Alice breathed through her nose, the salty air greeting her as she closed the cabin door behind her. The motion of the rocking speed boat made her very queasy earlier, but not as much now. She swallowed the leftover bile in her throat.
“Hey, Alice! If you’re feeling up to it, come look off the port side!”  Her Dad called to her.
“Port?”
“Just come over here.”
Being careful to not slip on the cold, wet deck, Alice made her way over to her dad’s voice, her shoes squeaking softly the entire way.
“What’s taking you so long Wonderland?”
Oh joy. Ben was in a ‘do everything humanly possible to annoy my sister’ mood. Alice felt her eye twitch. This had not been a good day, and she really didn’t want to deal with Ben as well.
“I thought I told you not use that nickname anymore.” Alice said, willing herself to not give into her bad mood. This brought a smirk to her younger sibling’s face.
“Oh, but I thought you liked my name for you, Wonderland. Maybe you do need a new nickname.”  He mused. Alice turned away and continued walking forward. Left. Right. Left.
“How about … green face. No? You’re right; it doesn’t roll off the tongue well.”
Right, left, Right. Roll off the tongue? Since when did he use fancy language for anything? Middle scholars are a pain in the-
Snap! The sound her brother’s fingers created pulled her out of her thoughts.
“I got it. Your new nickname is now and forever more; Cookie Tosser.”
“Shut up.”
“If that’s how you react in calm weather, I wonder how sick you would be in a storm.”
Alice spun herself around to face her so-called ‘brother’. Her skin boiled, her sight turned red, humiliation and anger making the taste in her mouth that much worse. She was going to become a single child-
“Ben! Stop messing with your sister! She’s had enough of a bad day without you being a three year old.”
Her Dad’s voice washed any of Alice’s delightful thoughts of tossing Ben into the ocean with a black eye away. She closed her eyes and took slower breaths. Alice made her nails stop digging into her palms.
“Now get over here before they’re gone.”
Alice shoot her brother a glare before sweeping away, determined to prove to herself that she could walk on a boat without acting like she was drunk. Unfortunately, footsteps followed her.
Spotting her Dad, Alice walked over to him and folded her arms. Her glare perfectly spoke the thought she wouldn’t say out loud. Her Dad’s face turned from excitement to apologetic.
“I know this hasn’t turned out as well I made it out to be, but give me a last chance. Come look.”
Becoming exited again, he moved to the railing, waving her over. Alice fought the urge to roll her eyes. What was so interesting about waves to her Dad, she’d never know. Her hands grabbed the guard rails and she peered over the side. Her eyes widened.
A dolphin grinned at her, and made some clicking and squeaking sounds. It seemed to be saying hello. There wasn’t just one dolphin, there was at least five. Her frown cracked into a smile.
“What? It’s just a bunch of stupid fish.”
Alice jumped, startled at her brother speaking next to her. Leave it to Ben to kill the moment. The dolphin that had greeted her a moment before turned to look at her brother. It then dived under the water. What’s it doing?
Ben gave a yelp as a stream of water hit him, making him stumble back. His foot got stuck in a bucket. Alice could practically hear someone shout ‘Timber!’ as he fell down on his butt.
Alice clutched the rails for support, her rips splitting from laughter. She wasn’t the only one, her Dad was clutching his side, already red in the face from laugher. The dolphins were all making sounds like laughter. Her brother sat up, wiping the dolphin spit from his disgusted face.
Her dad managed to compose himself, and straitened his glasses before speaking.
“I think that the dolphins might be smarter than you give them credit for.” 
This made Alice laugh harder, listening to her brother’s frustrated footsteps retreating from their Dad’s commit.