Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of Sharks!. Katie Tsang

IN the shark net, but I told her that

      was impossible.⁶

      3. When I asked Na-Na (that‘s my grandma –

      she lives with us) what an aquarium was,

       she told me it was like the big fish tanks

       at the seafood restaurants in Chinatown,

       which we go to on special occasions.

      Na-Na always picks out a fish that is STILL

       SWIMMING in a fish tank for us to have

       for dinner. One time I named the fish, but

       then it came out on a plate, so I don‘t name

       the fish from the tank ANY MORE.

      ⁶ It actually sounded very possible and EXTREMELY scary. But I didn‘t

      want to worry her so I put on a brave face. All part of being a big brother.

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      So I thought that the aquarium was

      going to be like a giant fish tank where you

      picked out your dinner. When I told Bernard and Zoe that their mouths dropped open.

      ‘EW!’ said Zoe.

      I frowned. ‘Zoe, you eat fish. Just

      yesterday you had fish fingers for lunch,’

      I said.

      ‘That’s different!’ she spluttered. We were

      on the bus on our way to the aquarium.

      ‘How?’ I said.

      ‘It just IS! Tell him, Bernard,’ she said.

      Bernard frowned and

      then took out his thinking glasses. He only wears them when he is thinking VERY HARD.

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      ‘Well,’ he said. ‘Fish fingers come in a box.

       So obviously it is a completely different

       thing.’

      ‘Yeah!’ said Zoe. ‘And fish

      don’t even have fingers.’

      ‘Exactly! Why are they

      called fish fingers?’ I said,

      wiggling my own fingers.

      ‘I don’t know,’ Zoe said loudly (the more

      unsure about something she is, the louder she gets). ‘They just are. But I do

      know you don’t eat the

      fish at the aquarium.’

      I shrugged. ‘Try telling Na-Na that.’

      And then we arrived at the aquarium.

      CHAPTER 3

      alIEn eNcOUNter

      From the outside, the aquarium looked a

      lot like the Space Museum. It was a BIG

      building and we had to queue up to go inside.

      ‘Hey, Sam Wu-ser,’ someone further

      back said with a snort. ‘Do you

      have a stupid outfit for the

      aquarium too?’

      It was Ralph. Only Ralph thinks

      it’s hilarious to call me Sam Wu-ser

      because it rhymes with loser. And only Ralph

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      snorts like that. I took a deep breath and

      tried to remember what my dad had said

      to do about Ralph. His

      advice was:

      ‘Just ignore

      him.’

      NOT

      that easy!

      Ignoring Ralph is

      Ralph pushed

      his way up through the

      queue until he was right

      behind me. He started poking

      me in the back. ‘Hey! Hey!

      Sam Wu-ser! I’m talking to

      you! Hey! Hey!’

      This was, as you might

      imagine, very hard to ignore.

      ‘He doesn’t have his

      outfit on because we’re going to the

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      aquarium not the Space Museum!’ said Zoe.

      ‘OBVIOUSLY.’

      I was, in fact, wearing a

      T-shirt, because it is the best show ever.

       I made it myself. And in honour of the

       aquarium trip, I’d even drawn on space

       turtle Stephanie. I didn’t feel

       the need to point this

       out though.

      Ralph was

       quiet for all of

       FIVE SECONDS.

       But then he

       barrelled on.

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      ‘Hey. Hey, Sam. I heard there is a submarine simulator in there. Bet you are too scared

       to get in it. Especially after what happened

       at the Space Museum.’ He started

      laughing, but it wasn’t a real laugh, it was some sort of pretend villain laugh. Then

       he pushed past me, because Ralph always pushes in queues, and went to the front.

      ‘I’d like to put him in a submarine

      simulator,’ Zoe muttered. ‘And send it to the BOTTOM OF THE SEA!’

      ‘Yeah!’ said Bernard. Then he patted me on the shoulder. ‘Don’t listen to him, Sam. Everyone has forgotten about—’

      ‘Don’t say it!’ I said. ‘We don’t talk about it,

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      RemeMber?’

      ‘Sorry!’ said Bernard. Then he coughed.

      ‘But, um, you aren’t going to get into the

      submarine simulator, are you?’

      ‘Bernard might have a point,’ said Zoe,

      tugging on her ponytail.

      ‘I wasn’t planning to,’ I said. ‘But please

      can we stop taking about it?’

      They nodded. Spaceman Jack, my

      favourite character on ,

      never has to deal with this kind of thing.

      He NEVER does anything embarrassing,

      but if he did, his friends would definitely

      NEVER bring it up.

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      ‘Come along, you three, hurry up!’ It

       was our teacher, Ms Winkleworth. ‘We have

       lots to see – and we don’t want to be late

       for the feeding at the shark tank!’

      THe

      FeedIng?