Swimming? No thanks

Chapter 25

Sarah's POV

"Diana! Come on! We need to get to school! Max is probably waiting on us!"

"Coming!" She ran in and grabbed her backpack. "Sorry. I just came back in from my swim. Let's go."

We headed out and met up with Max at her house. "Hey, guys. Anything interesting happen last night?"

"Nope."

"I wonder if Maddy's coming to school today."

"I don't know. Alyssa may just leave her at her house for the day."

"She might spend some time in the water, just swimming."

"Or she could explore town."

"Either way, she's better off not going to school." Diana and I nodded in agreement. "One thing still puzzles me."

"And what's that?"

"Why did Hadley only ask Alyssa and Dalton to help train Maddy for living on land?"

"It's probably just because they're her biological children, she trusts them."

"Are you saying that she doesn't trust us?"

"No. I think it's just that when she thinks of mermaids who know land as much or more than they know water, she thinks about Alyssa and Dalton first. She knows that they've been mermaids on land for sixteen years. It makes sense."

"I guess so. It's just kind of insulting that she didn't think about us."

"I'm sure she didn't mean it that way."

"I know."

"If you want to know why she didn't ask us, then we can go talk to her after school."

"Okay."

We got to Alyssa's house and Cameron and Alyssa came down to the street. "No Maddy today?"

"No. My mom figured that we might want to leave her at my house until she knows enough to come to school with us. It'll help not raise suspicions."

"Okay."

We talked about random things until we got to school.

Dalton met us at the school doors. "Hey, guys. Where's Maddy?"

"My house. She'll come to school with us once she's ready to learn at a tenth grade level."

"I look forward to seeing her later. Alyssa, can we talk?"

"Sure." They headed off to another hallway to talk.

"Sarah." I turned around at the sound of Alex's voice.

"Hey."

"I wanted to talk to you about our first date."

"What about it?"

"If you're free, I would like to go out Friday night."

I smiled. "Sure."

"Great."

"Sarah, we need to talk," Max alerted me as she walked up.

"Just a minute Alex." I walked over to the girls, Cameron, and Dalton with Max. "What's going on?"

"Dr. What's-her-face is back," Dalton answered.

"I thought she went to California."

"She did, but she's back with better equipment this time."

"How do you know?"

"I saw her boat when I was swimming this morning."

"How did you know it was hers?"