Altadesnia Preparatory Academy

Chapter 5: Starting Classes

"Mom?" I stared in shock at the scene before me. My mother gazed back at me with a very sad smile.

"I'm sorry Rikki. This is how it's got to be." I tried to run to her, but she just kept getting farther away with every step I took. I was on the verge of tears.

"What's the way it's got to be?" Then a tidal wave washed over her, and started coming towards me. I would've ran, but it was so vast it would be no use. So I just stood there, waiting to be swallowed whole. And, suddenly, I was drowning. Falling deeper and deeper into an ocean that wasn't there before...

"BWAH!" I cried, water sliding down my throat. Jackie was standing over me, carrying a glass of water.

"Finally, you're up! You kept thrashing around, and I figured you'd slept in long enough, so I decided to wake you up with liquid. I almost decided to use Kool-Aid, but I decided water would be better, less scary, and way less messy." I gawked at her in shock. Who did she think she was?!

"I could've drowned!" I exclaimed. Jackie gave me a weird look, and moved slowly away from me like I was going out of my mind.

"What?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows. Then, looking down, I realized something impossible.

I had a fish tail!

"AHHH!!!!" I screamed loudly, looking around my room for Jackie. Just then, the door burst open and Carla came rushing in. I gazed desperately in her direction from the doorway, not knowing what to do about my mermaid half.

"What is it, Rikki?" She asked, rushing to my bedside. I grunted, then gestured my head toward my body under the sheets. Carla carefully removed the blanket and there, in all their glory, were my legs. My sweet, beautiful legs.

"Erica, I don't think this was a cause for alarm."

"But, my bottom half was a fish! I looked like a mermaid! Because I was drowning, and then Jackie splashed water on me, and then-" Carla held up her palm as if to say, "Please shut your mouth". So I shut up.

"Erica, it was just a dream. Please try to limit the screaming to a minimum, and know that regular people, like yourself, don't randomly grow mermaid tails in the night." And then she left, almost as swiftly as she came. I couldn't help thinking about what she'd been like on the plane. She'd been funny, and upbeat, and totally chill. I had no idea what happened.

"Rikki!" Jackie burst into the room, holding a roll of some sort in her hand. "Oh my goodness! I heard the screaming, and I said to myself, 'I have to get there fast! Rikki must be in trouble!' So then I ran to the stairs, went down them, raced into hallway 109, and realized you aren't even in hallway 109! 

"So I ran out of the corridor and back to the stairs, but then I decided I would take the elevator. So I sprinted to the elevator, hopped on, picked your floor, and got here just in time!" I laughed loudly as Jackie breathed heavily with a wide smile on her face.

"I wasn't screaming because I was in trouble, Jacqueline. I was having a very weird dream." Jackie's mouth formed an "O" shape.

"Okay then! By the way, breakfast started without you. You better hurry!" So I jumped out of bed, threw on a red tank top, jeans, a gold necklace, and a black cardigan, and headed out the door. Being her normal self, Jackie was wearing all sorts of exotic patterns thrown together.

"Come on!" She ejaculated, grabbing my hand. "We have to get Aidan!" We took off down the hall, probably at the fastest sprint I'd tried in a hallway. We were at such a rapid pace, I started tripping over my own feet, and I wore sneakers so this exact thing wouldn't happen!