through he gave it another kicking but it held on and it was back to slow rubbing. I stood in front of the large gum tree trying to shield myself from view in case the old man happened out and caught us. 

Noah's patience was wearing thin but so was the rope. When it was as small  and fluffy with worn fibers Noah got in and asked me to kick it. It was the first time I had to actively do something and he had to ask me twice pleadingly. He just needed the push and I could meet him down the river a bit. Noah had a way of protecting me while still dragging me into his messes, but he always stepped up and was the first to take the blame which shielded me from most of the trouble he got us into. So I kicked the boat, right as someone yelled. Looking up, the old man was rushing down the bank at me and Noah was telling me to run. With the river in front there was nowhere to run to, so I jumped into the boat snapping the rope and Noah paddled us out into the flowing river.

We were off and racing down the river while my mind raced about all the trouble we were bringing down on us. We had been seen, but not caught. I was ready to abandon the boat and get as far away from this situation as I could. I think Noah was still planning to keep the boat and it worried me that he was going to ask me to help hide it. 

The creek was quite wide coming off the river on the opposite bank but shortly inside the mouth it narrowed and trees closed in on either side. The water slowed too as the pull of the river stopped dragging us downstream and Noah pulled the boat into the calmer water with the paddle.

 I would have been happy to pull the boat to the bank here and leave it, but Noah kept away from the creek's bank. It took me a minute to notice that something wasn't right. The water was flat but it seemed to disappear in a straight line and I could already hear the noise of rushing water. Something was coming up and it made me nervous, not as nervous as the thought of being caught in a stolen boat though.

Noah plowed straight for it, he said something but I didn't make it out. He hadn't changed the plan at all, he still wanted to get the boat into the creek. I just wanted away from the river and the consequences that lay there. The water seemed calm across the top and it wasn't until we were on top of the weir that I could see the pile of rocks that was banking up the water. I barely had time to think about it when Noah tried to turn the boat and the water swept us over the peaceful edge and into chaos.

The boat tipped, it was only a meter drop down the rocky weir and we would have been ok had the boat not twisted and capsized. I smashed hard onto the rocks and then into the water, struggling to get to the surface as the flow was already carrying me downstream. Panicked I made out for the bank and clawed at the reeds trying to stop myself being swept away. It wasn't until I had a steady grip that I looked for Noah.

Pulling myself up onto the land, I yelled his name looking desperately for my friend. The boat had tipped going over the edge and was caught on the downside of the pile of rocks that made up the weir. Water poured around it and at the bottom I could see Noah fighting to get his head above the onslaught. Hurriedly I got up, wondering why he didn't swim away from the rocks and rushing water when I realized he was caught under the boat. Somehow his leg was stuck and he couldn't get free.

Running along the bank I picked up a stick and held it out for him to grab. It sank as soon as he held it and I couldn't pull him free. He was gulping for air and constantly going under as his legs were lifted higher than his head. Desperately I wanted him to tell me what to do, but he was doing his best to breathe and even that was too much. I wanted to roll the boat but that would mean rolling it on top of Noah and I didn't think I could move it. I had to do something fast so I stepped out onto the rocky weir, water rushing past trying to wipe me from its slippery face. Carefully I gripped the rocks with my hands and found the best footing I could until I reached the boat and could hold the edge. From here I could reach Noah and pull his shirt and get his head up. 

As soon as Noah could breath he started coughing and groaning. He always took anything dished out and would boast afterwards. To see him so hurt scared me badly and I tried to pull him up but he just screamed in pain when I tried. He was stuck and getting too heavy for me to hold. Desperately I yelled  for help but the creek was small and the only people who would be coming were the ones we were running from. I didn't care as I whooped and yelled but I could see nothing except the constant flow of water over the rim of the weir. 

Struggling to hold Noah, I stepped down into the rushing water,  careful to keep my footing. If I fell then he would go under and I would be swept away down the stream. Even trying to move meant Noah dipped under and he paddled frantically almost pulling me from the rocks. Somehow I managed to hold onto a large rock and get underneath him enough that he could hold onto me while I focused on staying steady. How long could we stay here like this before someone found us? What if no one did? I yelled again and again while Noah sobbed in pain. 

In that one moment everything had changed and we were in real trouble. I no longer cared about getting caught with the boat. I didn't care about my parents finding out about school. Nothing mattered except getting free and safe. For the first time in my life I had the thought that I could die, like actually die. If I let go of the rock Noah would surely die. Already it felt like we had been stuck for ages when really it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. I could do nothing but hold on and yell before giving up, only to feel like I couldn't hold on any longer and start yelling again. But I did hold on. Every time I thought I couldn't do it any longer, I just kept going, I couldn't just let go. 

They say we were there for twenty five minutes before they found us. It felt like hours. As soon as the police saw the overturned boat visible above the weir they hurried to get in the water and hold Noah. I was dragged ashore and could only watch as they gave Noah flotation devices to keep him above water while they got more help to move the boat and free Noah's leg. It had been trapped in the rocks and snapped in three places when the weight of the boat slammed down on top of him. He was stuck for over an hour before they freed him.

Dad said we were lucky to get community service after all that we did. He was mad but there was something else about him too that took the edge off his anger. I told Dad that I did it because I didn't want Noah to do it by himself and he said he was glad that we were both ok. Mum had a quiet word and told me that Dad had lost a friend when he was young, it had brought back memories for him. She said he was glad that I didn't lose a friend like he did, but that didn't make what we had done any better. What I had done was heroic but because of the stuff that we did before that, no one was celebrating. I didn't care. I was alive and Noah was alive. That was all that mattered.

I expected that things would be different at home but I was surprised how everything seemed different no matter where I was. People treated me differently, as if I had done something both extraordinary and forbidden. There was an air of respect and a lot of curiosity. Adults loved to say we were lucky but they didn't really mean lucky. It was always said with a scowl while they were looking down on me like a dog who had crapped on their floor. Some things though just didn't bother me so much anymore.

Noah was different too. He was still the same kid, who had the same crazy ideas and he still got into trouble. But there was something else too, maybe he thought more about the consequences before he acted. He was slower to rush in and he asked me more what I thought. I never felt like my opinion didn't matter, just that it was swallowed up with whatever Noah wanted and I was just along for the ride. Now somehow we were equals. We had done it together and I hadn't abandoned him when it went bad. I had stayed even though I was terrified of getting caught. When it got bad, I went back in and Noah told everyone that. To him at least I was a hero.