I glance at Jude, in the first row, and though I can only see the back of his head, I know his gaze hasn’t left Maya since she stood up, and won’t leave her until she’s sitting back down and he has no choice but to either look away or risk drawing attention to the staring. Maya and Ezra gather up their presentation board. I bring my hands together for one, two claps, before dropping them to the table. The class starts to applaud half-heartedly and I snap back to attention. The papers that will keep their bored, disinterested eyes off me. The papers that the rest of the class can then stare at while we talk. I’ve been rehearsing without him, after all. I know I can handle the introduction on my own. Because he has so much to do before 8:30 a.m. So, please, for the love of all things good and righteous in this world, this one time, don’t be late. You’re supposed to help me with the introduction. Remember, Quint, big presentation tomorrow. The same frustrated rant begins to repeat in my head, for the eight millionth time this year.
I bite down on the inside of my cheek, trying to calm the nerves twisting inside of me. “And then they turn them into soup!” Ezra adds, just in case anyone missed that part before.Īnother minute goes by. Without their fins, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and either suffocate or get eaten alive by other predators.
She goes on about the horrible methods by which hunters catch the sharks and cut off their fins, then release them back to the water. “Anyway,” says Maya, trying to bring their talk back on point. Teachers at our school have learned not to seat him and Quint together. Most people call him EZ, which I used to think might be a reference to numerous sexual escapades, but now I think it’s just because he has a reputation for being a jokester. Some of our peers pretend to gag in disgust, even though it’s obvious Ezra is trying to get this exact reaction. Wrap your head around that! But I mean, I would totally try it.” “Shark fin soup is, like, a super delicacy, because they’re, like, chewy and crunchy at the same time. “Right! They make soup out of them,” says Ezra. “Plus,” adds her lab partner, Ezra Kent, “who’s eating who here? I mean, did you guys know people actually eat shark?” They are not the monsters that humans have made them out to be!” “Sharks,” says Maya Livingstone from the front of the room, “have been severely mistreated by Hollywood over the decades. Our beaches and coastal waters are home to some remarkable species. My attention is divided between watching the clock over the classroom door and silently repeating the words I’ve been memorizing all week. I’m simmering in my seat, my fingers drumming against the presentation board that’s folded up on our lab table. I’d be more surprised if he was actually on time for once.
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