Oceana: The Hidden Kingdom

A Prison Called School

Aquata
I couldn't sleep that night. I kept tossing around in bed, fighting the dread of going to school tomorrow and the strange feeling of going back to the water. It was calling to me somehow, and I figured my parents knew as much. I wondered what kind of security I'll have at school, although I don't want any, I could take care of myself. Ok, never mind, the ocean's song was too great for me to ignore. Is it possible the rest of my family fought through this, too? I don't think so... if this happened to them, they must know and have an explanation to what's happening. They didn't have answers, and neither did all the doctors I've been to these past few weeks. Sigh. I put on my clothes for school. Fortunately, we didn't need to wear uniform unless we were on a field trip or something similar. It was a light-gray long sleeved shirt along with light-blue jeans. I brushed my long, thick hair, taking about 10 minutes. It took up the time until my dad took down the wooden boards. "How did you sleep, honey?" "Fine," I lied. "Although, the air conditioner didn't work so well last night, so I kept having to take off the covers and put them on again," the excuse I decided to use to make it a bit more believable. Dad furrowed his brow, thinking. "I'll fix it up by the time I get back from work. Have a good day at school!" He hugged me quickly, saying goodbye to Callista and Jonah, kissing my mom on her forehead. "Love you." He called once he was out the door. "I can't wait to see Yasmine again." Callista said. Yasmine was Callista's friend since kindergarten, so they always made trouble together. Haha, just kidding. They have a lot of fun together, was what I'm trying to say. My best friend... well, I'm not sure she'll be in my classes. One can only hope, right? Anyway, after breakfast I slung my backpack over my shoulders, kissed my little sister and mother goodbye, and made my way to Jonah's newly fixed car. "You're going to love MIST. It's the best high school in town." My brother reassured me. "Wait, the school's name is...mist?" I chuckled nervously. With my experience with water, I hoped I wouldn't have to be on the swim team. I haven't gone into the water ever since the weird happenings have started. Even though pool water had chlorine, I didn't want to get near it, for fear something weird might happen. Especially if I had the whole class as an audience, now that would be plain horrifying. "Yeah, Miranda International School Transfers. Something like that. Transfer students are very common here, so you should fit it just fine." My family is from Australia. I practiced on my American accent, and was almost fluent. But I don't think that matters much at an international high school. "Anyway, here we are. Good luck, Aqua. Have a good day." "You know, you're starting to sound exactly like Dad." He grinned. "Bye, sis." He waved at me as he parked the car. I was a freshman today, and my brother would be starting his junior year. I shouldered my backpack, took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh. I walked up the steps and into the auditorium, where all the freshmen were headed for the teacher's speeches on this new school year and so on. I got the sickening feeling you get of being alone on the first day of a new school, but thankfully, I found my bestfriend, Irina. "Hey, Aquata. So, how do you like the school so far?" Irina was very popular and her older sister already went to the school. "It's very nice. Who do you have for homeroom?" "Oh, uh, Ms. Robins. Oh, geez. That sounds like someone who works at Baskin Robins." She chuckled. "Who do you have?" "Same as you." "Yes!" She cheered wildly while I cheered quietly. Some teachers looked in our direction to get us quiet. "Anyway, they should be finishing right about...now." Irina said as the group of teachers onstage broke up and the principal wished us a good first day. "Come, first period awaits." I laughed as she goofed off. As you can already tell, Irina was a drama student, so we would be having different schedules, of course. Right now, we were going to science. Now, there were two things: one was bad, the other sort of good. The good, I had my friend to talk to and the teacher seemed nice, the bad, we were learning about oceans. My face must have paled because Irina asked me "Aquata, are you okay?" "Yeah, thanks." "Welcome, class! My name's Ms. Robins and this is marine biology. We will first learn about the ocean and the elements. Take out your textbooks and turn to page 32. Paraphrase each section for your notes. We will be having a test in about two weeks time. Begin." She went to her desk and started grading summer homework. Yeah, I know. Why would anyone give us science homework over break? It's always supposed to be only math and language arts, but since we were in an advanced class, we had science homework. Hurray. I grumbled in my head as I started paraphrasing the notes. "Okay, class. I will be calling you up to get your summer packets and put them in the file cabinet in the back of the room. Aquata Aldwyn, please see me after class." Students turned to stare at me. "What's that all about?" Irina asked me. "I have no idea. What class do you have next?" "P.E. How about you?" "Language arts." I mumbled. "Oh, good luck, with that and the big bad wolf teacher over there." Irina motioned with her head towards Ms. Robins. I stiffled a laugh. Ms. Big bad wolf, indeed. I had to wait until she finished with everyone until I walked up nervously to her desk. She was a middle-aged woman with brown hair and cold hazel colored eyes. "You wanted to see me?" I asked, fidgeting with my new bracelet. "Yes. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to join the surfing team for P.E." I gaped at her. How did she know I loved surfing? Oh... it dawned on me like a punch in the gut that I wouldn't be able to be in the water, all because of the ridiculous incidents happening lately. "Um, I don't think I can." "Why's that?" "Um...because, I uh..." "You'd be representing the school in competitions and won't have to do much in P.E. class for you'll always be practicing for surf meets. So what do you say? I've heard from your previous school that you were the greatest surfer in their after school program. So why won't you do this surfing class?" "Um, sure, I'll do it." "Perfect, surfing classes will begin next week so students and teachers will get everyone's schedule in order. Here's a pass for second period. Have a great rest of the day, and if you have any questions about surf class, you can ask me or your P.E. teacher, Ms. Tealbrook." "Thank you." I said and walked to second period. I wasn't exactly late, because we had one minute til the bell rang, but I gave the pass to Ms. Lucy, the language arts teacher. I took a seat in the back of the class. Irina was in another class and she was the only friend I have in high school right now. "We're taking notes on how to write an essay. Again. Don't we do this every year?" A girl who sat next to me said. "Yeah, no kidding. You'd think that with all those essays we'd learn how to write a solid essay. Um, I'm Aquata." "Eldowen." They shook hands. "Cool name." I told her. "Likewise." I grinned as I took out more sheets of paper from the folder. First weeks of school were always the same in every school. A lot of paper involved, too. "What a boring class." I said at the same time as Eldowen. We started laughing as we made our way to third period, P.E. seeing Irina on our way. "Hey, Aquata!" She called to me as she came from the field. "Hey, Irina. How did it go?" "I love this class. So what did Ms. Robins want to see you about anyway?" "Oh, just joining the surf class." "You're always stealing the spotlight while surfing." She said hugging me goodbye. "Haha, yeah. Good luck in your next class. See you at lunch, right?" "Yeah, see you at lunch." "Aquata, come on. We have to go to the basketball court." Eldowen told me. "Coming." "So... do you like drawing?" She asked me." "Yeah, it's my favorite thing to do when I'm home, besides surfing..." "You don't look like you're in the mood to surf today." She told me. "I feel fine, at least, I think I do. Wait, you surf, too?" "Yep. I'm going to be in your surf class, too." "That's amazing." "I know, right?" As we laughed we walked to the basketball court. It was very hot today, the sun beating down on our skin. I shielded my eyes as the teacher, Ms. Tealbrook, I remember Ms. Robins saying, took attendance. "Today we will be learning skills in basketball. Can anyone tell me how to properly throw a basketball, causing it to go through the hoop?" A boy raised his hand. "You have to hit the backboard square, but that's only one type of move you can try to make the ball into the basketball hoop." "Thank you. Mr. Johnson, was it?" The boy nodded. I wonder if what she was calling students were their first or last names. When she called my name, I knew she would be calling us by our last names, making it easier for her to remember our first names. The whole class she went over basketball skills, and I nearly fell asleep. "Ms. Aldwyn, did Ms. Robins already tell you about our surfing class?" I nodded. "Perfect. See you next week. You too, Ms. Oakley." Eldowen blushed at the mention of her last name. I gave her a questioning glance. "Later," her eyes seemed to say. I nodded as the rest of the class got their backpacks and headed back to the P.E. shelter outside of the classroom. "So... What's wrong with you and your last name?" I drawled. "Oh, it's just that it sounds so... I don't know, weird compared to my first name." She shrugged. "Oh, okay. Well, it's good she's only going to use our last names this week. Hopefully, next week she'll at least remember our class' names." Eldowen grinned. "We have the same fourth period, right?" I asked. "Depends. I have Mr. Jade, math. You?" "Same as you. I think Irina has the same class, too." "Then I guess I'll look forward to meeting your friend. A little fun group of stories." "Yup. Let's go, Ms. Tealbrook dismissed the class already." We broke off into a run up the stairs to math class, in this case, algebra. We took our seats in the bottom right corner, next to the bookcases. When Irina walked in and saw us, she said something to her crowd of friends, and took a seat next to us. "Well, I see you've made a friend." Irina nodded towards Eldowen, who returned her nod. "And I see you've made plenty." Irina shrugged and cracked a smile. "Yeah, but they're nowhere near as fun as you." I also smiled. "Oh, this is Eldowen. Eldowen, Irina." "Nice to meet you." They said as they shook hands. "Good morning, class. I am Mr. Jade, your algebra teacher. I assume you all know about square roots?" Yes's and yeah's went around the room. "Perfect. We will take notes on a review on scientific notation and square root. Take out your composition notebooks, and copy what I'm writing on the board." He turned to the Smartboard. "When's lunch?" I heard Eldowen groan softly. I stiffled a laugh. "At around 12:15, we're going to lunch. At about 12:30, possibly later on some days, I will come and get the class. Then we will continue on a new lesson. Ok?" "Yes." The class replied. "Good. Now, let's continue on..." blah blah blah. I don't think I should get into boring details about algebra. Let's just say, the rest of the day went smoothly, no strange calling from the ocean. I made plans with Irina and Eldowen to hang out after school tomorrow. To get a coffee or something, you know. As I waited for Jonah in the parking lot, I noticed it was about to rain. Thunder rolled in the distance, and stormy clouds rolling in. I guess I wouldn't go surfing with Eldowen, today. "Jonah, where are you?" I asked over the phone. "Rounding the corner, there you are." He waved to me from the driver's seat. I stomped my way into the passenger seat, slamming the door behind me. "Whoa, chill out, sis. I'm sorry I'm late, all right?" "It's fine." "So, how was your first day in high school?" He asked me. I shrugged. "Pretty boring. Oh, um... my science teacher and P.E. teacher want me to join the surfing class, and I uh, told them sure, but..." "Are you crazy?!" "Hey, it wasn't my fault! They urged me to join, what was I supposed to tell them "Sorry, I can't because water does strange things to me"?" He sighed. "No, guess not. But what will we do now, surely we can't tell dad, or he'll even keep you from going to school." "Are you saying I just go for it?" "Sure, if that's what you really want. Wait, I found something washed up by the shore. They're seashells, you can have one, and I'll have the other. Who knows? It might be one of those phone-like shells." He started laughing, and soon, so did I. "You're always fun to hang around." "Hey, don't mention it. I'm your big brother, my job's to take care of my family." "Thanks." As we neared the house, it was mysteriously quiet. "Why's it so quiet?" I asked my brother. "No idea. Wait here." "Jonah, there's no way I'm letting you--" "Mom! Dad! Callista!" He called. "I'll call them." I told him as I got out of the car. On the third ring, they answered. "Hey, honey, how was your first day in high school?" Dad asked. "Uh, fine. Where are you?" "We're just doing some shopping. Callista's gone to her friend's house, so..." "Dad, what are you shopping for?" "Oh you know, some things to close off our house from the shore, that's all." "What do you mean 'thats all'? I love the ocean, and just because something's strange happening won't stop me from loving the water. I've got to have some freedom, at least. Please, Dad?" He sighed over the phone. "Fine, we're not buying anything, we're not even going to lock you in tonight, okay? Just don't go out to the shore, alright?" "I'll try. Thank you." "No problem. See you in a bit. Oh, and say hi to Jonah for me." "Will do, bye." As I hung up, I told what had happened over the phone to Jonah. "We've got to figure out why you're being called to the ocean. You know what? I'll start researching on the Internet. Will you be okay on your own?" "Oh come on, brother. I'm in high school, I don't need you as my knight anymore, or at least, not yet, anyway. Good luck with your search, then!" I called to him as he ran to his room, his backpack bouncing on his back. I walked to the shores, cautious to not get into the water. I looked at the crystal clear water, at the reflection of the trees and sky. Something flashed, and my head snapped up. I gasped. There, floating on the water, was some type of ghost, or water nymph. "What do you want?" I demanded, my voice shaking. "Do not fear, I just came to deliver an important message. You are needed in Oceana. Your destiny must be fulfilled as one of our kind, underwater creatures from myths." "This is absurd. Fairy tales and fantasies aren't real. You're not real, just a figure of my imagination." "You may believe mermaids and all those under water creatures are fake, but I am standing here, talking to you, aren't I? And I am a nereid, thank you very much. If you don't heed this message, you will have a dangerous week ahead of you. Your secret might as well be out now, saying you've disappeared rather than known the truth. You are a mermaid, Aquata Aldwyn, and you can't change it. Chose wisely, but even if you make the wrong choice, it will all end with you coming to Oceana, whether you like it or not. Or, you could stay here until the evil escaping comes onto land and attacks your family first, but that can be prevented, if only you would come back to your home." "You're crazy to think I'll ever believe this." "Fine, I'll see you in a week, then. Have fun figuring out your strange callings the hard way. Ta ta!" The nereid vanished in a shimmer of light. "Aquata, are you all right? I heard talking--" "I'm fine. I'm going to do my homework." He didn't say another word as I headed to my room, what happened with the sea nymph weighing down on my mind. Before I knew what had happened, I blacked out from a great headache that hit me full-force. I started hearing sounds from the ocean, the waves especially. I also heard my brother calling my name, but the waves drowned it out. My head was pounding, but I felt so peaceful.