Memories

Chapter 6

Mitch POV

Day 6

We all crashed early last night for two reasons. One, to catch up on the lack of sleep we've been getting, and two, so we could meet bright and early to get to the tide pool before everyone else.

Our guide gives us each a waterproof digital camera and a waterproof pamphlet, complete with a scavenger hunt. We decide to pair off into teams, and when Kirstin gives me her best pouty face to let her partner up with Jeremy, I cave and let her.

That leaves me paired with Scott, again, not that I really mind. The others take off running, leaving us behind.

"I want to win this thing," he says with a serious look on his face.

"I don't think it's a competition."

"No, look," he says, pointing to the last line in the pamphlet. "Whoever brings back a completed list first wins a prize."

I laugh. "It's probably something cheesy, but we are totally winning this."

He smiles as we go over the list together.

"Okay, some of these are going to be easy. Like crabs, fish, starfish. The harder ones I think are going to be the kelp, an octopus, a sea slug—"

"An octopus?" I interrupt. "Oh god. The thought that one of those is in here just makes me...ugh," I say, shuddering.

"Are you scared of an octopus?" he asks, laughing.

"No. They're just...weird. And the suckers creep me out."

"Okay. When we find it, I'll take the picture. Let's get going."

I smile as we start off with the easier things. I pick up a starfish and pose with it, while Scott finds a crab and pretends it's pinching him. We take pictures of sea gulls, moss, a black rock, and sand, each one of us tossing the other one in the frame.

I find a starfish, and name it Calypso. I put it on my head to pose for the picture. Scott takes it and laughs.

Scott finds the octopus, and even though it's small, I keep my distance and use the zoom on the camera. Before we know it, we've knocked out three quarters of the list.

"What's left?" I ask.

"Umm, a sea slug, a turtle, which must be hiding, shrimp, snails and mussels."

"We should go get a mask so we can look in the water."

While we're adjusting our masks, I look down when I feel something touch my leg. "Oh my god, it's a tiny turtle! Look!"

Scott grabs the camera and starts taking pictures as I make what is probably the goofiest face, but I can't help it, this little guy is the cutest thing I have ever seen.

"No wonder we couldn't find him. I was expecting a big turtle, not a baby," I say.

When I look over at Scott he is standing there, smiling at me.

"What?"

"Nothing. You just look incredibly cute."

I feel myself blush.

We head out to the deeper area of the tide pool, and find the rest of the items listed on the scavenger hunt, not without taking our fair share of pictures in between though. When we turn in our camera to our guide, he goes through and marks each item off, and sure enough, we have won.

"What's the prize?" I ask excitedly.

"Ahh. That is a secret. If you fill out this paper with your room number, it will be delivered to you," the tour guide says.