Tipping the Scales

6. Fire

We were sitting in a corner of McDonalds. It was twenty past six and there was barely anyone in there. My speculation about the wet clothes turned out to be true – as soon as I was dry and back in my human form, so were my clothes. It was like they never got wet.
"So... how did this all happen?" Matilda finally asked me.
"Well, it was Sunday night, the night I was at your house. I was walking home and I stopped off in the springs for a swim. I don't know why, I just did. Anyway, there was a scale on the rock that the creep was just sitting on. I picked it up because it was beautiful, and it slipped in my hand and gave me a massive cut. Anyway, I woke up the next day and got water on my hand and I grew a tail. Shocked isn't even a word to describe how I felt."
"Wow. That's amazing, but scary at the same time. I didn't think mermaids were real."
"Well neither did I until I became one."
"So whenever you get wet, a few seconds later you grow a tail?"
"Yep."
"Wow. Do you have special powers or anything?"
"What?"
"You know, in all those mermaid shows they have special powers like controlling water and stuff."
"Well I don't know. I haven't come across any yet. Do you really think that I have some?"
"Maybe you should try something."
"Okay... what do I do?"
"Here, try doing something with the drink."
She slid my thickshake over to me. I tried different hand signals at the cup but nothing happened.

"Nothing's happening."

"Maybe that isn't your power."

"Or maybe that's because it isn't water. I don't think trying will do anything anyway. It has to come spontaneously."
We talked a little more until we had finished our breakfast.
"Let's change into our uniforms and then we'll go for a walk," I suggested.

We walked to the park near our school. We accidentally stood in a puddle but I only realised too late.
"The puddle," I said worriedly to Matilda.
"Quick!" she ushered me to a bench quickly.
"I've got a towel in my bag."
I got the towel out and we were both ferociously wiping my feet. Matilda, being the excellent friend she is, yanked my shoes off and wiped my feet dry. I was safe.
"Thanks. I keep a towel in my bag now, just for emergencies, which is good because it has already saved me twice."
"You were lucky. We need to be extremely careful from now onwards. School's a dangerous place now. You never know when it's going to rain. It's a good thing you don't do home ec because they make you wash your hands."
"I know. It's going to be hard staying dry."
"At least it hasn't been that rainy... yet."
"Yeah. Look at all of that dry grass over there."
I pointed to a patch of dry brown grass about twenty metres away. It suddenly caught fire. Matilda and I jumped and looked at in in shock. We grabbed our bags and quickly got up and ran to the footpath.
"We need to get the hose over there and put it out!" Matilda announced.
"I can't!" I reminded her.
"Oh, right."

I put my hands in my pockets, because I always do that when I'm nervous. Suddenly, the fire went out.
"Matilda..."
"I've got it, it's okay!"
She was still trying to get the hose.
"No, Matilda, stop!"
She stopped. I pointed to where the fire used to be. She looked and then a look of confusion was on her face.
"How...?"
"Quick, come here."

She rushed over.
"I think it was me," I whispered fearfully.
"You did that!? Fire is your power?"
"I guess."
"Well can you try again?"
I made the same hand motion as before and the fire started up again. Before long, the fire was burning the grass. I swept my hand in a dexterous fashion in the direction of the fire. The fire went out quickly. We stared at it for a while.
"Well, at least now we know what your power is," Matilda commented.
"Yeah, then what will be my nickname? Blazel Hazel?" I retorted.
"That's a good one actually..."
I gave her the hairy eyeball.
"What's wrong, Hay? Don't you want a power?"
"I do, it's just that this has all happened so quickly. Two days ago I was a normal girl. Now whenever I touch water I turn into a fish. And now apparently I can control fire."
"And how is that going for you?"
"Don't be stupid, Til! This is really serious!"
"Okay, I know this is bad timing but we really need to get to school."
I looked at my watch – which was amazingly unaffected by the water – and saw that it was almost time for school to start.
"How long have we been out!?" I asked, alarmed.
"An hour or two, I suppose. But don't worry – I'll be protecting you from now on."
"Thanks. You're the most awesome friend ever!"

***

School was pretty uneventful. Matilda and I sat away from our usual group at morning tea and lunch. She wanted to discuss my mermaidness nonstop. Well, I couldn't blame her. It must be pretty cool, but shocking, to find out that your best friend is a mermaid. I actually think she's jealous.
"Care to donate a scale?" she asked me jokingly at lunch.
"Ha, as if!" I replied, "I wouldn't want this to happen to you."
"But you make it sound so cool!"
"Yes, it's cool sometimes, but it's also a burden. How am I supposed to keep clean without exposing myself? Being a mermaid is very dangerous. You never know what marine biologists or other antagonists could be lurking. I don't want to end up as an experiment!"
"That's true. I think you need to experience swimming."
"How, Tilly? My only option is the springs, but they're too risky. In mermaid shows, like H20, they live at the beach, so it's much easier for them to just run into the surf and go off for a lovely swim with the dolphins. I can't do that."
"We need to go to the beach."
"Seriously? The closest beach is three hours away. How do you suppose we get there? And as if our parents would ever let us. My dad probably doesn't trust me going out at night anymore, after what happened. But it also resulted in a life changing event that's going to stick with me forever."
"You're so lucky."

Matilda insisted on coming over to my house after school. She rang her mum and it was fine. She wanted to see more of the fish.
"Matilda, I don't know how you're not freaked out by this."
"I was freaked out at first. But then I realised that we could have fun with this."
"We? Fun?"
"Well, I know it's you and not some tourist attraction, but I think we could have fun experimenting with your powers and everything."
"Do remember that I am the one who is experiencing this and not you."
"I know, but like you said, you needed someone to know, and that's me."
"Are you jealous, Tilly?"
"What!? No! It's a huge complication in your life, why would I be jealous?"
"I don't know, maybe because I'm a mermaid and I can control fire."
"Well come on, I want to see more of you in your mermaid form. I haven't seen you as a 'dry' mermaid, per se."
We went upstairs into my room. She sat down on my bed while I got my drink bottle from last night that was on my bedside table. I handed it to her.
"Go on. You want to see it," I said as I was about to be splashed by her. She hesitantly splashed the tiniest bit of water onto my arm. Within six seconds I had an orange tail and was lying on my bed with my head tilted back. She looked down at me and smiled.
"Awesome."

I struggled to sit up and I propped myself on my elbows.
"Did you even think to get towels beforehand?" I asked her.
"Oops, no!" she got up to rush to our linen cupboard.
"Matilda, its fine!" I yelled after her, "I have towels in here!"
I told her to open my cupboard, where she found a stack of four towels that I had stashed away. No one else knew about this stash, and if anyone in my family knew, they'd be wondering why I was running a linen store in my cupboard.
"Huh, handy," she commented, grabbing the top towel, a hot pink one.
I grabbed the towel off of her and dried my arm. I was soon human again.
"Okay, that's weird. Usually I have to dry my whole body."
"Maybe it changes every time."
"Yeah. It's strange though. Then again, being a mermaid is strange."