“Alright, get set…BEEP!”
The race had finally begun! The boats moved away from the shore.
When they were all far away from the shore, James and his teammates rowed up to the girls.
“Emily, are you still sure you are going to win?” said James.
“Of course I am, we have been ahead of you until now!” she replied.
“They said this might take all day!” said Nick.
“True, but you are all some curious boys!” said Anna.
“Tom, stop fidgeting! You’re making us slow down!” said Henry, “If we are going to beat the girls, you must let us go faster!”
The girls rowed away, and once the boys saw that the girls moved on, they hurriedly rowed to catch up.
Suddenly, Hailey said, “Um, what is that thing?”
“Where?” asked Emily.
“It’ right there! Isn’t it weird looking? I can’t tell what it is though, because the water keeps making it move…”
Hailey was interrupted by a scream from Emily.
“Row away, quick! It’s a SEA SNAKE!” she shouted.
“What, it is? Let’s get out of here!” said Hailey, and all of the girls hurriedly rowed away.
Immediately James and his friends wanted to know what the commotion was.
“What’s going on, girls? Don’t get scared of a boat buster, just aim away!” said James.
“This isn’t a boat buster, it’s a sea snake!” screamed Ellie.
“Where is it? Is it following you?” said Tom.
“I don’t know, oh, there it is!” said Emily, and they quickly rowed away.
When they were a safe distance away, they saw the boys messing with it.
“Look at those eyes! Do you think it sees us?” said Henry.
“I’m sure it does, and maybe if it does, it will follow us! Hey snake, come here!” said James, gesturing to it.
The snake did more than come to them, it hissed at them and opened its mouth, as if it wanted to bite James.
James immediately pulled his hand back and said, “Wow! Look at its fangs! That thing could have bitten me!”
“A snake by your boat? That’s kind of scary.” said Anna’s older sister, who was in another boat.
“Yeah, it’s just a little snake though, you should see its fangs, and it almost bit James! Hey snake, open your mouth!” Tom tried to make it open its mouth, which made it madder.
Laughing, Mellissa (Anna's sister) rowed away and said, “If you are messing around with that poor snake, you will never finish the race!”
“What, the race? Oh, no! How much time have we spent here?!” said Henry, and tried as hard as they could to catch up with Emily’s boat, but the girls were far ahead of them.
Meanwhile, the girls came to a tunnel. The tunnel had some sharp corners, so the girls had to be careful when going through it, but they made it with no problems.
The boys, however, took longer to make it. When they first saw the tunnel, they thought they wouldn’t fit. There was an arrow pointing into the tunnel, but they didn’t want to risk it. Nick suggested that they go around the tunnel, but as they approached the side of the tunnel, they heard something that alarmed them.
“BEEP!” came from a small device about the size of the head of a flashlight, and it was flashing lights! Surprised, Henry screamed and made all the boys laugh.
Upon looking up, they sat, staring at that thing, wondering what it was, until:
“It has been reported at the dock that boat number 33 has tried to go around the tunnel. That is cheating, and when you arrive, your time will be recorded coming ten minutes later than when you arrived. If someone arrives within that ten minutes, they win, and you do not!”
“What?! How could they do that to us?” said Tom.
“Nick is so untrustworthy!” said Henry.
“Serves you right, you broke the rules!” shouted Nick’s fifteen-year-old sister, laughing in a boat.
“So, I suppose we’ll keep going around the bridge?” suggested James.
“Sure! We’ve already got the penalty, so I think we can go on through.” said Nick.
“Don’t trust Nick’s opinion!” said Henry.
“I wouldn’t do it!” said Mr. Martinelle as his boat went by, “If you try to cheat, you get delayed ten minutes, but if you go through, you get delayed twenty minutes.”
“I told you not to trust Nick’s opinion!” said Henry, “Let’s get out of here and through the tunnel!”
“Good idea!” said Mr. Garfield, also coming by, and they went on.
So the boys went through the tunnel, but they got stuck on so many sharp edges that it took them a good ten minutes to get out.
To Be Continued...
