In the Deep *Book Two* Water Trilogy

Two

The day went by in a blur. World History had been one huge nightmare. How was I supposed to know Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492? I knew about life under the water, not above it. The last thing my kind was interested in was humans being able to sail into our territory. They were the reason we had to be careful about popping our heads above the waves. Finally my last period rolled around and I was thankful. I entered the gym locker room and bought a locker from Coach Renolds. After finding locker sixty three I was surprised to find Jake, Heidi's boyfriend, had the class and the locker right next to mine.

"It's Finn, right?" He asked as he stuffed his book bag in a locker.

"Yeah," I answered. Jake stood an inch below me in height and I could tell he didn't like that.

"So, what do you think of Ocean Side so far?" He questioned as we walked out the gym doors and into the over sized gymnasium.

"It's different," I admitted.

"Go Sharks!" Jake said sarcastically and pumped his fist.

"I hate the mascot." Thoughts of my father being attacked, Nahla poisoning him, and his down fall at my coronation passed through my mind. I flinched.

We sat down on the dark blue and white bleaches with the other kids. Heidi and Audrey found us in minutes.

"Hey, babe," Heidi said as she took a seat next to Jake. They held hands and leaned towards each other as she rested her head on his shoulder. Audrey didn't say anything as she sat down, her hands held a note book in them, and it felt like she was distancing herself from us. Coach Renolds started giving a lecture like all my other teachers had. I was sick of hearing people talk about the same things over and over again. My mother and father had been repetitive while teaching me as I grew up but never had I heard the same thing so many times in one day. Did humans need all of this direction to not mess up? 

When he was done we barely had enough time to do anything so he brought out some basket balls to entertain us. I didn't really know how to use it and Jake and Heidi apparently didn't feel like playing either while Audrey managed to escape to the bathroom.

"Is everything okay with you two?" Jake asked me on the edge of the court.

"I thought so." I said slowly.

"I don't think it's you," Heidi interrupted. "She hasn't been talking to any of us. Something is going on with her."

"I tried to ask this morning; but, she said she didn't want to talk about it and then tried to blow it off like it was nothing."

"It's clearly not nothing," Heidi said and jumped as a basket ball came flying her way. She looked up with a glare and searched for a person to blame, and apparently she found one.

"That bitch," she muttered before picking up the ball and chucking it back, nearly hitting a girl with strawberry blonde hair. I tensed as it flew by the girl. 

Jake rolled his eyes and attempted to walk away. I stood there giving Heidi a questioning look.

"Addison," Heidi said almost like I was supposed to recognize the name. "She's the one who gave Audrey problems last year over Seth."

And then it clicked. "Oh, that's right." She was the waitress at a restaurant Audrey and I had gone to not long after we met.

"I can't believe she's in this class," Heidi grumbled angrily. The bell rang and everyone seemed to be silently saying a thanks in their heads. I found Audrey as I exited the gym, her face was drained of color and she had something hidden in her hand. As I got closer she shoved it in her purse and attempted to smile.

"Is everything all right?" I asked. She gave a nod and shrugged it off. We rode home in the red jeep without talking. I didn't know what to do to help her if she wouldn't tell me what the problem was. Audrey parked the car in her drive way and climbed out, I walked with her to her front door and she hesitated to go inside.

"Finn, I think I'm just going to go lay down," Audrey said and I took the hint that she wanted to be left alone even though I didn't want to leave.

"If you get up at some point and you want to talk, or hang out, just call the house," I reminded her. She kissed me softly and I took a moment to enjoy the little bit of contact that I had.  

"Okay," she unlocked the front door when it occurred to me that we hadn't given Connor a ride that morning and he hadn't been in the car with us again that afternoon.

"Where's your brother?"

"James," the next door neighbor. "Turned sixteen a few days ago and got his license so Connor rides with him."

"Oh," I said and Audrey disappeared inside her house without another word. I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. Why was she being so distant? I tried to think of anything that could make her not want to be around me and came up with nothing.

When I walked in Jenny's front door she was on the couch eating a bar of chocolate and watching an older show.

"How was school?"

I shook my head and sat down on the other couch, resting my elbows on my knees. "It's crazy. Audrey isn't talking to me, the school's a maze, and people are already having problems with each other."

"I know what you mean," Jenny said. "Humans are a lot less peaceful than the majority of our kind. They don't have sharks as their enemies, they have each other."

I considered that. Maybe it was someone else getting to Audrey. Maybe, like Heidi and Addison, someone had it out for her. I sighed heavily, picked up my book bag, and walked to my room. "Thanks for the input."

My room was a deep blue, reminding me of the ocean. Unlike Audrey, I wasn't lucky enough to have a scene of my home right outside my window. The furniture was light along with the wooden floor and my comforter was a light blue. The room seemed open and inviting, or at least to me it did.

I plopped onto my bed, putting my arms behind my head and lost myself in thought. I felt like I had to help Audrey in some way even though I didn't know what was wrong. I wanted to do something special for her, something that would make her happy. A date. We hadn't had one since the fight with Nahla and I wanted to go somewhere I didn't have to concentrate on anything but her. I smiled to myself. A date would be nice. Something exciting.

At dinner I asked Jenny what she thought about the idea and she approved.

"Where would you take Audrey if you were me?" I asked her as I stabbed my fork into a delicious piece of what humans call chicken.

"I don't know," she admitted. "When you think of your relationship where do you picture yourself at?"

"The dock," I laughed. "But that's not a real date."

"Okay, fine." Jenny said.

"I'm sure I'll come up with something before this weekend," I said as I finished up my meal.

"I'm sure you will."

Audrey never called me that night. I did worry but I didn't want to upset her more than she already was so I let her be. I laid down that night thinking about her. Eventually I fell asleep but, somehow she was still there because I dreamed about her.