My Weird Secret Life

Chapter 11: Learning

      " What are talking about, you know Kai! He's your brother!?" Rylie rubbed at her face using the back of her hand as a mop. Kylie said," You know him? He's such a nuisance I mean he's always saying how much more mature and older he is but he's just a few years older. He has like a huge problem. We haven't seen him in a month, but we've heard rumors of this one kid who keeps escaping and we think that it's him." Rylie asked," So how do you know him?" I answered," Well he's my roommate in the cell." I looked down for a while. So when he said Rylie was the kind of person who would find me he meant this Rylie. I thought he was talking in figurative language or it was a metaphor down here.
    I finally looked up and said. " So . . . who was that lady that walked in? She was very pretty." Kylie looked at me stunned." What!" Her voice dropped down to a whisper," You don't know the myth I thought everyone in the ocean knew," I need to at least act like I know something or they'll suspect something going on and I can't let them find out I'm a human! It's unacceptable. Until I know I can trust them I can't trust them. Like the phrase 'Guilty until proven innocent.' Wait . . .
Kylie started talking again," So everyone believes that her friend is the exact descendant of . . . The Witch the only witch known to merman because in records she's cursed 50,000 merpeople. I don't know if it's real or not but the actual story of why she cursed them is the real mystery. One day they would be fine and the next they act like rabid animals. I've seen some of the merpeople in live action." Kylie shivered," It's horrifying. Merpeople say those merpeople-turned-animals were practice for her real plan." I gaped at the twins and then Kylie said," I would tell you why she became the witch but you look really pale and frightened."
    I didn't object to Kylie's observation, not because I was scared of the story, I was shocked. Auntie A sent me to a place with WITCHES?
    Kylie nodded in confirmation," You know maybe we should talk about something else." I waved my hands in protest," What? No! You need to tell me what happened!" I was engulfed in this story they couldn't stop now! Rylie peered closely and asked," Are you sure it's pretty brutal, and your face really does look pale." I retaliated," If there's anyone whose face looks pale it's not mine, it's yours." She looked astonished," Is it really pale?" She asked, subconsciously reaching up to touch her cheeks," Nah, not really." I said, she looked relieved," Oh." " But yes, Rylie I do need to know!" Kylie nodded," I'm really surprised you haven't heard the story but ok, so it happened a lot of years ago and she was very young her name before was Shelly but it didn't stay that way. Her parents were the royals most trusted advisors but her parents planned for revenge against the royals because they took away privileges because her parents, parents had killed their children for some weird reason I don't know why but they did, anyway, before-" I cut Kylie off," Wait I'm confused." " You see, Shelly's grandparents killed the-" Kylie was stopped short when the young woman with long blue hair, the one Kylie called Ms. Misty, had swam in.
" Every girl in this room please line up in a single file quietly." Me and the twins swam in the line obediently, keeping our mouths shut. All the other girls followed suit but they were anything but quiet. It seemed if anything they were getting louder then before Ms. Misty had walked in." Please girls quiet down. We'll be walking down the hall and we need to be quiet so the boys can focus. Please. Quiet down." Ms. Misty appeared stressed and her eyes got glassy. She could probably lose her job if we didn't follow orders. Auntie A called it a blessing and a curse that I stood up for those who could not do so for themselves. The point of the matter was simple, I hated injustice. And though injustice in this situation was a bit of a stretch, I had to do something. I swam up on a counter and hollered," Hey! You can all talk about boys in your own free time! But right now, listen up!" Surprisingly the girls listened, but looked at me. Not part of the instructions. I floated back down and looked at my tail, I could feel my cheeks burning even though I wasn't the shy type.
    At school on land I was one of the most fiercest and bravest people, not even of the girls but of everyone. But now I felt nervous because, I knew I was different than them. Typically, I didn't blush or get shy around anyone. This water was messing with me.
    I finally looked up and saw Ms. Misty was smiling big," Thank you . . ." I smiled too and said," Zayana, my name is Zayana, I'm new." She did a slight head bow," Well thank you Zayana. I hope your first day here is in to remember." Her face brightened and we all swam through the hall decorated with nothing but a huge ongoing window.
Through the windows I could see young boys all about my age, a few a little older, when I noticed a certain boy and before I could stop myself I had said," Kai!" Kylie and Rylie turned and smiled as well. They were both stunned for a few seconds but then a few tears started appearing and I remembered what Kylie had said, that she hadn't seen her brother in a month and before I could stop them, or anybody, they were screaming and pounding on the windows." Kai! Kai! Over here!"
    I looked at all of the girls and they were all screaming. About how cute or how hot the boys were. Pointing out which ones were their boyfriends and which ones they swam by and smelled. That last comment was weird. Ms. Misty gave up and dropped her head. This was a little much for seeing a couple of boys, I mean sure maybe some of them were a tiny bit cute but they didn't seem like the guy I dreamed of. A sweet, kind, selfless, helpful, confident, but not cocky, kind of guy. Oh also, he's gotta make me notice him and I know he's the one immediately. And he'd willingly do anything for me and do so without hesitation. He'd be the perfect dude.
I looked back toward the window and saw Kai beating some random guy up. Was this practice? He jabbed him in the stomach quick then did a flip smacking him in the face with his tail. The other guy didn't even get a punch in. Kai remained untouched and the other guys cheered for him, passing out high-fives and slaps on the back." Oh my shells, that one guy is so cute." One girl exclaimed. " You mean hot!" Said another," He's beyond hot!" One squealed. " He's beyond beyond hot!" Said one with a high shrieky voice," No he's not, Karen!" Shouted yet another. I cringed in disgust. Kai was not beyond hot, he wasn't even hot in my opinion. I mean sure he looked ok but he didn't look that good. " If I could just talk to him he'd totally fall for me." One bragged," As if, your breath smells like old squid." The girl gasped and did a quick breath check then recoiled from herself. I smiled," Oh please, you know I've talked to him and he almost asked me out but I had to go, so . . ." The girl trailed off letting the other girls talk about it amongst themselves," Really?" " I can't believe it, she's so lucky." " Do you think she's lying?" " No, she only lies when she wants to brag," " Is she bragging?" " No, not at all, she's just rubbing in our faces about how she almost got asked out by like the hottest guy ever." " Oh. I see the difference now."
I rolled my eyes as I tuned out the girls' conversation and looked at the girl that had bragged about almost getting asked out. She couldn't have been much older than me. She was at the least explained, completely teal. She caught me looking and crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. I glared right back we both stared and waited for the other to blink or look away. I've had enough practice with Diana to know giving up is not an option.