Isle Be Seeing You (12 page)

But it wasn't Ryan who was racing toward us. It was Angela. Josh was right behind her, and both of them had huge grins on their faces.

“Big news, guys!” Angela cried breathlessly as she reached us. “Like, huge!”

“What?” I muttered. “Did you figure out how to turn coconut juice into nail polish or something?”

She ignored me. By this time Josh had arrived too, and she grabbed his arm and dragged him forward. “Check it
out,” Angela exclaimed giddily. “You know how Josh figured we wouldn't be able to finish the raft until like, this afternoon or even later?”

“Uh-huh,” a few people responded.

“Well, guess what?” Angela grinned proudly. “Josh and I worked like crazy last night and got up extra early this morning to finish it as a surprise for everyone!”

There were gasps and exclamations all around as that sunk in. I just sat there silently, stunned at the news. For a moment all I could focus on was the “Josh and I” part. Why hadn't I noticed any of this going on right under my nose? So much for keeping her away from him …

Then Josh stepped forward, looking excited. “That's right,” he said. “The raft is ready to go, the weathers perfect, so we shouldn't waste any time. I'm thinking we should go ahead and launch it right now! Who's with me?”

For a moment I was too shocked to
respond. You know how people say “my mind was a blank?” Well now I know what that means. It was like the Sahara Desert had suddenly unrolled in my brain, covering over every thought that had ever been there. Or maybe it was more like my mind had turned into a giant chalkboard with nothing written on it. Or a vast ocean, deep blue and endless. You get the picture.

I finally noticed that Josh was looking at me, smiling eagerly. My brain creaked back into gear, and I realized he was expecting me to volunteer to accompany him
on the rafts maiden—and perhaps only—voyage.

“I'll do it!”

It actually took me several seconds to realize that I wasn't the one who'd spoken. After all, I'd meant to. I really, really had. My mouth was even hanging open, all ready to say the words.

But someone else had beaten me to it.

“I'll do it,” Angela said again, a simpering smile on her face. “I'll go with you, Josh. I'm not scared—as long as you're going with me.”

That jolted me out of my daze. I leaped forward a few steps, stubbing my toe on one of the seating logs and almost buying myself a quick trip to Dirtsville. Or, rather, Sandsville. “No, me!” I blurted out, lurching toward Josh.

“I'll go!

Ryan had heard the commotion by now and wandered over to see what was happening. He caught on quickly. “Me too!” he cried, looking as thrilled as if Josh was asking for someone to accompany him to the Happy Land of Free Ice Cream and DVDs.

A couple of the others volunteered at that point as well, but unlike Ryan and Angela, they didn't sound very enthusiastic about the idea. I couldn't really blame them;
it wasn't as if I was looking forward to it either. Especially the sharks.

Angela was glaring around at everyone except Josh. “I already said I'd go, people,” she snitted. “I mean, come on. You've all seen the raft. It's not like all of us will fit.”

I was already irritated enough at her attitude. But whenever she used that particular I'm-way-too-perfect-for-the-rest-of-you tone, I just saw red. And this time was no exception. Oh, yeah?” I put my hands on my hips and glared right back at her. “Well, this isn't Princess Angela's world, you know. Just because you said you'd go, doesn't mean—”

“Hey!” Josh interrupted, sounding anxious. “Maybe we should go check out the raft and talk about it down there, okay?”

It was pretty obvious that he was trying to head off World War Three erupting right there on the beach. But it worked. Just hearing his voice reminded me that I needed to keep control of my temper. I wasn't about to let Evil Angela drag me down to her level and make me look stupid in front of everyone.

“Sure,” I said as calmly as I could manage. “Let's go.”

“Fine,” Angela added through tight, pursed little lips.

Most of the others looked relieved. Well except for Kenny—he looked a little disappointed. Kind of the same way he always looked when Mom and Dad refused to let him watch professional wrestling on TV.

“Whoo-hoo!” Ryan crowed, leaping forward to lead the way. “Superraft, here we come!”

We all trooped down the beach to Raft Central. As I walked, I found myself hoping that Josh and Angela really had worked a miracle overnight. Maybe they'd fixed up the raft so much that I would change my mind about the whole plan.

But as soon as I saw it, my heart sank. The raft consisted mostly of large tree branches lashed together with rope, twine, vines from the jungle, and even somebody's kneesocks. The life jackets from the boat made odd-looking pontoons lashed to each corner. Josh had even created a rudder out of a large, thin, flat piece of slate, which appeared to be attached to the rest of the craft with a single piece of string. The raft really wasn't bad considering what we'd had to work with on the island. But it still looked like something a bunch of hyperactive kindergarteners might throw together during recess. I couldn't imagine it floating at
all, let alone making it across a mile or two of open sea.

Sneaking a peek at the others, I saw my own doubt reflected on several faces. However, some others just looked excited.

“Looks great, Josh!” Ryan was definitely part of the latter group. “The rudder is awesome!”

“Um, yeah.” I swallowed hard, figuring I might as well get it over with. “So, come on, Josh—I'm ready to go.”

“What are you talking about?” Angela demanded instantly “You're not going. I am.”

I turned to face her. “Forget it, Barnes. I'm the one who's going, and that's that.”

Angela glared back at me. “You?” she said. “Why should you be the one to go? I'm the one who worked the hardest on this raft. Well, other than Josh, of course.” She glanced over at Josh with a sickly sweet smile.

Oh, yeah? For your information, I did plenty of work while you were busy plucking your chin hairs or whatever it is you do down by the stream for three hours every morning,” I retorted hotly.

“Whatever, Dani.” Her voice practically dripped with disdain. “Do us all a favor and try real hard to grow up now, okay?”

She rolled her eyes and smirked, obviously pleased with her own stupid retort. Suddenly, just like that, every rotten, snotty, downright evil thing she'd ever done flashed into my mind all at once, almost overwhelming me. “Shut up!” I cried. “You're just jealous because its totally obvious that I should go, since I'm the one—”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Josh blanch as he realized what I was about to say. I cut myself off just in time with an audible gulp. What was wrong with me? I was letting Angela get to me. I'd almost blurted out the truth about me and Josh, just like that, in front of everyone.

Taking advantage of my momentary confusion, Josh stepped forward and spoke up quickly. “Listen, I just had a great idea,” he said. “Why don't all three of us go? After all, the three of us are coleaders, right? It totally makes sense.”

Some of my irritation at Angela shifted briefly in Josh's direction. Why couldn't he just get over the whole secrecy thing already?

But he was smiling so sincerely that my anger faded quickly. “Besides, we made two oars, remember?” he added. “With three of us aboard, two of us can paddle and the other person can steer. That should make things easier!”

He had a point there. I just wished the third person
could be somebody else. A leper. An ax murderer. Even my math teacher. Pretty much anybody but Evil Angela.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “I guess that makes sense. Sort of.”

Angela didn't look completely thrilled at the idea of sharing a smallish raft with me, either, but she nodded. “Whatever you say, Josh.”

Just then I noticed Kenny watching me, his forehead crinkled into a little V-wrinkle of anxiety. I bit my lip, belatedly remembering our fire plan. I glanced over at Macy and Ned. Macy was staring downward, seemingly fascinated by the sight of her own feet. Ned's mouth was hanging open slightly as he stared at me uncertainly.

I quickly shifted my gaze away from the three of them, and turned slightly so I couldn't see them even out of the corner of my eye. For a few moments there I'd totally forgotten about that fire pile up on the ridge. Oops. Of course I felt pretty guilty about it. But what could I do? For a second I dared to hope that one of them might speak up. If they told the others about the fire idea right now, convinced them how well it could work …

But no. Looking at that trio, I knew it wasn't going to happen. Macy was way too shy to speak up like that. Ned
was too passive. And Kenny? Even if he did say something, I doubted the others would listen to him in their current state of excitement over the raft. I guess Kenny must have realized that too, because he didn't say a word.

Shoving aside the feeling that I was betraying them, I smiled grimly at Josh. “Okay So lets go already before we miss that boat.”

While Chrissie went running back to the supply cave for the paddles Ryan had carved out of a couple of appropriately shaped tree branches, the rest of us pushed the raft down the slight slope of the beach toward the waters edge. I held my breath as the first tiny waves lapped over it, then as it scraped over the wet sand into the slightly deeper water. We gave it one last shove, and it swooshed away from the ground and floated, bobbing up and down in the gentle surf.

“Yay” Cassie clapped her hands and giggled. “It works!”

Angela snorted, but Josh smiled. He splashed out a little farther, grabbing the side of the raft to steady it. “Climb aboard, ladies,” he called, giving a little half bow.

“Why, thank you, kind gentleman,” Angela simpered, sloshing forward.

“Give me a break,” I muttered under my breath. Wading
out to the raft, I swung myself aboard. The raft shuddered a little under my weight, but it stayed afloat.

Ryan churned his way out through the surf; holding both the handmade paddles. “You sure you dont need another person?” he asked rather wistfully.

“Sorry, dude.” Josh slapped him on the shoulder. “I'm not sure she'll hold any more. Anyway, the people here will need you to catch fish for them—even if we make it to the boat or the other island, it might still be a day or so before the rescuers can get here.”

“Oh, yeah.” Ryan looked pleased at the thought. “I can do that.”

I smiled at Josh as he swung aboard, relieved by how he'd handled Ryan just then. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with
that
whole situation while trapped on a raft in the middle of the ocean with Angela and Josh as my audience.

I also found myself thinking about what a cool guy Josh really was. He: truly cared about other people's feelings. No matter what, he always tried to make everyone feel good, from Ryan to Brooke to Kenny. How could I quibble if he seemed to care even about the feelings of an evil being from another dimension like Angela?

Then I glanced out to sea and started to feel nervous again. Did I really believe we could ride that rickety raft all the way over to the other island, let alone out to the passing boat? If I thought about that question too hard, it started to give me the screaming heebie-jeebies. So I tried not to think about it anymore. Instead I grabbed one of the paddles Ryan was holding out to us and gripped it tightly. At least if we sank, maybe I could use the paddle to fight off the sharks.

“Okay, here goes,” Josh said, interrupting my morbid thoughts. He draped one leg off the back of the raft and shoved off the shallow lagoon floor, sending us drifting out away from the beach.

“Bon voyage, you guys!” Cassie cried, waving at us vigorously as she stood ankle-deep in the surf.

“Be careful!” Brooke added.

At first things went surprisingly well. Josh took control of the rudder, which actually seemed to work the way it was supposed to. I wielded my paddle, digging into the crystal clear water and sending fish and crustaceans fleeing before me. The paddling was slow going, but for once Angela was actually doing her fair share of the work—probably because Josh was right there watching—and
between the two of us, we managed to work up to some decent forward momentum.

As we zoomed toward the coral reef that encircled the lagoon, the faint sound of cheering drifted over the water from the direction of the beach. I glanced back between strokes and saw most of our fellow castaways jumping up and down and waving their arms happily. I smiled, feeling a little more optimistic myself all of a sudden. We were doing it! Okay, so we weren't even all the way across the lagoon yet, but still, we were doing it. The raft was still afloat, the rudder was working, we were on our way. Maybe, just maybe, all my teeth gnashing and angst had been for nothing.