Mermaid for a Day

1

The sunlight crept in through the wooden shades draping down my paneled crystal window. The edge of the protruding rays hitting my eyelids like spray paint on an unmarked cement wall. I rolled over hoping that the light would soon go away so I could sleep the rest of the day away. But as fate would have it, my mom came prancing in through my door with a pink polka bikini on. A sight I would probably never get out of my head now, let alone fall back asleep to.

My mom stared at me with her gargoyle grin which was cracking more and more every second I seemed to lay in my bed. At this point it had become a scowl of disgust as she continued to glare at me while I was in my bright yellow short sleeved T-shirt with the words "I Hate Mondays" in bold black lettering paired with hot pink camouflage sweatpants that I had been swaying in, enjoying the rooming feel to them. I knew what she was going to ask and I didn't care about anything related to it.

"Are you going to the beach with me and your brother, Lily?" she asked with an insisting look upon her already discouraged face.

"Mom, You know I don't do water." I said knowing she had asked me every day this summer if I would come out of my coma to relax in the rolling waves of the ocean that were hitting the beach that happened to be our backyard.

"Lilian Chambers, you have spent every day this summer laying on that bed, and tomorrow will be the last possible day you can go out and play in the water before school starts." my mom rambled "You are getting out of that bed. Now!"

My mother of all people couldn't lift me up, but my brother was another story. He could bench press one hundred and eighty pounds easy. He happened to be a bit of a fitness nut when it came down to it. His muscular frame often left many girls fawning over his ripped pecks, but I felt disgusted when he happened to take off his shirt when we were on our part of the beach. Even though it was private property, most people ignored the sign when they saw my big brother walking shirtless on the shore. That was another reason why I didn't go out this summer.

Just like a dog on a leash, Jacob came through my door behind our mom with a depressed look. He seemed irritated by something, too. Maybe it was the mere thought that he would have to heave his seventeen-year-old sister from her own bed in a slumbering state just so we all could go to the beach. Or that he just wanted the go into the water without having to do actual labor before having some fun in the sun. Either way, he wasn't in his normal overjoyed attitude from what was obviously being seen.

An arm swooped underneath my legs gripping my thigh tightly while another slid through my covers before diving under my back and clamping to my left shoulder. I was shocked my brother manage to get me out faster than his usual time. It was probably a record in his book. He hoisted me up to stand on the mahogany wood floor of my room almost losing my balance when my toes pressed against the wooden floor boards. It made me feel lightheaded along being so drowsing my brother could lay me back down to go sleep, but wasn't going to happen, not even in the slightest.

Now after being pulled by my brother's thick, massive crane-like arms, I stood half-awake in front of mom who had an expression on her face that made total idea of perseverance look half-hearted joke. She appeared with a face of certain that looked as if it could tame every animal on the whole African savanna with just a stare alone, and then, as if they hadn't noticed how tired I had was, my mother and brother pushed me out of my room, like usual. The question now was would they finally get me into the water before summer ended.

My mother pulled from a shopping bag a pearl white bikini top, which looked awfully like the seashell bras mermaids apparently had worn while out at sea, along with a dazzling blue bikini bottom that shimmered with what seemed to be sequin scales. My mom looked to me while handing the swimwear to my brother, and then pointing to the bathroom like she had for the past week. This time was different. I was too tired of having to resist the constant bombardment of having to get up at the crack of dawn just to swim and deny them their satisfaction of finally getting to go out to our beach with me by each of their sides.

Jacob and I walked to the bathroom, and then he let the door open handing me, what was basically, my mermaid bikini as I entered in our family bathroom. He closed the door and as always, his heavy breathing gave away the fact he was guarding the door so I couldn't sneak back into my room like I did a couple times before. As I enter our bathroom, I continually noted that it looked like it had belonged to some billionaire in the fifties. It had an antique standing tub with eagle talons for its resting foundation, a stunning oval mirror embroidered with brass styling for its finish, and a marble sink that stretched to the other end of the room with a sparkling silver sink in the center of it.

The whole bathroom was immaculate. What was I kidding our whole house was awe inspiring. It had been one of the favorite vacation homes of my father. So, he decided he would make our real home instead of hopping from vacation home to vacation home when he worked. Our dad let me be enrolled in public school, because of how I about wanting to have a normal teenage life. It was nice having dad around when he wasn't all about the big business. He was a caring, kind-hearted, selfless man, and as much as I knew it was true, I dreaded not having him around my graduation this my senior year this year.

I had also decided this would be the last day I would put up with being lifted out of bed like a toddler. It would be humiliating if anyone at school found out I was being carried by my big brother like a baby during my senior year just so I could go swimming with my family. My reputation at school was all I had from the moment they started considering me as popular, even though I am as average as a door knob. My friends surely weren't even real friends when it came down to it. They just hung around because they thought Lilian Chambers, the daughter of a deceased billionaire and the heir to an industrial corporation, as well as, a hefty fortune, couldn't possibly be a normal teenage girl because she was stinking rich, and as a result, the nicest popular girl in school.

My mother respected the fact that we had money, and hated my attitude towards it. She knew I would rather have a normal, carefree life for once, but that was simply impossible in her eyes although she did respect my feelings when buying me clothes to at least some degree. I didn't know if this mermaid bikini was a designer piece or if my mother ordered it from some specialty website. Whatever the case, I wasn't getting out of this situation until I was wearing it out on the beach.

I quickly undressed myself and put the two-piece swimsuit on. It fit perfectly, like it was tailor-made for me specifically, which it probably was knowing my mother, as I looked at myself in our family bathroom mirror. I then walk out of the bathroom to see my mom utter in a choked voice a display of shock from succeeding in getting me into the bikini, which stood out like a neon sign bolted to her face. My brother glanced at me still trying not to get excited about his victory of having me wear my mermaid bikini at last. I walked out towards our back door attempting to look out through the window barely noticing it was probably not even morning anymore. It was noon. How could that be?