Teenage Mermaid by Ellen Schreiber Read Free Book Online Page B

to be seen again!”
    â€œToo bad.” Robin smiled, cozying up to me. “But I’m here, if you need someone to resuscitate you again.”
    â€œMaybe she was a swimming instructor,” Chainsaw suggested.
    â€œShe was alone,” I said, shaking my head.
    â€œMaybe she was a lifeguard,” Chain said.
    â€œSeaside’s lifeguards wear red. She was wearing green,” I said, glaring.
    â€œThen maybe she was a mermaid!” he declared loudly.
    â€œWhat makes you say that?” I exclaimed, droppingmy books on the floor. I hadn’t said anything to Chainsaw about my crazy hallucination.
    â€œMakes sense. She’s beautiful, swims in the ocean better than you do, saves your life, and disappears in the water.”
    â€œSure, a mermaid,” Robin teased dramatically. “And you know what mermaids are like—they demand pearls and lobster, live in underwater castles, have kings for fathers and stare at themselves in their mirrors. You’d better stick with humans, Spence. We’re not so vain.”
    â€œEnough!” I said.
    Chainsaw opened his locker and he and Robin giggled to themselves.
    â€œMaybe I should start wearing green,” Robin said.
    I slammed more texts into my backpack, wondering if I’d ever see her again, wondering if I’d ever really seen her in the first place.

Lilly
    I chewed on my backpack strap, anxiously waiting for Calvin while he gathered notebooks from his locker.
    â€œYou’ve got to help me! I’m looking for this guy,” I shouted urgently. “He has my necklace, and I desperately need to get it back!”
    â€œDid he steal it?” he asked angrily.
    â€œNot exactly, but I have to get it back, now!”
    â€œIs he your boyfriend? You didn’t tell me—”
    â€œI don’t even know his name.”
    â€œThen how did he get your necklace?”
    Enough with the questions! I didn’t have time for this. But instead I was cordial. “I saved him when he was swimming and he accidentally yanked it off.”
    â€œSo you’re a heroine,” he said flirtatiously.
    â€œAnd you can be a hero by finding him,” I said, with a wink.
    â€œAll right. What does he look like?”
    I stared across the hallway and noticed an Earthdude with dark-blue hair picking up textbooks up from the floor and cramming them into his locker. I couldn’t see his face, but his build was similar to Earthdude’s.
    â€œKind of like him,” I said pointing. “But with dark red hair.”
    â€œWe’ll find him at lunch,” Calvin promised, slamming his locker shut.

Spencer
    N othing is as boring as the predictable Mr. Parker’s quarterly lecture as he laments the horrors of our class’s GPA. We’re close to our final exams—two weeks until summer break. But instead of making plans for my freedom, I was daydreaming about my enslavement to a fair maiden’s kiss. I wrote her name in my notebook: Cassandra, Margaux, Juliet. And then I gazed out the window and there she was!
    I mean really! I wasn’t daydreaming—it was her! Walking on the grass, bright as sunshine, twinkling blue eyes, glistening, sparkling smile, her yellow hair dangling against her porcelain skin.
    All that separated us was the window, a row ofhedges, and Seaside’s answer to Troy Aikman—Calvin Todd.
    â€œI have to go to the bathroom,” I shouted, gathering my books and standing up, without ever taking my eyes off her.
    â€œExcuse me, Spencer?”
    â€œI have to go!”
    The class roared with laughter.
    â€œSeems you’ll be doing more reading in the can than in my class,” Mr. Parker said, referring to the stack of books in my hand.
    â€œOh…yeah.” I stammered awkwardly, and slammed the books on his desk as I ducked out of class.
    My heart pulsed out of my chest. I felt the adrenaline surge through my body just like when I drive the 3-D