(A/N: All right, so I know I'm supposed to be working on Insiders Know All, but once this idea came to me, I couldn't resist writing it down!
Anyways, this is a one-shot is based on this line in the Lightning Thief when Percy is talking about his other disastrous field trips: "...when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim…" It's pretty much just a short story about the twins of Poseidon day at Marine World in Long Island, New York. Arguments about sharks occur and that leads to "a surprise swim with the sharks tour".
Hope you like it!)
"All right everyone! In just a few minutes, we'll be heading toward the shark exhibits," our aquarium guide announced.
"When we get there, everyone please remember to stay with your partner!" our teacher, Miss Sabine, repeated for the millionth time today.
Miss Anna Sabine had dirty blonde hair that was always braided out of her face and sky blue eyes that watched your every movement. She wasn't mean, just kind of… different.
She was one of those free-thinking types that had glow-in-the-dark stars tapped to her classroom's ceiling with lots of plants growing uncontrollably out the windows. She was always insisting we do things as a collected class to 'enhance unity within our small society'. (Her words, not mine.) Partnering-up (commonly known as 'the buddy system') for our field trip to Atlantis Marine World was just one of those many ways.
"Now, keep in my mind none of these are man eating sharks," the aquarium tour guide informed us as our class circled around the shark tank. All different types of sharks with razor-sharp, jutting teeth swam on the other side of the glasses eyeing us fourth graders like they disagreed with the tour guide.
"This one here," the tour guide continued, pointing, "is a Nurse shark. They only get to be about 110 pounds and their diet consists of spiny lobsters, shrimp, crab, sea urchin, squid, octopus, snails, and fish such as catfish, mullets, and puffers."
"Speaking of diets," Miss Sabine said, "why don't we take a short break to eat lunch than we'll come back for our behind-the-scenes tour of exactly how they care for these gentle creatures." Miss Sabine patted the glass tank and a shark swam up and snapped at her as she said 'gentle creatures'.
I choked back a laugh when she jumped back, throwing horrified glance affronted toward the shark.
"Ooo," Mary whimpered as we walked to lunch, "they are so scary looking!"
"I know! My daddy tells me all the time how terrible they are," her snotty friend, Megan, bragged.
"They shouldn't even be alive," the other girl confided. "We'd all be safer if they'd be dead."
"They aren't that bad," my twin brother, Percy, defended.
"Yes, they are!" Mary told him. "They don't do anyone any help by being stuck in that stupid tank all day anyway!"
"Would you rather them be swimming in the ocean?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Just waiting for you to swim by so they can take one big bite out-"
"Megan, Mary," Miss Sabine called, "Percy, Leila-no falling behind!"
The four of us quickly ran to catch up with the rest of our class.
"Careful everybody," the marine biologist warned after lunch. "This cat walk is completely safe, but just a bit on the unsteady side."
"No sudden movements," Percy joked, throwing his arms to the sides as if balancing the whole walkway.
I laughed and made pretend surfer movements while other kids gave us a variety of different looks. Some were smiling in a "Hey, those guys actually look like they're having fun!" sort-of-way. Others were just averting their eyes to ignore us, or giving us degusted "Oh my, gosh! The freaks are speaking again!" glances.
"Settle down!" Miss Sabine ordered. "Class, class, listen up!" Percy and I fell silent with the rest of the class.
"So, does anyone know how much these sharks eat every day?" the instructor asked.
"A lot?" somebody guessed.
The instructor chuckled, "Yes, I suppose that is one answer."
"All the sharks in the world could be dead and no one would miss them," Mary muttered to Megan as the instructor went on to explain what, when, and how often the sharks are fed.
"Quiet, Mary," I snapped. "Sharks are not that bad."
"Yeah," Percy joined in. "I bet if we were in the water with them right now they wouldn't even hurt us!"
"Oh, please. If you were in there right now, they would eat you alive," Megan threatened.
"Yeah, right," Percy scoffed.
"They would," Mary said agreeing with her friend, "but if you don't believe us, why don't you just jump into the shark pool and see who's right?"
"Maybe we will," he told her. We turned away and walked toward the edge of the cat walk.
"Are we really going to jump in?" I asked Percy, eyeing the drop down into the water. It must have been a good six feet, but it seemed like forever.
"Nah," he replied. "That wouldn't convince them of anything."
"We could always push them in…" I offered.
He grinned, obviously growing to the idea, "I'm liking that suggestion."
"Me too," I said, "but they're not anywhere near the edge so we'd have to drag them over here, than push them in."
"Well," Percy huffed, "we're never going to get anywhere if we don't do something!"
"Why do we have to do something again?"
He sighed, "Because we can't have them going around convincing any people that sharks are evil."
"'cause they aren't," I finished, nodded. "I get it."
"Exactly," Percy stated, leaning against part of the cat walk. "Now, all we need to do is come up with some plan to get them to-" One of the levels Percy was leaning against pushed up. "Oops," he said, backing away instantly.
"Percy!" I hissed, looking around to see if any of the other students were watching. "Be careful!"
"It didn't do anything," he said, throwing a nervous glance toward the switch to see if it had moved again.
"It might have done something in the one of the tanks. We just can't see it," I told him.
"Should we move it back?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "I guess so."
We both grabbed the handle of the level and pulled it down.
The next thing I knew, the whole class was screaming and waving their arms as we all plummeted through the air landing in the shark pool with a SLASH!
On reflex, I held my breath but my eyes shot open. The neon blue tank water swirled my vision and immediately soaked my clothes. Sharks swam quickly around the students like none of them were sure what to do to a bunch of freaked out fourth graders.
I broke the surface with a gasp. "Percy!"
"Leila?"
"Percy!" I called over the other screaming kids.
"Right here," he said, appearing next to me.
"What did we do?" I asked, treading water as best I could.
"Something we're probably in trouble for," he answered, looking down at the water.
I gazed down at the water, "Well, since we're already in trouble and it's not every day we get to swim with sharks… want to explore?"
He smiled and ducked under the surface.
I dipped down after him and opened my eyes.
My brother pointed toward the faux ship wreck at the bottom of the tank. I grinned and nodded, swimming down toward the boat.
Bright colored fish darted back and forth getting out of our way and sharks actually stopped and stared as we swam by. Weird, I thought but shrugged it off and continued toward the bottom of the tank.
When I got near enough, I gripped the one of the rails on the edge of plastic ship wreck and waited for Percy.
He swam around to the side next to me, and then motioned towards a green eel that was gazing straight at us. Not knowing what else to do, we both waved at him. The eel much have realized we meant no harm, because it took one last long glance, that shot off into the water.
Before we could go further, a large pair of arms grabbed Percy and I around the waist and took us back toward the surface.
Once we were hoisted back onto another cat walk, the two of us were given instructions by another lady in an aquarium uniform to wait with the rest of the class. The six or so other ten year olds standing on the walk were all shivering and crying. It seemed like Megan and Mary weren't the only ones with a fear of sharks.
"Guess the fun's over," Percy sighed and slipped out of his wet sneakers, while I slipped off my jacket and socks. I guess I had accidently kicked off my shoes in the tank because the Reeboks I had been wearing were officially missing.
By the time Miss Sabine marched over, Percy and I were both curled up in some blankets that had been passed out. Thanks to the super absorbency of the fleece, we were almost completely dry.
"I never- all my years- anything so…ugh!" Miss Sabine stuttered, stomping her foot obviously to mad to say anything. After a couple of deep breaths and a few wild hand motions, Miss Sabine was able to get out the words: "School- principle- immediately!"
I leaned over to my brother and muttered, "We are definitely in trouble for this."
(A/N: I treasure every review I receive :])