Mermaid in a Bottle

Chapter 18- Burns

(Angie's P.O.V.)

I quickly washed my hands and made my way to the dinner table. Charlett was already waiting for me in her seat.

"So how was practice?"

"Okay," I shrugged.

It hadn't been okay. Abby Morris had tripped me while I was doing a pirouette and if I wouldn't have locked my knees together, I would have ended up doing the splits and everyone in my dance class knew I could not do the splits.

"Whoops. My bad." she had said as I silently cursed under my breath. This girl seriously needed to get some manners. Everything about her was perfect except her attitude, I had to admit.

Cameron just stood there, staring at me while everyone else was laughing and stretching before the class actually began, as if I were her science experiment and she was a lab scientist. It looked as if she was trying to decipher what I was. I let her. I was already used to people staring at me.

As soon as I fell, Clara was the only one who came to my aid however.

"Are you okay?" she had asked, genuine concern written all over her face.

I nodded, even though I was throbbing in pain. Instead of having regular pains, my scar was acting up. I looked at it again and gulped. The light blue was turning into a deeper shade, making it look like the ocean and if I looked hard enough, it seemed like fire was seeping out of it.

I squinted my eyes and screamed. Fire was seeping out of it!

Salt water. Put it in salt water, that same voice warned.

Clara immediately let go of me as I flailed my arms around.

"Fire! Fire! It burns! It burns so bad!" I cried.

"She really is insane," one of Abby's friends, Michelle, muttered.

I ignored them and tried licking my hand to cool it down. I know it was insane, but I didn't know what to do. Licking it only made my scar burn worse. I hollered for help, but no one moved.

Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind. It turned out to be Cameron. "You guys are so rude!" she screamed. "Obviously something is burning her!"

Everyone started getting into groups and chattering silently about what was going on. When nobody was looking, Cameron slipped a thin flask filled with some liquid into my hands.

"A drop a day will stop the burns," she whispered, pointing at my scar. "You've been chosen. Have fun in the sea." she said and winked before she left me standing there to go stretch alone. She was no longer a part of Abby's little possy. She was one of my friends.

I gripped the bottle tight in my hands and excused myself to the bathroom. In one of the bathroom stall, I only dropped one, like she had told me to. I added no more for fear of something bad happening. Almost instantly, my pain was relieved. I rubbed the scar, making sure that it would be okay. It was.

As I walked out of the bathroom, questions were buzzing through my head. How had she managed to get something like this? Where did she get it from? What more did she know about the scar I had? had she also seen the fin?

When I got back into the room, I couldn't spot Cameron anywhere. Maybe she had gone home? I doubted it. The only thing that could bring us to and from Mrs. Balwin's ballet class was the bus, unless you were a beginner. I was in seventh grade intermediate level. So was Cameron.

We continued class without any further interruptions. I guess class wasn't bad after all.

After the bus driver, Tyler, had dropped me off at the orphanage, I had asked Mrs. Bonds if I could lay in bed until dinner arrived. She said yes, after I remembered to use the words "may" and "ma'am."

After getting dressed into a pretty orange summer dress with a front breast pocket, I lay curled up in my bed for hours thinking about Cameron and looking at the tiny flask she had given me. Just as I had stuffed the bottle into my dress pocket, Charlett came in and announced it was dinner. She may have been my best friend, but I wasn't planning on telling her anything.

"So how was practice?" Charlett asked at the table after I had finished washing my hands.

"Okay," I shrugged.

"Just okay? Nothing exciting?"

I could tell she was thinking about last time when I had lied to her and said I made first place with my dance routines instead of Abby and Mrs. Balwin was so proud, she kicked Abby out for being disrespectful towards my performance. I had also mentioned  that when Abby did her routine, she fell flat on her face.

Most of that wasn't true. Mrs. Balwin only put up with me because I was friends with her daughter, Clara. I had made first place, but Abby had never been kicked out and at the end of class, she decided it would be really cute to throw eggs on my head. Thank goodness i dodged it or else I would have had to tell Charlett something else.

"Nope. It was just a boring ballet class with boring students and a boring teacher." I scooped some ground beef onto my plate.

Charlett rolled her eyes. "It couldn't have been that bad."

I turned to her with eyes of fury before I could even eat anything off my plate. "You do not know how bad it was," I said through gritted teeth.

Charlett's face immediately showed worry. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry that I upset you Angie! I didn't mean to."

I calmed down a little. "It's okay. I understand."

Charlett was just like me. She had no family, just these people at the orphanage. This was her life: get up in a room full of other girls, eat with a room full of girls, dress with a room full of girls, play with a room full of girls, eat again with a room full of girls, undress with a room full of girls, and sleep with a room full of girls. Each and every day, she had to live with the same 47 girls at Mrs. Bonds orphanage. I hope some day, she will be able to find a family. I would rather want her to have one than me. I don't deserve one as much as she does. Charlett is patient and respectful while I am wild and annoying. More people would want a child like her. I am nothing.

I raised my hand. "Mrs. Bonds." I said when she called on me. "May I go to the bedroom and sleep? I am extremely exhausted from today's ballet practice."

"Yes dear. Go ahead."

I winked at Charlett before I left. This was the first time I had remembered to use my manners. Maybe I could change after all.

_________

Ok so it's me, Lizzie. I am very proud of this chapter. Do u want to guess who my favorite characters are? LIZ AND ANGIE!!! Oh right srry. i never gave you time to guess. hehe...

well i hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as i did. Now if u enjoyed the story could you please, please, PLEASE comment or vote, maybe even fan. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but honestly, THIS IS THE FIRST STORY TO REACH IT PAST CHAPTER 10!!!! Most of my stories end at 8 or something.

EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU THAT HAS VOTED OR COMMENTED HAS GIVEN ME FAITH AND INSPIRATION. Even if it wasnt a comment like, "Please upload more!" or something of that character, u have still helped me... a lot. If i could also get some construction critisism as well (lol) that would be nice :) I WANT TO MAKE MY STORY THE BEST IT CAN BE!!!

Thanx thts it for now. VOTE COMMENT (or do both) AND MAYBE EVEN FAN ;)

haha

LIZZIE <3