I'm a Mermaid, Not a Merman

4

Danny came upstairs to the delightful surprise of the smell of pizza. He joined his family at the table around several boxes of Dominoes.

"Sorry guys," Mom said as they reached around each other to get to their preferred kind of pizza, "me and Dad weren't just really in the mood to cook anything tonight."

"I wish you and Dad would be in that mood more often," Jason said as he stuck some meatlovers into his mouth.

"I second that," Sammy said.

"We can't give into that impulse every night," Dad chuckled, "we'd lose leverage in getting you three to get anything done if we rewarded you all the time."

"Then we're rewarding Danny for getting done with his pre-calc test," Sammy said.

"That's right," Mom said, "did you get your score back yet?"

Danny quietly said "91 out of 100." Even when he got good grades in classes, it still was nerve wracking to say them for some reason.

"That's good to hear," Dad said. "How did you do though talking to people at Sammy's party?"

Ugh.

"Some of us," Danny said, "just... aren't really social."

"He didn't talk to anyone," Sammy said directly. "All he did was eat their food."

"That's not very nice," Danny said. "I thanked them for it. I only had one burger."

"But you didn't talk to anyone," Sammy said. "You go to parties to socialize and have fun."

"I dunno about you but sitting off by myself is really fun. And I also talk to the voices in my head."

"Ha ha ha," Sammy sarcastically laughed. "Seriously though, you just need to swallow your anxiety for a moment and talk to people. Everyone feels a bit awkward talking to new people."

"Not everyone," Danny said, in a more serious tone, "has to deal with what I have to."

The mood immediately dampened at the table.

"Of course I don't want to talk to people when they're staring at my abnormality," he said further.

"Danny," Mom said, "you have this condition, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of boys deal with it a bit when they go through puberty."

"Yeah," Danny said, "but it doesn't usually stick around for years afterward. And it doesn't get this bad. Everyone at school either makes fun of me or feels really awkward around me. All the while I'm chafing... them, against my shirt."

Everyone was quiet, and wasn't really eating. Mom sighed.

"We know it's tough for you Danny," she said. "We feel really bad for you that you have to deal with this. Here at home, we don't want you to ever feel judged about what you're going through. I think that having some good friends would really help you."

"I'd rather spend the Summer alone."

She sighed again. "Just try to be social, even though it might be hard. Not because we want it, but because having people to do stuff with will make it easier to get through things."

Danny set down the crust of his second slice of pizza. "I guess I can try."

"And about your chest," Mom said, "I think that we really should follow the doctor's advice and have you start wearing a bra."

Danny made a harsh swallow.

"I'm sorry Danny," she said, "but I think that it would help. That can't be comfortable."