Mermaids, Trigonometry, and Everything In Between

The 26th Thing

My mind went ablaze as soon as I woke up the next morning. Gen was shaking my shoulders.

"Finally you're awake! I've been trying to wake you up for the last hour. I had to eat breakfast without you...class starts in fifteen minutes."

"I have a trigonometry test this morning that I haven't studied for..." my voice came out barely a whisper.

Gen furrowed her eyebrows, "What did you say?"

"Oh no!" I shot up, letting out a sob of despair, and strainedly repeated "I have a trigonometry test today that I haven't studied for."

Gen's jaw dropped, "Oh."

I threw off my covers and tossed my bushy morning hair into a thick bun. My heart was pounding out of my chest.

"It's the first test of the year," Gen reasoned as I struggled into my uniform, "I'm sure it won't be too bad."

I mustered a low whine, "Oh, I really hope that's true."

I threw on my shoes and grabbed my bag.

"Good luck!" Gen cried out, and I was out of the door.

***

"Elly." I heard my name from somewhere, but my mind was unusually fuzzy.

"Elly..." it came again, this time louder. Where was I? Was this heaven?

"ELLY!"

I snapped back to reality and looked wildly around. I was on the archery field, staring into the fierce eyes of my fearless upperclassmen leader, Aran.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You tell me," Aran raised an eyebrow, "You've been in a trance since class started ten minutes ago."

I breathed sharply, my mind trying to grasp everything that was going on "That doesn't sound good."

"Well, it was weird. What's up with you?"

I shook my head, "It's a mermaid thing, I think. Sometimes things go haywire right before a..."

My voice caught in my throat.

Aran gave me a worried look.

I coughed, "Er, nothing. I vaguely remember doing really badly on a test last hour. I think that's what caused it. But I'm feeling better."

"Oookay," Aran said, a little disbelievingly, "If you're feeling better, then go down to the targets and pick up the arrows I've shot already."

I frowned and said dully, "Got it."

My legs felt rubbery, but I picked up the pace. As if I didn't have enough on my plate, I was now certain tonight was a full moon, and a full moon here could mean anything.

But hey, at least I didn't remember failing my test.

***

"Full moon blues got you down?" Meridia smiled, looking particularly beautiful--if that was even possible--as I sat down at the lunch table. Meanwhile, I was pretty sure I looked like hippogriff dung.

"Can you save the tormenting for another day?" I scrunched my nose.

Meridia rolled her eyes, "Crabby much? At the end of the day, we're both mermaids, and I think we can call a truce on this of all days."

The underclassmen mermaids around us murmured in agreement.

I stared uneasily at Meridia, but I felt too beat to be paranoid about it, "Alright."

"Good. Now, here's what I was telling the girls about--"

There was a clash of plastic as Gen plopped her tray on the table and sat next to me.

"Hi, Meridia. Hi, Elly. Hi, everyone." Gen smiled in her usual, bubbly way.

I waved briefly.

"Uh, hi." Meridia said, disdain painted over her words, "As I was saying, there are some things about cheer practice that I think--"

"Oh, now that you mention it," Gen interrupted again, "I was actually wanting to ask you something about cheer team."

Meridia raised her eyebrow, but didn't speak.

"It's just," Gen continued, "I really like being manager and all, but I've been practicing after hours the last couple of weeks and I think I've got what it takes to be one of the cheerleaders. I know there's no room left on the fairy team, but I heard one of the girls dropped out on the mermaid JV team and I thought if you needed an extra person, I could be that person. Then you wouldn't have to hold more tryouts. What do you think?"

I watched between the two as silence began to grow. Finally, Meridia reacted.

"Ahahah!" She let out a chuckle, "That's a good one. You? On the mermaid team?"

Gen's smile dropped and she took in a shaky breath, "Well, I know I was a bit below average at tryouts, but I promise I'm pretty good now...in fact--"

"You weren't just below-average," Meridia's laughing subsided, and the other girls on the team began to snicker, "You were beyond awful! I mean, I barely saw you dance, but that's what all the other co-captains said. Didn't you realize? I only offered you a manager position because I felt sooo bad for you."

"I...I..." Gen's voice shook. I could see her eyes start turning red. I wanted to tell Meridia to stop, but she spoke again.

"Look, Ginny, was it? The fairy team only has the best of the best, and even then they don't compare to us. What makes you think that you, a sub-par fairy, could dance on the mermaid JV team?"

My heart broke for Gen, watching her on the verge of tears. I didn't know what to say. I tried to give her a comforting look, but when she caught me looking at her, she went another direction.

"Elly can vouch for me. She saw me dance at tryouts. Didn't you say I was pretty good?"

My voice faltered, "I..."

I could see Gen counting on me, but it was like my brain turned to putty then.

"I mean, you saw me at tryouts, right?" She asked, almost desperately.

"Who, Elly?" Meridia questioned, "She didn't watch you, she was talking with me the whole time."

Gen looked back at me, confusion now in her eyes, "Wait, but you said I did well...didn't I do well?"

"I..." my heart was beating precariously, "I'm sorry, Gen, I didn't mean to..."

Gen picked up her tray suddenly, her bangs hiding her face "I get it."

"Gen, wait!" I called, but I couldn't stop her.

Some of the girls snickered when she was gone and I stared at my tray. Out of everything that had gone wrong this year, I could tell...this was the worst.