Scales and Secrets (Rough Beta Version)

Chapter 6

I sat up with a gasp, was I awake? I tried to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. My head still felt heavy with sleep and was throbbing lightly. I ran my fingers through my sweat soaked hair and looked over at the clock. 6:30. I took another deep breath, feeling a bit more grounded.

I didn't know why I was so scared, if what I was feeling was actually fear. It almost felt like I had done an intense workout with how out of breath I was.

I looked around the room, the early morning light illuminated the sleeping figures of my friends. I stood and walked into the living room, all the lights were off except the kitchen light.

"You're up early." I heard my mom say and walk towards me, her heals clicking on the kitchen tile.

"Yeah, couldn't get back to sleep." I said with a small smile.

"Well since you're up, I was meaning to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Well some of our volunteers cancelled on us, something about not wanting to dive into the shark tank to help replace some damaged coral?" She rolled her eyes, "Anyways I was wondering if the four of you would want to help out?"

"What's in it for us?" I said with a playful smile.

"Volunteer work to put on your resume and the nice feeling that come from helping others." She said and folded her arms, a smile playing on her lips.

"I don't know... Doesn't sound like much..."

"Did I forget to mention that there's free lunch and a chance to swim with some dolphins?"

"Deal!" I said and held out my hand, "Pleasure doing business with you, I'll go inform the rest of your new volunteers."

She shook my hand and rolled her eyes, "If you want you can start today, just be at the car in twenty or I'm leaving without you."

"Can do!" I said and walked off to wake the others.

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An hour later we pulled into the parking lot of the Marine Life Institute. Mom guided us through the institute, pointing out all the different fish that they had worked with, when we came upon a closed door that had a keep out sign plastered on it.

"What's in there?" I asked gesturing towards the door.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about, it's our quarantine. We put all our new catches there, Paul does most of his work here. He's in charge of collecting fish for the new exhibits."

"Where is he now?" Hannah asked while eyeing a large tank filled with sharks a few yards ahead.

"He's out on the boat helping catch fish that need to be rehabilitated." She answered, "Lets keep going, lots to do."

We followed her down a narrow white hall and up a set of stairs, into a room that overlooked the top of a large tank.

"This is the overlook for the dolphin tank, today you will be working with a colleague of mine- Oh! Speak of the devil."

"Whoa." Hannah said under her breath and nudged Lauren, who was currently staring at her phone.

"Whoa." Lauren echoed as she looked up.

A young man had entered the room. He had black slicked back hair and was wearing a blue and black wetsuit under a white labcoat. He ran his fingers through his hair and smiled at us. "Good morning, are you the new volunteers?" He had a strange accent that I couldn't quite place, it sounded vaguely familiar though...