Nothing Comes Easy (Hiatus)

Chapter 15

(Marco's POV)

(The following Monday)

It was lunch time. I was on my way back from the lunch line, after getting unfortunately separated from everyone else. I had almost made it to our table when Lars stepped in front of me. "Well well well, look who it is, Marco Diaz."

"Must we do this, Lars?" I asked. "I'm really not in the mood."

"Sure." He said as he cracked his knuckles. "I just wanted to tell you that you got something on your face."

"My face?" I asked as I placed my hand on my face.

"Yeah." He knocked my lunch tray into my face. "It's your lunch. Aha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Not funny." I said as I wiped the remains of my lunch off my face.

"Correction, funny! Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

"That doesn't even make any sense!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, it makes perfect sense. Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha." He walked off laughing his stupid laugh, and I got up and picked up my empty tray.

"Trouble with Lars?" I heard someone ask from behind me.

I turned around to see Jackie holding a tray, with a cover on it. "Only the usual, he still wants to get back at me for when Monster Arm beat him silly."

"Well that wasn't your doing, now was it?" She said as we began walking. "So how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay I guess, I mean almost drowning can be … kind of intense sometimes." I paused. "I forgot to thank you for saving my life, didn't I?"

She laughed. "Don't sweat it, I was happy to help." She stopped walking and had a nervous look on her face. "Um … Marco … do you … remember … what Ludo said back at the docks?"

"What?" I asked as I began thinking. "You mean when he said you were a mermaid?"

She looked down nervously. "Um … yeah, that."

"What about it?" I asked. "I mean mermaids usually have fins, and you clearly have legs."

"Not all the time … some half mermaids lose their fins when they grow up."

I slowly turned to her surprised. "Jackie … how … would you know that?"

"How do you think?" She asked. "I'm half mermaid on my mother's side."

"How does that even work?" I asked.

"Don't ask." Jackie replied. "Just … promise me you won't tell Star."

"What?" I asked.

"Don't tell Star, I … don't want people to know that about me."

"Then why tell me?" I asked.

"You may have put two and two together and found out, then you would tell Star; and then it will end up getting around the entire school."

"Okay." I began. I didn't want to keep a secret from Star, but Jackie seemed insistent on this and I didn't feel as though it was all that important for Star to know. "All right Jackie … I promise."

She smiled as we placed her tray on an empty table and took the cover off it revealing a lot of cupcakes. She took one out and handed it to me. "Here." She said.

"What are the cupcakes for?" I asked.

"Home Ec, sorry if they're not good, cooking isn't really my strong suit."

I took the cupcake and placed it on my tray. "I'm sure that they'll be great"

"Thanks." She picked up a second one and placed it on my tray as well. "I know it's not lunch, but it's better than nothing."