Now see it was going to be a race! Well, a slow one, and not exactly a boat race, but a race all the same. Mariel was so excited that her idea was actually being put into play that she had a difficult time not jumping right into the lily pad. But she knew she best climb in carefully or she'd end up head first in the pond.

Mariel climbed on to the lily pad directly behind her housemate. Uh, what was her name? The third year had never actually met her so she tried to remember what Bunbury called her... Juliet! "Juliet," the fourteen year old called loudly behind the girl. Of course, she knew that her sight had been affected and not her hearing, but she wanted to make sure she'd hear her over the other people calling orders and know who was talking to her. "This is Mariel... I need you to step onto the lily pad directly in front of you. It's about, uh..." The third year craned her neck to see how far apart the leaves were so the girl wouldn't step into the lake instead of the lily pad, "Two feet away. Stretch your legs a bit." Hopefully she wouldn't misjudge and fall in.