Dakota just transferred to a small town in Ireland after finally sprouting gills senior year. Dakota thought they were in the clear but sprouting gills might seal their fate to the ocean wrecking everything they worked for on land. 1/4 Selkie, 1/4 M...
The ocean's call grew louder every day that I resisted. The sound of the water lapping against the sand sloshed around my head. Mom had to order six more bottles of lotion to keep up with my dry skin. Even slathering handfuls on before bed and wrapping up my entire body my skin was bone dry by morning. Mom said I needed the ocean, Sean kept offering to skip school with me but as much as I wanted to go and my I knew it would feel better. Going then felt like giving up. Like if I went into the water now, I might not go back.
So, I grit my teeth and went to school. I tried not to snap at Sean when he was offering me help because he was right. Mom and dad and him were all right. The ocean would fix it. It would make me feel better, but it might also not let me go. Instead, I focused on even breaths. On the air moving in and out of my lungs on my legs that cramped more in the last few months than they had in my entire life.
Bay slipped into the library during my free period and always sat a few tables over even though I knew he wanted to go back to the water. But even after two weeks of driving myself insane with itches I couldn't scratch and an ever-present sense of not enough water in my body despite the two gallons of water I had gotten up to drinking every day, Bay sat at the same table like he was waiting. Or maybe like he came to do something but chickened out every time and when the last bell rang Sean was already waiting for me right outside the door to walk with me and the second Bay saw Sean he slipped out the emergency exit. He was so put off by Sean for no actual reason he wouldn't even pass him in a doorway. I shook my head. I hated everyone at that stupid school. I hated the teachers who didn't do anything. The kids who divided the room. The freshman that just came in and believed everything the upperclassman said and didn't have the guts to think for themselves. All of them were pathetic and I hoped all of them were stuck between fish and human. Tethered to the sea but stuck on land.
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My phone played harp strings. I rolled over and grabbed it from the nightstand. Rubbing my eyes clear the screen's light glared at me making me squint but at the familiar picture of Emory's smile and blond hair, I swiped.
"Emory." I sat up, my vision still a little blurry and my mind still halfway into sleep.
"Hey Dakota." Her voice was small. The sky blue behind her, a few sparse clouds hovering overhead. She sat with her cheek pressed against her knees. She always shrank to the smallest possible version of herself when she was feeling guilty.
"I'm so sorry." My chest squeezed. "For anything I did— for everything I did and didn't do." Words tumbled out, my brain trying to find the right ones. "I've been a crappy friend. I didn't call you enough or answer you enough. I got caught up in my own mess and I didn't think about you enough. I—"
"Dakota." She giggled a soft smile curving her lips up. "it's okay." Her lips quivered. "I didn't tell you everything from the start and you have your own problems." Her eyes glossed over, tears already brimming along her bottom lid, she combed her fingers through her pixie cut. "Something happened and—" she hiccupped. "I was angry because you aren't here." She choked on a sob. "It wouldn't have happened if you were here."
