Camber reacted at first. Being fifteen and the middle child, she didn't usually take charge. But when she felt the corpse floating beside her, she started pulling Stephanie's hand to get out of the water as if she was a sopping, raggedy doll."Holy shiitake mushrooms!"Stephanie shouted as Camber pushed her away from the lake and to a near by tree. 

"Camber!" she complained. "Let go of me, your squeezing my hand too hard!"

"Okay! Fine. But if I wasn't there, the man would attack you,"she defended herself.

I walked over to Camber with a serious face. "Don't scare her, don't forget, she get's scared easily".

"Whatever". 

We stood there in silence, the three of us, standing in fear on the bank of the river, staring widely at the first dead corpse we'd ever seen in our lives. 

It was spooky, like seeing a ghost floating face down in the water. His dark hair was long for a man. His thick tresses floated loosely around his head like the black tentacles of a sea monster.

"W-We should call someone"Stephanie shivered, pushing her wet hair out of her face and scooting over to stand behind me being afraid that the man was going to suddenly get up and come after her.

"The authorities",I said, still watching the dead man float by. The only two thing  that I could think of was the dead man and how Mom was going to give me one of those "WHAT DID YOU DO!" arguments when she finds out........and she will find out if we call the authorities. This is my fault. After all, I was the one that convinced my sisters to swim in the Rio Grande. The waters of the Rio Grande were dangerous and Mom wouldn't care that our swimming hole seemed safe to me. Many victims were drowned in the Rio Grande.

"We should call the cops instead", Camber said.

"No. We should call the border patrol. I bet they know what to do,"Stephanie said, trying to sound older.

"Wait....guys, I mean girls", Camber whispered, as her face suddenly turns pale. "Do you know realize what this means?"

"What?" Stephanie asked, still staring at the body floating in the river. I didn't respond. Camber's brain works differently from my own, so I couldn't begin to guess what she was about to suggest.

Camber's face broke into a grin."We're going to be on TV!"

"Mom is not going to like this. You know how she feels about talking to strangers," Stephanie reminded Camber. She was right. Mom was more then paranoid about giving out personal information. In her mind, everyone was a potential predator, and we were under strict orders never to speak to anyone about anything if she wasn't around to protect us. We weren't allowed to use the internet anywhere other than school, where we were in serious protection. No e-mails, no instant messaging, and not only couldn't we afford a computer at home, but Mom worried that we didn't understand how to distinguish our real- life friends from dirty old men.

"Besides, we're in no condition to be put in front of a camera. Look at us. We look like bums."

I looked at two of my sisters. We were wearing cut- off shorts and ripped tank tops. Stephanie tugged at her wet shirt, squeezing out the water and pressing it down over her round belly to smooth it out, while Camber tried to straighten out her clothes. And to say nothing of our hair, which was not only wet but thick and clumpy with some dirt particles from the the river. Stephanie had leaf particles clinging to her bangs. I reached over and picked the bigger pieces of debris out of them as started I started to think something bad might happen in any moment.

"Well, it's not like we'll have a choice. This is big," Camber tucked her shirt into her shorts, as if it was going to make a difference.

Stephanie nodded."This is more than big ... this is HUGE".

I tried to think of a way out of it as I chastised myself for bringing the girls to swim in the river all summer long. Calling the authorities had consequences, but we couldn't just leave the dead man where he was, in the water. He'd pollute our swimming hole, not to mention that he should be put to rest somewhere. 

"Ginormous," Camber whispered in my ear.

Stephanie put her old tennis shoes off her feet and beat them against each other, trying to losen the clumps of dirt from their soles. "You think they'll get here quickly? Like right away? Can't we go home and change before we call them? I don't know about you, but I want to look my best for my first television appearance."

"No, we can't," I said looking at camber. She was the prettiest sister. With her long and wavy brown hair, dark green eyes, and her perfect smile, she had nothing to worry about, except she has a attitude. The camera would love her. Not me, Stephanie and I were too skinny but I didn't care what I look like, I only cared for my sisters.

Then Stephanie said something that made us look down in our own feet."Do you think Dad will see us on television?I hope we don't embarrass him."I couldn't help but wonder, myself, what dad would do if he saw us. Would he feel sorry for us?

Would he come back?

Annnddd that's the end of part 1. I hope you liked it and.....I have nothing else to say so, see you in the next chapter. BYE!