Taken By The Shark

Even though Chelsea was so short she would have easily benefited from higher heels, she was too clumsy to trust herself wearing them, and had opted for a wide, two-inch heel instead. She preferred the stabilization that type of shoe offered, and these ones in particular were cute enough that it didn’t detract from the design.

“Almost ready?” asked her roomie, Nancy, as she stepped inside and found her fiddling with her make-up by the mirror.

“Yeah, I just put on the mascara,” said Chelsea. “It’s completely waterproof. Isn’t that awesome?”

“It’s not as if we’re going swimming tonight,” Nancy scoffed with a smirk.

“No, but why buy different mascaras for different occasions?” Chelsea pointed out.

“Honey, you are definitely not interested in fashion,” she chuckled. “I’ll be out in a minute, okay? I just have to put on my dress and we can head out together, if you will wait?”

“Oh, sure,” she agreed. While she waited, she sat gingerly down on the edge of her bed and sighed. It wasn’t overly surprising that her mind wandered back to something that Mark Caerulus had said during his show, of course. She’d had Mark on the brain ever since she’d gotten back anyway.

Someone had asked Mark how much scientists actually knew about the ocean floor, and his reply had been, “There’s a vast amount we still don’t know about the ocean despite the fact that they’ve attempted to map the thing via satellite. In fact, if it’s not some huge object a few miles across, the satellite probably isn’t even likely to pick it up, and that’s only if it’s something that is fairly close to the surface. Most of the stuff beyond a mile deep, we have no idea about. And since humans can’t really dive down even half that far without some sort of submersible, there’s no real way for us to see it with our own eyes.”

That was so true, Chelsea agreed with a sigh. Even sending down deep-sea probes with lights attached didn’t do much to help them see everything, since the lights could only illuminate short distances, so they couldn’t really get a clear idea of the larger area using them. It was easier to map outer space than it was to map the ocean, it seemed.

Once Nancy was ready, the two girls headed downstairs and got into one of the vans together. It just happened to be the same one that Erik was waiting in, unfortunately. Seeing them enter, he moved up to their seat and insinuated himself between the two of them. “All of us at the top of the class should unite, right?”

“I doubt I’m at the top of the class,” Nancy grumbled. “I’ll be lucky if I even get in. But we all know who is at the very top, don’t we?”

“Aw, come on guys,” Chelsea complained with a blush. “Can’t tonight just be about dinner instead of bragging rights?”

“Why is it that the smartest person is always too humble?” Nancy chuckled. “You’re top dog, Chelsea. Why don’t you make like a bi*ch and howl a little? It isn’t hurting anyone if you let yourself celebrate a little.”

“Come on then, Chelsea,” Erik smirked. “Do a little howl with your second-in-line.”

Blushing more than ever when Erik howled and grinned at her expectantly, the next time he howled she did it with him. Then she turned as red as a lobster and hid her face, making not only the two people on her seat, but the other six people behind them chuckle as well.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” she finally admitted, wiping at the mirthful tears at the edges of her eyes.

When they got to the fancy Italian restaurant they were headed to, Chelsea’s heart skipped a beat as she spotted Mark Caerulus helping to place the name cards on the places along with Director Toshi. Toshi Yomura was the man with the final say as to which forty candidates would be chosen, and now that she knew Mark was assisting him, she wasn’t overly surprised to find him by the man’s side.

“Good evening, Team A,” said Toshi with a pleasant smile. His accent was noticeable, but he was still somehow easy to understand. “I have heard that your testing went really well today. You are going to make my job more difficult with your good efforts.”

The group of twenty people gathered around him right then had been only the first set to take the tests, while twenty more would take them on each of the next two days. However, it was obvious to anyone paying attention that this first group had been hand-picked. Why else would there be such a diversity of skill sets among them? At least, that was the opinion Chelsea had formed.

“Chelsea McDonald, have you met Toshi in person yet?” Mark asked at her ear as he stepped up unexpectedly behind her. She had taken a step or two back from the rest of the crowd rather than mingling as she listened to the executive’s speech.

“What?” she said with surprise until his words registered in her brain. “Oh, um, no, we haven’t met.”

“I think that you are about to,” Mark said, nodding toward the man as he turned to look in their direction. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw him nod back.

“Miss McDonald?” he asked then. “Would you please come up here to the front with me?”

“Um, sure, I guess,” she said with a blush. She looked at Mark again, and he cast her a reassuring smile. She stepped up and stood waiting to see what the man wanted.

“This brilliant young woman has broken a long-standing record here at the testing facility,” Toshi told everyone. “Until today, the record for the fastest testing that resulted in a grade of one hundred percent was held by Mark Caerulus, the man standing just over there. However, Chelsea appears to have beaten his record by twenty minutes. Well done, my dear. I believe with a score like that you are pretty much guaranteed to get in. I’d like to shake your hand.”

Chelsea smiled excitedly as she took the man’s hand. In her eyes, this was even better than if she’d just met the president. The sheer number of people who were employed in his company boggled the mind, and yet here the man stood shaking her hand. She wondered if she should pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. A cliché thought if ever there was one, but under the circumstances she couldn’t help herself.

“Thank you, sir,” she said, making sure to give him a confidently firm grip and look him right in the eye. “May I say it’s an honor to meet you? I’ll do everything I can to land a trip to Oceanica. I believe the work you’ve begun down there is very important and I look forward to helping it take shape.”

“Well, then, everyone, if you will find your place settings, I’d like this group seated before we bring in the other two teams,” said Toshi to the onlookers as they clapped.

Everyone did as they were asked, and Chelsea groaned inwardly when she realized her seat was next to Erik’s. Well, he did say he’d finished right after her, so that made sense. Then she saw the other two place cards and realized that they would be eating with Toshi and Mark themselves. Erik must have done really well on his test also, and the two of them were being honored for it.

She remembered how he had convinced her to howl while they were on the bus. Hadn’t Erik called himself her second-in-line? Perhaps he’d already known about this. But of course, she’d never bother to ask him outright if he did.