ofthe beach from where Andrea was swimming.
âItâs probably that crazy guy Mr. Granite,â Michael said. âHe must be swimming back to Australia.â
But it wasnât that crazy guy Mr. Granite. And it wasnât a kid. And it wasnât a lifeguard. And it wasnât my mom or dad or sister. Youâll never believe in a million hundred years who it was.
Iâm not gonna tell you.
Okay, okay, Iâll tell you. But you have to read the next chapter, so nah-nah-nah boo-boo on you!
11
Glub, Glub
âItâs a real, live SHARK!â somebody yelled.
âEeeeeeeeeeeek!â screamed somebody else.
âRun for your lives!â shouted Neil the nude kid.
Everybody was yelling and screamingand freaking out. Mr. Sunny blew his whistle and ran down the beach toward the water.
âLeave this to me,â he said. âI know how to handle sharks. Iâll lure it away from the beach.â
âBut Mr. Sunny!â I yelled to him. âAndreaââ
âNo time for that now!â Mr. Sunny said, and he dived into the water and started swimming toward the shark.
âHelp!â yelled Andrea. âIâm drowning!â
âMr. Sunny canât hear you!â I hollered to Andrea. âHeâs chasing a shark!â
âGlub, glub,â said Andrea.
âHey, sheâs pretty good,â said Ryan. âSheâs even doing the âglub, glubâ part.â
âWell, she takes acting lessons after school,â I told the guys.
âA.J.,â said Michael, âI think Andrea might be in trouble.â
âNah, itâs all a big act,â I told him. âAndreaâs a great swimmer. Sheâs been taking swimming lessons since she was three.â
Andrea takes lessons in everything. If they gave lessons on how to clean your ears, she would take them so she could get better at it.
âHelp!â Andrea yelled. âI have a cramp! Glub, glub.â
Then her head went under the water. Thatâs when I realized something.
Andrea wasnât pretending to drown! SHE WAS REALLY DROWNING! And she went swimming right after eating pizza!The shark might smell the pizza in her stomach and attack her!
Mr. Sunny couldnât hear Andreaâs cries for help. He was too busy chasing the shark.
I looked at Michael. Michael looked at Neil. Neil looked at Ryan. Ryan looked at me.
âYou should jump in and save her, A.J.,â said Ryan.
âWhy me?â I asked. âYou save her.â
âYouâre the one whoâs in love with her,â Ryan pointed out. âYou should save her.â
âI am NOT in love with her,â I insisted.
âYou are too!â
âAm not!â
We went back and forth like that for a while.
âHelp!â yelled Andrea.
âThereâs no time to argue about it!â Neil said. âSheâs drowning! Are you gonna save her or not?â
âA.J.,â Michael said, âif you donât save Andrea, weâre gonna tell everybody youâre in love with her.â
WHAT???!!!
So if I saved Andrea, everybody would think I love her. And if I didnât save Andrea, the guys would tell everybody I love her. No matter what I did, everybody would think I love Andrea.
âGlub, glub,â Andrea said. Then shedisappeared under the water.
I didnât know what to do. I didnât know what to say. I had to think fast. I was thinking so hard that my brain hurt.
This was the hardest decision of my life.
12
A.J. to the Rescue
I ran toward the ocean and jumped into the waves. I swam as fast as I could. Finally, I found Andrea under the water. She was heavy! I picked her up and dragged her back to the beach. She was lying on the sand with her eyes closed.
âAre you okay?â I asked.
Andrea wasnât waking up.
âShe canât breathe!â yelled Ryan. âShe needs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!â
âCall Mr.