Diary of a Mermaid

A strange interest

I am standing in the bathroom flat-ironing my hair for the first time ever. Theo's party is in one hour. I am wearing the obvious undergarments under my pink, velvet robe. Jaclyn went dress-shopping for me and just got back. I hear her walking up the stairs now.

"Topaz?" she calls out.

"I'm in the bathroom," I respond.

A second later, she appears in the doorway holding a formal bag. I put down the iron when she hands it to me. I take the dress out of the bag and look at it.

It's peach-coloured with two-inch on-the-shoulder sleeves, a lace design around the waist, a tiny scalloped hem, and a mid-knee length. "It's beautiful! Thank you!" I remark, clutching the dress to my chest.

Jaclyn smiles. "I knew that dress would look good on you." She seems to faze out for a second.

She abruptly comes back to earth and rushes towards me. She grabs the iron from the countertop and quickly straightens my hair.

Ten minutes later, after pinning my side-bangs into a poof, she says, "Now, go get dressed. Theo's waiting downstairs."

I glance in the mirror one last time and walk to my room. I slip on the gorgeous dress, pull on my new leather cowboy boots, grab my Claire's patchwork purse, and walk out the door.

"Ready to go?" Finn asks. I smile. He looks good in his bright blue polo shirt, beige khaki's, and black penny-loafers. His short dark hair is gelled. For the past few days, he's just been letting it go. He didn't care. This outing is good for him. Even though he's only been here for a day, he still needs a change of scenery.

"Yeah," I reply to his question.

We walk downstairs and see Theo waiting by the door. My eyes instantly widen. If Finn looks good, than he looks great. He's got on a deep burgundy button-down, black dress pants, and standard dress shoes. His hair is spiky like Finns, but I can tell there is no gel in it.

I approach him. "You look nice," he says. I'm completely unprepared for a complement, so his remark catches me off guard.

"Thank you," I manage to get out. Really, Topaz! If you're gonna, um, use, this boy, than you have to be able to speak! You know how!

Steven opens the front door and says, "You guys can come out now. The car's ready."

"Shall we?" Theo asks me.

This time, I find my tongue. "Lets," I say politely.

He opens the door for me and Finn walks out first. Then me. Then him. Steven holds the car door open and all three of us pile into the backseat. Finn sits behind Steven, I'm in the middle, and Theo's on my right.

"So, who's gonna be at this party?" I ask, breaking the awkward silence that's taken over the car.

"Well, it'll be my mom, of course, my sister, and a few close family friends." Theo says, listing of the guests on his fingers.

"You have a sister?" Finn asks with a strange interest.

"Yeah, Rosie. Well, her real name is Rosanna. But I call her Rosie. She's ten." Theo explains.

Ten minutes later, I look over at Finn and see him smiling to himself. We spend the rest of the drive in silence.