Mermaids Vs. Sirens

Coral in the most violent shade of red. Swirling pools of teal water. These are just some of the things Aquinye and Clear Mist, twin mermaids, saw as they shot through the sea, heading toward the vacant family boathouse on the shore of Santa Monica Beach. Their shimmery, turquoise tails darted right through two miles of ocean and jumped like dolphins onto the sand, sparkling from the early Friday sunlight. They quickly dried off, turning them human again, and ran madly to their high school.

"Hey girls," said Damon and his friend Jared as the girls rushed over and collapsed onto the bench of the quad.

"Hi sweetie. Sorry we're late. We ventured out too far from the bay," Clear gasped as she gave him a hug. They nodded and smiled. Those two boys were the only ones who knew they were mermaids besides their grandma, who used to be one herself. The first period bell rang, loud and obnoxious. The foursome split and left the quad for a soon-to-be-interesting school day.

"What'd we miss?" Aquinye asked breathless when they entered the noisy Oceanography classroom.

"Nothing yet. Turner left a minute ago to deal with something, ah, 'important'." Anna, a good friend, joked while Clear and her sister sat down. Mrs. Turner burst in a second later, make-up half on, shoes on the wrong feet, with a highlighter-haired girl at her side.

She was petite, pretty even, when you gave her a second look. Her eyes were the bright green color of acid, her hair cut like a ruler with bangs. The coloring was bright purple, lime green, and aqua blue. Clear and Aquinye gaped at her hair. She gave a dazzling smile as the teacher addressed the class,

"This is Assyria. She's our new student this year. Please, please make her welcome among yourselves and read chapter 32." She collapsed in her chair and started grading papers. Assyria smiled warmly to every girl and boy in the middle row.

But when she got to the mermaids, the award-winning smile was replaced by a hostile, cold glare. Aquinye wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not, but she thought that her eyes turned into deep, red slits. She turned to Clear and mouthed,

"Did you see that?" Clear nodded. Despite their urge to talk to Assyria, they silently turned to Chapter 32 and began reading about dolphins.

"I wonder why she doesn't like us," Clear whispered to her boyfriend in the lunchroom while she picked at her sushi krab roll. She was staring at the new girl, laughing and talking animatedly with most of the girls in their class, chewing on a piece of seaweed.

"Don't focus on her." said Damon. "She's consumed by new-girl popularity. She'll be distraught in a few months when they abandon her for someone else." He tipped her chin up slightly and gave her a kiss. Aquinye sighed.

"Keep the kissing at a minimum. We're trying to eat here." They looked at her and rolled their eyes. At that moment, Luke Marks had just walked up with Assyria on his arm.

"Hey Damon, Jared, girls. Just came up to tell the Captain that I can't stick around after the game Sunday. I've gotta date with the coolest girl in Santa Monica." He nudged Assyria affectionately and she giggled.

"Fine. But you better be at practice Tuesday," Damon said.

"I will, man. See ya later." They walked off. Their group shrugged it off and didn't talk about it. Just as they were going to start more blissful conversation, Anna and Allison and the rest of the A-List strutted over.

"Hey girls," Allison purred, smoothing a hand over Clear's glossy French braid.

"What's up?" Aquinye asked.

"Well," Anna stalked over to the corner of the table, perching on it. "We're obsessed with Assyria. She's so... new. It's interesting. Do you know her?"