me, were much smaller
and darker than these beautiful creatures in front of us. I counted
at least ten and it was easy to see that three of them were
babies.
Carissa came up beside me since we had
all settled down against the sandy bottom to get a better view. I
looked at her and saw how enthralled she was. She was reaching a
hand out towards one of the larger females in the group hoping that
it would swim closer. I watched the dolphin dart in and out around
us; testing to see how much of a threat we were. Nobody moved for
the longest time. At home, it always seemed that if I stayed still
long enough the animals would decide that I wasn’t scary and treat
me as part of the scenery.
Apparently, that tactic worked for
bottlenose dolphins as well. Once the pod swam closer to us, they
would allow a gentle touch or subtle movement. We all started to
swim together as one big group out towards the reef. The dolphins
flanked us on either side and one adolescent male took a particular
liking to me. He kept nipping at my tail in an attempt to get my
attention. At one point, I had to push him away to let him know
that the biting was getting a bit hard, but he just continued to
bump into my side at every opportunity. When Kain and I surfaced
together, he warned me that the male seemed to have a crush and
that I should be careful that he doesn’t try to take it to the next
level. That freaked me out and even though Kain winked, I wasn’t
sure if he was entirely kidding.
The reef was wonderful and we spent
almost three hours in the water that night. Vance and Brinsley
joined us and the dolphins seemed to stay around as well. Carissa
caught my attention several times simply because she was so
graceful underwater. Even though her hair was short, her body
appeared to move like an extension of the tresses. Several of the
guys in the other group followed her everywhere, but she didn’t
even seem to notice.
Daniel and Lily paired up and explored
the rock formations. They told me later that they were looking for
lobster. Kain and I swam together the entire time, sometimes
holding hands. As it got darker, we made sure that we didn’t lose
sight of each other because this was when all of the really cool
creatures start to emerge. Even though I was looking, I didn’t see
any sharks.
Mr. Miller blew the boat horn and told
us that we were all to follow him in for dinner. They had packed
fruit punch and pineapple slices, but my stomach was growling so I
didn’t feel too bad about leaving.
Dinner was as uneventful as the
following day. There were no more embarrassing moments in the bed,
and since we had been swimming so much, I had fallen to sleep
before Kain even crawled in. Saturday’s sessions were basically a
repeat of the day before but with the instructors expecting us to
remember everything. The interview questions were grueling and the
political history lessons bored me to death. Just before we
finished, they gave us a list of everyone who would be attending
the ball tonight along with a photo and a brief description of
their political platforms. I rolled my eyes when they told us to
study up and gave us thirty minutes to cram before an oral
examination.
Carissa, Daniel, and I worked together
quizzing each other and creating silly names for each person to
help us remember them. Lily and Kain were at the far corner of the
table and there was more laughing and talking going on than
studying. I must have been staring at them because Carissa kicked
my leg.
“ Why don’t you go over
there and stop her?”
“ What?” I asked, trying to
act like she didn’t just catch me.
“ Please girl. She’s been
all over him since yesterday. You shouldn’t let her get away with
that.”
I just shook my head and picked up
another flash card that we had created. “I’m not worried about
Lily.” And I really wasn’t, but probably not for the reason Carissa
was suggesting.
She sat back in her chair and
shrugged. “Whatever. It’s your
and darker than these beautiful creatures in front of us. I counted
at least ten and it was easy to see that three of them were
babies.
Carissa came up beside me since we had
all settled down against the sandy bottom to get a better view. I
looked at her and saw how enthralled she was. She was reaching a
hand out towards one of the larger females in the group hoping that
it would swim closer. I watched the dolphin dart in and out around
us; testing to see how much of a threat we were. Nobody moved for
the longest time. At home, it always seemed that if I stayed still
long enough the animals would decide that I wasn’t scary and treat
me as part of the scenery.
Apparently, that tactic worked for
bottlenose dolphins as well. Once the pod swam closer to us, they
would allow a gentle touch or subtle movement. We all started to
swim together as one big group out towards the reef. The dolphins
flanked us on either side and one adolescent male took a particular
liking to me. He kept nipping at my tail in an attempt to get my
attention. At one point, I had to push him away to let him know
that the biting was getting a bit hard, but he just continued to
bump into my side at every opportunity. When Kain and I surfaced
together, he warned me that the male seemed to have a crush and
that I should be careful that he doesn’t try to take it to the next
level. That freaked me out and even though Kain winked, I wasn’t
sure if he was entirely kidding.
The reef was wonderful and we spent
almost three hours in the water that night. Vance and Brinsley
joined us and the dolphins seemed to stay around as well. Carissa
caught my attention several times simply because she was so
graceful underwater. Even though her hair was short, her body
appeared to move like an extension of the tresses. Several of the
guys in the other group followed her everywhere, but she didn’t
even seem to notice.
Daniel and Lily paired up and explored
the rock formations. They told me later that they were looking for
lobster. Kain and I swam together the entire time, sometimes
holding hands. As it got darker, we made sure that we didn’t lose
sight of each other because this was when all of the really cool
creatures start to emerge. Even though I was looking, I didn’t see
any sharks.
Mr. Miller blew the boat horn and told
us that we were all to follow him in for dinner. They had packed
fruit punch and pineapple slices, but my stomach was growling so I
didn’t feel too bad about leaving.
Dinner was as uneventful as the
following day. There were no more embarrassing moments in the bed,
and since we had been swimming so much, I had fallen to sleep
before Kain even crawled in. Saturday’s sessions were basically a
repeat of the day before but with the instructors expecting us to
remember everything. The interview questions were grueling and the
political history lessons bored me to death. Just before we
finished, they gave us a list of everyone who would be attending
the ball tonight along with a photo and a brief description of
their political platforms. I rolled my eyes when they told us to
study up and gave us thirty minutes to cram before an oral
examination.
Carissa, Daniel, and I worked together
quizzing each other and creating silly names for each person to
help us remember them. Lily and Kain were at the far corner of the
table and there was more laughing and talking going on than
studying. I must have been staring at them because Carissa kicked
my leg.
“ Why don’t you go over
there and stop her?”
“ What?” I asked, trying to
act like she didn’t just catch me.
“ Please girl. She’s been
all over him since yesterday. You shouldn’t let her get away with
that.”
I just shook my head and picked up
another flash card that we had created. “I’m not worried about
Lily.” And I really wasn’t, but probably not for the reason Carissa
was suggesting.
She sat back in her chair and
shrugged. “Whatever. It’s your
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