Eye of the Tiger Shark

by Ace Landers

  Contents

  Title Page

  ONE: The Morning Announcements

  TWO: A Shark-tastrophe

  THREE: It’s Hammerhead Time

  FOUR: Back to the Beach

  FIVE: A Message from a Bird

  SIX: A Shark-tastic Reunion

  SEVEN: S.W.B.C.F.T.

  EIGHT: Tiger Shark

  NINE: Beach Day

  TEN: A Leo, a Tiger, a Tammy, Oh My!

  ELEVEN: Two Weeks Later

  Tiger Shark

  Copyright

  Tammy Aiko could barely contain her excitement. Today was the day she’d waited for. Today it would finally happen!

  A few weeks ago, Tammy, her best friend, Kyle, and their new friend Alex had founded the Marine Science Club at Waverly Middle School. The only problem? The club wasn’t exactly, well … cool. And that made Tammy sad, because marine science was pretty awesome.

  The three friends, representing the Marine Science Club, had ventured to Tiburon Cove down by the beach, where they’d come across not one, but three wild sharks! And the sharks needed the friends’ help. The smallest one, a porbeagle, had gotten trapped in some pesky plastic. Thankfully, the Marine Science Club was able to free the little guy and give him a happily ever after. Sometimes when Tammy was feeling down, she liked to imagine the shark swimming under the sea.

  Unknowingly, Alex had recorded the whole event with his video camera. It was the perfect way for the Marine Science Club to get some exposure (and some cool points)—after all, what could be cooler than a club where you meet sharks? Tammy had initially pitched the feature to the school paper, but the paper wasn’t interested. So now it was time for the morning announcements to do its thing!

  The video was going to be big. It was going to put the Marine Science Club on the map. And although Tammy wasn’t all that interested in being cool anymore, with more kids interested in the MSC, they’d be able to do good things for the oceans more easily, like plan a school-wide beach cleanup field trip. Tammy wanted kids to get involved in making sure no shark was in the porbeagle’s position ever again.

  But of course, that all rested on the success of the morning announcements.

  Tammy tapped her left leg nervously against the side of her desk. Sadly, she didn’t share first period with Alex or Kyle (she had English class, they had Drawing and Painting), but she was excited to see what the rest of her classmates’ reactions would be. Excitement? Intrigue? Fascination? She could just imagine answering all their questions now!

  Finally, the Waverly Middle School logo appeared on the TV screen. The news anchor, an eighth grader named Carolyn Cho, was seated at the middle of a long table. Her hair was combed back and she was wearing a red pantsuit. Next to her was her co-anchor, a seventh-grade student named Leo McCormack. Confidentially, Tammy knew that Leo was only there because his mother, Ms. McCormack, was the morning announcements producer. Tammy knew that Leo would much rather be down at the football field, being gross and sweaty.

  Carolyn squared her gaze with the camera.

  “Goooooood morning, Waverly Middle!” Carolyn all but shouted into her mic. “Today’s date is October first, and you’re watching the Waverly Waves!”

  Tammy braced herself. It’s all going to be okay, she muttered under her breath.

  “October has begun,” Carolyn said in her pristine way of reporting the news. “Which means the Drama Club’s school-wide Spookyfest is here! Be sure to stop by the club’s table during lunch and buy a Spookygram. They’re available all week.”

  Tammy wiggled in her seat. Spookygrams. She’d forgotten that the Drama Club sold Spookygrams. Kids gave the Drama Club two dollars, and then the Drama Club went around and sang spooky songs for the people who bought them. Last year her friend Beckah had bought her a Spookygram, and one of the members of the Drama Club followed her around all day and sang “Will You Be My Monster?”

  Beckah. Tammy bristled. Beckah Cohen and Tammy used to be best friends, but ever since Beckah moved to the fancier part of town and became newspaper editor, they hadn’t hung out. It made Tammy sad, but maybe drifting apart was what middle school was for. Besides, if all went well, maybe Beckah would run a feature on Tammy and the MSC. It’s not like they were fighting or anything. Maybe MSC being cool was how she could win Beckah’s friendship back!

  “Today’s lunch options in the cafeteria are mushroom risotto and shepherd’s pie,” Leo chimed in. “Tomorrow’s are Greek salad and three-cheese grilled cheese.”

  Tammy liked shepherd’s pie as much as the next person, but what she really wanted to hear was the Marine Science Club announcement. She was getting antsy!

  “And now, we have a very special presentation from Waverly Middle School’s own …” Carolyn said, but her lip quivered, as if she were about to say something funny. “Marine Science Club!”

  Yes! Tammy almost screeched.

  “Marine Science Club? I don’t think I’ve heard of that one yet, Carolyn,” Leo said.

  “Right on! The Marine Science Club is a new organization devoted to preserving and learning about ocean life,” Carolyn said. She was reading the exact notes that Tammy had given her; Tammy felt good to have her words read live to the entire school. “Its members include President Tamera Aiko, Vice President Alexander de la Cruz, and Treasurer Kyle Ray. And those three students have a real treat for us this morning … Leo, can you press ‘Play,’ please?”

  “You got it,” Leo said. He flipped a switch.

  The screen went black. Then it fizzled out into the video recording that Alex had taken at the beach.

  Tammy was instantly taken back to two weeks ago, when she, Kyle, and Alex had rescued the poor porbeagle at the beach. She heard her own voice call out, “High tide!” There was lots of splashing in the water, and the faint image of a shark. Then the clip was done.

  Tammy’s leg stopped bouncing. That was it. They’d done it.

  The MSC has arrived, Tammy thought.

  The screen went back to Carolyn and Leo. They both looked silent. Finally, Carolyn spoke.

  “That was … something,” Carolyn said.

  Not missing a beat, Leo replied, “You bet. I’m not entirely sure what I just saw, but I’ve been told that’s some exclusive footage from the Marine Science Club. Or should we say, the Photo Editing Club! They swim with sharks, folks!”

  Tammy heard the other kids in class roar with laughter.

  Photo Editing Club? She wasn’t sure what that was all about—but it was most likely about Kyle. He was a great illustrator, and as long as Tammy had known him, he was always sketching something or another.

  Tammy thought the clip was great. She scanned the room, waiting for her classmates to ask questions about the club (she’d even prepared a little spiel), but as she glanced around, she almost felt like the rest of her classmates were avoiding her. Was Tammy imagining things, or would they not look her way? No one’s eyes met hers.

  What was going on?

  Finally, Tammy couldn’t stay quiet anymore. She turned to the girl sitting next to her, Miranda Quinones.

  “Everything okay?” Tammy asked.

  Miranda shot a look at her.

  “Um,” Miranda said. “I guess. I’m okay. But what’s with the, uh …” Miranda lowered her voice. “Fake sharks?”

  Fake sharks?!Tammy wanted to scream.

  The video was not fake! The sharks were not fake! The Marine Science Club was not a fraud!

  Tammy had really seen a hammerhead, a porbeagle, and a mako shark out in the wild. And Kyle and Alex had seen them too. And they were even kind of friends with them!

  Tammy opened her mouth to say something, but just as she did so, her English teacher, Ms. Kapoor, silenced the room.
>
  “Did everyone do last night’s reading?” Ms. Kapoor asked. Then class time began.

  But Tammy couldn’t focus on Moby Dick. She was too wrapped up in what had happened. People didn’t believe that the MSC had befriended some sharks. Even when they had irrefutable evidence. Tammy could feel her eyes beginning to water.

  Tammy grabbed the bathroom pass and made a beeline toward the bathroom. Once there, she flung herself into the stall and began to sob. It wasn’t fair. Not fair, not fair, not fair! She’d done everything right. Why had this happened?

  Tammy wadded some toilet paper up and dried her eyes. She was about to leave when she heard someone with a familiar voice walk into the bathroom and stop at the mirror. Tammy recognized that voice instantly—it was Beckah Cohen. And through the crack of the stall, Tammy could see that Beckah was speaking to a redheaded girl Tammy didn’t know.

  “You know, I told her we can’t print anything without cold, hard evidence,” Beckah said. “It’s not my fault that the morning announcements don’t screen what they air. I mean, it’s so sad, isn’t it? Imagine being so desperate for friends that you have to resort to a fake science club. Really!”

  Tammy’s heart sank.

  Beckah had to be talking about her—about the Marine Science Club. And Beckah seemed to think that on top of it all, she was “desperate for friends.”

  This was it. This was the worst thing that could have possibly happened.

  Tammy felt like a puddle of mush.

  Tammy tried to make herself as small as possible in the stall. She didn’t want Beckah and the redheaded girl to see her legs in the gap between the door and the floor. She took deep breaths. Then, when the coast was clear and the girls had left, she slipped back into English class, feeling a hundred—no, a thousand—times worse than she had before.

  •

  At lunch, Tammy sat with Kyle and Alex.

  “This is a shark-tastrophe,” Tammy said. She didn’t even touch the shepherd’s pie in front of her.

  Kyle was busy drawing his Interesting Thing of the day. Each day, he picked one thing, and one thing only, to draw. By the end of the day, he’d be an expert on it. Today, that thing seemed to be a portrait of Carolyn Cho on the morning announcements.

  Alex, however, had no such appetite problem. He dug into his mashed potatoes and got a glob on his pants.

  “Well, we know we’re not lying,” Alex said. “Besides, wasn’t the whole point to save the sharks? And we did that. So we still win.”

  Tammy wanted to knock some sense into her friend.

  “But now our club is ruined!” she nearly spat. “How will anyone want to help the sharks when they don’t even believe the sharks are real?”

  Kyle raised an eyebrow.

  “Tammy,” he said, putting his colored pencil down. “How many years have we been best friends?”

  “Twelve,” Tammy replied. “Ever since we were a year old.”

  “And do you know how many times I’ve seen you give up on something you’re passionate about?” Kyle asked.

  Tammy shook her head.

  “Zero,” Kyle said. “Zero times. That’s very special, T. And you cannot give up now.”

  Alex put his arm around Tammy.

  “You know what we gotta do, right?” Alex asked.

  Tammy knew but she didn’t want to say it.

  “Clear our heads,” said Kyle. “And the best way to do that … is to go back to the beach.”

  That very same moment, the ocean was calm. Almost too calm, actually. It was a perfect condition for Hammerhead’s newest experiment. The medium-sized shark was a skilled inventor. And today, she had a new goal.

  Hammerhead swam to the top of her sunken pirate ship with a net in her mouth. The ship was Hammerhead’s special place, a place where she kept her collection of man-made treasures. But the ship was more than just a storage space. It was also a place where Hammerhead was free to invent anything she dreamed of. Where there were no judging eyes or anyone telling her what to do.

  Today, Hammerhead wanted to fly.

  As a shark, Hammerhead had skimmed the surface of the water before. She’d even caught air a few times. But Hammerhead wanted to soar like the fluffy things that flapped across the deep sky above the ocean. The things humans called birds.

  Hammerhead knew that sharks couldn’t fly. Not naturally, anyway. But there were no laws of nature that said she couldn’t invent something!

  Hammerhead swam back and forth between the ship’s old and worn masts, looping the net she carried until it was so tight that the strings vibrated when they were plucked. She’d gotten the idea from watching a human playing in the deep ocean. There was a contraption that the human used to bounce on, and every time they bounced on it, their little human body went higher and higher. Hammerhead called it a Stomperine, because the more you stomped, the higher you jumped.

  There was only one problem. Sharks don’t stomp. However, they can swim really fast. Thanks to a stopwatch that Hammerhead had found underwater, she clocked her fastest swimming at twenty-five miles per hour. Not bad for a shark with a head named after a clunky human tool.

  All she needed now was a Stomperine of her own. That’s where the net came into play. Hammerhead had borrowed a net from some nice fishermen who kept throwing it into the water. After seeing them throw it a few times, Hammerhead realized that perhaps the fishermen were trying to get rid of the net. Not to mention that all the fish near it kept getting tangled up and trapped. So Hammerhead stuck her head out of the water and asked nicely if she could have their net. The fishermen screamed and drove their boat away, which Hammerhead assumed was human for, “Yes, be our guest and please take our net.”

  So she did.

  With the net tied tightly, Hammerhead swam far away from the sunken pirate ship. She had measured out the exact distance she needed to travel so that she would hit her top speed just as she bounced on the Stomperine, which would blast her up, up, and way above the water.

  She reached the teeth marks she had etched on the side of a giant clam and took a few deep breaths. Hammerhead knew she wouldn’t be able to breathe above water, so she would have to time her last gasp just right. When she was ready, Hammerhead bolted forward, leaving a trail of bubbles in her wake.

  •

  After school, Tammy, Kyle, and Alex walked along the boardwalk at the beach. They didn’t really have any set plans—they just wanted to get their minds off the unfortunate events of the day.

  “I just read a really cool comic book,” Alex said, trying to change the topic from the shark-tastrophe to something more … positive. “It’s about a dragon slayer who is secretly a dragon but only his cat knows.”

  “That’s cool,” Tammy replied, though she was super monotone. It didn’t sound like she was paying attention to Alex at all.

  Just then, there was a loud noise. It sounded like someone yelling, “Heyyyyy-yo!”

  “Tammy, watch out!” Kyle called out. Tammy saw a ball flying right at her and jumped underneath a bench for cover. Crash! The football landed right where she had been standing.

  “Jeez,” Tammy muttered, wiping off the sand on her knees. “Who was that?”

  A tall, muscular kid ran over.

  At first, Tammy only saw his shadow. But even the shadow was enough to know who it was. Only one person in their whole town was as big and strong as that shadow. And that person was Leo McCormack.

  “Leo,” Tammy whispered.

  Leo McCormack grabbed the ball.

  “Aw, man,” he said, inspecting it. “Some air’s gotten out. Hey, I didn’t hit you, did I?” he asked Tammy.

  “No,” Tammy grumbled. Though you pretty much hit me emotionally, this morning, she wanted to say.

  Leo helped her up. Then he took a good, long look at Tammy, as if trying to place where he knew her from.

  “Oy! You go to Waverly Middle, don’t you?” he asked.

  Tammy nodded.

  “So what brings you to the beach
today?”

  “I’m a member of the Marine Science Club,” Tammy said, in the most powerful voice she could muster. “We come to the beach to clear our heads. And to—”

  Leo cocked an eyebrow.

  “Meet with sharks?”

  “Yeah. Exactly,” Tammy replied.

  Tammy could feel her face flush. In all her years of knowing Leo McCormack at school, Tammy wasn’t sure she had ever really spoken to him. Their moms had been friendly over the years—Mrs. Aiko sometimes volunteered at the school, and Ms. McCormack worked there—but Leo was usually busy playing some form of sport, and Tammy, well, wasn’t. While she’d like to pretend that getting trapped by seaweed was something rare for her, it happened quite often. Tammy could trip over her own shoelaces if she didn’t remember to tie them!

  Tammy had heard some stories about Leo, though, and she always thought he was kind of a bully. He did things like throw basketballs and footballs all over the place. Plus, he was pretty mean on the morning announcements.

  Out of everyone in the world, why did Leo McCormack have to throw the ball at me? Tammy thought.

  “You know that people don’t really meet with sharks, right?” Leo asked.

  Tammy harrumphed.

  “Well, we did,” she replied. “So if you don’t want to believe us, there’s nothing else I can really say to you. We have more important things to do. Like—”

  Tammy was about to say “like save the ocean,” but before she could do that, a white seagull circled around them. It dipped low, then landed directly on the football.

  “What the?” Leo said.

  The seagull had something inside its mouth. And it wasn’t just any something. It was a purple ribbon—Tammy’s biodegradable purple ribbon, the very same one that her grandfather had given her one summer, and the very same one that she’d gifted to the hammerhead shark only a few weeks ago.

  Tammy’s eyes widened.

  Hammerhead’s calling to us!

  Hammerhead loved speed swimming. The ocean blurred around her as she focused on her target. The white net stood at the ready. Hammerhead felt the swift drift of the water ripple all around her as she moved faster and faster. She braced for her bouncy impact just as another shark swam into view.