MY BEST FRIEND IS A SECRET AGENT, Book 2: How C.H.I.P. Took a Dive to Dash...

Chapter 15: "Date Interrupted"

Finally, there we were, Carla and I, floating in my dad's dingy in the middle of Lake Vortville.

I popped the cork of the fizzy apple juice and poured us each a plastic glass. Then I raised mine for a toast. "To the hero guy!"

Carla clinked my glass. "To the hero guy," she said. But she didn't seem too excited about it. In fact, she didn't seem excited at all as she took a sip of fizzy apple juice.

"Is the apple juice too fizzy?" I asked. I made a mental note: Get less-fizzy apple juice next time.

Carla looked down at the rowboat. "When you said you had a boat, I thought you meant a motorboat or something."

Wow, did I have a lot to learn about Carla. I made another mental note: Rent a motorboat next time.

"Uh . . . but this is more peaceful, isn't it?"

"I don't want peaceful, Nort. I want excitement!"

Carla wants excitement. I logged that as yet another mental note.

This date wasn't working out the way I'd hoped. I was blowing everything.

But I didn't want to give up just yet. I was desperate for one last chance to salvage the situation. Looking around, all I could find was Dad's fishing rod at the bottom of the boat. But I couldn't show her that. She probably thought fishing was gross.

But then she noticed the fishing rod. "Nort, I didn't know you liked to fish!" she said, eagerly picking up the rod. "Now that's exciting!" Then she whipped the rod back and cast the line like one of those guys on the fishing channel. She even cast it farther than my dad!

As I made another in a series of mental notes ("You never know what a girl is gonna like!"), I realized I should create a whole database of things I was learning about Carla.

Then Carla actually caught a fish! As she reeled it in, I tried to hide my shame that I could barely even cast a line five feet, let alone catch an actual fish.

But then, I noticed this dark thing sticking out of the water about forty feet away. I squinted to see what it was. Was it a rock? No, because it was moving. In fact, it was coming straight for our boat!

Panicking, I realized it could only be one thing. "SHARK!" I frantically started to paddle the boat. But the shark kept gaining on us!

"Lake Vortville doesn't have sharks!" Carla insisted.

But I wasn't taking any chances. I kept paddling like my life depended on it—because it did!

Suddenly, the shark's fin rose up. It was lunging at us! I jumped up in terror—and then I slipped and fell out of the boat! SPLASH!

"Nort!" Carla cried.

Then someone's head popped out of the water. It turned out that the dark thing was a snorkel, not a shark's fin at all.

And the head belonged to Gert von Brugen!

"Ha haaaaa!" she cackled. "What a little scaredy-cat!"

Carla looked down at me. "Nort, are you okay?"

I choked on some lake water and tried to catch my breath. "Just, uh . . . thought I'd go for a swim!"

Gert rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right! Nort McKrakken doesn't swim in lakes. And he doesn't go on boat rides either. What're you doing here?"

I grabbed onto the side of the boat and continued gasping for air. "I'm on a date! Isn't it obvious?"

Gert cracked up again. "Nort McKrakken definitely doesn't go on dates! No, you're out here for a reason. A science fair reason. Maybe even a hero guy reason!"

Carla turned to Nort. "You are?" she asked, a little hurt.

"No!" I insisted. "I don't know the hero guy! I have nothing to do with the hero guy! I've never even seen the hero guy!"

Gert gave me the stink eye. "I don't believe that for a second. Something's going on, and I'm going to find out what. Gert von Brugen is going to stick to you like glue!"

Then she swam off, her flippers splashing water in my face.

"Did you guys used to be a thing or something?" Carla asked me.

"NO!" I screamed. "No thing! We were never ever a thing!" Then I scrambled back into the boat and collapsed in exhaustion.

But that's when I noticed something very strange. I smacked my lips, tasting the lake water in my mouth. It seemed different somehow.

For some reason, it was salty.