The Mermaids' Mate

Chapter 1

My name is Tlanextli, I'm 17 and will be 18 in July, but everyone calls me Nexy cause no one can pronounce it right. I had just moved here to Astoria, Oregon, from Florida. We didn't live there very long, which I was thankful for cause it was really shitty. My parents were constantly moving. My mom says it's because of work, but she didn't have a steady job. Not sure how she was able to land a job at the bank.

It's hard trying to make friends in school when your parents constantly move to a different state. Today was my first day of school. Again. It's not easy being the new girl, especially since I never know when my parents will pack up and move. It was my last year in school, and I begged my mom to let me finish the last five months, but she refused.

She said we couldn't afford it, even though my dad had found a good job working at an auto repair shop, and she made good tips working as a bartender. My mom was extremely beautiful. Even though she was in her late thirties, she looked at least twenty-five. She told me mermaids aged slower than humans.

That's right. We're mermaids. Well, except my dad, so that only made me half. But I still had some mermaid features, like my mom's red hair. She always said it was special. I was able to shift underwater, and mind link with sea creatures. Besides that, I didn't know much about mermaids.

"We can't afford to stay here." I mocked my mom's words getting up from bed. I went into the bathroom and got undressed while I waited for the water to warm up. I usually prefer cold water, but today was a bit chilly out.

I stared at the mirror, noticing how shitty I looked today. I haven't gotten much sleep these past few days cause of the move. Nothing a shower can't fix. I said, jumping in. But besides that, I wasn't bad looking. I had long dark red hair that went to my butt, brown eyes, full lips, tan brown skin, and an hourglass figure.

When I got out of the shower, I could hear my mom yelling from downstairs to hurry up.

"Ugh!" I grunted, drying myself. If only she understood that the first day of school was always the worse. Even though we moved around so much, I could never get used to it. I picked out a cute grey V-neck shirt, jeans, and a warm sweater. I did my hair into some space buns cause it was the simplest hairstyle I could do, and headed downstairs.

"Hurry up Nex! You'll be late for school!" My mom said when I came downstairs.

"Mom, we live a block from school. I highly doubt I'll be late." I looked over to my dad's favorite spot on the dining table, his cup and plate gone. "Did Dad leave early?" I asked. My dad was always the one who would see me off to school on my first day.

"I'm sorry hun, I know your dad is usually here for your first day of school, but he had to leave early. But I'm here," she said pinching my cheeks.

"It's okay Mom, I'll just go," I said with a disappointed look on my face as I put on my shoes.

"Alright hun, take care and good luck on your first day of school. I love you" she said pinching my cheeks again. I rolled my eyes at her, I hated when she treated me like a child.

"I'll see you when you get off work, love you, Mom," I said and walked out the front door.

"This is it," I whispered to myself. I could see the school building from my porch, that's how close the school was. I let out a deep sigh and started walking towards the school. My hands were starting to get sweaty and I had a sick feeling in my stomach, almost as if I needed to puke. I could never get used to this feeling.

This school was a lot bigger than the last one I went to cause it was a smaller town. This town also had more wolves. My mom had mentioned that the Dark Woods pack was one of the biggest and strongest in the country.