Mermaids, Trigonometry, and Everything In Between

The 16th Thing

The cafeteria wasn't too packed; it was still pretty early, but with the drone of conversation and background movement clogging my brain, I felt like a zombie. At least, I'm pretty sure I felt like a zombie. I had once read a Fashion Magazine for the undead with some great skin-care tips, and as a result, my limited knowledge of ghouls relied on context clues. But groggy and shambling is how I imagined it must be.

Regardless, I was itching to get into the food line.

"Today's gonna be good, I can feel it. Besides, today's Block A, so I have all my easy classes." Gen remarked as she handed me a standard blue lunch tray.

Oh yeah. I had forgotten the existence of school. Joy. The lunch lady behind the counter offered me a fruit cup as I contemplated my impending doom.

Gen and I picked through the buffet line, both of us settling on a more continental meal. Gen in particular spared herself most of the food, only picking up a bran muffin and a cup of yogurt. I stared at her meager portions.

"Gotta watch the weight," she said when she noticed me. My plate was a bit more liberal. Fruit, bagels, that sort of thing.

Then I saw it. It was like a pristine mirage: Waffle makers.

"It's true." I jabbed Gen as she started walking towards a table, "We really do have seven waffle makers. Look there's even one for sour-dough and chocolate."

Gen glanced to where I was pointing, "Seven freaking--!" she stopped herself, "No. Let's just find a seat."

I pried my eyes of the glory of the waffle-makers. Soon, I thought to myself.

Gen nudged her way into a hodgepodge table of elf and fairy girls. None of them seemed to pay any attention to me. A few tables off, I caught a glimpse of a head of perfect curls. It belonged to a girl I recognized, who sat with a group of equally familiar faces.

"Look," I pointed, "The underclassmen mermaids are sitting close to us."

"Oh," Gen peered over the crowd to get a better look, "Well, we can go if you want. Yeah, actually, that would be fun, I think."

I picked up my tray and headed to the group of girls. One of them looked up and saw me.

"Elle-belle!" She shrieked. As the other girls saw me, a barrage of rapid-fire pet names for me sprung from their mouths like a domino effect. I gaped a bit at the spectacle. It was...kind of nice that they remembered me.

The girls scooted over enough so that I could sit down, and I set my tray on the table. Then, I saw Gen from the corner of my standing, standing still and looking somewhat expectantly.

I nudged at the girl next to me to gain some more space for Gen, but only got a few inches. The girls had returned to their clamor of conversation and didn't seem to notice that we needed more room.

"It's okay. I can squeeze." Gen said as she sat at the foot of the table. We were both quiet towards each other. I tried to make out the conversation that was going on between three of the girls beside us, but neither Gen nor I had been there long enough to get the backstory. All we could piece together was that some girl named Kyla had just gotten asked to homecoming by a vampire jock named Braedyn. As if either of us had a clue who either of them were.

"I don't even think Freshmen are allowed to go to the dances. Just socials and stuff," Gen commented to me.

"Really?" I scrunched my nose disappointedly.

A tanned girl next to me nudged my shoulder. Her name was...Brooke. I thought, anyway.

"Don't worry. We can just find a sophomore to ask you. Its super easy to get into the dances as a freshman that way."

"Sweet," I said, "Gen, too, right?"

"Oh," she looked over at Gen like it was the first time she noticed her here, "I didn't see you. Umm, I dunno. It really just depends on the group of guys that are going. We'll just have to see." Brooke smiled nicely and turned back to the other girls to get another scoop of drama.

"Oh, that's fine," Gen said a little hastily, more to me than the other girl, "Well, whatever works."

I turned to Gen, "I'm sure someone will ask both of us. I mean, you're really cool, so who wouldn't?"

Gen smiled, "Yeah, definitely. You know, I'm totally full, so I think I'm gonna head to class."

"Oh, alright," I said, "I'll see you later, then."

Gen stood up to leave when a voice boomed from close to us. I turned my head to the sound and saw one of the upperclassmen mermaids from our neighboring table standing atop the wooden surface with a megaphone in her hand.

"Attention all female students!" She spoke briskly and brightly into the megaphone.

"Omigod," Gen whispered to me, "I know what this is about! She's announcing the cheer team tryouts."

True to Gen's word, the sparkling girl on the table announced to the cafeteria that cheer team tryouts would be help that afternoon after school. When she had finished the announcements, she shut the megaphone off and stepped gracefully down.

"Do mermaids cheer on the cheer team?" I asked.

Gen looked at me as if I were an alien, one of the few things which probably didn't exist in our world. Probably.

"Obviously! And the best part? It's a co-species team!"

I gave Gen a dumb enough look that she elaborated, "I mean, obviously most of the girls on the team are mermaids, but I've seen plenty of spirited fairies on the team too. They have a full fairy cheer team that plays at baseball events. Do you know what this means?"

I shook my head, but I had a feeling I was about too, "Do tell, O Wise Gennifer."

"This means," she looked at me with all seriousness, "That you and I can both try out. Then, we'll both be able to meet new people. This is perfect."

I smiled. With Gen as happy as she seemed, it did seem pretty perfect. And who knew? Maybe after school cheer practice would make the school day seem a whole lot brighter.