stars

thirty-one

Brooke

I sat in art class with Phoebe, listening to the teacher talk about her kids and how wonderful they were. Everyone was painting on their canvases while I scribbled over the black lines on my arm. Phoebe had helped me hide the ones on my face with something called concealer, but the ones on my arm were concealed by one of her old hoodies. Phoebe sat next to me, watching as the teacher brought up pictures of her oldest son. It was the last day of school and everyone just wanted the school day to be over already. I painted over my arm with a thin layer of purple acrylic paint, attempting to cover the lines. I hated them. It's been only a week, but I can't stand them on me. Once, I tried to scratch them off. That didn't work. I still have the cuts.

The purple just barely covered it. I frowned. I looked up to see Phoebe looking at me. She removed her arm from the table, putting in dow, then slipping her hand into mine. I smiled. She turned back to watch the teacher. I didn't look up, but instead just zoned out. I thought about many things, like whether or not Noah had escaped or if Evian had come back with a guard of another kingdom. I squeezed Phoebe's hand, a thing either of us did when we felt scared or uncomfortable. She looked at me. "What's wrong?" She whispered to me.

"There's a lot of thoughts in my head right now and I'm scared," I reply. She frowns. "About the kingdom and Noah and me and..." I wait a moment to speak. "You."

"Why me?" She whispers. I shrug.

"I feel like I'm taking up too much of your time or something. I don't know." She squeezes my hand.

"Honey, I asked you on a date. Why would I do that if I didn't enjoy your company?" I looked in her eyes smiling.

*

"I'll be back in at most two hours, okay?" I told Phoebe. We were about to go on our first date, but I had other duties to attend to. "Sorry."

She shook her head. "No, no, it's fine! You need to take care of stressful things before you can relax. Take all the time you need." I smiled at her understanding. Jumping in the water, I transformed. I felt the cool water against my skin for the first time in what felt like forever. I swam in the direction of the kingdom, seeing Jamie standing outside the prison. I smiled and waved at him.

Hey! How are you? He asked.

As good as a stressed out being can be, I replied jokingly. So hows Noah been? Did you have to fight him yet?

Well, he hasn't been eating so I had to force him to eat, but other than that... Jamie rubbed his arm. He's been fine. He keeps trying to beg his way out of jail, but I waited until you come out.

Jamie, he's a siren, you can't trust him. You know? I replied. He nodded. I left him to do his job, swimming to the inner part of the castle's ruins. I looked around. It would be extremely hard to rebuild it, but it might be able to be done. Before I could attempt to leave, I saw merfolk swimming towards me. I hadn't recognized them; they were from another kingdom. I smiled awkwardly, moving towards them. Evian was ahead of them. Evian smiled at me, moving to the sides.

May I present to you the royal guards of Aramore, Lunaris, and Xynnar. She stretched her arm out, pointing toward them.

We heard that you have defeated the siren king! Where is the rest of the kingdom and the celebrations? The guard from Lunaris (I knew because of their kingdom's symbol) said, looking around. I looked around, wanting Evian or Jamie to come over and explain.

Uh- I looked at Jamie, hoping he would know what I wanted him to do. He stood there for a moment before realizing. He swam next to my side.

The kingdom was killed off by the siren king. That is why there is no celebration or even a queen anymore.

Perhaps the one who defeated the siren king may like to be queen? One of the royal guards spoke. Jamie nudged me forward, clearing his throat. I glared at him. He smiled.

I don't know. May I have a moment to talk about it with my friends? The guards nodded. I swam over to Jamie and Evian. I dunno guys. What do you think?

Do it! Evian exclaimed, excitement in her eyes.

I agree with Evian. If you do it, you can protect everyone! Jamie pointed out.

Yes, but I have Phoebe. On the surface. I said, sad. I wanted to be queen, but I wanted to be with Phoebe as well.

Oh. right. Jamie said. He frowned. After a while, he came up with an idea. I nodded. After explaining it to the merpeople, I smiled. 

*

I walked out of the ocean, smiling to see Phoebe. She sat next to a rock, on her phone. I walked up behind her, tapping her shoulder. She jumped, but turned to me and smiled. "Hey!" She said. "Long time no see," 

"You saw me an hour ago." I laughed. "Anyways, I'm ready to go on the date." She nodded. We started to walk there. 

"So did anything happen while you were there?" Phoebe asked. I nodded. 

"Well, some other kingdoms rewarded me for putting Noah in prison. Jamie and Evian got some minor perks because they helped." I said. 

"And?" She asked, looking at me. 

"And, uh, I'm queen now." Phoebe stopped walking. I stopped and looked back at her. "Wh-" 

"Does that mean you can't be up here anymore?" She asked, looking at me with a face that almost broke my heart. 

"No! I'll be up here, just not as often!" I walked up to her. "Jamie or Evian will take over for me while I'm gone. Plus, it'll take me off your hands for a while." I joked. She frowned. I moved closer to her. "Hey, I'll still spend all of my time with you if you'd like," I said. She nodded. I laughed. "C' mon, let's just go to the place. Okay?" I grabbed her hand. She nodded. I leaned in closer and pressed my lips against hers. 

****

(Yeah, okay, it sucked. I know. I could've ended that better, but honestly? I lost motivation for this book about 10 chapters ago. I'll be letting my friend post one of her stories on here, but for now, I will not be doing Spy:101 until my friend is finished with her story. I'm so sorry about how this book turned out, but in the end, they get married and have two kids. One of the kids is half mermaid because why not. Then stuff happens and yeah. This is myr signing out. Bye <3)