I'm a Mermaid, Not a Merman

1

Danny tried his best to pay attention. It was his second to last B-day of the school year, and his teacher Mr. Wright was trying his best to finish a lecture about the challenges facing the United States in recent history.

He normally enjoyed history, but he was more interesting in older periods of US history. Plus, Mr. Wright's typically funny lectures had been trimmed down to fit all the material in before the year ended.

Danny curled a few strands of his dirty blonde hair around his finger, and glanced up at the clock. 2:18. Two more minutes.

Normally, Danny would be itching to get out of his desk and back home, but today he was in the ecstasy of freedom. His pre-calc test was done, and other than seeing the results on Friday, he didn't have a single thing to worry about until the year ended.

Well, he thought to himself, almost nothing. Nothing about school anyway.

The bell rang, and the sudden sound caused Danny to let out a surprised high-pitched squeak. Several of his classmates laughed as they all picked up their backpacks. Normally, Danny would have inwardly shrunk at their reaction, but today, he was too relieved about life to care.

He left his room and went down the branch of the school near the band room. When he rounded the corner into a new hallway, he found his twin-sister Sammy cleaning her locker out.

"Ah," she said, in a haughty voice, "didst my dear brother defeat his foe? The dreaded test of preliminary calculus?"

"Indeed I did," Danny answered in like form. "For I did have the legendary weapon Ticonderoga in hand."

"You're such a geek," his sister teased.

Danny laughed. "Whatever."

"So you coming to the band party with me or what?" Sammy asked. She put some books and assorted things from her locker into her backpack, stuffing it tight. Danny was planning on putting off cleaning his own locker till' tomorrow.

"I dunno," Danny answered as his sister put her backpack on.

"C'mon," she said. "You need to get out and make friends."

"Friends are for the weak," he said.

"Exactly," Sammy said, "you need friends." She picked up her trumpet case sitting on the ground next to her, and they began walking to the side entrance of the school.

Danny huffed a chuckle. "Okay, I walked into that one. But still, I dunno about it."

"It'll be fun," she said, "I promise. We're going to have a massive water war. One of the trombones, Xander, is bringing this huge water bazooka that can fire a gallon in every shot!"

"You're so encouraging," Danny said.

"Danny, you'll have a fun time, I promise. Just come and at least swim a bit -"

"I'm not swimming," he said. "I'm hurting enough as is."

A look of realization came over his sister's face. "Oh, I see. You're self-conscious about your chubby chest."

"Shhh," he said to her. "Not so loud."

Sammy waved her hand dismissively. "Ah, there's no one around. Besides, it's not a big deal."

"It's easy to say that when it isn't your problem."

"True," she admitted. "I don't think anyone will care though. My friends in band aren't the type to bully people. Especially not their friend's brother."

They stepped out the door and into the sunlight. It seemed they'd missed the rush of people leaving the parking lot. A lot of classes must have let people go early.

"Still," Danny said, "they'll be staring, and then I'll have to explain."

"I can say something before to my friends," Sammy said, "take some of the edge off."

"You've already told them about it haven't you?"

Sammy tensed up. "Okay, maybe I did. I promise I wasn't making fun of you."

Danny sighed.

"Please Danny?" she said. "Trying to make friends is hard, but after that, it's nice to have people to hang out with. What are you planning on doing all summer?"

"I don't know."

They got into their car, an early 2000s corolla.

"So anything cool going on in your classes other than finishing that test?" Sammy asked as she turned on the car.

"No," he said. "How about you?"

"We haven't been doing much in band since we did our final concert," Sammy said. "There's a baritone who keeps a TV and a gamecube in his locker, so we did a smash bros. tournament today."

On the way home, Sammy detailed her amazing victory over Xander in smash. She'd beaten him as both of them fell off the stage, and he'd died just a fraction of a second before her. She hadn't won the tournament by a long shot, but it was just another moment in the two's friendly rivalry.

When they pulled onto their street, Danny spied their front porch. It was only there for a moment, but he caught it. It was there.

He'd have to act fast. It would be a tense extraction, but he could do it. He quickly put together precautions he had taken, and assembled them into a plan of action. Then, as they turned onto the driveway, he put it into action.

Danny got out quickly as they stopped, but not so fast as to warrant suspicion. Accounting for her weightier backpack and having to get her trumpet out of the back, Danny would have a few extra seconds.

He speed-walked into the garage and bounded up the steps to the door. Once inside the house, he broke into a full run for the front door. He opened it, and grabbed his target.

Then with the package in hand, made his way down the stairs before he even heard Sammy come inside.

He went down the hall, and going into his room, he shut the door behind him.

Extraction complete.

Most of the stress he'd been carrying dissipated. He wished he could lock the door, but he felt reasonably sure that Sammy wouldn't come in. Mom and Dad were at work, and Jason was on a different schedule at the Junior High, and wouldn't be home for a bit.

It had all gone according to plan.

He got onto his bed, unable to suppress a smile. He grabbed his pocketknife from his nightstand drawer, and began cutting open the packaging.

The cardboard box came open to show a box with the words "Fin Fun" on it. Opening this box carefully, he found what he'd been waiting for, and after a bit, had it laying out on his bed.

A costume mermaid tail.