"Who knows? I guess we should be ready for anything."

"Um, what about sharks, should we worry about them?" asked Candi, nervously.

Kevin shook his head. "I doubt that. I mean, we're out here in the middle of nowhere. I think sharks stay mostly near the shallower waters, don't they?"

Candi pointed over Kevin's shoulder and said, "Well, maybe you can tell me what that thing is right over there, then."

Jonathan followed Kevin's gaze out to where Candi had pointed.

"Holy s.h.i.t!" yelled Kevin. "That's a f.u.c.king shark! s.h.i.t, there's more than one!" He backed slowly away from the edge of the boat, being careful not to rock it.

All of them stared fearfully at the group of fins that were slowly making their way over to the boat. Jonathan, Sarah, and Candi moved very carefully to join Kevin in the center of the boat, until they were all sitting nearly on top of each other.

There were at least five sharks now, slowly circling the boat and swimming under it. They felt one of them gently b.u.mp the side. One of the girls screamed.

"Jonathan, what do you think about getting out the oars and whacking one of them on the nose?" asked Kevin.

"I think that's an excellent idea. I saw a shark doc.u.mentary that said that's their most sensitive spot."

"I think I saw the same one. Hand me an oar."

Jonathan struggled to release one from the oarlock on the inside of the boat. Once he had it freed, he carefully handed it over to Kevin.

"Be careful with that, we only have two."

"Roger that. Okay everyone, get ready."

Kevin scooted over to the side of the boat and peered over the edge. He was looking down into the deep blue water when Candi screamed, "There's one coming from your right ... your RIGHT!"

Kevin looked to his right and had less than a second to prepare. This shark was a little more curious than the others and actually opened its mouth as it came nearer, as if it wanted a taste of the fibergla.s.s.

Kevin raised the oar up high and slammed it down on the nose of the shark as hard as he possibly could.

The force of the downward movement threw him off balance. He pitched forward and tried to grab the edge of the boat, but it was with his sore hand that wasn't working like it normally did.

The pain caused his arm to buckle under him, sending the top of his body into the water, while the rest of his body stayed mostly in the boat.

Everyone including Jonathan screamed and grabbed onto Kevin's bottom half, pulling on him for all they were worth. Critical seconds went by when he was submerged.

All Jonathan could think about was the shark Kevin had just bonked on the nose who was probably royally p.i.s.sed off right now.

Kevin finally came up out of the water, sputtering, and Candi, for one, looked immensely relieved to see he still had his face and head attached.

"Watch out!" yelled Jonathan, who noticed another shark coming over to investigate.

Kevin rolled over and landed on his back in the bottom of the boat. He was breathing heavily, the pulse in his neck visibly beating rapidly. Other than his puffy eye, he seemed to be okay, though.

"Well, that didn't go as well as I'd planned," said Kevin after catching his breath.

Sarah and Candi still hadn't let his legs go.

Jonathan watched as the fins seemed to be retreating. "Well, I think you did something, because they're leaving now."

Sarah pointed to the other side of the boat. "Not so fast, Jonathan. Here come some more."

Kevin lifted his head off the floor of the boat so he could see what the others were looking at. "Holy s.h.i.t, please don't tell me I have to body slam another shark." He closed his eyes as if trying to block out the recent memory of almost becoming shark food.

"Ummm, I don't think so!" said Candi in a cheery voice.

Sarah looked at her in horror. "Oh c.r.a.p, Sugar Lump has lost it. She's happy to see a group of about ten sharks coming to eat us for lunch."

"They're not sharks! Look!" She pointed gleefully out to the group of animals in the water animals that were swimming towards them and occasionally blowing water spouts out of the top of their heads.

Sarah clapped her hands together in glee before she realized what she was doing and stopped. "They're dolphins!"

Jonathan's face broke out in a smile. "Cool, dolphins. Dolphins hate sharks if they have babies around. Look! That one is a baby for sure."

"Really?" Sarah asked, turning to him, flashing him a million-watt smile. Then she looked at a mini-dolphin that came right up to the side of the boat. "Oh, he's so sweet!"

Jonathan couldn't help but smile back. "Yep. Sharks don't want to mess with dolphin families that have babies in them. Dolphins have been known to head b.u.t.t and tail thrash sharks to death to protect their young. That's probably why the sharks took off."

"You mean it wasn't my mad skills with the oar?" asked Kevin in mock offense.

"Oh, I'm sure that had something to do with it," Jonathan a.s.sured him.

"My G.o.d, there have to be about thirty of them," said Candi, fascinated, her voice full of awe. "I've never seen a real, live dolphin in the ocean. This is totally different than the aquarium."

The dolphins stayed with them for nearly an hour, swimming around and occasionally even leaping out of the water. For some reason it made them feel better infinitely more so than being surrounded by sharks.

After the dolphins left, they decided to save the sunscreen and hide under the shade of the sheet from the cruise ship bed. They thought about using the tarp, but it was too heavy and unwieldy, making it difficult and hot to stay sheltered. They each held a corner of the sheet over the back of their shoulders and sat across from each other. Their heads propped up each corner, creating a canopy effect.

"Yuck. I feel positively disgusting like I have a coating of salt covering every square inch of my body," said Sarah.

No one answered. They were all feeling the same way.

Jonathan and Candi handed out rations. Each of them was allowed to drink only two more ounces of water and have one of the meals in the foil packets.

"Well, I guess I've been saying for a while that I need to go on a diet." Candi laughed half-heartedly. "I guess I should be careful what I wish for next time."

"What are you talking about? You don't need to lose weight," said Kevin, as he scooped out bits of what might have been beef from his foil packet.

"Kevin's right, Candi, you don't," chimed in Sarah.

"Thanks, guys, that's nice to say. I guess I've always thought of myself as kind of baby-fat fat."

"Nope," said Kevin matter-of-factly, "you're curvy, not fat." Then he realized what he was saying and shut up, looking out around the sheet at the sea.

"Uh-oh guys, you'd better take a look at this." They all pulled the sheet down, looking out to where he was pointing. "There's a storm coming."

"Oh, no, not again," moaned Candi.

"What's next?" said Sarah, instantly angry. "Haven't we been through enough yet?"

"Okay, we have to get prepared. It could be just like last night with the waves and all. I think we should tie the tarp down as tight as we can and try to keep it on. That way we don't have to bail so much water out of the bottom," said Jonathan.

"Um, just one more little thing," said Candi shyly. "I, um, kinda hafta go pee."

"Oh, thank G.o.d you said something, so do I," said Sarah.

Kevin got a big grin on his face. Jonathan screwed up his eyebrows, obviously trying to figure out the mechanics of an on-board toilet for the girls.

"Just squat over the edge," suggested Kevin, smirking.

"Yeah, right, like I want a shark jumping up and biting my hoo-ha off while I'm taking a p.i.s.s. I don't think so," said Sarah.

"Here, do what you can to squat over this." Jonathan handed Candi the plastic lid that used to be over the radio that was now at the bottom of the ocean.

Candi rolled her eyes in disgust. "Fine. I'm probably going to pee all over my ankles, but I'm with Sarah on this one. I don't want a shark anywhere near my privates."

Sarah and Candi took turns using the plastic bin, managing to only pee on themselves a little bit. They threw the pee overboard and rinsed the bin out for their next on-board toilet adventure.

"Yuck, I smell pee, and it's on me. This is so sick!" Sarah was disgusted. She grabbed some seawater and splashed it over her ankles.

"I choose to remind myself that things could be worse. Pee on my ankles is better than doggy paddling without a boat under me."

"Well, when you put it that way," said Sarah, rolling her eyes.

The business of peeing done, they all finished up their rations and got to work tying down the tarp as best they could, leaving two opposite corners unsnapped and lifted to let in air. It was already getting stiflingly hot underneath.

They agreed to be tied to each other again and to the metal oar loops on the boat. After seeing a rogue wave up close, they decided that being attached to an unsinkable lifeboat was their best bet for survival if the boat capsized.

They each strapped on a backpack and used the extra shoulder strap lengths to tie them around their waists too. They locked down the boat hatches with all the precious equipment inside. They finished off another foil packet of food each and took two more ounces of water apiece before stowing the bottles of water away in their backpacks.

Then they waited. They pa.s.sed the time avoiding all talk of their parents' possible fates, instead trading easy, lighthearted stories about school and different teachers. They were in unanimous agreement about Mr. Feldman, their biology teacher the guy had a very unhealthy attachment to his cla.s.s pets. They all agreed that he probably slept with his pet snake over the vacations. Ew.

They discovered each of their favorite colors and favorite foods. Jonathan and Kevin had a debate about which restaurant in town had the best burger. Candi sided with Jonathan, insisting it was the Bra.s.s Ring Pub because their burgers were the biggest and juiciest. Sarah said she didn't like burgers so she wasn't a good judge, but that the Bra.s.s Ring also had a killer veggie burger. Kevin and Jonathan agreed there was no such thing as a killer veggie burger and that 'veggie' and 'burger' should never be used in the same sentence.

As the winds picked up and the boat started rocking, they talked about what they'd do if they won the lottery, to keep their minds off the motion sickness they were all starting to feel. Everyone laughed when Sarah said she'd buy a d.a.m.n motor and some gas for the lifeboat. Still, none of them broached the subject of their parents. They were nearly going crazy worrying about their own survival; thinking of their parents on the sinking cruise ship was too much to handle right now.

When the storm finally came, it hit hard and poured what seemed like hundreds of gallons of water on top of their tarp. They became quiet, since it was nearly impossible to hear each other over the roar of the storm, anyway. They tried to find comfortable spots where they could lay down in the bottom of the boat, next to each other. Each of them found the hand of another, holding on in shared desperation. None of them had the time or inclination to consider the fact that they were cuddling and holding hands; they were just worried about whether they would survive the night. They were about as far from the hallways of high school as they could possibly be, physically and mentally.

The motion of the boat constantly being tossed around and the roar of the storm and rain eventually became too much to bear, and each of them gave in to the exhausted sleep they could no longer avoid.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Land Ho The flies were buzzing in Jonathan's ear. He kept lifting his hand up to brush them away. He was hot and sticky and his lips tasted salty. They were beginning to crack and bleed. He felt the stinging as the salt entered the broken skin. It was still dark and incredibly humid and these flies were making him crazy.

Flies?

His mind started to compute what his body was experiencing. How can there be flies out in the middle of the ocean? Unless ... He immediately sat up. His head hit the tarp that was stretched across the top of the boat, yanking out some pieces of his hair with the friction.

"Ouch. Hey! Wake up, guys, I think we might be near land!"

Everyone started moving around, but it was dark and hard to see. Bits of sunlight penetrated cracks around the edge of the tarp, but it wasn't enough to see clearly. Several inches of water had settled in the bottom of the boat, so they were all soaked through, the skin of their hands and feet wrinkled deeply like salted prunes. The heat that was coming from outside the boat had turned the inside into a sauna a hot, salty, watery sauna.

Jonathan started to feel like he was suffocating.

A mad scramble started, everyone trying to get some fresh air at once.

"Wait, stop! Try not to push up on the tarp. I think it has rainwater on it that we could drink," said Jonathan.

"Holy c.r.a.p, I need some air," whined Sarah.

"Just wait a second, I'm working on it," said Jonathan. He turned to start unfastening the snaps and straps behind him. "Candi, help me get this tarp off on the edges. Try to save any water that's up there though."

He and Candi carefully crawled around the edges of the tarp, releasing it from its fastenings, bending the tarp towards its center. They folded up the edges trying to capture whatever water was on top, channeling it into the middle. They took a couple of minutes to add that water to the water bottles they had emptied earlier while handing out water rations.

"This water may have a little ocean water in it, but maybe not. We might as well save it now and check it later," explained Jonathan as he screwed the cap on the last bottle.

The first thing they noticed was the sun. It was out as if it had never left as if the storm that had tossed them around like a cork on the sea for eight hours had never come; but the liters of water that had been centered on the tarp told a different story.

Then they noticed the cloud of flies that was buzzing around their heads. They were smaller than regular flies and bit their exposed skin. The bites felt a little like mosquitos, only sharper.

"Ouch! Those bugs are annoying!" said Candi, slapping her arm. "I can barely see them, they're so tiny."

"Mother fu... " shouted Sarah, as she swatted her legs with both hands.

Kevin let out a low moan. "Where are we?" he asked weakly.

Jonathan was surprised to hear him sounding so frail and looked down at him for the first time since they had the tarp opened up.

"Oh c.r.a.p, Kevin, look at your hand."

The split on the knuckles from hitting Jack's nose was bright red and swollen, with puffy white-looking skin around the edges. His eye didn't look much better. It was swollen and bluish-greenish in color.

"It's infected," said Jonathan. He looked at Candi, and noticed fear in her eyes.

"What does that mean? I mean, what should we do?" she asked.

Sarah sat up and rubbed her eyes, and before she stopped to think said, "We need to get him some antibiotics."

Candi looked at her with an exasperated expression, silently scolding her.