Swimming? No thanks

Chapter 22

"Hey, Mom." I called as Maddy and I walked into the house.

"Hey, girls. Maddy, I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes." My mom came in with something behind her back. Maddy obeyed her instructions and my mom placed an iPhone 5 in her hand.

Maddy opened her eyes, looking at the phone box in her hands. "You bought me an iPhone? I thought it was low priority."

"It was until I found out that we had a little extra money in the bank. So I figured why not splurge on a little something for you?"

"This isn't a little something. You bought me an iPhone! Thank you so much!"

"No problem, Maddy. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Let's head upstairs. I've got some homework to do." I turned and ran up the stairs, Maddy following.

We sat on my bed and she opened the phone box. She pulled out the brand new iPhone. She had figured out how to work mine, so she got it down pretty fast.

"Hey, Alyssa?" She asked as she stared at her phone.

"Hmm?" I answered, working out a math problem.

"How do I set up a passcode on my phone?"

"Oh, um, that's easy." I looked over at her. "Go to settings, general, and then passcode lock. Type in what you want for your passcode and you're good."

"Cool, thanks." She went through the steps and soon had a passcode set up.

I finished my homework and Maddy and I started talking. "Do you have Thomas's phone number?" She asked.

"Yeah." I pulled out my phone, found his number, and handed it to her. She typed the digits into her phone and handed mine back.

"I hope you don't mind, but I put in the girls and Dalton's, too."

"Oh, no, you're good. I'm glad you did that. You might want mine too."

"Yeah. Can you type it in?" She handed me her phone and I quickly typed in the numbers I knew by heart.

"Want me to put Megan and my parents' in?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

I typed in the numbers quickly and handed the phone back to Maddy. She took it and typed something in.

Her phone chimed a minute later with a text. She glanced down at it and smiled.

"Are you and Thomas already flirting through text?"

"Kind of." She picked it up and typed a response.

"You know the thing with mermaids and love, right?"

"Of course I do. We have to be careful with who we give our hearts to because we only get one shot. If I choose a land boy, then I'll choose carefully."

"Does Thomas know?"

"I told him when he first put his arm around me. He's willing to take the risk of losing his one chance at love for me. Isn't that sweet?"

"Yeah. Just be careful and don't let him fall for you until you know whether or not he's the right guy."

"I will. You can trust me, Alyssa. I know more about the mermaid world than you do."

"And I know more about land than you do. Land boys can fall fast. You just need to be careful. I already have someone that I'm stuck with for the rest of my life."

"Cameron?"

"Yeah. I fell for him not long after we started dating. That was before I knew I had to be careful with love."