Perhaps Logan's project wasn't nearly as boring as I had originally thought. There was a herd of seals that rested upon the rocky shore, as well as another herd in the water that poked their heads to the surface for oxygen and to alleviate their curiosity.

They appeared for a moment, then went back to the unknown, and Logan had to count as many of the resurfacings as he could. Each sighting counted as a separate seal, which seemed like nothing but a great way to skew the data, but it wasn't my project. He had made it known that my help wasn't wanted, and I was just there to ease the workload.

I ended up taking one half of the allotted sampling area, and there was little time for talking when seals had to be counted.

Three hundred and fifty-four seals poked their heads out of the water in the hour, and that was just based on the inaccurate counting on my side.

He compiled the numbers, and although I wasn't sure what exactly the point of his project was, he smiled and nodded. "Thank you. This was fun."

I blinked a couple times. "We counted seals for an hour."

"You didn't enjoy it?"

"Of course I did. I just—" I thought for a moment. "Well, I really should have been trying to identify my whale."

"Ah, okay. That explains why the kitchen is clean."

"I'm sorry. I really did enjoy your company."

Logan shook his head. "You don't have to lie to me. I'm not as stupid as you think." He handed the notebook over to me. "Will you carry this back to the house for me?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sure."

I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, but there were times that I just wasn't thoughtful enough. I probably sounded cold and heartless, and he probably didn't want to be my friendly acquaintance anymore.

There was no way I could let him think that I had no soul. I dealt with that stereotype way too much as a ginger.

"Do you need any help this evening? I'd love to learn more about what you're doing," I said.

"You're lying again," he said as he climbed back down to the ground.

"I'm serious. I don't really know that much about seals, except that they're mammals, their basic anatomy, their habitat, and that they're really cute."

"The last one is the most important, for sure. That's all you need to know about anything."

"Everything and everyone is cute if you just give them a chance unless it's a spider." I shook my head. "Those just freak me out."

He laughed. "Sounds like you've got life all figured out."

"I wish." I smiled. "So can I join you for the next seal watch?"

"I guess I'll seal you then, pun completely fucking intended."

Poor Logan had to do that all alone for two hours every day, since my project wasn't a daily thing, it couldn't hurt to help him out while keeping myself entertained.

We headed back to the house, and Jia and Carter both sat in the living room, my laptop on the table in front of them.

"We figured it out," Carter said.

Figured what out?

"Well, Carter solved the mystery of the strangely similar whales. I just recruited him," Jia added.

Oh, that made sense.

"Really? Which whale was it?" I asked.

"All four of the whales were the exact same one. There are exactly zero differences," Jia said.

"That can't be right," I mumbled, then spoke up. "Are you sure?"

"Come here and look at the data." Jia waved me over, and I stood beside her.

Carter tilted the screen, so I could see it better.

"If you look at the dates and locations that these were all put in, all three of those whales were identified last year within a week of each other. They were given the names Fork, Pitchfork, and Trident, referring to the pattern on their flukes. But they were also all photographed within fifty nautical miles of each other within the same week, making them all the same whale," Jia explained.

"But whales can swim a lot farther than fifty miles per week. They can't all be the same." I shook my head. "Unless there was a bunch of food there, why would they bother to stay?"

"Fork, aka Pitchfork, aka Trident are all the same whale. The pictures and locations and dates all line up," Carter said.

"But food would run out, wouldn't it?"

"If it's just the one whale by himself, there could be a lot of food in that radius. Why leave when there is still food?" Jia asked.

I sighed. "When were all the pictures taken?"

"June third, June fifth, and June tenth of last year," Carter replied.

"You can check again, but there really aren't any differences. I wouldn't be surprised if all of these were actually taken on the same day, but the rest of the info was fudged," Jia said.

I shook my head. "I can't believe you guys came up with that so fast. It was frustrating the shit out of me last night."

How could they outsmart me like that? How could I let a basic observation just slip through my fingertips?

"Language, Reagan. That's a citation," Darrell said as he entered the room.

"Tragic," I muttered, then looked up at him. "Do you know who worked on this project last year?"

"The whales? That responsibility belonged to a guy named James, who I didn't particularly care for. He finished his project months ahead of schedule and spent the rest of the time drunk, which if you were planning on doing that, don't. I'm not accepting that kind of behavior this time around," Darrell said.

"He identified fifty whales in a month?" I asked.

Darrell nodded. "I don't know how he did it, but he pulled it off."

"That's because he identified the same whale three times and gave it three different names," Jia said.

"He falsified data? I need to let Toby know immediately," Darrell said. "The dishonor his actions are bringing upon us is immense."

"We'll fix it, so it's not that big of a—" I began, but Darrell cut me off.

"This is a huge deal. This is exactly why people don't believe in science, because of frauds like James." Darrell headed off to find Toby. "This is a disgrace."

Jia stared at me for a moment, until Darrell's angry muttering disappeared. "Why do we get the shitty, unfun version of Darrell? I want to spend three months drunk," she said with a laugh.

"Please don't," Carter said, and I let out a laugh.

He was either a genius for figuring out my whale of a problem, or I was just stupid. I leaned toward the latter explanation.

But he and Jia didn't have to help me, so I smiled. "Thank y'all so much. I probably would have never figured that out."

Carter smiled back.

He was a man of few words, but those words made up for my damn incompetence.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be sure to ask you about great black-backed gull mating calls when I get the chance," Jia said.

I laughed. "I don't know how much I'll be able to help with that."

"No one can. Darrell is the only person on the planet who gives a fuck about our project," Jia said.

"You don't?" Carter asked.

Jia shook her head. "Not really, but there are times when duty calls. If I could pick any project I wanted, I would have picked literally anything besides getting screamed at by birds."

I bit down on my lip. I already felt bad enough about being inept, and now a dull ache arose in my heart, reminding me of everything I left behind to be worthless.

Duty called me, but I never answered. I ignored that call just like every other one I received.

As I struggled to say anything positive, Brett peeked into the kitchen with a spatula in his hand. "Hey. I hate to interrupt, but we don't have too many options, so would you rather have a decadent water soup or a luxurious coffee grind casserole for breakfast?"

"Probably the coffee. Reagan's going to need it if she's going to make it through the day," Jia said, then smiled. "Living the dream can be quite costly, you know."

While she was probably referring to energy, I nodded. No one knew that better than me.

***

Although it had felt like I had gone back in time several hours, Logan and I climbed back up the watchtower.

"How much do you know about—" Logan began, but when someone's shout interrupted him, he stopped talking to listen.

"Maybe if you would have just listened to me, this wouldn't be a problem right now." Jia's voice resonated through the salty air.

"There isn't a problem unless you make one, which you're pretty good at doing, aren't you?" Darrell replied.

"Now we're both covered in bird shit. This is the exact definition of a problem," Jia said.

"Huh. Sounds like they're having fun," Logan said, then put his notebook on his lap. "Let's get to work."

"Yeah," I said, but neither of us did anything.

"Then do you want to stick the microphone in the aggressive males' territory?" Darrell shouted.

"I don't want to stick the microphone anywhere. This whole project is a fucking joke. We can pretty much figure out what a bird is saying given its circumstances," Jia replied.

"Really? A joke? Like your parents that may or may not be real?"

"They're real. And you know what else is real? My desire to rip off all of your limbs and throw them into the fucking ocean."

Darrell trekked across the rocks in front of our tower. "Then why don't we do a different experiment?"

Jia followed him, a device of some sort in her arms. "That sounds like a fantastic idea, as long as I never have to work with you ever again."

"Great. We'll ask Reagan if she can identify the sounds that we've recorded. If she can, then you're right, but if she can't, then I'm right."

"That's your new experiment?"

What did I do to deserve such a cruel fate?

Darrell nodded. "Unless you have a better idea, which I know for a fact that you certainly don't."

"You probably should have picked Brett, because Reagan knows everything," Jia said.

"Except how to identify whales, apparently."

I took in a breath and looked over at Logan, who made every effort possible to keep from laughing. He held it in well, I had to admit.

"Okay, this is just silly. We need to focus on the seal watch," I said.

"Here. Have some binoculars. It makes everything just a little more," Logan hesitated for a moment, "science-y."

"Science-y?" I laughed.

"It'll make you feel smarter. More science-y."

I looked through the binoculars, and all I could see was ocean. But since he so kindly offered to let me use them, the only polite response would be to oblige.

"I feel very science-y," I said.

"I'm glad. It was annoying the shit out of me," Logan said.

"What was?"

"You."

Of course.

"Well, I'm sorry that my presence irritates you. I'll try to disappear more frequently," I said.

Logan shook his head. "That's not what I meant."

What other interpretation of his words was there?

Apparently, I knew nothing about whales, or gulls, or people.

"Look, I know you don't like me, but—" Logan began, but I cut him off.

"What? Where'd you get that idea?"

It was true half the time, but I never told anyone about that.

He was the one that didn't like me for whatever reason.

"You always look irritated when I talk to you, like you want to rip out your eardrums or something," he said.

I put the binoculars down. "That's just my natural face."

He didn't say anything for a moment, then finally did. "Oh."

Just like that, I didn't really like him all that much again, like magic. And for those who could never really believe in magic, poof! Suddenly I didn't like him very much, like science.

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Hey everyone! Thank you so much for reading!

There are several people who just can't seem to get along at Paradise City, but while Jia and Darrell are forced to work together on their project, what's forcing Reagan and Logan to work together? Pride? The desire to fix a broken first impression? Or maybe something else?