Her father didn’t answer. He sat, silent, until the light changed. Caddie, growing more and more angry, crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window. Smarter that this, she repeated to herself. Is he still talking about diving, or does he mean hanging out with Brian? she wondered. Either way, she couldn’t believe her father would say something like that to her.

He’s the one who’s acting like a fool, she thought, remembering how he’d acted around Hudson during lunch. He’d behaved like a love-struck teenager. It had been embarrassing to watch. She almost said so now, but she knew her father would have no idea what she was talking about. He was so oblivious that it wasn’t even funny. It was just sad.

He thinks I should be smarter? she thought. He’s the one who needs to get a clue.

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 33

Hudson looked down at the compass strapped to his wrist. The arrow end of the needle was just shy of being centered in the notch on the bezel, which he’d set to ninety-five degrees. He adjusted his path, and the arrow locked in place. Now he just had to remember to hold his wrist level.

He swam, counting ten kicks, then stopped. To make a right turn, he needed to add ninety degrees to his current heading. He did the math, then set the compass to a new heading of one hundred eighty-five degrees. Another ten kicks, another right turn, this time going out at two seventy-five. The final turn required trickier figuring. Eighty-five gives me three hundred and sixty, he thought. Plus another five to make it a full ninety-degree turn. He turned the bezel to fifteen degrees, cursing Ben for starting him at such an odd number, and swam. If he had done everything correctly, he should be swimming right back to where Ben was waiting.

After eight kicks he began to panic. Nothing looked familiar. He looked at the compass again. Had he failed to hold it level? Had he added or subtracted incorrectly? He couldn’t remember what numbers he’d used. Even if he could, he would already be so far off course that he would never be able to retrace his steps. Maybe you should just surface, he told himself.

Then another kick, and ahead of him he saw Ben kneeling in the sand. When he saw Hudson, he clapped his hands together and gave him the okay sign. Hudson, overjoyed, returned the sign and finished the final leg of the square. He’d done it. He’d been dreading the navigation test more than anything else and was relieved that he’d passed it on the first try.