A Tail Fully Exposed

Secrets

"About time your friends left! You could have called and said you were going to have your friends stay over!" My angry mother yells at me from the couch. Should I tell  her? It could just be me, I could leave the others out of it...but will she think I'm a freak? 

"Sorry, my phone died and I forgot my charger," I lie, not sure if I should tell her or not. I tell mom everything, maybe if she knew she could help me figure out how this happened to me. But I haven't talked to the girls about telling our parents yet, so maybe I shouldn't.

"I always know when you are lying. If there is something you need to tell me you better, you know I'll find out sooner or later. I always do." Maybe mom is pretty smart after all. 

"Mom, I'm fine. They just needed somewhere to stay for the night. Things were...complicated last night."  I lie even more, making her anger rise.

"You know I will find out eventually, nothing stays hidden for too long inside my house. Ill pretend to believe your lies now, but not for long. Now be a good daughter and come do the dishes for me." Dishes?

"Do you have any water-resistant gloves?" I ask, staring at the sink full of bubbly water and dirty dishes.

"You don't need gloves, just do the dishes." I stay where I am and continue to stare at them. "NOW!" Hey anger has boiled over and she gives me a little shove towards the sink. I shake my head at her and search the cupboards for some gloves. After going through two different parts I find a pair of yellow cleaning gloves that are pretty big.

"These will have to do," I whisper to myself as my mom watches me with amusement. I slowly slip them on and reach into the water, making sure none of it touches my skin as I grab a dirty plate. Once its scrubbed clean I turn the water on to a slow trickle to rinse it off, dodging all of the water droplets. The process of washing dishes takes me about an hour when it should have been about twenty minutes.

"What is with you today?" Mike asks from behind me in his squeaky voice.

"Nothing you need to worry about." I say as I carefully take my gloves off. He angrily stops his feet and runs off somewhere that I don't care to find out. Mom still seems angry with me, as she is sitting on the couch giving me that 'I know what you did' kind of mom stare. Then again, the smell of alcohol suddenly fills my nose when I look down at my shirt. Maybe its time to take a bath and clean up a little bit.

I am very careful to rinse out the tub before getting in, wouldn't want to flop on the floor and have to drag myself into it. Once its all clean I lock the door and strip. No way my little brother is walking in on me while this tail appears. Once the water is full to where I want it, I jump in and situate myself. Within a few seconds the water rises a bit and I am pushed back a little by the length of me. I still cant believe this is even real, how is it possible? Within a few minutes someone knocks on the door quite loudly.

"Come on sis! You're taking forever in there!" Mike yells at me through the door. I roll my eyes.

"I just got in!" I complain, scrubbing my tail with a moisturizing soap.

"Kate, don't take up the bathroom now! First  you're afraid to get a little water on your hands and now you're soaking in it! Child, you are something else." I let out a sigh and continue my scrubbing. 

After laying in the tub for many minutes with no water, I'm finally able to reach a towel and get my legs back as my mom starts shouting again, but not because I am taking so long. Apparently Liv and Crystal have shown up.

The moment I walk out of the bathroom they surround me.

"We need to talk about..." Liv takes a look at my mom with her hands on her hips. "Recent developments." She grabs my arm and pulls me upstairs into my room. Crystal then angrily pulls down a mermaid painting from my wall. What, is mermaid painting now illegal too? I have always been fascinated with them and have sketched and painted them for many years, this one just happens to be a more... Realistic mermaid.