Book 1 of the Love series- Love Has a Price (Student/Teacher Relationship)

Chapter 12- Caitlin

"So what are you?” Emily asked.   

            I frowned at her, not quite understanding the question. She giggled to herself at me being clueless.

“Mermaid right, around a month old,” she guessed, “And pregnant too, destined to my brother.”

            My mouth gaped open, how could she guess that much from looking at me. She stared out to the forest, something catching her attention. I followed her gaze; she was watching a squirrel as it burrowed into a tree. She turned to me and I noticed her eyes were strange; one was red and the other yellow.

“Half werewolf, half vampire and don’t worry I’m pregnant too,” she began, “Don’t worry if Aaron does find out then he won’t panic, after all, look at what his sister is, a half fang.”

            She laughed to herself and Stevie came out to join us, he sat on the other side of me, I was sat next to two werewolves, well this is new. Stevie shook his head as he laughed at me.  

“So werewolves and vampires are real?” I asked.

            They laughed at me for a while, in stitches at my question. I’m new to the mythical world. Once they had calmed down they explained. Apparently, most things I read about as a kid is real, Mermaids, Dragons, angels and much more. It’s nice to know that there are still people out there who are completely oblivious to the mythical world out there. We walk amongst them everyday and they have no clue. It’s phenomenal really.

“Just tell my brother, it doesn’t have to be now but before he falls in love with you, it will make the whole situation easier, don’t forget that he has a right to know as well, it is his child,” Emily told me, “And it will be our niece or nephew.”

“To late, he just told me that he loves you,” Stevie inserted at the end.

“Really?” I questioned.

“Yep, hope you like him too other wise your in for a wild time,” Stevie replied, standing up.

“I think I do, I’m not sure to be honest,” I answered.

            They both headed to the forest with out another word. The forest stretched at the back of the house. My life just became a lot harder. I walked inside and changed into my pyjamas that Emily had laid out for me. Mr Thompson was in the kitchen, cutting the cake and he passed me a plate, we headed to the living room where we ate. I looked through the booklet that the doctor gave to me. I read about becoming pregnant due to your true love seeing your water form. It was strange really, if he finds out then I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do.

“What you reading,” he asked.

“Nothing much, just some leaflets the doctor gave me.”

            He nodded and he took my plate through to the kitchen. I followed swiftly and we chatted about random things as we washed up. Afterwards I headed upstairs to bed. I leapt onto the bed, falling asleep instantly from the impact; it’s been a long day.

* * *

Someone was shaking me awake, I instantly bolted up. I breathed heavily for a while, catching my breath. Bad dream I guess. Someone was next to me, they flicked the light on and it was only Mr Thompson. A sigh of relief left me.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Nightmare,” I answered, “I get them a lot when my parents are away, don’t know why.”

“It’s because you miss them and your brain tells you that they protected you and now that they’re not…”

            I shushed him and he paused. I’ve always hated it when he goes scientific on me.

“I don’t really want to know about the science behind it,” I declared, “I’m off for a bath.”

“At two in the morning?” he asked.

“I’m sweaty,” I argued.

            I grabbed some clean pyjamas and headed downstairs; he followed me but parted left when he went into his own room. I headed downstairs and ran a long bath. It was only around a minute later when my tail appeared. I soaked for a while; I read the end of my book. After a while, I went back upstairs, feeling better. But I couldn’t sleep, no matter which way I turned or which way I faced, my mind wouldn’t rest. In the end I decided to go to the beach for a swim so that’s where I headed. Being sensible, I left a note for Mr Thompson so he would know where I was and then I set off.

* * *

I was sat on a rock at the entrance to the beach. Mr Thompson came up to me, to my pleasure, he was topless. He sat next to me.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he offered.

            I nodded slightly and he sighed.

“Is there anyway to fix it?” he asked.

“Well, when my parents go away I usually stay with Alice and we always share a bed. Top to tail,” he gave me a weird look, “It’s something girls do.”

            He shrugged and we stood up.

“Time for school I guess,” I muttered miserably.

            It was his turn to nod now, so we began to walk back. His house was only around a ten minute walk away from the beach. It was a gorgeous day but the last remains of summer were disappearing as fall took over. In a month or so it’s going to be too cold to swim. My inner mermaid won’t like that.