My Weird Secret Life

Chapter 19: Quoi!

    All three of them looked at me dumbfounded and there was silence for a long few moments until Atlantic broke it,"Quoi!" She whispered-screamed. I didn't know what 'Quoi!' meant but I guessed it was an objection. I shrugged,"It's the only way we'll be able to solve those mysteries and don't you want to be free? I mean so far I don't hate it here, but . . . I don't love it either. There's a cruel queen who I'm never allowed to talk back at, I have a gross cell which I share with a boy!" I eyed all of them to assure my concern,"And last but far from the least, there is no food and food is life." Rylie raised her hand, but didn't wait for me to call on her. "Actually the reason why we came back here is because we're waiting for lunch to be ready." I glanced at her a little annoyed and noticed Kylie and Atlantic too had the same expression. "All I'm saying is that I don't like it here so I'm leaving here today with or without you guys. Final time asking, are you coming with me?"
    I looked at all of them praying extremely hard that they would say yes because though I was acting all tough, the truth was I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I needed their help.
    Atlantic sighed,"I can't let you go alone and besides I know the whole entire kingdom and everyone here like I know how to swim. And I know you have no clue what you're doing." She grinned and I repeated her kind gesture.
    I looked towards Kylie who was looking at Rylie who was also looking at Kylie. Rylie smiled at her and it looked as though they were having a secret conversation through eyes. Kylie looked uncertain. Rylie put her hands together and mouthed please to her. Then Kylie sighed, dropped her head, and nodded. Rylie smiled bigger than I'd ever seen anyone smile,"Yes! We're coming Zayana. What's the plan?" I opened my mouth smiling and then closed it frowning, what was the plan? "We're going to figure that out during lunch. Any ideas, Kylie?" She looked up at me her eyes looking around like she was already planning the escape and thinking about all the possibilities of us getting caught and us miraculously actually making it out. Alive. She nodded and then looked down at the floor again. I thought that she would explain the plan, but I guess not. Then Rylie said it herself,"Well, we could escape the same way Kai does every week. When Kai first found out he could escape, he taught me and Kylie, do you want to do that?" Kylie looked at Rylie, her mouth opened like she couldn't believe Rylie had just told everyone her most secretive secret. "Rylie! What the heck is wrong with you? You didn't have to say it like that!" Rylie looked down her eyes getting glassy and her lower lip quivering,"Sorry, I was excited." Kylie's face softened immediately and sighed,"It's fine. I'm sorry I burst out at you like that," she took Rylie's hand in hers and smiled. They really cared a great deal of each other. Then Rylie smiled back mopping her eyes with the back of her palm. "Yes," said Kylie looking up,"we could escape that way but you have to listen to the details very carefully and you have to do everything at the exact time I tell you or else we'll get caught and then everyone else will get caught too." She waited for everyone to nod their heads in agreement. "So there are guards posted outside of every single door, two of them, and when they do their shifts we have precisely 30 seconds to get a quarter of the way to the end of the castle and then take one swish inside of the door you're in front of. Then when you see the next guard coming you spray one squirt of this in their face," she showed all of us what looked like a perfume bottle. It had a gold top with sloshing pink liquid inside. Kelp and bits of shells just managed to stay afloat in it. Looking back at it now, besides for all the kelp and shells, it actually looked like a perfume I had at home. "and swim as fast as you can to get to the next post before the guards come. So really you have about 2 minutes before the other guards come for their posts, the closer you are to the East which is the side we're on, the faster you have to move because the guards have a slightly different time schedule then the ones farther West, understand?" We all nodded though I can't promise I was able to comprehend all of that. I raised my hand and Kylie nodded towards me. "I don't have a watch, I can't keep the time." Kylie's face resembled mine when I had realized I had been studying for a test that wasn't coming. "Right, we're all going to have to be in groups, Rylie you're going with Atlantic and Zayana you are coming with me." I nodded again then saw Atlantic looking back at a girl and I looked back too. It was the girl Isle.
    I scooted closer to Atlantic and whispered,"Is she your friend? I could ask if she would like to come?" The girl was laughing with a group of girls and had the most shiny, glamorous teal hair with sand colored highlights throughout. Merpeople were really into literal naming. Atlantic bit her tongue, contemplating. She opened her mouth then shut it quickly. "What is it?" I asked, Atlantic hesitated a moment more and asked,"What about her brother, could we bring him too?" Brother? "Ok, I'll ask."
I swam over to Kylie who was telling Rylie the especially detailed parts of the plan. I tapped her shoulder from behind," . . . watch for people." She inhaled deeply,"Yeah?" "Atlantic wants to bring two people. Her friends, is that okay?" Kylie looked past me at Atlantic, who was staring out the window. Finally she answered,"Who are they?" I looked back at the group of girls who were talking and spotted the glamorous hair girl. "The girl Isle, right there and her brother." Kylie exhaled and relaxed a bit,"Why didn't you just say Atlantic's boyfriend and his sister? Yeah, sure I guess, but Isle might not listen unless Atlantic can convince Island to leave with her and he loves it here. But he most likely might not let her go alone because he doesn't like other boys around her. He really likes her." I narrowed my eyes,"How do you know all this?" Kylie simply answered,"I know a guy." Once again, not an answer.
Without me noticing Kylie had grasped a phone out of thin water just like Rylie had. She put in her password and searched for something. Without saying a word, she shoved her phone in my face. I took it. Showcasing on the phone was an image of a handsome boy sitting on a bench with Atlantic. A big pause button in the middle. I pressed it and it showed the following below:
The boy: I really like you
Atlantic smiles and answers: I like you too
Boy and Atlantic kiss
Video ends.
Whoever took this video was either spying on them guiltily or they were innocently just passing by and thought why not. The boy looked almost exactly like Isle except boy charms and shorter hair. And, not sure if this made a difference, his hair was sand colored with teal highlights. I nodded then swam back over to Atlantic. "She said yes." Atlantic's face lit up, she didn't smile or let her eyes grow wider or anything. But I could tell she was happy.
    "Zayana, I've seen photos of you and, Kai, is it? On SeaBook." I knew where this was going,"Do you like him?" I looked back out the window then asked,"What did you see?" Atlantic showed me a photo of us hugging accidentally, Kai's hand around my waist, and a flash went through my head of him holding me, my eyes were closed, and my hands were the only thing between us. My eyes bugged,"Quoi!" I said unbelievably. Atlantic chuckled. I could only open and close my mouth, many times before I answered . . . kinda. "Well I can explain, you see-" Ms. Misty swam gracefully into the room and called us out for what I guessed was lunch. Thoughts of all the different types of food they might have fogged my mind of anything else. Food is life.