Tails (Transformations: Book 1)

17

Aria and Freya went to the beach on their next day off. They passed out flyers and told people about the danger the birds were in. They'd planned a protest and the date was listed on the flyers. Several people accepted them, but they didn't seem really interested. She headed over to a group of teenagers and offered them a flyer.

A girl with long, brown hair and a pink bikini smiled at her. "Hey, it's Aria, right? Wow, it's so weird to see you outside of school."

"Oh." Aria stared at her, blankly, taking a moment to remember the girl's name was Ashley and she was president of the student council. "Yes. I'm just working on this." She held out the flyer.

Ashley took it and looked over the information. "These birds are kind of funny looking." She passed it to one of her friends. "So the wind turbines are really dangerous, huh?"

"Well, not all wind turbines are bad. It's just that these are located somewhere dangerous. Generally, it's a pretty good source of green energy." Aria didn't want people thinking turbines were bad, in general. She also felt a little awkward, talking to her classmates. Somehow, she found it easier to talk to strangers.

"So you're trying to get them to move? That's pretty cool." Ashley smiled at her. "Hey, you work at the aquarium, right? I think I saw you there."

Aria nodded. "I'm a mermaid, there." She realized that sounded a little silly, but the words were out before she could think of better ones.

"That's, like, the coolest job ever." Ashley told her. "How long can you hold your breath?"

The whole group seemed to be paying attention to the conversation, which made Aria extremely uncomfortable. "About two minutes."

"Seriously? That's pretty impressive." Ashley's sunglasses made it difficult to read her expression.

Aria shrugged. "The record is more like thirty minutes." She cleared her throat. "Well, I have a lot more flyers to hand out, so I'll see you around."

"Yeah, we'll definitely check out the protest." Ashley told her, as though they'd been given a party invitation. "Good luck."

Aria nodded and breathed a sigh as she moved away from the group and they returned to their normal chatter. She had no idea how to talk to her peers. She knew that was probably a flaw of hers and she should deal with it head on, but she didn't have the courage for such a thing, so she avoided them as much as she could.

Freya smiled as she walked over to her. "Were those some of your school friends?"

Aria shrugged, not really sure how to respond. "The one girl is school president, so she tries to be everybody's friend."

"You could hang out with them if you wanted." Freya told her. "I can finish handing out the flyers."

Aria shook her head. "No, it's fine. I promised to do this. Besides, I don't even have a swimsuit with me." She had worn shorts and a tank top, since she hadn't been planning to go swimming that day. Of course, that wasn't the real issue, but she was too embarrassed to admit her nerves to Freya.

The nymph just smiled at her. "I could go get your swimsuit, if you like." She could practically hear Aria's thoughts, but she had no intention of telling her that. She wanted her to make land friends and knew Aria's social anxiety generally made that difficult.

Aria shook her head. "That's okay. I don't want to put you to any trouble." She smiled and held up her stack of flyers. "Besides, we have to finish handing these out, right?" She ran off before Freya could respond and offered a flyer to a random beach-goer, making it impossible for the nymph to argue further.