Changing Tides

Chapter One

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                                                                  ~Chapter One~

          

                I took off the ridiculous hat that I was forced to wear during my shift at the Coral Springs Aquarium and attempted to fix my light brown hair that was now showing serious signs of helmet hair.

Luckily, Coral Springs wasn't a common tourist spot in Florida so not many people were around to see the humiliating, turtle-shaped piece of plastic on my head. And even more fortunately, not many kids my age were inclined to spend their free time at an aquarium so I never had to worry about running into someone from school.

Satisfied that I had finally wrestled my hair into having a semblance of decency and that my mascara hadn’t created a raccoon effect around my blue eyes, I pushed open the restroom door and walked back towards the gift shop. Sliding my body behind the familiar desk, I greeted an elderly woman who had just walked up with a warm smile and checked out her purchase.

“Dear, your name tag’s about to fall off.” She commented before she walked away with an amused smile on her face. I gave her an embarrassed look before fixing the cheesy name tag that read ‘My name is Taylor Evans and I hope you whale come back’. I honestly wouldn’t have minded if it fell off.

“Hey, I really appreciate you coming in on a Sunday morning. Since we’re not usually open on Sundays, it was hard getting enough people to work today.” My manager, Abe Lancaster, gave me a large smile that caused the corners of his hazel eyes to crinkle as he joined me at my desk.

According to him, September 18th was national tree-hugger day (which I suspected that he made up due to the fact that the holiday already existed as Earth Day) and that it warranted having the aquarium open on this day.

“No problem, I—“I was about to say something else, when a strong odor hit me. “Are you still on your shower strike? Abe, it’s been a week.” I playfully shook my head at him. A nearby little boy gave him a disgusted expression before plugging his nose. The sight made me laugh out loud.

Besides giving me a bemused expression, he otherwise ignored my laughter and answered, “I’m just watching out for the environment.” He didn’t seem slightly concerned about his odor or the reaction of the customers, which he must have noticed. “Anyways, I came over to tell you two things. First, you can either get a day off on Monday for doing this or you can have overtime pay. Up to you.”

“I’ll come in Monday and take the overtime pay.” I replied, absentmindedly picking up a dolphin-shaped eraser and twirling it between my fingers. Mid-swing, I pressed down on the abdomen of the dolphin to hear it let out a high squeak.

“Earth to Taylor.” Abe’s voice caused me to realize I had zoned out while he was speaking. “Second, we just hired a new employee who will be starting today and I’d love it if you could show him around. I’ll have someone cover your post.”

“Sure, when will he be here?” I asked, placing the eraser back in its place. Answering my question, a soft ding rang from the front of the shop to signal that the door had just been opened and that someone was entering.

I followed Abe’s gaze with my own to see a tall boy with blonde hair styled in the ‘just-got-out-of-bed’ look that only a few guys could pull off, him being one. Locking eyes with his dark brown ones, I recognized him to be Heath Anderson, a boy from my math class. Other than knowing that he was great at calculus though, there wasn’t much else I knew about Heath. I had always been far more interested in the boy that he called his best friend.