Page 98 of Mark

She holds up our linked hands. “So needy.”

I shrug. “I’m not ashamed.”

“Okay,” she mutters, still smiling.

When her nan pulls her into conversation, I glance at my dad. He’s smirking, arching his eyebrows at me. I ignore him with a glare. I know what he is thinking. He’s thinking of our conversation before we boarded the boat. Or rather, remembering me having a thirty-minute rant about my annoying neighbour. He’s also remembering me flying off the handle when he accused me of having a thing for her. I’m pretty sure I said I’d rather be castrated with a blunt knife than ever let someone like Freya near me.

That’s old news though.

It isn’t what I think now.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t give her half of my sandwich, but I would certainly think about it. That has to mean something.

*** *** ***

Five minutes ago, I had been panicking because I had swimmers’ ear from snorkelling. I couldn’t hear what Freya or the instructor was telling me, which led me to screaming at everyone around me. Now it has cleared, I wish it would come back. I grip Freya’s waist, placing her in front of me in the waist deep, crystal blue water.

“Stop being a baby,” she hisses, running her hand over the top of a stingray.

“Why are you touching it?” I squeak.

“Do you really think people would pay to swim with them if they were dangerous?”

My breath hitches as I glare down at her. “Sharks eat people alive, yet humansstillpay to go swim with Jaws. Excuse me for not trusting the word of humankind. Those same people are the ones who would visit Jurassic Park if one opened, even though the movies have proved it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

She rolls her eyes. “The likelihood of a shark attacking you is slim. You are being dramatic now.” She snorts, rolling her eyes. “Dinosaurs.”

“Dramatic?I’mbeing dramatic?”

“Are you talking about sharks?” Hayden interrupts, then eyes me. “I wouldn’t worry. There have only been thirty-two cases of unprovoked shark attacks since the fifteen-hundreds here.”

“There are sharks here?” I squeak, scanning the water.

Max starts screaming, glancing around. “There are sharks here?” he screeches, jumping towards my dad, before trying to crawl up his back.

“Fucking hell, Max,” Dad hisses. “Get off me.”

“Wife, get out of this water,” Max screeches, looking to the shore.

I turn to see Aunt Lake pause in the water. “What?” she yells.

“There’s a shark,” he screeches.

“No, no, no shark,” the instructor yells as people around him begin to scream, fighting to get out of the water.

“Oh my god, they are following me,” Max cries, clinging to my dad’s head now.

“Oh God,” Freya whispers, her eyes wide as she watches the chaos unfold.

“Did you know stingrays and sharks are closely related?” Hayden asks, as she too brushes her fingers along the slippery creature.

I gulp, stepping back. “They are beautiful,” Freya muses, not realising I’ve taken another step back.

I made it this far in life by playing it smart. I’m not going to start acting stupid now by hanging out with a group of stingrays closely related to sharks.

“Max, will you stop?” Dad roars, still trying to throw him off.

“It stung me. Oh my god, it stung me,” Max cries. “I’m going to die.”

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