Chapter Two: A New Member
Bruce, Chum, and Anchor were coming back home after a morning swim. Anchor was singing a song about feeling hot as they were entering their home.
"Feelin' hot hot hot! Dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun! Feelin' hot hot…. HAWT!"
Bruce and Chum knew that Anchor only stopped his singing when he was startled, surprised, or hurt. They swam in after him.
"What's wrong…" Bruce began. He stopped his sentence when he saw another Hammerhead shark that looked similar to Anchor, only a little smaller and a female.
"Oh I'm 'orry." The female shark began. "I didn't know that other sharks were living here. You see, I'm house hunting and… it's really getting hard to find sunken ships without divers or other occupants."
"S'alright, at least you didn't get blown up by those mines out there." Bruce said, surprised that she was so friendly.
"Yeah, it's a good thing you didn't go into those diver infested ships. I've run into a diver before, and it wasn't pretty…" Chum paused, pointing at his nose hook, "I got a souvenir."
Anchor didn't say anything. He was thunderstruck. (By love?)
Marquella smiled in relief and at the not-very-funny-but-funny-at-some-point joke Chum made. She was glad these guys understood. "Oh, well…I guess I'll go now…" Marquella headed toward the exit, but seemed to remember something. "Oh," She said, looking at Anchor, "By the way, my names not Hawt, its Marquella."
Anchor blushed, remembering what he had said. "Sorry." He mumbled, lowering his head.
'Wot's wrong with him? He's blushing redder than an apple!' Chum thought. 'Now we've REALLY gotta go to 'Arlin!' Bruce was thinking the same thing.
"Well, I'm Bruce." Bruce said.
"I'm Chum." Chum added.
Anchor couldn't say anything. Every time he tried to say something it came out in stutters and incomplete sentences. "I'm…. umm…. Anc….well….ummm…"
Marquella noticed this and Anchor noticed that she noticed this, which only made him blush more, but this time only Chum and Bruce noticed. Chum elbowed Anchor on his right fin.
"What're you doing?" He whispered to Anchor. "Tell 'er your name!"
"I can't remember my name." Anchor half hissed half whispered to Chum.
"What?" Chum whispered back to Anchor. "It's Anchor, so stop stuttering like an insane fool and tell her already!"
Anchor somehow gathered up the courage to tell Marquella his name. 'C'mon mate, you can do this!' He thought. "My name's Anchor." Anchor blurted out.
Marquella giggled a soft giggle. "Well nice to meet you." She giggled even more.
Anchor gave a mental sigh. 'Why can't I talk to her?'
Marquella smiled. 'I wish I could stay,' she thought, 'but they probably don't want me here.' "I guess I'll go now." She said. "Are you guys a club or something?"
Bruce and Chum smiled at their opportunity to tell someone else about their club.
"Why yes, yes we are little sheila." Bruce said. "We're the F.E.A."
Anchor knew that most sharks that they met made fun of them because they were trying to be vegetarians. 'Please don't ask what it stands for, please don't ask what it stands for, please please, pleassssssssssse don't ask what it stands for!' He thought.
"What's it stand for?" Marquella asked.
"Dang it!' Anchor thought.
Bruce answered her question. "It stands for Fish Eaters Anonymous."
Marquella looked at him with confusion until Chum said,
"We don't eat fish."
Marquella just stared at them in disbelief. "You guys don't eat fish?" She said in an almost near whisper.
"Nope! We sure don't!" Chum said with a smile.
"And we're proud of it!" Bruce added.
'Oh great, now how am I gonna see her again!' Anchor thought.
"So…. You wanna give it a try? Please?" Anchor asked with a weak smile.
'He's so cute when he's like that…' "….Okay!" Marquella said.
"Woo hoo!" Anchor said, doing a mixture of a creative back flip and a dance.
Marquella couldn't help but smile and laugh at her new friend.
"Just as long as I can eat dolphins." She added. "Flippin' little show-offy things."
"Yay! She hates dolphins too!" Chum said happily, high… finning Anchor.
"Yeah, you can dolphins!" Bruce laughed. "We may not eat fish, but dolphins are another story…"
The three friends were glad to have a new member, but no one was as happy as Anchor. He was, as Chum would say, 'grinning like an insane fool.'
"He's smiling again! What the shell is wrong wit' him?' Bruce thought.
Anchor found his tongue and began talking to Marquella about how the club worked. He didn't notice Chum going over to Bruce.
"Now should we visit 'Arlin?" He asked.
Bruce gave one last glance at Anchor before answering,
"Yeah mate, we should."
The F.E.A. plus their new member all went to bed. Yes they did have bedrooms on that ship. There were about 7 of them to be exact. As Anchor went to bed he thought,
'Well step one's done. Being able to talk to her. Step two's much harder; telling her how I feel.'
He went into fake sleep and dreamt good dreams. Meanwhile, two sharks were planning on getting up early…
R&R! Special thanks to Tinke-Belle85. Thanks for being the first to review. Anonymous reviews are welcome too ya' know!