Don't Drink The Gene Juice

11

"Mom... I'm not wearing this."

Jenna held up a one piece swimsuit with a long skirt on the bottom. It was colored a dappled pattern of different shade of blue.

Mom sighed. "Sorry honey, but since you're going to grow a tail now when you go in the water..."

She hesitated seeing Jenna's extreme discomfort.

"Because you're going to be turning into a mermaid whenever you swim," Mom went on, "you can't wear a normal swimsuit, because it'll tear whenever you change. Besides, you can't wear one of your old pairs with your chest fully nude."

Jenna turned the swimsuit over, examing the bottom of it. Apparently, these swimsuits for mers were so designed that they would open up in response to water for the tail to go through, and then would naturally close and reseal when dry.

"Fine," Jenna said.

"Put it on!" Lily grinned, "I wanna see!"

Jenna rolled her eyes, and went into the bathroom to change. This, unfortunately, required her to see her body nude again. She was past the point of crying and shaking when she saw it, but seeing her anatomy didn't put her in a good mood.

But wearing the swimsuit didn't make her feel much better. It made her curves very apparent. Plus, Jenna had insisted on wearing jeans. She didn't like seeing herself in a skirt.

"Woah ho ho," Lily said, "I can't wait to look like that."

Jenna inwardly imagined herself drop kicking her sister. "Thank you, Lily," she said with deep sarcasm.

"You're hating it now, but when Tommy sees you..."

Jenna let out a long, slow groan.

****

Jenna felt the water lick around her ankles. It was a feeling she'd always enjoyed. The ocean had always been such a calm place for her. She went there to have fun, to relax, destress, or just think.

But today, that tempting lure to come into the water felt like a finger beckoning her to come into a witch's gingerbread house.

The water was warm. A pleasant, refreshing temperature compared to the heat in the air.

"Jenna!"

She turned around, and saw Tommy walking across the stretch of sand to join her at the water.

"So you didn't chicken out eh?" he smiled as he drew nearer.

"The ocean's no place for chickens," she replied.

"But I have seen some pretty shy sea critter that shrink up when you touch them. Are you going to shrink up?

Wow. He was very direct.

"I..."

"Look," he said, seeing Jenna's bag among some rocks, and putting his own near hers, "if you don't want to do it, sit over there, and watch a movie. But if you are going to become a mermaid, I don't want to hear you complaining or whimpering about it. This is something I like doing for fun and I don't want you making everything gloomy."

Jenna was speechless. For a few moments anyway.

"I thought you wanted this to be a date and stuff?"

"I don't usually take people I'm dating with me into my own world," Tommy said. "if you're getting in the water, I want you to either cheerful or not say anything. Got it?"

Jenna only nodded. Wow... he was really no nonsense. But it actually kind of made her feel better. He was compelling her to choose, rather than sitting on the fence. His attitude kind of turned her on.