Melissa smiled hesitantly, then looked at Eric like she was seeking approval. Eric gave her his sleepy-eyed face. Like, Yeah, whatever. Melissa sat back down looking like somebody all embarrassed and hurt. What a loser. Eric smirked.

Outside the little plane, thunder and lightning were banging away. The wind was dogging the plane so hard that it was throwing him all over the aisle. It was pretty cool, actually. Not quite as good as a roller coaster. But close. Somewhere between a dirt bike and a—

BAM!

Eric laughed. That was some serious lightning! Up in the front of the plane, the pilot in the Hawaiian shirt was raving about something. Eric tuned him out, sucked some water into his mouth, made another gagging noise, and leaned over toward Daley Marin. Yeah, that would be good. Nail the class president.

Only, Daley—Little Miss Hypercompetitive—was too quick for him. She squirted him in the face.

"Good one!" Eric said. You always got points for giving other people credit—even if you didn’t really mean it.

Next thing he knew, everybody was getting into it—squirting water and spitting and laughing. Eric stepped back to watch the mayhem he’d created.

BAM!

The plane dropped, and for an extremely long moment Eric felt like he was floating weightlessly in midair. Which meant the whole plane was free-falling!

BAM! A second explosion.