A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><> Chapter Twelve <><

I sat in History idly taking notes. This was my favourite class and today we were learning about Spartacus, the former gladiator. I had been looking forward to this class for ages, but now I was struggling to concentrate.

Spartacus had led thousands of slaves into an uprising against the Romans, and I had always found the whole story so fascinating. Mr Cloones, our teacher, was showing us some pictures of the weapons they would have used and I willed myself to focus, but I had all this other stuff swimming around in my head.

Of course, I was still processing every moment of my time yesterday with Llyr, but also I was worried about what was going on at home.

Mum and Dad had had an argument this morning. It was her first day at SKANX and she had been on edge to say the very least. She had snapped at Dad over everything, even telling him that he was too slow pouring milk over the cereal - his own cereal!

What was wrong with her? First day jitters? Guilt?

Whatever the case, it had been a tense journey over to the mainland, as poor abused Dad drove us in his red boat.

I thought about how ecstatic he had been when he first glided home in it, you could see his grin a mile away. He couldn't wait for Mum to see it, he thought she would think it was very glamorous - 'just like her'. But now he was using it to chauffeur her to the detestable SKANX whilst she glowered at his back from the passenger seat.

It was breaking my heart.

The buzzer went for lunch and I looked down at my notes. I had written three words:
Glad (presumably I had started to write 'Gladiator')
2 AC (a date, perhaps - I wasn't entirely sure which date exactly)
Gaus (I had no idea what this meant)

Dammit, how will I ever be able to know what Mr Cloones had said from this? We have that test in a few days. 

I trudged down the corridor when I saw the unmistakable waif-like figure of Jemima Jones walking ahead. She took History.

I had not spoken to her much before, apart from when I introduced myself, but didn't think it would be too cheeky to ask for a one-off favour.

"Hey Jemima!" I said catching up with her.

She turned around. She was a tall girl with slender limbs and long thin sandy-brown hair.

"Hi?" she said quickly, eyebrow raised in a cold inquisitiveness.

I laughed nervously, a little taken aback.

"How are are you?" I asked.

Jemima answered this with a quick tight smile - the type that really means, 'fine until you came along.'

"Okay, well sorry to pounce on you like this..." I said deliberating whether or not to just walk off. "I was just looking for someone from History. It's just that I made really rubbish notes, like I don't even know what planet I was on in there. I think there's a total of three words. Genius. Anyway, I'm uh, I'm rambling but I was just basically wondering if you wouldn't mind if I copied your notes...?" I trailed off hopefully.

Jemima looked down her nose at me. "Seriously?" she said, before turning on her heel and walking off. 

I was left standing in the corridor in a confusion. Is note-copying really offensive here in Coney?

Suddenly somebody jumped on my back and I screamed. I was completely shocked thinking I was being attacked. I heard a familiar cackle in my ear.

"Oh My God woman, what are you doing?" I screeched as Rosie fell to the ground laughing.

"Oh sorry!" she cried. "I couldn't help it. Why were you standing like that anyway, looking so gormless?"

I told her about Jemima and Rosie's eyes widened.

"Soooo rude!" she exclaimed. "Eugh, it's because we've been really good friends since Year 11 and she's pee'd off because you came along."

"Oh, I see!" I said, relieved that there was a logical reason for her behaviour, albeit slightly petty.

"But I've told her, she has to accept that I'm going to make other friends in life." Rosie continued linking my arm as we walked. "I mean don't get me wrong, I love her to pieces, and we've been through e-e-e-everything together, but at the end of the day, I never signed a contract to be her only friend in the world. What will she do when we go to uni next year? Expect me not to talk to anybody? Norma No-Mates?"

I laughed at Rosie and her funny little quaint sayings. I didn't realize people actually said some of the things she comes out with.

"I'm sure she'll get used to it, Norma," I said, "maybe we should invite her out next time. She might actually like me!  And I can get some history notes!"

Rosie wasn't convinced.

"I've tried," she explained "she's always like 'you want me to be a third wheel now?' And I'm like 'No, Crystal's really nice, we would never exclude you.' And she's like 'Yeah, right'.  Eugh, it's exhausting, I'm just letting her stew."

"Oh well, how was the wedding?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Oh it was nice," said Rosie. "Except Mum and Dad got horrendously drunk and started doing all this sexy dancing. It was sooooo embarrassing. Me and my sister were dying!"

I laughed "Oh No!"

"Yeah... oh yeah!" Rosie groaned. "Mum was kind of doing this twerking up against Dad; I swear to God. Can you believe it? It was just the most mortifying thing in the world."

I was now giggling hysterically and tears were building up in my eyes.

"It must run in the family," I managed to joke when I got breath in.

Rosie stopped dead in her tracks. "Please don't tell me I danced that night?"

"No, I just meant with the drinking, don't worry!" I laughed.

"Thank GOD for that," Rosie relaxed. "Yes, it must be the Welsh in our blood... But trust me Crystal, me and alcohol are over after that night.  Oh, but anyway, Will called me this weekend."

"Oooohhh!" I squealed.

"He actually wants to go for a drink this week. His legs getting better now, but he's still on crutches."

"Ah, so no twerking for a while!"

Rosie lifted her arm to hit me and I laughed and shielded myself.

"What about you anyway?" she asked. "Any more sightings of your mystery man?"

"Well... As a matter or fact, I went out on a boat with him yesterday."

Rosie's eyes widened. "You're joking!"

"I'm not actually!" I said.

Upon eager request I told Rosie every single detail of my weird and wonderful date, and she hung onto my every word from the unexpected arrival, to the fruit picking, the touchy feeliness and the sudden storm.

"I can't believe he just rowed out into the frothing waves!" I exclaimed at the end, my frustration building up all over again. "What if he bloody died?"

"Oh Crystal, he will be fine," said Rosie.

"How do you know?" I asked, and then I remembered that she still had something to tell me concerning Llyr. "And what was this big secret that we were supposed to talk about before the wedding?"

Rosie looked around us. We were standing in a bustling school corridor, where groups of pupils stood in clusters by lockers. She steered me into a classroom. 

It's fair to say I was bursting with curiosity, and yet a bundle of nerves also prickled in the pit of my stomach. What am I about to discover?

"Okay," Rosie began sitting down on top of a desk. She leaned forward and looked me in the eyes. I looked back into her warm chocolate-brown eyes and saw a look of solemness. 

Whatever was coming it was not a joke.

"So... on the island we live on... there's a myth," she began slowly.

"Okay..." I said, George's 'strange things' mantra immediately echoing through my head.

"Well, actually, it's more than a myth. We kind of all know it's actually true," said Rosie quickly.

"What is true?" I said, my heart was drumming in my chest.

"I'm not crazy Crystal, right, you know that?" said Rosie.

"You're far from crazy" I replied honestly.

"Okay, so there's like... I'm just going to say it. There are these sea people that we see sometimes around Starfish."

Sea people? Huh?

"Like sailors?" I asked. Is Llyr a sailor? Is that really the secret?

"No, not sailors. They're like..." I could see Rosie was trying to choose her words carefully.

"What?" I breathed.

"Mer..."

Mur? My heart stopped. I had been right all along.

"Murderer," I finished for her. He was on the run after all, but I did not think he would have killed anybody. He was so sweet and gentle. They must have done something really terrible to Llyr. Or is he the psycho I originally belived him to be in the sea that night? They say first impressions are always the right ones...

"No Crystal. They're mermaids."