Mako's P.O.V.
I stared out at the ocean longingly from the lunchroom window. The school was remarkably close to the California shoreline, albeit, it was on high grounds where it wouldn’t be flooded so easily but it was still pretty close. I suppose that’s what you get when you attend a preppy rich kids' school, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. This high school was the closest one to the shoreline of California. Which meant a quick swim on the way home wouldn’t mean the end of the world.
“Mako!” a girl’s voice called. I sighed and turned my head and saw my older sister, Izabella.
“Izzy…” I greeted and Izzy had her hands on her hips with a frown on her face.
“It’s the third week of school and you’re still sitting all by yourself during lunch. You’re pretty ridiculous,” Izzy stated as she walked up to the table I was sitting at. I sighed and turned my head to return my gaze to the water.
A sharp pain hit my tanned ear and I let out a small yelp as Izzy flicked my ear with her manicured nails. “Are you gonna answer me?” she asked and I huffed, giving her my full attention.
“I don’t need friends, I do just fine on my own,” I informed her and Izzy shook her head in disbelief. She made sure no one was listening in too closely before she hissed into my ear.
“Just because you’re half fish doesn’t mean that your only friends have to be fish, Mako. Dad told me to keep an eye on your antisocial ass. Make some real, human, friends, got it, Mako?”
I sighed and looked away from her.
“You’re too close. And you don’t have to be so hush about it. Nobody would believe you anyway,” I told her, trying to shoo her away. Izzy’s face burned defiantly, her dislike of me showing ever more obviously on her face as she stomped her foot.
“At least I’m not a freak of a brother!” she snapped before turning heel and marching out of the lunchroom, causing the classmates that were nearby to look at us in the excitement at the drama that had taken place. I groaned and slumped my head onto the table, wishing to be in the only place I ever wished to be.
The ocean.
“Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore!” a voice ordered. I groaned and opened my eyes to see my AP Biology teacher, Mrs. Winicker standing in front of my desk with a sharp look of disapproval on her face.
“Yes?” I asked and she huffed, clearly already fed up with me.
“Your homework,” she barked and I dug in my bag and handed it to her. Thinking that was all, I put my head back down to continue my nap. “Mr. Moore, why did you not use the terms found in the book?” she asked and I smiled sleepily at her.
“Dad’s company focuses on conserving life, endangered species, and deepsea discovery. I've picked up quite a lot from being in his office and the branch he is in charge of is specifically marine biology. I did the homework based on memory, not the book you gave us. I apologize if that wasn’t what I was supposed to do. Can I go back to sleep now?” I told her and Mrs. Winicker took in a very deep breath and blew it out.
“Regardless of how you filled this out and how deep your knowledge of this subject goes, I require you to stay awake during this class. I’ll let this one slide but next time you decide to use your own terms, I’ll mark it wrong,” she told me and I sighed.
“Whatever,” I mumbled and rested my head in my hand as I pretended to pay attention. I heard a small “tsk” under someone’s breath and I didn’t have to turn around to know who it came from.
Kimbell Hart. He was one of the few who got into this prestigious private school on brains alone. He was at the top of the class, and anything having to do with science or math he excelled at. There were rumors going around that he knew pretty much everything about marine biology, but no one had been brave enough to ask him. After all, a smart kid is one thing, but a smart kid that has mastered kendo and comes to school on a sickass-looking skateboard is another.
‘Scary… I never wanted to get on his bad side but when you value academics as much as he does you’d probably get pissed at a slacker like me. Although we’re both loners, I definitely don’t want to try and make friends with that guy,’ I thought to myself.
When the bell rang to signal the end of the period and the end of the school day, I wasted no time and picked up my things and dashed out the door, ignoring Mrs. Winicker’s shouts to not run in the hallways.
I sprinted down the stairs and took a sharp turn out of the door. I yanked off the stuffy tie that we had to wear with our uniforms as I took off running down the sidewalk towards the beach.
Towards my home.
When I hit the sand I was dashing toward my dad’s private land. It was a good run along the sand and when I was sweating from the blistering sun in the blazer I was forced to wear, I smiled.
I saw that familiar wire fence that made my grin grow wider. Sprinting faster, I got inside like I always did. I jumped up on a nearby rock and leaped over the barbed wire. I came to a roll on the other side and kept on running. I darted behind a large rock and was finally out of sight of the other beachgoers.
I tore off my uniform and let my clothes fall scattered on the sand. My bag plopped onto the ground and I was as naked as I was the day I was born. Before the last of my things had time to hit the sand I was leaping into the water before diving under the surface.
And that’s when my body began to change. My legs snapped together, my gills opened on my ribs as my breathing style changed, my hands and the edges of my ears grew webbing, ridges across my arms and back pushed themselves out, my face and torso became blotted with markings, and lastly, my feet became a tail.
Now in my favored form of a merman, I laughed and snapped my tail, darting beneath the surface.
I was probably one of the only of my kind. Merfolk never mated with humans, since it was taboo. However, my mother had been cast out of her home and had been injured when my father found her. Dad had lost his wife and Izzy’s mother six months prior, but when he met my mother, he found love once again.
My mother comes and visits every once in a while, sometimes every few days, sometimes only once a month. She sends us letters if she doesn't have time to see us. But whenever she does come and see us, she never stays for long. After all, she wasn’t made to live on land.
But the important thing was that she always, always, came back.
I swam vigorously into the deep blue sea, my blue and green scales glinting in the few rays of sun that reached beneath the water. My extravagant tail fin bellowed out like a large fan, my side fins fanning out as well. The few tendrils I had draped themselves around my tail, creating a fairy-like effect. The back of my forearm had fins as well, the dorsal fin on my back glistened as I swam far out into the ocean.
When I was well enough away from the beach for people to really see, I swam back up to the surface. I didn’t pop my head up above the water, but instead, I closed my eyes and concentrated.
And when I opened my mouth I released a sonar wave. My sensitive ears waited for the response. Nothing happened. I did it again and this time I received a callback. I excitedly called my friends to me, becoming a beacon for them. Another call came my way and I grinned happily.
I continued to cry out sonar waves as I swam further out into the ocean. When I was far enough out I felt a bump on my tail. I looked down and nuzzled the gray whale with my nose, the whale letting out a noise of happiness as she recognized me. I had named her Whaley, and though the name was bad, she didn’t seem to mind.
Chittering and clicking teeth reached my ears as I turned around to see three dolphins barrel towards me. We swam around Whaley, every once in a while breaking the surface of the water to do tricks in the air.
The dolphins nuzzled my chest after we had played for a bit before they swam away, going to go look for either dinner or the rest of their group. Whaley moaned next to me as we swam together. I smiled softly at her, seeing that her pregnancy was going well.
A few sea turtles wandered up to me curiously before happily letting me pet them, sensing no ill will from me. I gave one a kiss on the head and it seemed like it was almost trying to smile before they swam away, probably going back to hunting.
Izzy didn’t know what she was talking about. Real friends? Whaley, the dolphins, the sea turtles, and the rest of the fish in the sea were all I needed.
I remember when my mom had taken me to see the more dangerous ones, and during my first year of high school, I had gone toe to toe with an orca. Or would that have been tail to tail? Either way, it was a lot of swimming away. The orca had been bullying Whaley so I clocked it in the face a couple of times.
Ah, good times. I looked at the waterproof watch on my wrist and saw that it was getting late. Sending a sonar wave that meant goodbye, Whaley whined out a farewell before we parted ways. I once again dove into the depths, trying to keep out of sight of humans.
When I reached the shore with my stuff, I crawled onto the sandy beach, fully pulling myself out of the water. This was always the most dangerous part. Since I had to be fully submerged in saltwater to transform into a merman, I had to be fully unsubmerged from saltwater to transform back into a human. However, one time I discovered that through sheer willpower I could force a transformation or stop one. Although it was pretty painful, however, Mom had told me that with enough practice it would be as easy as breathing.
I hurriedly shoved on my blazer and the rest of my uniform in the sweltering California heat and began to trudge home. As I walked up the secluded beach to the research lab, I saw my dad talking on the phone on the front porch.
“Yes, Delphine, he’s fine. I’m just worried about how he’s socializing at school… I know… he seems to take after you a bit too much… no I wasn’t! Stop… haha… alright talk to you later… bye,” he finished before hanging up.
“Mom?” I asked and he nodded.
“Yes, as of late she has finally decided to keep that waterproof cellphone I gave her ages ago. Oh, how was school?” Dad asked.
“Fine. I saw Whaley after school today! She’s gotten a bit rounder from her pregnancy,” I told him excitedly. My dad simply smiled at my enthusiasm before we both walked into the lab.
Our home was a strange one. We lived on the sight of the research facility, the interior blue-colored steel walls inlined the interior, and its appealing dome-like structure bubbled over the course of a mile.
I walked to the back, saying hi to some of the researchers before I finally made it to the back of the lab. I opened the handprint-locked door into the living space. It overlooked the ocean as it was partially built on top of it. I walked around the large living room that was decorated in waterproof hardwood floors and towards the back left of the house.
After going down a flight of stairs, I went through another handprint-locked door, and then I was inside my room. There were only two rooms in the house that were touching the water. While the private submarine bay that my mom used to pay a visit to simply sat on top of the water, my room was fully submerged.
A moonpool rested in the left corner of my room for me to dive underwater when I pleased. My room had huge windows that looked out into the ocean and occasionally you could see little creatures swimming around freely. My king-sized bed rested against one of these windows, and the rest of my furniture was near the door I had just entered so they wouldn’t block the view from the windows.
I set down my backpack at my desk, getting out my homework. I didn’t see the point to most of this, I already knew most college calculus, had already mastered marine biology, and one of the researchers had taught me Harvard-level physics “for fun.”
I was done with most of my subjects within one hour before pulling out my English assignment. We needed to analyze a piece of text from around 100 years ago and try to determine the meaning of the piece as the author intended.
AP Language and Composition was harder than I had anticipated it would be, but unlike Mrs. Winicker and her boring AP Biology, Mr. Quin was a great teacher. He was always patient with me the most out of all of my other teachers, and I had him for Honors English last year during my sophomore year so I feel like he’s one of the teachers I could genuinely talk to. Probably one of the reasons why I genuinely tried to pay attention in his class.
It took me a good half hour to fully read the text, make notes, and then begin writing my claim. I looked it over, hoped it was good, and then put away my assignments, having the rest of the day to myself.
Mr. Quin had always told me that I could make it into Harvard if I really tried, but the thing was, Harvard was too far away from the open ocean. And even if I were to make the hour walk to the bay shoreline, it would be bad if ferries saw me in the water as I tried to make it into the open ocean.
The water was also cold in Massachusetts Bay during the winter, whereas in California, it was warm year-round. I would also miss Whaley a lot too, and my mother was always adventuring somewhere out in the Pacific. There was just too much keeping me here.
Besides, Dad’s work was interesting enough, and I would even be beneficial for helping them discover deep-sea creatures. That is if my halfling body could withstand the pressure. I had never tried going to the bottom of the ocean before.
I glanced at the moonpool and smirked, the thought soon becoming a whim.
No time like the present.
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