The Unpredictable Life of a Teenage Fish

Chapter 1

IN A WORLD of people walking aimlessly, a cute female fish walks – or rather flops—the earth with a smile and an empty stomach. She flops her way through every problem and complains about 50% of the time, and for her, it’s a normal day for cute little her.

I just called myself cute for like about two times now…

Vain.

It is true though, I am different than the rest. I’m a fish. It’s fun, most of the times, but it gets pretty lonely. Like today, I sit on a chair with a lot happening around me, yet I’m not part of. My life seems simple: eat, flop and sleep, but it’s not. It gets pretty hard being alone, being abandoned. It’s a good thing my family takes care of me – my owners to be precise. Sometimes, I feel like Darwin from the Amazing World of Gumball, but there’s a big difference: it’s the pervert in me… and also the long list of self-proclaimed mental illnesses. It makes me laugh how pathetic I sound sometimes. Well, nobody cares, but me.

I press the keyboard softly as I type and type a new story. I have no lead as to where this story is going. This is a new day for me, so how about I go way back.

Back to when even I walked the earth aimlessly, and before I evolved into what I am now.

FLASHBACK

“Azzeeya! Come with me, I want to make buying in the Scholastic’s book fair choo choo!” My friend, Kailee tells me. She’s never been this enthusiastic with books, so I think I should encourage her. Maybe even fix her grammar. Then again, maybe she’s just kidding. Maybe I might go.

But then again, I am feeling lazy.

“Maybe tomorrow, I don’t want to stand up.” I say monotonously. But that didn’t stop her, it never does.

“Azzeeeeeeeeeya!” she practically moans and I really had the urge to roll my eyes, but my popularity rank was still below hers which gives me no right to do so—I think. I groaned before getting the energy to stand on my two feet.

 I hoped this day would be slow, but it was Wednesday, so it’s not something you’d normally expect. The Scholastic Publishing’s book fair has finally arrived and like always, they created a stir in my school. Every year, they sell books to us students and since my school is a private school, you’d see plenty of children buying paperback novels, book series, coloring books and different knick-knacks. Personally, I would never waste my money on books that I could read in a library, but the walk to the fair was really fidgety; my shopaholic urges were starting to tingle.

The moment I arrive in the fair, I was fighting a monster. I grew up taking a lot of trips to the mall with my mom. My mother preferred to bring me shopping because, of course, I’m the only girl; even my dad prefers to take me to his office than my brothers. I never liked wasting money, but the thrill of getting something new was too tempting. My first step inside and I caught a glimpse of the most beautiful series I’ve ever seen. It’s not Harry Potter or the Game of Thrones or the Geronimo Stilton’sSeries, but it was the trilogy that made me feel giddy: it was the Hunger Games Trilogy.

The strong, little monster started thrashing, but I was fighting back. Then one glance to that mighty piece of artwork that stood firmly yet vulnerably on the stack, and I was a goner.

I want it, I think.

Kailee goes off to look at the cute, interactive children’s books, while I put my hands in my pockets, all snug. I wandered around, resisting the urge to buy it. I don’t have money, I whisper to myself. I sigh and glance at it one last time. Then I remember…