Eye of the Tiger Shark

by Ace Landers

  That shark was Hammerhead’s good friend Porbeagle. And Porbeagle was chomping on his squeaker toy—squeak, squeak!—while floating in the worst place possible: right in front of Hammerhead’s Stomperine!

  Hammerhead pulled up at the last minute, narrowly avoiding Porbeagle, but also narrowly avoiding the net too! She was moving so fast now, Hammerhead was worried she might spin out of control and crash into another sea creature like Tiger Shark. And Hammerhead really didn’t want to do that.

  But then a funny thing happened. Hammerhead began to slow down.

  Hammerhead looked behind her. Although Hammerhead’s body had missed the net, Hammerhead’s tail did not miss the net. In fact, Hammerhead’s tail had caught the net, which meant the net had now caught Hammerhead!

  Hmm, maybe this was a good thing, Hammerhead thought. She had wanted to use the bouncy Stomperine to fly, but the Stomperine had turned into a slingshot.

  Whoosh!

  Before Hammerhead could finish her thought, the net snapped back into place, pulling her with it and tossing her hard in the other direction. Hammerhead waved to Porbeagle as she passed the small shark in the opposite direction, then she braced for the worst.

  Thud! Hammerhead bumped into a different shark, and they went tumbling into a slow-waving forest of seaweed.

  Why can’t my plans ever go right? Hammerhead thought.

  The shark she hit had a wide, crooked smile and two eyes that were full of excitement. It was Mako, another of Hammerhead’s best friends, and Mako had more energy than usual.

  Mako held a balled-up piece of soggy trash in his mouth. And with a throaty gaw, he coughed and spit it onto Hammerhead.

  Yuck! thought Hammerhead. Mako! We talked about this! Then with her fins she unraveled the trash.

  It was written in human language, but Hammerhead knew an adventure when she saw one. She recognized the pictures on the paper. They were all things to find at the beach! This was a scavenger hunt! Better yet, this was a sign. The humans she had met last time must be back—and they’d sent a letter to her!

  Hammerhead knew what had to be done.

  It was time to go back to the beach!

  Hammerhead, Porbeagle, and Mako rushed to Tiburon Cove, the spot where they had met the kids before. This time Hammerhead kept a close eye on Porbeagle. The last time they’d visited the cove, Porbeagle had wandered off and caused a lot of trouble, but that was also how the sharks and humans had become friends.

  When they arrived, Hammerhead popped her head eagerly out of the water first. She scanned around excitedly. But there was no one in sight. The cove was completely empty—except for one of those fluffy flying things.

  A seagull! Mako seemed to say.

  Hammerhead cast a glance at the seagull. Then she got an idea!

  With Mako’s help, they unraveled the purple biodegradable ribbon that Hammerhead had tied comfortably around her fin.

  Porbeagle, who was somewhat of an artist, collected rocks and made a picture of Tammy with them. Then the sharks approached the seagull.

  Hey, bird, Hammerhead seemed to say. Can you take this to our friend? She might be elsewhere on the beach.

  Hammerhead dropped the ribbon in front of the bird.

  The seagull stared for a moment. Then it cawed.

  I think it wants something as a trade, Hammerhead thought.

  Mako knew just what to do!

  He dove deep beneath the ocean and grabbed a large, slimy fish. Then he dropped it at the seagull’s feet.

  The seagull stared at the fish for a moment. Seagulls love fish, almost as much as sharks do! It bobbed its head as if nodding, scooped up the fish, ate it, and flew off with the ribbon.

  I really hope it finds Tammy, Hammerhead thought.

  You can’t be serious,” said Leo McCormack. “Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. A shark cannot be summoning a human to Tiburon Cove.”

  Leo, Tammy, Kyle, and Alex were huddled in a circle on the boardwalk. The seagull had dropped the ribbon at Tammy’s feet and then flown away. Tammy now held the ribbon with her left hand. She kept turning it over, wondering too if this was all real.

  “You just saw a seagull drop Tammy’s purple ribbon at her feet, and you’re questioning if we’re friends with sharks?” Alex quipped.

  Leo laughed.

  “Of course, I’m questioning it!” he said. “I mean, no offense, but how do you even know that’s Tammy’s ribbon? There’s lots of trash on this beach. Maybe the seagull just picked it up.”

  “No, it’s definitely my ribbon,” Tammy said. She fished her phone out of her pocket and jabbed it at him. Her phone screensaver was a photo of her and her grandfather. Tammy was wearing the ribbon.

  “That still doesn’t prove anything,” Leo said. “There must be thousands of purple ribbons in the world.”

  The thought of seeing the sharks again energized Tammy. All she wanted to do was jump up and venture to Tiburon Cove, where they’d met with the sharks before.

  “Look, we don’t have time to argue with you,” Tammy said. “It’s low tide now, so if we don’t head out to the cove to meet our friends, we’ll miss them.”

  Tammy started to stride away. Alex followed her. But Kyle stayed behind for just a moment with Leo.

  Kyle wasn’t particularly loud. He was a good illustrator, and he’d saved Porbeagle and agreed to be the Marine Science Club’s treasurer. And he was Tammy’s best friend. But Kyle was also a good leader. Sometimes he knew just what to say.

  “I know you don’t believe us, Leo,” Kyle said. “And that’s fine. No loss. But consider this. What if we are telling the truth?”

  Leo thought about it. And then, to even Leo’s surprise, he picked up his football and followed the other three to Tiburon Cove.

  •

  Hammerhead, Mako, and Porbeagle waited at the cove. Hammerhead was starting to get impatient. What if the seagull didn’t find Tammy? What if it didn’t even try?

  Porbeagle tried to calm Hammerhead down. Let’s play a game!

  Porbeagle grabbed a conch shell in his mouth and tossed it. Zoom! Mako darted after it. Then he tried throwing it toward Hammerhead, but Hammerhead didn’t budge.

  Hammerhead would have loved to go on a scavenger hunt with the humans. She felt stupid. What if they got the invite too late? What if the invite wasn’t even from them? What if—and Hammerhead really hoped not—something had happened to them?

  Cheer up, Hams, Porbeagle seemed to say. We can have lots more fun in the ocean.

  Yeah! Weren’t you inventing something, anyway? Mako seemed to say back.

  Hammerhead shook her head from side to side. She was so disappointed.

  Finally, Hammerhead decided it was time to go back in the water. Maybe if Hammerhead learned to fly like the seagull, she could have found the humans instead! All the more reason for Hammerhead’s invention to come to life …

  Just as the sharks were about to descend into the deep, Hammerhead heard a noise. She perked up. Could it be?

  Squawk! Squawk! The same seagull flew in. It dropped low and perched on a nearby rock. It faced the opening of the cove. If Hammerhead squinted just right, she could make out three shadows.

  Three?

  Wait. No. Four!

  “The sharks!” a voice called out. “I knew it! I knew they’d be back!”

  Hammerhead, Mako, and Porbeagle splashed around.

  The humans! They had finally come!

  Tammy saw the sharks first: Mako, his head poking up; Porbeagle, splashing along; and, although she didn’t like to admit it, Hammerhead, her favorite—a beautiful gray shark with an unusually shaped head.

  “They’re here! They’re really here!” Tammy called. She could almost dance, she was so happy! It had been a few weeks since they’d last encountered the sharks, and she was beginning to think they wouldn’t see them again.

  “Porby!” Kyle called. He dashed right up to where his favorite, Porbeagle, was, and immediately started patting him on the head. Kyle and Porbea
gle had bonded before—after all, it was Kyle who had saved the little shark when he had gotten stuck.

  Alex and the mako shark greeted each other with eagerness. They were something of a pair too—the cheerleaders, in a sense, of their own respective teams.

  And when Tammy and Hammerhead saw each other, they both melted. Tammy never felt quite as at home as she did when she was with Hammerhead. They seemed just to get each other in a way she couldn’t quite express.

  “Oh, we missed you so much,” Tammy said, scratching Hammerhead gently between her eyes. “I’m glad to see that you’re all okay. We got your message. Here’s your ribbon back. I think it’s now more yours than it ever was mine.” Tammy handed her purple ribbon back to Hammerhead, who graciously accepted it.

  Hammerhead emitted a few bubbles for Tammy. Tammy knew that meant I missed you too.

  But just when the reunion had started, Hammerhead got distracted. Her eyes darted right behind Tammy to where another shadow was. Tammy followed Hammerhead’s gaze.

  “Don’t be frightened,” Tammy said. “That’s Leo McCormack. He’s not going to hurt you. In fact, he didn’t even believe you existed.”

  Tammy tossed her long, black hair over her shoulder and turned around to face Leo.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” she said, smiling bigger now than she had all day. “You’re here, aren’t you? Come say hi!”

  Leo laughed nervously.

  “Um,” he said. It was clear that Leo was very uncomfortable. “Are you sure those aren’t, er, puppets? Maybe a new kind of Spookygram the Drama Club is putting on?”

  Tammy made a face.

  “Oh, is big, tough Waverly Middle School quarterback star Leo McCormack afraid of a tiny, little shark? Come say hi! Or—oh! I think the shark wants to say hi to you!”

  Hammerhead zoomed right up to Leo, who was at the edge of the water, and did a flip in the water. Hammerhead cast a look back at Tammy, as if to say, this is fun!

  Leo had no choice. Tammy had said the magic words, and Hammerhead was so gosh darn adorable. He bent down and stuck his hand out slowly. Hammerhead jumped right up to it as if giving him a high five.

  “I—I can’t believe it,” Leo stuttered. “This can’t be real.”

  “Of course it’s real,” replied Tammy. “It’s what I’ve been telling you. What I’ve been telling all of Waverly Middle School. Sharks are friendly. They just want us to stop polluting the oceans. They want to live among us really happily. And that’s one of the reasons why marine science is super, super cool.” Now Tammy turned to Hammerhead. “Alright, girl. Is there something you want to show me?”

  Hammerhead took out the scavenger hunt paper that Mako had found. She finned it over to Tammy, who held it in her hands.

  Tammy looked at the scavenger hunt sadly. Then she looked back at Hammerhead.

  “This isn’t from us,” Tammy said. “I’m so sorry.”

  The paper made Tammy feel bad. Giving Hammerhead a biodegradable purple ribbon was one thing. It would never harm the sharks because it would disintegrate with enough time under water. Plus, it was made from recyclable materials. But the paper wasn’t. It was somebody’s trash that they’d left behind. And that was exactly how poor Porbeagle had ended up in the plastic two weeks ago.

  “Pollution is harming the ocean,” Tammy told Leo. “And the sharks need our help. The sharks need us. We were hoping to get some more kids at Waverly on board …”

  Leo shook his head.

  “Alright,” he said. “Say no more. I understand.”

  At this, Alex perked up.

  “So you’ll tell everyone we’re not frauds?”

  “Yeah, you owe us,” said Kyle.

  Leo shrugged his shoulders.

  “Honestly, I only say things on the morning announcements that are given to me. I don’t make up anything on my own,” he replied. “I’m sorry for the hurt I caused. Really sorry. But I believe you now. So I think … maybe, if you run an event, or do something else, we can run another ad for you guys. And there’ll be no photo editing jokes. That, I promise.”

  Tammy was thrilled.

  “That’s great,” she said. “Because the MSC has some ideas.”

  The next day at school, Tammy, Kyle, and Alex sat in Mr. Lopez’s science class for a meeting of the Marine Science Club.

  “So I was thinking about our next great plan for the beach cleanup field trip. There’s clearly lots of pollution still on the beach, and Leo’s promised to help,” Tammy said. “But the trip needs a name. And if I’m being honest, ‘School-Wide Beach Cleanup Field Trip’ is kind of a mouthful.”

  “But that’s exactly what it is!” Alex said. “Maybe we can call it the S.W.B.C.F.T.”

  “Swibcuffed,” Kyle replied, pronouncing all the letters in Alex’s acronym.

  The three friends laughed. That was not going to be the beach trip name.

  Tammy wrote three ideas on the whiteboard. So far, she had:

  Beach Beach Baby

  Beachin’ It with the MSC

  Beach Day!

  None of them were quite right.

  “‘How about ‘Surf’s Up, Science Buffs’?” suggested Alex.

  Tammy and Kyle exchanged looks. Alex was new to Waverly Middle; he didn’t know the kids yet. But Tammy and Kyle could hardly imagine everyone at Waverly Middle reacting positively to being called science buffs. Especially not after the shark-tastrophe fiasco.

  “I like ‘Surf’s Up,’” Tammy said, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. (After all, she was the Marine Science Club’s president.) “I’ll add that to the list.”

  Tammy wrote it right under “Beach Day!” There wasn’t really anything wrong with “Beach Day!” but it just seemed too … on the nose. Which was in a way what they needed … and in a way, totally not.

  “I think we need something straightforward and to the point,” Tammy said. “Kind of like ‘Marine Science Club.’”

  “Ooh, how about ‘Marine Science Presents’?” Alex suggested. “We can call this ‘Marine Science Presents: Beach Day!,’ then if we do more field trips, it can be things like ‘Marine Science Presents: Museum Day!,’ and so on and so forth.”

  Tammy’s face lit up. That was perfect!

  “I love it!” she squealed.

  “Nice job,” Kyle told Alex.

  Tammy erased the other names on the board and wrote “Marine Science Presents” in big, blocky letters. Then she dug out her phone and texted Leo. It was time for the morning announcements, take two!

  •

  The next day, Tammy was prepared for the morning announcements. She’d sent Leo a script that she’d carefully crafted, and he promised that he, not Carolyn, would deliver the news.

  The only thing left, now, was to wait.

  The morning announcements logo went up on-screen and Tammy sat back, ready to watch.

  “Goooooood morning, Waverly Middle!” Carolyn said. “Today’s date is October third, and you’re watching the Waverly Waves!”

  The morning announcements theme music played.

  “Today’s lunch options in the cafeteria include chicken and waffles and tomato bisque soup,” Carolyn continued. “Tomorrow’s options are chicken fingers and vegetarian fried rice.”

  Now the screen panned to Leo. Tammy braced herself. She knew this was the moment.

  “Spookygrams are still on sale through the end of the week from the Drama Club,” Leo said. “In more club news, the Marine Science Club is pleased to announce their first annual event: Marine Science Presents: Beach Day!”

  Tammy scanned her eyes across the room. At the mention of “Marine Science Club,” she could tell that the rest of her classmates were at the very least interested, if only to poke fun at her.

  “Marine Science Club? That still exists?” Carolyn laughed into her mic.

  “Oh yes, it does!” said Leo. “The Marine Science Club is proud to host Marine Science Club Presents: Beach Day!, a day in which all the kids at Waverly Middle
School are invited to help clean up the beach. Cleaning up the beach is important because it ensures that wildlife won’t get harmed by litter. Tickets cost five dollars, and the beach day takes place during school. Waivers are needed and must be signed by a parent or guardian.”

  Tammy had to admit it. Leo was good at being clear, concise, and delivering effectively. Even if his main thing was sports, he wasn’t half-bad at the morning announcements!

  “The beach day takes place next week,” Leo continued. “Submit your waivers and cash to their treasurer, Kyle Ray. And remember to bring sunscreen!”

  Carolyn was a pro at giving the people what they want.

  “But will you see any sharks?” she said and smirked.

  “I guess you’ll have to go and find out,” Leo said.

  •

  Tammy, Kyle, and Alex got special permission from their teachers to leave for lunch ten minutes early. They scooted a table into the cafeteria, right by the register, and set up a display. Kyle rolled out a paper banner that said “Marine Science Presents: Beach Day! Sign-Ups” on it, with his own signature logo and a drawing of a porbeagle shark. Alex had a collection of field trip waivers at his station. And Tammy had a sign-up sheet. The five dollars they collected from each student would ensure that everyone got lunch on the field trip, which Alex’s parents—who owned a pizza shop at the beach—had graciously agreed to provide.

  “That announcement was really great this morning,” Alex said, making conversation. “I guess it’s nice to have Leo McCormack in our Mc-corner!” He laughed.

  Kyle laughed too, but Tammy kept a straight face.

  “He is responsible for making us a laughingstock at first, so he’s not totally forgiven,” she said. “But I’m hoping we have a good turnout. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!”

  Bring! Bring! Briiiiing! The lunch bell sounded. Tammy noticed her leg was tapping again.

  A few kids walked into the cafeteria, jumped into the food line, and then took their seats. Some of them cast sidelong looks at the MSC table. Tammy saw a few kids get up with dollar bills in their hands, but then they walked over to the Drama Club’s booth.