Nerrissa of scales and sea

Guess, who it is

I was awakened by an ear-splitting strike of thunder. The wind blew at the leaves of dancing trees. No animals were to be heard. It was just the Therapeutic sound of the drizzling rain. I lay my head back on the pillow before closing my eyes. It was just me and raining. If anything I loved rain.

In Hawaii, on the days it would rain nobody was ever out on the beach which meant I had it all to myself. My mermaid friends had always told me to be cautious about swimming in the water when there was stormy weather but nothing ever happened to me. I just made sure to go deep enough so that I didn't get electrocuted on the stormy days as other mermaids had weirdly suggested. Life didn't seem to exist when it was just me and the ocean out in the rain. Those were the days I swam by myself.

I checked the clock on my counter. 6:00. This was the time I started to get ready for school. Especially with how long I took to bathe, it was good I had woken up on time. The alarm started its obnoxious ringing. I wondered how you're supposed to turn it off but then realised Mercedes lost the manual which meant I was unable to turn it off. I gave up and went to the bathroom.

The rest of the family were asleep which meant I had to keep quiet, in order not to wake them up. I subtly made my way to the bathroom and took my clothes off. The second my body got into the tub making contact with the warm water, I shifted into a mermaid.

The water rises as I sat down, silently planning out a visit to the sea after school. The best thing was that all mermaids were terrified of Garner Falls, which meant no mermaids or mermen were living in Garner Falls which meant I had a whole ocean to myself. Lucky me! Today was going to be great. The first days at school were always fun and I was even going to discover the ocean.

I was mainly excited about school even though I wasn't somebody to like social stuff. Last year, I only had one friend who I mainly avoided meeting up with because she would always ask me for my 'makeup hacks' and the truth was I didn't have any. My beauty came from not ruining my skin with makeup but instead trying different skincare routines, every day and mainly, due to the fact, that I was a mermaid. Mermaids are naturally pretty, they didn't need makeup but always lied to avoid jealousy from others.

There was a second strike of thunder that this time didn't scare me. I wondered what it going to be like going into the thunderstorm. It was going to be horrible. How did forget that I  shift when go into water? This was bad. Bad. With that thought, I quickly finished up in the bathtub.

It was 7:00 when I got out of the tub and was now going to change. I exhaled after finally drying myself to my human form. Every shift was less painful than the previous which was good because I shifted a lot so I barely felt anything. I changed into a white and black striped shirt with jeans. I grabbed a denim jacket to go with it before hurrying downstairs. I scanned the coat hanger for my waterproof jacket. I smiled at myself, relieved.

"Seriously?" Noah asked. "A raincoat?" He bursted into hysterical laughter. "You know your alarms still going off, right?"

"No, it isn't, idiot. I turned it off for her. Explain to me something, why can't you dumbasses be friends for once?" I just looked at them. I didn't even say any and they were judging me.

"And you, Mercedes, thought the alarm clock wouldn't work," Leo said. "Maybe Mercedes is right, though. Try to get all along." He ruffled my hair as he started walking towards the table. If anything I was angry because nobody saw how bad he was to me. They either assumed that I was in the wrong or that we both were in the wrong, except for Mum. She knew Noah was in the wrong and always talked about being the better one of us.

Leo did nothing. He was just a waste of space. He somehow was always able to watch family drama. If anything I didn't like fighting with Noah but I couldn't just let him bully me. I had to stand up for myself.