Mermaids, Trigonometry, and Everything In Between

The 9th Thing

I smoothed my dress impatiently, feeling awkward on my feet again. My wavy hair was feeling puffy and wild.

No one seemed to notice me slipping into the back of the group. After the initial introduction, it looked like everyone in the group had returned to their own conversations. The eyes weren't on me anymore.

But my eyes were on everything else. The crown hovered around us as if we were royalty--or diseased--or something. It's not like all eyes were on us, but it felt like we had some or of shield that repelled everyone by a foot.

As I surveyed the area, I realized it wasn't just us with this strange ability.

There was another group of girls partying in the center of the dance-floor, unapproached by the mass majority. They were older and breath-takingly beautiful. I couldn't see pointy ears or wings, so I figured they were the upperclassmen mermaids. They weren't all alone, I realized. Sleek-featured guys, both tall and well-built, were bobbing their heads next to them. Even in the dark light, their faces seemed to glow white. I could only assume they were vampires.

I followed my group onward, into the next room.

This one was more closed off from the main space, and much less populated. The music was muffled by the walls, but I could still feel the the buzz of bass on my feet.

"Davis!" Meridia shouted and I looked over. Sitting at one large couch was a group of letter-jacked donned guys. A pale, handsome guy, with gelled hair sat within the horde of guys. He was probably a sophomore or junior.

He looked up and gave her nod. Peaking out of his smile were two sharp teeth.

Oh boy.

It looked like Meridia and Davis were pretty close, the way she sauntered over him.

"What the..."I said softly, in disbelief. Freshman arrived, what, five hours, ago? And she had already sucked in another boyfriend? Meridia was levels of magic even a genie couldn't understand.

A tan-skinned sophomore from our group strutted over to another of the guys, sitting scandalously on his lap.

It seemed like a handful of the girls were on first-name bases with the vampire jocks. And here I was, barely functioning.

Meridia turned and spotted me from the corner of her eye.

"Elly," she giggled prettily at me. For a second, it almost sounded like when she used to laugh at me, all condescendingly, but all she said was, "mind getting me a fanta?" She nodded toward the back wall.

"Uh, sure." I nodded back, breaking the stiffness out of my arms. There was a cooler on that side of the wall she pointed me at, and on further inspection I saw it contained a variety of soda cans. Pulling out a fanta and shaking off some of the sweat, I turned to give it to her.

A loud whoot blew up through the room. I shot a look in the direction of the sound.

A massive pack of guys piled into the room, tan-skinned and chiseled, and filled it with wild banter. They claimed a collection of chairs and sofas on the other side of the room, roughly shoving aside the scattered people who were already sitting there.

"Ah, look," Davis said softly and arrogantly, "The pea-brains have arrived." Some of the mermaid girls giggled. Another few left to chat up the new arrivals.

A few guys cocked their head in Davis's direction. A particularly enormous guy stood up from his spot, and stared him down, "You said what, pretty boy?" The group perked up around him, as if following his lead.

One of the vampire seniors near Davis tossed his football at the ringleader, who caught it easily, "Down, boy," He said, "We're just teasing you, Asher."

Asher kept his stony look for a solid moment, and I was afraid the storm was about to hit, but his serious look did a 180 and he started laughing, "I know, I know. Just save it for when we beat you on Division Day."

"Oh, like how you definitely beat us last year?" The vamp laughed, and so did his friends. The way he said it made me feel that it was actually his team who won last year on this so called 'Division Day.'

Asher shook his head, still chuckling, "Just you wait." The larger-than-life guy turned away from the vamps and his group, though still loud, kept a distance.

It didn't feel like they were friends...or enemies, for that matter. Just competitors.

I snapped back into reality and gave the can in my hand to Meridia. My fingers felt frozen.

"Thanks, Elly," She said sweetly.

The broke the tab on the can and let it sizzle out, but as she went to take a drink, the can slipped. She bent forward to keep it from spilling on her, and it worked. Not a drop went on her.

Unfortunately, it all went on me instead.

"Jeez!" I looked down at my blue dress, now a weird mottled brown from all the orange colored drink I was covered in.

"Whoops," said Merida, who only seemed a little surprised, "Sorry about that, Elly. Shame it landed on your dress!"

"Its...fine." I said solemnly.

"I think there's a bathroom just outside." She said, but she didn't sound too shaken up.

I started walking towards the doorway, and I swore I could hear her soft laughter behind me. Meridia wouldn't have done that on purpose would she? I suddenly remembered that she was evil.

I kept my head down as I headed toward the exit, trying to blot my dress with a napkin I found.

"Watch it," came a voice. I wasn't quick enough to look up and walked straight into someone else.

"Sorry," I looked up, straight into the eyes of the same kid who fell out of the tree.