Tipping the Scales

8. The Scent

All day I had somehow managed to not get rain on me. At lunch the rain had stopped and the sun was out again. I liked the sun. It made me feel radiant and energetic. Except that energy was short-lived as I felt like I was lacking a vital nutrient. At lunch I went to the tuckshop and bought a fish wrap. We actually sat with our usual group today. Our usual group consisted of Matilda, Emmeline Thompson, Reilly Sullivan, Hallow Marshall and me. But in recent times, Zeke and his best friend Felix had occasionally been sitting with us. Today was one of those times.

"Oh, Hazel, Mum gives you tuckshop money and you go and buy a wrap?" my twin criticised me.
"Shut up. Just because you've got two things!" I retorted.
Matilda and I were about to sit down when she stopped me.
"What?" I asked and she pointed to the puddle on the concrete where our group was sitting. I mouthed an O to her and sat where the ground was dry.
"What are you sitting all the way over there for?" Felix asked with his mouth full. I thought he was kind of adorable with his tousled brown hair and big brown bear eyes. And he had a good body too (I pretended not to notice when he slept over).  But he could be pretty annoying.  What else could I expect with one of Zeke's friends?
"Uh, it's wet over there," Matilda answered, her voice icy with 'duh'.
"So? A little water won't hurt!"
Matilda and I gave each other a look. I wanted to say, 'actually, a little water will hurt.'
"Actually..." I started before Matilda cut me off.
"We just don't want to sit in puddles, okay?"

No one said anything else after that. We all ate with light conversation. My fish wrap was good. It tasted amazing and it made me feel energetic. Soon the bell rang and we proceeded to our next class, English. Matilda was in my English class, one of the few classes we are in together. After I got my books from my locker, I met Matilda outside the locker room where she was waiting. She smiled at me at first, but her expression changed as I got closer. She looked confused. I sighed.
"What is it?"
"Your eyes..."
"What, have they gotten pinker?"
"No, they're... normal."
My eyes went wide in amazement. I must've done something to make them go back to normal.
"What did you do at lunch?"
"You were sitting with me the whole time!"
"I know, but specifics. Did you go to the toilet?"
"No..."
"Did you eat anything unusual?"
"No."
"Did you inhale a chemical?"
"What, no-."
"I think it must've been something you ate."
"All I had was a wrap."
"What was on it?"
"Uh, cheese, mayo, lettuce, fish..."
Matilda's eyes went wide in realisation and she clicked her fingers and pointed at me.
"The fish!"

I realised that it could have something to do with it.
"When was the last time you had fish before this?"
"Monday. The day I discovered I was a you-know-what."
"So, today's Thursday. It was three days since you had fish – maybe you need to maintain a diet of fish?"
"Why on earth would I need to do that?"
"I don't know! Why on earth are you a mermaid?"
I couldn't argue with that. This whole mermaid business was strange. Who knows what else there is to it. Transforming when touching water, controlling fire, needing a diet of fish, there could be other things we don't know about yet. I just hope that I don't stumble across it in the public eye...
"Okay, so we're discovering new things..." Matilda continued.
"There could be more that we don't know about," I added.
"There has to be."
As we contemplated this, I could suddenly smell the unusual scent that I had picked up on earlier.

"Do you smell that?" I asked Matilda, sniffing. She sniffed too.
"No, smell what?"
"There's a really unusual smell around. I smelled it this morning too."
"Well what does it smell like?"
"I don't know, but it's very distinct, like I would recognise it anywhere. It's almost like a... scent."
"Maybe it's me. Maybe your mermaid senses are recognising me!" she smiled at the idea.
"No, you smell different," I told her without looking at her – I was still looking around.
"What, you can smell me?" she was shocked.
"Yeah, everyone has their own scent," I confirmed, briefly glancing at her.
"Well why didn't you tell me!?" she half-laughed as she asked it.
"Oh, well, I didn't think it mattered," I still didn't look at her as I was looking and sniffing around for the scent.
"It does matter! This is a big development! We were trying to find out what else happens to you because of this, and you didn't bother to tell me about your heightened sense of smell?"
"Not just smell, sight."
"What!?"
"Oh, relax."

I myself had only realised today that I could smell each person's scent and I could see much more clearly. Maybe this mermaid thing isn't so bad after all – I mean, it has some pretty cool perks – fire controlling and enhanced senses to name a few. But the obvious downside is the not-being-able-to-get-wet-without-growing-a-tail thing. It hasn't even been a week yet and I already know how dangerous it would be if anyone ever found out – well, except Matilda because I can trust her. But I was ignoring her because I was confused and... I guess you could say mesmerised by the scent I was picking up on. It was like no one else's scent I had smelled today.
"Hazel, this is a big deal," Matilda was trying to convince me.
"I know it is," I snapped back at her, "It's just... that scent!"
I was sniffing the air with a look of confusion on my face. Matilda's face suddenly went from concerned to hurt and I think there was a bit of dislike in there too. She shook her head in disgust at me and marched off. I didn't even really notice.