Sea Creatures

Thank you

"You're not from around here, are you?" King Neptune asked.
"SIR, NO SIR!" Mateo yelled like a soldier.
"Are you yelling at me?" King Neptune asked. The crowd gasped and the five guards stood closer to us.
"No sir!" Mateo yelled again. Mel slapped the back of his head.
King Neptune's face grew extremely tense. I was scared for Mateo.
"That sure did sound like a yell to me!" He exclaimed puffing up his chest. His muscles and height was intimidating.
"No sir, sorry sir," Mateo cried hanging his head down low.
King Neptune let out a loud laugh. "You are one tough trout my friend." He said pulling Mateo's head back up by his chin.
A big grin grew on Mateo's face. "Really?"
"Why would I lie?" King Neptune exclaimed while laughing. The entire crowd began to laugh and the five guards backed away from us.
King Neptune then began to speak to us privately. "Who are you, and where are you from?" He asked.
"I'm Missy Marine, these are my children Marissa, Melissa but we call her Mel for short, Marina and Mateo. This is Justice, Marina's best friend from school." My mom explained. I could tell she was nervous.
King Neptune nodded, as in "continue your story".
"My mom was a mermaid, she took a potion that allowed her to become a human on land. She married my dad who was a mortal and they both had me. I am a mermaid in sea and human on land. I married a mortal and have children who are half mermaid half mortal." My mom explained.
"What about her?" King Neptune asked.
"That's my girlfriend, she's not a real mermaid. She just drank a potion." said Mateo.
"I'm not really his girlfriend!" Justice mouthed.
King Neptune smiled. He's a good lip reader.
"I love this little guy!" He said patting Mateo's head. "Say how would you and your family like to visit my palace? We could give you all a tour!" King Neptune asked.
"That would be awesome!" Mateo asked giving King Neptune a hug. King Neptune hesitated then hugged him back.
"Thank you so much!" Marissa cried.
"Don't thank me, thank your wonderful brother!" King Neptune said as he led us inside the carriage. On one side, King Neptune, my mom, Mateo and Mel sat together and on the other side, it was Marissa, the mysterious boy who I was now thinking was Prince Pluto, Justice and I.
"Prince Pluto!!" cried one of the fan girls who swam to the windows. "We love you!" They cried.
Prince Pluto smiled. "Have a night day ladies." He said waving as the carriage pulled off.
"This is the best vacation ever!" Justice cried.

As we drove, or floated, or whatever you want to call it we all were just admiring the carriage and the town we were driving through. Everyone was having their own conversation while I sat in silence. I was still a little nervous from the almost shark attack. I looked over to Prince Pluto who was staring at me. Immediately I put my head down.
Wait, was the Prince staring at me? Maybe it was a coincidence. I looked back over to him, and I was right, he was staring at me. When we locked eyes, he didn't turn his head right away. He just slightly smiled then put his head down and started writing in his book.
"Omg!" Justice whispered. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" I asked even though I knew what she was talking about.
"Don't act dumb," she whispered.
"I'm not!" I replied. I totally was.
"Pluto! He was totally checking you out." Justice whispered.
I smiled. "He was, wasn't he." I said pulling my hair behind my ear. I started to get excited.
"I knew you knew what I was talking about." Justice said. "He's so hot! You should try to talk to him at the palace!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" I said. "You know I can't talk to guys. I'm horrible at it. The second I'm around them, I go mute."
Justice laughed at me. "Come on, Marissa. He saved your life! The least you can do is say thank you!"
I sighed. "You're right."
"I know I am." she boasted.
"I'll try my best, once we get to the palace." I whispered.
Justice rolled her eyes. "You better!"
For the rest of the ride I couldn't keep my mind off of Prince Pluto. He saved my life and he might be interested in me. Who would've thought the shy, and antisocial Marina would be invited to a grand Palace by a King and checked out by a Prince? Ugh, I'm thinking too much of this. It's literally just a tour and I wasn't invited, Mateo was. That's the only reason why I'm going. I looked up to see Mateo, my Mom and King Neptune having a conversation. They looked like they were having so much fun. Marissa was flirting with a younger guard in the back row behind us. Mel, she looked miserable as always. Justice was staring out the window and admiring Neptunia. Prince Pluto, well. I looked over to see what he was doing. He was still writing in his notebook. There were so many pages that were filled already. I wonder what he was writing about. I couldn't see exactly what he was writing but his handwriting was so neat. I stopped looking at his book and started to look at he, himself.
His tail was a blueish-green color and there were a few holographic scales scattered all over. He was also pretty tall which I found really attractive since I'm pretty tall myself, 5'8 to be exact. His abs, oh my goodness, his abs were flawless. His chest, perfect. And his arms were muscular too! He was just a muscular guy. And I mean really muscular... at least for his age. No wonder he was able to take out that shark. I closed my eyes and started to replay the rescue over in my head. I was three seconds from being shark food when he came and pulled the shark away from me and punched him to the ground. He saved my life. I looked back over at the Prince. He was looking at his notebook. Still writing. He was onto another page. I wanted to know what he was writing about so bad. Maybe I could ask him at the Palace? Who am I kidding? I'm way too shy. I wouldn't even be able to get a single word out of my mouth without losing my mind. Besides, this is a tour for Mateo. As I was staring at his pen, I saw that he stopped writing. Why'd he stop? I looked up at his face and saw that he was looking right at me. The shy, awkward side of me wanted to turn away, but I couldn't. His eyes were beautiful and that's my favorite physical feature. One eye was green and the other was blue. I've never seen that before. He also had, what looked like, jet black hair, but when the light hit it, there was a tint of dark blue. His face was perfect, he was perfect. Then I remembered that I was staring at a really attractive guy and as the shy person I am, I quickly put my head down. Jeez, how long was I staring at him? It felt like forever. He probably thinks I'm crazy. I peeked over at him again and saw he was already looking at me.
Then I saw Marissa's face block my view. "Stop staring, it's rude." Marissa whispered then turned back around and continued flirting with the guard sitting in the row behind us.
I rolled my eyes then looked over to the Prince. He let out a small chuckle then went back to writing. I smiled.

The ride was maybe twenty minutes long. We entered a gate and drove another five minutes to get to the front of the palace.
"Here we are!" King Neptune exclaimed as he walked out of the car. We all followed him out. My family stared at the palace in awe.
"Grandma was right!" This Palace is the biggest building I've ever seen!" Marissa cried.
"Are you guys going to come in, or what?" King Neptune asked entering the front door. We all swam frantically towards him, we were all so excited to go in the palace.
The second I swam inside, I wanted to cry.
"This is beautiful!" cried my mom.
"Magical!" said Justice.
"Stunning," said Mel.
"Awesome!" Mateo yelled.
"I can't believe you live here!"  Marissa exclaimed.
King Neptune smiled. "Well, make yourselves comfortable. I have to handle some business. I should return in an hour or so."
"But dad, the tour!" Prince Pluto yelled.
"You live here too! Correct?" King Neptune hollered.
"Yes, sir," said the Prince. "Okay then, I guess I'm the tour guide."
We followed him through the first hall on the right.
"Ooh! Are they seahorse racing?" Mateo asked looking out of the big window.
"Yes, they're practicing for the big race on Tuesday! Want to check it out?" Pluto asked.
"Heck yea I do!" Mateo yelled.
Pluto whistled and immediately a tall and skinny guard swam over. "Do me a favor and take this little guppy out to see the seahorses?"
The guard nodded as he led Mateo out the palace.
"Thanks Walter, you're the best." He shouted. "Oh! And take him to Bonefish in lane 6! He lets kids ride his horse."
"Sweet!" Mateo yelled as they left the palace.
"Thank you so much! Prince Pluto!" said my mom. "But you don't have to take us on a tour. This is a huge palace and I know you probably would rather do something else."
"No, I don't mind," said Pluto as he continued working his way down the hall. It took us 10 minutes just to swim this one hall. There were 37 more!
"Is there, like a spa anywhere?" asked Mel.
"Yes, of course!" Pluto said whistling again. Another guard arrived and took Mel to the spa. "Ask for Bethany and tell her I sent you!" Pluto shouted out.
"Omg! I'm going too!" Justice yelled swimming after them.
"Do you three have any requests?" Prince Pluto asked.
My mom thought for a minute, "Maybe a library? I want to learn more about the history of this place!" she said.
"Lucky for you! I have a library and a history teacher. I can introduce you to him!" exclaimed. King Neptune. "My meeting with the Queen of Aquaria was cancelled. I don't have another meeting until another three hours from now."
"That would be amazing!" My mom exclaimed following the king.
It was then just Marissa, Pluto and I.
"Any theaters?" Marissa asked. "I would love to watch a romance!"
"Yes, however they're underwater movies. Nothing you would find on land." Prince Pluto explained.
"Perfect! I can watch something new!" Marissa said. "Not a problem."
Price Pluto let out another whistle and in came another guard, the same one Marissa was flirting with on the carriage.
"Adonis!" Marissa yelled swimming towards him. They both swam off together.
"I didn't even tell him where to take her," Prince Pluto said laughing.
I smiled.
"I guess it's just you and me now." He said.
"Uh-huh!" I said nervously.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?
...