11 Glub, Glub

Chapter 11 Glub, Glub "It's a real, live SHARK!" somebody yelled. "Eeeeeeeeeeeek!" screamed somebody else. "Run for your lives!" shouted Neil the nude kid. Everybody was yelling and screaming and freaking out. Mr. Sunny blew his whistle and ran down the beach toward the water. "Leave this to me," he said. "I know how to handle sharks. I'll lure it away from the beach." "But Mr. Sunny!" I yelled to him. "Andrea—"

"No time for that now!" Mr. Sunny said, and he dived into the water and started swimming toward the shark. "Help!" yelled Andrea. "I'm drowning!" "Mr. Sunny can't hear you!" I hollered to Andrea. "He's chasing a shark!" "Glub, glub," said Andrea. "Hey, she's pretty good," said Ryan. "She's even doing the 'glub, glub' part." "Well, she takes acting lessons after school," I told the guys.

"A.J.," said Michael, "I think Andrea might be in trouble." "Nah, it's all a big act," I told him. "Andrea's a great swimmer. She's been taking swimming lessons since she was three." 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. "Help!" Andrea yelled. "I have a cramp! Glub, glub." Then her head went under the water. That's when I realized something. Andrea wasn't 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 couldn't hear Andrea's 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. "You should jump in and save her, A.J.," said Ryan. "Why me?" I asked. "You save her." "You're the one who's in love with her," Ryan pointed out. "You should save her." "I am NOT in love with her," I insisted. "You are too!"

"Am not!" We went back and forth like that for a while. "Help!" yelled Andrea. "There's no time to argue about it!" Neil said. "She's drowning! Are you gonna save her or not?" "A.J.," Michael said, "if you don't save Andrea, we're gonna tell everybody you're in love with her." WHAT???!!! So if I saved Andrea, everybody would think I love her. And if I didn't save Andrea, the guys would tell everybody I love her. No matter what I did, everybody would think I love Andrea. "Glub, glub," Andrea said. Then she disappeared under the water. I didn't know what to do. I didn't 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.