H2O: A Mermaid Tail

Chapter 1

   I looked up at the school with its open halls and beautiful garden. It was so new, and how did I, a girl from Florida, end up going to school in Australia? Well, my mom of course! She's a marine biologist, and she specialises in sharks. One day when I came home she had a stack of letters and on top was a letter asking her to move to Australia for 5 years to work with the Dolphins in their marine centre. I ran into the kitchen, clutching the letter in my hand, expecting a huge cake or banner or something for my mom (she loves to celebrate, and she loves to bake. Makes life fun for me!). But when I ran in, she was just sitting at the table with her chin propped up on her hands. I sat down beside her and asked her what was up.

    "Don't you want to go to Australia, mom? This is your dream!" I had said to her in earnest. She smiled and ruffled my hair.

    "My first dream was to have a little girl to hold, and to watch her grow up. I can't do that from a video chat across the ocean. Besides, it's only for dolphins. If it were a shark centre, I would have taken a bit longer deciding, but I would still miss you everyday." I smiled at her words, but that smile faded when I realised why she wouldn't go. The grin returned my face a bit more devilishly when I said,

    "I could go with you. I don't have many friends that I would miss, and I can always make new, better friends. Besides, we were going to move anyways." I gestured to the boxes all around the house. "Maybe we could take the offer off of that house and get one in Australia!" Her face lit up and a tear fell down it. Well it would've, but she's not a big crier.

    "Would you really go with me?" She asked. I grinned and gave her the biggest bear hug imaginable.

    "Yup. Now let's throw away all our winter stuff and go shopping!" And that we did.

    Now I'm standing in front of my new school in a new country with new clothes and no idea where to go. It wasn't the first day of school yet, but the principal called my mom and offered to give us a tour along with a couple other new students.

I agreed, and that's how I got stuck following a super perky senior girl who was overly excited about every single class ever invented and gave me only useless information, like who taught what and where. I couldn't get a word in edgewise!

I basically figured out where the rooms were and my locker, but I needed to know where my first class was. I tried to ask, but the chatty chick kept blabbing about the academics and scholarships, so I just kind of....left. I know it sounds rude, but I saw a group with a girl in it that looked as uncomfortable as me, so I took a chance.

   "I'm Lethia. Is your tour guide as bad as mine?" I asked the girl, sidling up beside her. She had super blue eyes and long gold blonde hair framing her round, tanned face. She chuckled at my comment.

    "I'm Bella, and our tour guide is probably worse. Are you American?" She asked the last question incredulously, like Americans were a rare species. I tugged a bit nervously on my red hair, cautiously admitting the truth.

    "Yea, I am. Am I going to get that a lot?

    "Probably, but I don't know. I haven't met anyone yet, except you. How long have you been here? Like Australia, not this school."

    "Well, my mom and I got here just a few days ago, but the rest of our stuff should get here today, but for now all I have is what I packed for the plane ride. What about you? Where did you go before this school? Cos you're obviously new..."

   "My parents traveled a lot, so I lived everywhere. There was this one spot...a little pool, filled with moonlight and little crystals. It was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen, but I never went back to it again." I was just about to tell Bella that I'd been to a place just like that once, but there was a big crash from the classroom we walked past.

We looked at each other worryingly, then turned around and rushed to the door. The rest of the group had long since left us, but it's not like we cared anymore. Bella grabbed the handle and turned, and a pool of water crashed through the door. I jumped back, hoping, PRAYING, that there was a ledge behind me. There was. I quickly jumped onto it and watched as my greatest fear traveled down the hall and pooled into the cracks in the brick tiled staircase.

I looked up to see Bella, stunned and scared. She too had managed to get out of the way of the wave, but it was weird. It looked like she was standing on cement jello. I shook my head. Imagining things again. That's impossible. Then again, impossible seems to follow me around.

I gently stepped down from the ledge, careful to stay out of the water. Bella hopped over as I peered inside at whatever had caused this eruption of water. I took a few more careful steps inside the room and saw that all 3 of the water tanks had exploded in the science lab.

    "Too much pressure in the tanks, maybe?" Bella questioned, slightly nervous.

    "Could be, but let's get out before someone blames us for this." I look over at Bella and she just nods, as we pick our way around the puddles. We got back just in time to see our parents wave goodbye to each other. They turn and wave at us and we wave back. I was about to run over when Bella tapped my shoulder.

    "There's a new cafe opening tonight, do you want to go see it with me? It looks pretty cool, there's signs everywhere."

    "Oh!" I replied enthusiastically. "That sounds fun! Want to meet there at like, 6?"

    "Perfect, see you there!" I grinned at her and ran over to my mom, my red hair flouncing behind me. She smiled at me and winked, her grey eyes the same as my own. I smiled back and started to tell her about the weird water thing that happened.

    "And when I finally got to the door, to-ons of water poured out!" I said, my hands moving with my words. My mom pulled into the driveway of our house.

    "The girl, Bella, she didn't see your little trick, did she?" My mother asked worryingly.

    "No, if she had I think she would have looked a lot more scared when we came out." I responded casually. My mother calmed down and got out of the car. I guess she remembers what began the last and only time anyone saw my little trick.

I grimaced at my selection of clothes. It was a few of moms friends that had offered to bring the clothes over from the port, but they were making two trips. They had only brought one of my suitcases this trip, so I only have a few things to choose from.

At least they grabbed the suitcase of my not-too-ugly clothes. Once I had them spread out in front of me, it wasn't hard to pull out a short grey sundress and gladiator sandals. With my lucky necklace on and a sparkle in my eye, I ran out the door to the cafe.-

       A/N I'm going to give you a cliffhanger, but don't worry, the next one will be up fast. Love ya!