Tara looks around at all of us, smiling like this is exactly what we needed.
I watch her for a second.
She really believes this trip is going to fix things.
I already know it won’t.
Chapter 23
Charlotte Gallagher
Age 11
My hair dripsonto the floor as I twist it over the small sink, wringing out a stream of saltwater.
I should’ve cut it before this trip. Everyone’s chopping theirs off lately—like Emma Watson after the lastHarry Potter.Even Zoe did it, and she swore she never would.
Instead, mine still hangs halfway down my back—thick, heavy, a nightmare when it’s wet. I twist it again, squeezing out more water.
Behind me, Jameson is talking nonstop.
“I’m telling you, it was this big.” He stretches his arms wide, which is impressive considering he’s still halfway stuck in his wetsuit.
I laugh and turn toward him. “That fish was not bigger than you.”
“It was! And it had teeth like—like—like this!”
He bares his teeth and growls.
I grab the zipper at the back of his wetsuit and tug it down. “You’re describing a shark.”
“Okay, it wasn’t a shark. It was a rainbow fish.”
I pause. “A rainbow, huh?”
“Yeah.” He wriggles his arms free, nearly knocking over a stack of towels. “Like purple and blue and green and orange all at once. And it looked at me.”
“Fish don’t look at people.”
“This one did.”
“Did it smile too?”
“Yes.”
I grin and peel the wetsuit down his legs while he hops around, trying not to fall.
Across the cabin, Dane groans. “Can he stop talking for five minutes?”
The shift is immediate. Jameson goes quiet.
My body reacts before I think—tightening, glancing over at him.
Dane stands by his bunk, dragging a T-shirt over his head, dark hair still wet, water dripping onto the floor.
He doesn’t look at me. He never really does.
Jameson stares at his feet.
