It's definitely the same girl Tom and I saw dancing in the rain on the way to Carrots.
"What should we do?" Sam asks quietly.
I shake my head. I want to say I'll get her later, and I will, but the others won't agree with that. I turn to Mildred.
"Get her later. We're here to have fun," she answers, smiling.
I grin. I can always count on Mildred to agree with me. Grabbing Isaac by the hand, I begin to pull him toward the water. "C'mon!"
"No, no way. I let you pull me here but I'm not letting you pull me into the water," he says.
"Dude. You scared of water or something?" Will asks from unloading the trunk.
Isaac's hazel eyes widen. "Yeah."
Ivy rolls her eyes. "You can control water. Why are you afraid of it? That's retarded."
Mildred points a finger at the scoffing girl. "We don't use that word."
"I don't want to go," Isaac complains.
"If you're that freaked out, let's just get the Child and go," Patrick says.
"No way, we came all this way!" Tiffany argues.
"It's probably too cold anyways," Jill murmurs.
I throw my arms up. "Who cares? We came here to swim, and I'm going to swim."
"Yeah!" Sam fist pumps the air and nods at me.
I shriek as he picks me up from around my waist and runs with me down to the beach. "I'm gonna kill you, Sam!"
He laughs and drops me on the warm sand, stopping to wave over the ten other Children.
Ivy screeches in delight as she enters the ocean. "It's freezing!"
Judy giggles and pushes her roommate underneath the waves. They both come up splashing each other.
Soon everyone is in the cool water. Everyone, that is, but Isaac. His feet are rooted to the shore and he's staring at the blue ocean as if he's never seen anything like it.
I run up to join him. "What's up?"
He shakes his head at the sandy ground. "I wish I had never come here. I don't like this, Anna."
"You two are about as much fun as bumps on a log!" Ivy shouts from the waves.
Isaac sighs.
"You gonna let her talk to us like that?" I ask.
"Yeah," he mumbles, curling up into a ball.
Suddenly Jill starts to chant from the water. "I-SAAC! I-SAAC!" She raises her hands up in a motion as if to tell the others to join in - and they do. "I-SAAC! I-SAAC!"
I turn to look at the Pisces. He's bright red.
"This is almost a bad as the time when I had to kiss a fish," He murmurs.
I lean closer to him. "I'm afraid of spiders," I say quietly. "Every time we have one in the dorm, I have to get Tom to kill it. I know how you feel."
He stands up quickly. "No you don't!" shouts Isaac. "I'm a water sign - and I'm afraid of water. How pathetic is that, Anna?"
I stand up too. "C'mon," I say, taking him by the hands. I lead him into the shallow water like he's a baby taking his first steps. Soon we're in knee-deep - literally. "Put your head under," I urge him.
He frowns. "No." His hands begin to shake in mine.
"I have an idea!" I exclaim. "Wait here."
"I'm waiting on shore," he says, wading away from me and towards the sandy beach.
I roll my eyes as I dash back to Mildred's van and grab two pool noodles - one pink, one orange. "Here," I say as I thrust the orange foam tube at him.
He scowls. "I'm not going swimming with this."
I smile. "We're not going swimming - we're going horseback riding."
He cocks his head and gives me a Really? look. "No way, Anna. That thing's for kids."
I shrug as I mount my pink pool noodle. "Aren't we kids?"
"I'll look stupid."
I gesture to the ten other teenagers in the water. Jill is on Alex's shoulders, and Ivy is on Patrick's. Together they're having one massive splash contest while Judy, Sam, Tom, Tiff, Nora, and Will are all bumping into each other on floaties. "We all look stupid. So what?"
He gives me another look.
"Pay you a dollar."
Isaac glares at me.
"Pay you five dollars."
"Anna, you are not pay-"
"Oh, yes, I am!" I place my hands on the hips of my ruffled pink bathing suit. "You are going in that ocean whether you like it or not."
He smirks. "You can't make me."
"Watch me." I push him over to the water.
"Anna!" He shouts before his body hits the surface.
"Just stay standing, it's fine!" I grin at him. "Wanna go under?"
"If it'll make you stop bugging me."
I give him a pointed look. "We're at the beach, Isaac. We have to go swimming."
He glances at the sand beneath his bare feet. "Haven't you ever been scared?" He asks me quietly. "Terrified, even? It's pathetic, but I'm scared, Anna."
"I'll swim with you," I offer.
Isaac shakes his head of mixed up hair. "That doesn't help."
"What does, then?"
"I don't know."
I send up a quick prayer to God asking for forgiveness for what I'm about to do, then I take Isaac by the shoulders and push him under.
