Jungle Crossing Read Online Free Page B

Jungle Crossing
Book: Jungle Crossing Read Online Free
Author: Sydney Salter
Pages:
Go to
with his paddle. "You paddle on one side, then the other side. Left. Right." He talked really slow, as if English were
my
second language!
    "I think I've got it now," I said as we got closer to the buoy.
    Nando shrugged and totally showed off by zipping ahead, tying up his kayak, and diving into the water—all before I reached the buoy.
    After I finally tied my kayak to the others, I just sat there with the sun beating down on my shoulders and my already-hot-from-embarrassment face. My head kind of ached. Isn't that the first sign of heat stroke? Reason number 24. I watched the others bob around in the open ocean in groups of two or three, their snorkels sticking up in the air, reminding me way too much of sharks. The water seemed kind of choppy. One of the girls kept lifting her head out of the water to cough. I didn't want to choke on seawater again. My throat still kind of hurt from falling in before. But then the blue-blonde pointed me out to Barb.
    "Jump in! It's amazing!" Barb called. "So many cute little fishies!"
    I took a deep breath. I couldn't be the
only
one who didn't snorkel. Even old ladies go snorkeling. I'd bragged to Fiona about snorkeling. I had to do it.
    I set the snorkel down by my feet; no way was I sticking that thing in my mouth.
    And I jumped in.
    The water felt nice and cool, but my mask was all foggy from hanging around my sweaty neck, so I could barely see anything. Plus, I had to keep popping my head out of the water to take a breath. Yikes! What just brushed my legs? I rinsed off my goggles, put them back on my face, and swam around near the kayaks. Dead coral lay scattered on the bottom like bones, kind of creeping me out and reminding me way too much of my social life. I swam toward a purple fan coral and watched a school of black angelfish float past, wondering if fish had social status. Like was the last fish in the group the loser fish? I spotted a huge coral that looked like a giant brain. If I
had
a brain, I'd be back on the beach, in the shade. A toothy-looking eel slipped into a rocky hole beneath me, so I quickly swam back to the surface. Near miss. Barb motioned to me about a school of blue and yellow fish, but I ignored her.
    Alfredo shouted, "Back to the beach, everyone."
    Finally!
    Almost everyone was swimming near the kayaks, and the two brothers had started to paddle back. Alfredo boosted Barb up before lifting his lean, muscular body into the boat and heading to shore. I swam to my kayak, took off my mask and fins, set them on the seat, and reached over and pulled the paddle rope.
Smack.
The kayak flipped. My snorkel and fins drifted down to the bottom, right near the eel rock. Nando stared at me.
    "I'd get them, but there's a big—"
    Nando huffed, "
Turistas,
" flung his wet hair back from his face, and dove down to the bottom, flipping my kayak back over on his way up. He tossed my mask onto the seat, then swam to his kayak. I struggled to pull myself up. Nando just watched! After about eight tries I scrambled into the kayak, scraping my knee. Great. Blood attracts sharks. Balancing myself carefully to avoid falling back into the water as bloody shark bait, I started to paddle to shore, left then right, and bumped into the Sun Goddess.
    "Watch out,
chérie,
" she said in her fantastic French accent.
    "Sorry."
    "No problem," she said.
    But the Hunky Blond looked at me like I was a big fat zero in looks, intelligence, and personality. I paddled so hard my arms felt as if they would break like that dead coral, and I still got there last. Everyone huddled in a little thatched hut eating fruit.
    "Kat, the pineapple is so yummy," Barb said.
    "Yeah, but is it washed?" I thought of Dad vomiting every five minutes.
    Barb shrugged, then went on a ten-minute undersea travelogue. "Did you see the skinny fish? The black ones? The yellow ones with white?"
    No. No. And no.
    "Oh, oh." Barb waved a piece of fruit at me. "Alfredo told me all about his cousin's birthday party. It's
Go to

Readers choose

Marne Davis Kellogg

Theodore Sturgeon

Terri Blackstock

Charles Todd

Danielle Steel

Peter Abrahams

R.J. Harker