Free Hit the Beach by Laura Dower

take them to a manatee-viewing area a few miles away, near the local power station. While they were on the bus—all six groups, from Alligators to Flounders—Leonard explained a little bit about the manatee-viewing.
    “Now, we’ll be standing down by one of the canals alongside the power station, where viewing is optimum. There are also tourists sharing our viewing space, so please be courteous,” Leonard said.
    Someone made a fart noise from the back of the bus.
    “Very funny. I know who did that,” Leonard said, wagging his finger at the back row.
    The bus pulled into a tight parking space, where everyone got out and headed for the edge of the canal.
    Madison found herself next to Ann. It was only day two, and she always seemed to find herself with Ann. Suchita came along, too. It was girls on one side and boys on the other at the start of the manatee-viewing. Madison kept trying to elbow her way over toward the boys. She wanted to stand next to Will.
    He’s just so interesting, she thought.
    Madison tried to make excuses inside her head for why she was so drawn to this boy. She knew she should be missing Hart—not crushing on some new boy.
    “Now,” Leonard continued, “the locals work very hard to keep motorboats away from this immediate area in order to protect the manatees and their cubs. If you look right over there, just there, by that dock, I believe you can see a mother manatee right now. …”
    Madison, Ann, and Suchita began to shriek when they saw their first manatee move through the water. It moved with such grace. Manatees had always seemed to Madison as if they were having a hard time in the water, with their blubber and their funnily shaped heads. But this creature was moving like a ballet dancer—sort of. Madison knew Aimee would have loved seeing it.
    “My grandfather used to bring me here, too, when I was a kid,” Will said as he stood near Madison and Teeny.
    “Was he a fisherman?” Teeny asked.
    “Nope,” Will replied. “He was a conservationist.”
    “Oh,” Teeny said. “Did he save birds and stuff?”
    “And fish. And land, too. He made sure that estuaries were maintained for the life down here by the ocean and rivers,” Will explained further.
    Madison looked up at Will. She knew she was a little pie-eyed, but she liked hearing what he had to say.
    “My grandfather once told me that when the Spanish explorers first reached Florida, they thought manatees were real, live mermaids. How cool is that?” Will said.
    “Whoa!” Ann said. “That is cool all over!”
    Madison wanted to cringe. Ann was being over the top again, waving her arms and smiling way too much. The boys snickered at Ann’s behavior, but she didn’t even seem to notice.
    Madison looked away for a moment. The water was a little choppy because of a far-off motorboat, but the manatee seemed to ride in the wake, happier than happy to be there. Madison wished she could bottle the moment and bring it home with her—to be shared with his friends at a future date.
    Most of the kids from the various groups stood silently along the guardrail, staring down into the water to catch sight of the manatee as it swam around. Then, from the bottom of the canal, a second manatee appeared, and then a third. Soon there were at least six, swimming around one another. Many of the campers pulled out cameras to capture the scene.
    Madison was glad she’d brought her orange bag. She pulled out a mini-notebook to record her many observations.
    Leonard stood in front of everyone and began to talk again about the survival of the manatee, and about manatees’ characteristics.
    “Who can tell me about the way manatees eat?” Leonard asked.
    Someone poked her hand into the air and waved it around. It was Ann.
    “They only have two teeth that can grind food—and those teeth wear out and fall out a lot,” she said.
    Will appeared impressed. “Wow, you’re really smart, aren’t you?” he said to Ann.
    Madison frowned. That was