This is in dedication to AnnabethJackson PiperGrace, an amazing writer. This is basically a uh, bonus scene (?) that I came up with while reading her story. I tried not to change it to much so that it still flowed with the beginning of chapter seven.

~Aubrey Sally Jackson~

I HUG A WHALE

I sat down with my back to the railing, pleased with the amount of stuff I was able to get my paws on. Hey, it's not everyday that you get to legally ransack a souvenir counter in the biggest aquarium in the United States.

Kate (Keto, whatever) even said it was the only aquarium in the world to house whale sharks, which is pretty sweet if you ask me.

I somewhat got the feeling that someone was watching me, so I glanced over to my right. I hadn't even noticed Frank plop down beside me.

I scooched away a bit, still a bit thrown off by how I was almost the same age as my uncle. Come on, how weird is that! That'd be like, Lucas' kid coming from the future to visit me! Now that would be super weird...

"Snag anything good?" Frank asked me, temporarily pulling me from my thoughts. He was in the middle of pulling out a stash of snow globes.

Personally, I wouldn't have wasted time collecting twelve snow globes. But it didn't really seem like the time to say that so instead I said, "Nice collection. If we spruce 'em up enough, we might be able to sell them for fifteen bucks on EBay."

Frank snorted, and I could tell he'd gotten a kick out of that one.

"How much you think a person would pay for a life sized snow globe?" I asked him with a grin. I dug around in my own pack while I waited for an answer, happening to find another package of blue straw candy. I tore open the pack.

Frank set his bag aside and stared at me for a good while. It was really weird, actually, because I saw the reflection of my curls in his eyes. I was just about to ask him if he wanted some candy when he finally responded.

"Aubrey, how could you survive the tank?"

I coughed violently from the shock of the question, blue candy and saliva spewing everywhere. I got a grossed out look from Piper, but she tried to pretend she didn't notice. I'm not entirely sure if that was a favor though.

I really didn't want to answer Frank's question, but he kept on staring at me and it was making me a bit uncomfortable, not only because of the staring but because of our secret.

You know that feeling you get when you see that one person in the hallway that knows of something you did embarrassing, but you try to look cool and calm anyway? That's how I felt about now.

"How could you breath underwater? And the pressure should have definitely killed you! Who are you?" Frank continued, watching me curiously.

If it had been someone else, I would've told them that I'd tell them when I felt like it. But this was Frank. And I couldn't blow him off like that. At least, I shouldn't. It would suck pretty bad if he somehow found out about this and then in the future he decided not to buy me that gaming system for Christmas.

I think Zach and Lucas would be more disappointed about that than me though.

I pulled a stuffed whale from my backpack and hugged it to my chest, trying to buy a few more minutes. But by the way he was looking at me, he wasn't satisfied.

"Okay, here's the deal," I sighed, leaning back on my knees in a kneeling position. "I honestly have no idea how I did that. I swear it. I'm just as confused as you are."

"You seemed so calm." Frank recalled, slouching back against the side of the ship again.

I shrugged, a little unsure of what to do at this point. Fortunately for me, Annabeth looked ready for us to continue with the telling of the aquarium story, so we rejoined the conversation.

In between the story, I ended up sharing a few looks with Hazel. There was something in her golden eyes that made her seem conflicted with herself, like she was in the middle of making a really tough decision.

Oh well.

I wanted to do a little drabble for this awesome story. I wanted to see some Frank/Aubrey interaction so this is what I got.