diving at a coral reef and saw a barracuda!”
“Oh gosh, were you scared?” Stephanie asked. “I thought I saw a barracuda when I was snorkeling, but it was just a needlefish.”
“No, I wasn’t scared. They don’t attack in clear water,” Evan said in a superior voice. “We weren’t worried.”
Boys were always bragging. Give me a break.
While they were talking, I went over to the computers and looked up iguanas again. There were some YouTubes on caring for a pet iguana, and I watched one that explained that because an iguana was a reptile, its body wasn’t able to warm itself, and it needed to sit in the sun or under a heat lamp each day.
Oh no! How was I going to let the iguana sit out inthe sun without someone seeing us? I kind of panicked over that, trying to figure out what I might be able to get away with. Somebody was bound to see me.
Stephanie came over, and I quickly exited out of the YouTube screen and pretended to be looking at music videos.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We’re going to try to go down to the employee part of the ship and shoot some video. Are you coming with us?”
I didn’t want to be away from Iggy any longer. “No, I think I’ll head back to the room. I have a horse book that I’ve been wanting to read.”
Back in the room alone, I quickly checked on Iggy and gave him some green beans and kale. He didn’t seem to like the beans as much as the spinach, but he flicked his tongue at them just like before and then slowly chewed them up. He really liked the kale. Then I put him out on top of my bed. He wanted to walk all over my comforter. His walk was kind of like a sashay, with his hips moving back and forth to balance the movement of his tail. I tried rubbing him under the chin the way one person had done in the videos I’d watched, and he did seem to like it. He still seemed to have that funny little smile on his face.
Who would have ever thought that I’d have a baby iguana as a pet on a cruise ship? All this time I’d been worrying about trying not to fight with Lauren and trying to get along with Stephanie, but now none of that mattered at all, because I had my very own little dragon to care for on the rest of the cruise.
At the same time, I was wondering,
How in the world did he get on the ship?
Someone would have had to bring him on board. But why?
10
S TEPHANIE
I didn’t know what was going on with Diana. She acted so jealous of Lauren and me at first, and then she started acting like she didn’t care what we did.
I had been trying to include her with what we were doing. Like, I asked her several times to come down to the employee part of the ship with us to videotape. She wasn’t interested.
When Lauren and I first went through the door that said Employees Only, I did feel strange, like we weredoing something we shouldn’t be doing. But Lauren just went straight through without hesitating. We walked down the hall, by all the closed doors. Daddy had said there were almost as many staff on the ship as there were guests, so there were a lot of employee rooms.
We peeked into a bar, with bottles lining a mirrored wall behind the counter, which was just for employees. Lauren was going to shoot some video, but there was hardly anyone in there, so she changed her mind.
Then we found the employee cafeteria, or mess hall, and a lot of people were in there eating dinner. It wasn’t as nicely decorated as the parts of the ship that were for customers. The tables were long rectangles, in tight rows. Most of the employees were still in their uniforms. We even saw Manuel eating dinner, and Lauren started videotaping him while he was having a conversation with the guy across the table from him. Manuel didn’t see us at first; he and the other guy were leaning in, and their conversation was pretty intense.
Suddenly Manuel shook his head, and then he glanced up and saw us. A look of anger came across his face, and he wasn’t as friendly and polite as he had
“Oh gosh, were you scared?” Stephanie asked. “I thought I saw a barracuda when I was snorkeling, but it was just a needlefish.”
“No, I wasn’t scared. They don’t attack in clear water,” Evan said in a superior voice. “We weren’t worried.”
Boys were always bragging. Give me a break.
While they were talking, I went over to the computers and looked up iguanas again. There were some YouTubes on caring for a pet iguana, and I watched one that explained that because an iguana was a reptile, its body wasn’t able to warm itself, and it needed to sit in the sun or under a heat lamp each day.
Oh no! How was I going to let the iguana sit out inthe sun without someone seeing us? I kind of panicked over that, trying to figure out what I might be able to get away with. Somebody was bound to see me.
Stephanie came over, and I quickly exited out of the YouTube screen and pretended to be looking at music videos.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We’re going to try to go down to the employee part of the ship and shoot some video. Are you coming with us?”
I didn’t want to be away from Iggy any longer. “No, I think I’ll head back to the room. I have a horse book that I’ve been wanting to read.”
Back in the room alone, I quickly checked on Iggy and gave him some green beans and kale. He didn’t seem to like the beans as much as the spinach, but he flicked his tongue at them just like before and then slowly chewed them up. He really liked the kale. Then I put him out on top of my bed. He wanted to walk all over my comforter. His walk was kind of like a sashay, with his hips moving back and forth to balance the movement of his tail. I tried rubbing him under the chin the way one person had done in the videos I’d watched, and he did seem to like it. He still seemed to have that funny little smile on his face.
Who would have ever thought that I’d have a baby iguana as a pet on a cruise ship? All this time I’d been worrying about trying not to fight with Lauren and trying to get along with Stephanie, but now none of that mattered at all, because I had my very own little dragon to care for on the rest of the cruise.
At the same time, I was wondering,
How in the world did he get on the ship?
Someone would have had to bring him on board. But why?
10
S TEPHANIE
I didn’t know what was going on with Diana. She acted so jealous of Lauren and me at first, and then she started acting like she didn’t care what we did.
I had been trying to include her with what we were doing. Like, I asked her several times to come down to the employee part of the ship with us to videotape. She wasn’t interested.
When Lauren and I first went through the door that said Employees Only, I did feel strange, like we weredoing something we shouldn’t be doing. But Lauren just went straight through without hesitating. We walked down the hall, by all the closed doors. Daddy had said there were almost as many staff on the ship as there were guests, so there were a lot of employee rooms.
We peeked into a bar, with bottles lining a mirrored wall behind the counter, which was just for employees. Lauren was going to shoot some video, but there was hardly anyone in there, so she changed her mind.
Then we found the employee cafeteria, or mess hall, and a lot of people were in there eating dinner. It wasn’t as nicely decorated as the parts of the ship that were for customers. The tables were long rectangles, in tight rows. Most of the employees were still in their uniforms. We even saw Manuel eating dinner, and Lauren started videotaping him while he was having a conversation with the guy across the table from him. Manuel didn’t see us at first; he and the other guy were leaning in, and their conversation was pretty intense.
Suddenly Manuel shook his head, and then he glanced up and saw us. A look of anger came across his face, and he wasn’t as friendly and polite as he had
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