How to Outswim a Shark Without a Snorkel (8 page)

The Japanese spider crab can grow to have a leg span of thirteen feet.

—Animal Wisdom

The next week went by swimmingly.

No pun intended.

With the animals in their tanks, Ashley and I worked together for a couple hours every day. I didn't even have any good material to add to my Anti-Ashley notebook, no matter how hard I tried to think of something. That notebook sat unused in my backpack, along with a tin of mints and my headphones.

Ashley had been so
not-sneery
, in fact, that I ended up giving one of my extra blue notebooks to her, so we could take notes about all the animals we'd have to learn about.

That's right.

Ana the Crocodile Girl had officially become a Shark Girl. Instead of presentations with reptiles, we were going to memorize short little snippets of information about the Adventure Zone creatures, so we could be there whenever kids had a question. With Grandpa organizing the big “grand opening” presentation for the public at the end of next week, we'd decided that since I'd already had my share of the spotlight, it was Ashley's turn to lead a presentation.

I won't lie.

It was sort of funny to see how nervous she was.

“How do you make sure you don't memorize the wrong facts for each animal?” she asked me on Friday, as she sat across from me at the zoo cafeteria. Piles of books on sharks and other sea creatures were stacked beside us. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it looked an awful lot like
school
.

Except school doesn't come with snow cones. I licked some of the sticky blue juice from the back of my hand and wiped up some of the drips from the open page of my notebook.

“You try to come up with little prompts to help you remember,” I said. The truth was, I had no idea how I could remember random facts about animals. Probably because I've grown up with them, and my brain is a little off.

She frowned. “But…how?”

I opened one of the books, finding a page on cownose rays, one of the species in our tanks. “Like right here,” I said, pointing to the page. I read aloud, “Cownose rays are known to travel in large groups of up to ten thousand.” I put the book down.

“So you tell yourself, ‘Cownose rays, schools of up to ten thousand,'” I explained. “And you remember it by thinking of a stampede of ten thousand
cows
charging through
school.
So the words
cow
and
school
and
ten
thousand
should help you remember that one fact.”

Ashley's eyes glazed over. “You do this for every animal you talk about?” She paused, flipping through the pages. “Is that what you did for your reptile presentation?”

I sat back in my chair. This was the first time either of us had mentioned that day. It brought a bitter taste to my mouth. “I knew most of those facts already,” I admitted. “Because we've taken care of loads of reptiles at home. So it was easier for me to know what I was talking about then.”

She nodded glumly, and something inside me stirred. Was it pity? It felt a lot like pity. Hot and clammy inside my chest. “It's not the same this time, though,” I added. “There's a lot I don't know about with these guys.” I tapped the books. “So I'm pretty much learning it for the first time too.”

“Uh-huh,” she said. She turned back to her notebook, where she had a list of the species inside the tank listed. There were lots of scribbled-out words marking up the page.

“I don't remember things easily,” she said. “Not
lots
of things like this. It gets all jumbly in my head, like a puzzle with a zillion pieces.”

I nodded. “Don't worry. If you need to use your notebook to help you, that's okay. Lots of people do, so make yourself some simple notes that are quick to read, and if you do any presenting, you can peek down quickly and see the facts you need, and then look back up to the crowd.”

She took a deep breath. “The crowd. Right.”

“Hey, girls!” Logan wove between the cafeteria tables to greet us. Ashley slid a napkin to me and gave me a pointed stare.

Grateful, I snatched it and wiped the snow cone juice from my lips before Logan could see.

“Hi!” Ashley cooed, settling back in her chair. “What are you doing here?”

You know, in school we learned that one of the smallest units of time was a nanosecond. But I think they were wrong. I think the smallest unit of time was the time it took for Ashley to go from looking sad to
totally
and
completely
perky
again when Logan shows up. Meanwhile I was still stuck back ten seconds ago when we were talking about sharks.

“H-hey, Logan,” I stammered. I glared at my books. I could tell from the heat in my cheeks you could probably fry an egg on my face.

He pulled up a chair beside us, stretching out his long legs under the table. It took every cell of my being not to start hyperventilating.
Why
was this guy so cute?! Was he some kind of android? How come every time I saw him I pictured
Kevin
as a twenty-year-old? And was it wrong that I wanted to smell him again?

Gah, stop being a psycho freak of nature!

“What are you guys up to?” he asked. He leaned forward to pick up a book, settling it open on his stomach. “Ahh, mantas! One of my favorites! I have a tattoo of a manta ray,” he said deviously. “Wanna see it?”

“
Yes
,” Ashley blurted.

I bit my lip to hold back my laugh. At least she'd said something, though. I was still staring at him like a fool.

He pulled up the sleeve on his work shirt to reveal a toned, tan forearm. “Check it,” he said, flexing his hand. A silvery-blue manta ray wound its way around his arm, with a tail that ran up over his elbow.

“That is the coolest thing I've ever seen,” Ashley said. Her eyes were practically bugging out of her head.

Not that I could blame her. It
was
super cool. Usually I don't like tattoos, but on Logan? He could have a tattoo of old cheese on him and it would look like fine art. I wonder if Kevin would ever get a tattoo?
Hmm.

“Did it hurt?” Ashley asked.

He didn't have time to answer. “Hello? Anyone here?” A girl peeked her head into the room. “Oh! Logan, there you are!”

Ashley and I gawked as she ran over to him.

“Babe!” he exclaimed. He stood up and pulled her into a hug. Her feet even lifted off the ground!

Beside me, Ashley rolled her eyes. “Get a room,” she whispered.

You'd expect that a total hottie like Logan would be dating another total hottie.

And you know what?

You'd be right.

She had long dark hair that was tied into a low ponytail and porcelain skin like a doll. I kid you not, she even smelled like strawberries. She was a walking stick insect in capri pants that smelled like a fruit basket.

I fidgeted with the spine of my notebook as they kissed. The kiss pact with Liv niggled away in my brain. Should I smell like strawberries? Would that get Kevin to kiss me?

“What are you doing here? I thought you weren't supposed to get here until tonight?” Logan asked, when they pulled themselves apart. Took them long enough.

“Early flight!” she exclaimed. “I thought I'd do some poking around here today! I've been looking for you for
ages
,” she said, her eyes sweeping the area before settling on us. Was it just me or did she look sort of nervous?

“Guys, this is Danielle,” Logan said.

Ashley's eyebrow arched. “Hey. I'm Ashley,” she said. I watched with amazement. She didn't seem fazed at
all
. Meanwhile I was basically tripping over my tongue, thinking about how these two had been playing tonsil hockey five seconds ago.

“Ana,” I said when she turned to me. There. I could talk again.

“Wait,” she said. “Ana Wright?” Whipping a notepad from her purse, she rushed toward me.

I edged away. “Um, yeah?” I said.

“Would you mind if I asked you a couple questions?” she asked. “I would
love
to get a statement from you for my college newspaper! I'm writing a piece about your grandfather!” She tapped her foot. I got the distinct feeling that hanging around this girl for more than five minutes would give me a twitch. She was
intense
. Her eyes bored a hole in my head.

“A statement?” I croaked.

“You know,” she said, waving her hands dismissively. “Shep Foster's very own granddaughter working at the zoo! I'd love your opinion on the exhibits and the work you're doing here.”

“Okay, sure,” I said.

“Can you take me through some of the daily tasks here?” she asked, holding her pen stiffly above her notepad.

I sat straighter. “The student ambassadors just try to help out with background stuff,” I said. “We help prepare food, or clean, or do some super-small presentations with kids. It's all volunteer work, and it goes toward school credit each year.” I wanted to make it sound glamorous, but let's face it, cleaning poop and fish heads wasn't exactly a red carpet walk. “Ashley and I are helping in the new marine exhibit.”

She nodded. She hadn't written anything down yet.

“Shep is like the most exciting person
ever
,” she said, blinking fast. “Does anything crazy happen here? The drama must follow him everywhere.” Her words felt like tiny arrows piercing me, fast and sharp.

“He's exciting, all right,” I said. I tried not to roll my eyes. “But generally things around here are pretty…normal. For a zoo, I mean. All the zookeepers make sure that everything stays on schedule and safe.” I rambled off our zoo director Paul's usual speech. It was one of the first I'd learned when I started to hang out here.

“Is he going to be around for the first presentation in the new Adventure Zone?” Her voice was light, but there was a hard look in her eyes. She reminded me of those journalists that showed up when I did my presentation in June, always starting sentences and waiting for me to finish them. And maybe mess up. If there was one thing I knew from Grandpa, it was that newspapers
loved
when people said the wrong thing or caused a big uproar.

“Dani, baby,” Logan said, pulling her under his arm. “Ana probably doesn't want to deal with your questions right now,” he said.

He leaned closer to me to fake-whisper. “Dani's a journalism student
and
an animal nut,” he said with a knowing nod. “She's been so excited about coming here she hasn't shut up about it in weeks. Meeting Shep Foster and his famous granddaughter.” He waved his hands in the air and gave me a wink.

Oh, my heart.
Logan seriously had to stop winking at me like that if I was expected to use proper words.

“Oh, shush,” Danielle said. Her face flushed, giving her cheeks a peachy glow. Not that I could blame her. If Logan had his arm around
me
, I'd probably be a puddle on the floor right now. I didn't know how that girl was even staying upright with those eyes staring at her.

Maybe
she's
the android.

“We'll leave you guys to your notes,” Logan said.

The two of them walked away, locked in some sort of love-octopus hug. It seemed like they had more than two arms each. Did getting a boyfriend suddenly mean you sprouted an extra arm for all that hand-holding and hugging? I wondered for a moment how Danielle seemed so
not
nervous kissing Logan, but when I thought about kissing Kevin, I could barely think straight.

“I don't like her,” Ashley said when the door shut behind them.

I scoffed. “Of course you don't. She gets to kiss Logan.”

“It's not only that,” she said. “She gives me the creeps. She's one of those girls who is super nice to your face, but I bet she's a real jerk.”

I stared at her, surprised. “What? Are
you
actually talking about people being mean?” I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Ashley glared. “Forget it,” she said.

The chill from her words made me shiver.

She shook her head. “I'm just saying. I don't like her.”

“Yeah, well.” I sighed heavily. “Luckily you don't have to hang out with her. It's not like you had a chance with Logan in the first place. He's like twenty years old.”

Ashley looked unimpressed. “Whatever. In ten years he'll be thirty and I'll be twenty-three. That's not that big of a difference.”

I scrunched my nose. “Yes, it is! He'd never go out with you!”

Ashley's frown began to twitch. “Okay, fine. In fifteen years then. I'll be”—she counted in her head—“twenty-eight. And he will be thirty-five.”

“You know that means he'll almost be our
parents'
age then, right?” I loved bursting her little bubble.

“Ahh! Why do you always have to ruin everything?!” She shoved me on the shoulder, but for a moment I could see the glimmer of something else in her eye. And it wasn't hate this time.

It was Ashley joking around.

It was totally creepy, but almost…
nice
.

“Hey,” she said suddenly. “Did you figure out what you're going to wear for opening day? I want to get a new top for the presentation.”

“I don't know.” I hung my head. I had tried to figure out how to get a better swimsuit for under my zoo uniform without having to actually
shop
for one. Training bras were one thing, but swimsuits? That was a whole new level of awkward. “Everything I have at home doesn't fit anymore,” I admitted.