I'm a Mermaid, Not a Merman

Epilogue

1 Year Later

"There!" Sammy took her picture. "That looks good."

Sammy turned the phone around to give Cindy a good view. She was lying in the sand, wearing her new green mermaid tail that she'd gotten for her birthday. Now she had a green tail for Ariel and a red tail for Melody.

"I like that one," Cindy said as they looked through the pictures. It was one that didn't show her face, but just showed her gazing out at the ocean. "It looks reflective, and interesting."

"Sure, whatever," Sammy said with a laugh. "Do you wanna get in the water or what?"

Cindy pulled off her tail, adjusted her swimsuit, and left the tail with her stuff. All of her friends were waiting for her, and after taking Liam's hand, they charged into the waves.

Sadly, the ocean was a little too rough here for tail-swimming. Figures. But it was going to be a fun day nonetheless. Cindy hadn't been to the ocean in ages.

Her family, Liam's family, and a lot of her other friends had gone on a little day trip to the coast to celebrate Cindy and Sammy's eighteenth birthday. It was starting to cool down from the summer heat now that it was labor day weekend, but the water still wasn't too cold.

Cindy would've loved to go swimming in the ocean last year on her and Sammy's birthday, but the opportunity just hadn't been there, at least, not for all her friends to come.

She still could hardly believe that she was eighteen, and going into her last year of high school. But if her senior year was anything like this past year, it was going to be great.

Although Cindy had been really scared going into Aspen Ridge High for the first time, her mer-friends had been there to help. As had Sammy. And she'd really needed their support. Going to school, where she suddenly had to be around so many people her age... it scared her. Being around other girls who knew what they were doing way more than she did was very stressful.

But Sammy had trained her well in how to be a woman. And Liam had kept the guys away - something that Cindy had never anticipated.

But all in all, she never realized until then how hard school had been for her, even before she'd grown her breasts. She still wasn't the best at getting to know new people, but she was better, and being able to go to lunch and know that her mer-friends, and her boyfriend were going to be there made everything better.

Cindy had felt a few brief stints where she questioned if she was doing the right thing, being a girl - like before she'd gotten accustomed to her hormone replacement therapy. But her friends and family had been there, and by the time she was halfway through the year, she scarcely questioned if she was a girl anymore.

The hardest part had been coming out slowly to her extended family, most of whom lived in other states. It had been very painful when two of her cousins had come over for Thanksgiving, only to find that the male cousin that had been the closest to their age was no longer male.

That day could've gone better. Especially if Mom's brother had actually told his sons about Cindy being trans beforehand. While things hadn't been fully normalized with them yet, the last time she'd met with them had been better.

But beyond all the ups and downs, her friends and immediate family had been there. And Liam. Her amazing, mer-crazed like she was, boyfriend.

Cindy wasn't sure why, but when she'd been dating Liam at first, she'd been afraid that their relationship wasn't going to last. Maybe it was that she'd heard of her peers breaking up with people after several months. She'd also felt anxious a bit that it might be good if she dated more people, so that she could see if Liam was really who she liked.