Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~Epilogue~

After everything I had gone through with Finn that summer, it was almost a relief to start school. With him in the house a few doors down with another merperson and having him there for senior year it was almost like a normal "I met you because you moved into my neighborhood" kind of thing. Only I would know that it wasn't how or why we met. No one but my brother Connor would know our secret. We had to give Finn a last name, which we found off Google, and we ended up picking Laidley, meaning water meadow. Finn Laidley. He had joked the whole time that I should pick a name I liked because I would eventually be stuck with it.

"Are you ready?" I asked Finn as he climbed in the passenger side of my red Jeep. Connor and James would no longer be riding to school with us since James had apparently turned sixteen and his parents bought him a very ugly cheap car. They thought they were going to pick up cute girls in it. I told them that they would never in that piece of scrap.

"For this thing called Senior Year?" He thought about it before shaking his head. "Not really."

I laughed at him before telling him everything would be all right. Meri was officially Queen of Atlantica, Finn's mother was safe from Jim the fishermen, and I was driving with the love of my life to school.

"Are you going to try out for swim team?" Finn asked as we went.

"Yup, and I think you should too. I mean, you can control whether or not you become a merman."

"I would but Jenny," Jenny was the mermaid he was living with, "Said that the chemical they put in pools will make me sick. I already talked to her about joining. Looks like you're going to have to win for the both of us."

"You know what," I giggled and face palmed myself. "I told Heidi you graduated. She's going to wonder why you're here. I totally forgot to tell her earlier."

"How long ago did you tell her that?"

"A long time ago but she never forgets things like that."

"So just tell her that you thought I had graduated but it turns out I just went to a different school and now I'm transferring."

"Right."

*

*

"Heidi, this is Finn, my boyfriend," I introduced them in the hall. "Finn this is Heidi."

"And this is my boyfriend, Jake," she grabbed his arm as he passed by her in the hall and pulled him back. His head phones were in his ears and he had been looking at the screen of his phone. He turned off his music and looked at all of us with in confusion before shaking his head and smiling.

"I'm not sure what just happened but hi."

"Jake, this is Finn, Audrey's boyfriend," Heidi explained. "We're all getting to know each other."

"Oh," Jake stuck out his hand for Finn to shake. "Welcome to Hell."

"Jake! It's his first day here. Don't tell him it's Hell." Heidi scolded.

"What, I was telling the truth-"

"You," she pinched him in the arm. "Are not," smack. "Helping."

"Anyway," I interjected before Jake was beat up anymore by his short girlfriend. "Finn and I have to go get his schedule figured out so."

"Bye, hope we have classes together," Heidi smiled. Her emotions were like the sun and the moon and sometimes I just didn't know what to do with her. She left with Jake down the hall.

"She's different," Finn said to me as he watched them go.

"You have no idea."

*

*

I sat in my first period alone. Finn and I had two classes and lunch together but the only time I would see him in the morning was in the Jeep. I was just grateful that I had classes with him at all. At least I had Heidi and at least it wasn't math.

I twirled my pencil between my fingers and the bell rang. I looked up to see my new English teacher. She was a short woman with dark blonde that reached her shoulders. Just as she started to write her name on the board someone knocked on the door. I checked my phone for a text message from Finn before I looked up and locked eyes with the new comer. My pencil dropped to the floor.

"Wow, she's pretty," Heidi said next to me and the boy behind me let out a low and inappropriate whistle. The girl stepped into the room without taking her eyes off me. The teacher said something and she smiled, her red lips looking deadly to me.

"Everyone, this is-"

"Nahla, I'm new," she took a seat in the back and I felt her gaze burning through me. The teacher walked back to the board.

"Welcome, I'm Mrs. Jordan," the teacher smiled at us when she finished writing her name. "And this is Honors English."

And senior year began. Little did we all know that it would be even wilder than the summer before it.