Page 13 of Make Out With A Merman

She jumps and knocks the tape roll into a bin of googly eyes.

“Oh. Hi! You’re early.”

“It’s 07:48.”

She looks at her wrist. There’s no watch there. Just a friendship bracelet shaped like a slice of pizza.

“Huh. Time flies when you’re banana engineering.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “We’re supposed to be demonstrating rescue strategies.”

“Weare,” she says, hopping down. “Banana buoy scenario: sudden storm, raft capsizes, jellyfish swarm. Improvised flotation and escape route drills.”

“That’s not what’s on the schedule.”

She shrugs. “Yeah, but it’sbetter.”

I stare at her.

She smiles at me like she knows something I don’t. Like she always does.

“I have a plan,” she says, lifting the banana buoy like a trophy.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

By 08:15, the campers are laughing so hard half of them can’t tread water properly. There’s a plastic jellyfish tied to a string, anoodle gauntlet, and a challenge where two kids have to save a third using only paddles and one towel.

It’s chaos.

But somehow... it works.

Bennett our resident Kraken actually follows instructions. Eliza, who panicked last week in open water, floats across the lake tied to a banana while giggling like a maniac.

And me?

I’m standing waist-deep, arms crossed, watching my structure crumble in real time.

“Ryder!” Callie calls from the dock. “Don’t just glower, join the chaos!”

“I’m monitoring for hazards.”

“Monitor this!” she shouts and launches a water balloon at me.

It hits me dead center in the chest. Cold. Sudden.

The kids explode into cheers.

I slowly look down at the burst, at the wet bloom on my shirt.

“Ma’am,” I say, raising my voice like it’s a court hearing, “that constitutes an assault on a certified safety instructor.”

Callie grins. “Guess you’ll have to write me up in glitter pen.”

Gods help me, I almost smile.

Almost.

After lunch, we’re in the gear hut cleaning up. I’m checking inventory. She’s balancing goggles on her head like it’s fashion week.

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