The Mermaids' Pearl: Semi-Sequel to Emmett's Jeanie

Chapter 12

Maddy's POV:

My first day at a human school was nearly done, and I couldn't be happier. I felt already, though it was still early to tell for certain, that my pearl was not a student here at Forks High. However, I had agreed to act human and I knew that I should probably know some written English so that I could talk to my pearl when I found him. That was the last thing I had for today, two hours of study hall with Bella. 

I walked into the classroom, knocking briefly on the door to get her attention. She looked up at me with a soft smile, putting down her pen and motioning me over to her desk. I sat down in the chair that was already pulled out as she took two small things out of her ears and placed them on the desk. I was staring at them when I heard music coming from them, but immediately looked back to her as I heard her laugh. 

"Have you never seen ear buds before?" (B)

I shook my head no and watched as she stopped laughing, a smile still playing on her lips as she tilted her head and stared at me. I felt a slight blush appear on my cheeks as I looked down at the floor, embarrassed by how little I knew of this world's technology. I felt her gently squeeze my shoulder as I looked up at her and met her brown eyes staring at me with nothing but kindness. 

"It's alright you know. I don't know what your world is like and so I didn't know that these weren't a part of it. I wasn't laughing to be cruel though, forgive me Maddy?" (B)

I nodded quickly as I saw her brown eyes light up in relief, a smile appearing on my face as they did. She nodded in return before she gave me a small pad of paper and a pencil, taking one for herself as well. I watched her write down 26 symbols, knowing that they were the English version of letters. Such plain things in nature though compared to Atlantian letters, so simple looking. 

"Ok, so this is the alphabet. We'll be starting with the little things for today, but first.....well would you like to get to know each other better first? Not well you know the whole species thing if you don't want to but little things?" (B)

I was curious as to why she would want to do that, but then I realized it would be easier to get along if we were closer to one another. I nodded in agreement, knowing that if Jeanie trusted her enough to leave me alone with her then I could trust her as well. The smile that lit up her face was enough to make me believe that she meant me no harm no matter what, and that put me at even greater ease around her.  

"Ok well, I'm Bella Swan, a human. I'm 22, and just finished college last year. I came back to Forks to teach, and be closer to my fiance." (B)

I stopped her with a waving my hand before I looked towards the door and back to her. I made a face as if I was howling to a non-existent moon in the room for a moment before looking to her in question. I saw her laugh a bit and nodded her head to my question.

"Yes, my fiance is one of them. My father is the sheriff of Forks, has been for the last 15 years or so I think. He just got married to a lovely woman named Sue. You may even know her two children. Leah, her oldest is married to Jeanie's cousin Gio. And Seth is her youngest. That's kind of it for me, I imagine I'm rather boring compared to your other friends." (B)

I felt a silent laugh leave my mouth as I shook my head no. She may be more normal than any other of my friends, but that does not mean boring. Especially since she really is engaged to one of the shapeshifters, and a wolf no less. I pause when I realize I want to tell her about myself but don't have a very good way to do it. She seems to realize the same thing as she starts to think before looking up with a smile on her face. 

"Are numbers the same in your language as in ours?" (B)

I shook my head and quickly wrote down 179 on the notepad before showing her and pointing to myself. She seemed confused for a moment, so I wrote down 22 and pointed at it and then to her. I watched with a bit of amusement as a look of shock appeared on her face, as she realized what the 179 meant. 

"Ok, so you're 179. Not a human, vampire, shapeshifter, or genie." (B)

I shook my head and tried to make a wave motion with my hand, before I saw she was just staring at me with a rather blank look on her face. I felt a silent sigh leave my mouth as I looked around the room and saw a map on the wall. I smiled as I jumped to my feet and walked over to it pointing at the pacific ocean, my home. I saw her look at it and then me as she slowly nodded. 

"Alright, so an ocean dweller. Sam and Jacob mentioned meeting a few different species like that at the convention they went to a few years ago. Selkie?" (B)

I nodded no again before I motioned to my hips and then down my legs before making the wave motion again. I did it a few more times before I saw realization mixed with shock appear on her face. She leaned back in her chair as she looked at me before she glanced to the door and back again.

 I walked back over to her as I sat down in the chair again and was wondering if I should fetch Jeanie, as it appeared that Bella was going into shock. My fears soon dwindled though as she smiled at me and leaned in closer before whispering the word that I had been trying so eagerly to act out. 

"Mermaid?" (B)

I nodded to her question matching her own smile with mine before she shook her head and looked back to the map and then myself again. I wished to be able to tell her more about my home, as I knew she would find everything about it wonderful in some way but I could not act out everything. 

"Well then, now that we know the basics about each other. I think we should get to work on teaching you how to write. That way I can ask you all the questions that are running through my mind." (B)

I laughed silently as I nodded in agreement with her, and I felt that we could perhaps be friends even if she was only human. The rest of the hour with her seemed to speed by quickly as I picked up the language fairly easily to an extent. I could now spell my own name and Jeanie's as well as hello and goodbye. I knew the letters of the alphabet and was now just working on the proper way they were arranged for certain words. 

Bella was surprised by my learning so quickly in such a short amount of time, until I showed her what my own language looked like when writing out a simple hello. Then she only laughed and said I probably wouldn't need her after another day or so. And though I agreed with her, I felt that I wouldn't mind continuing to speed my time with her during the last hour of school. If I hadn't already found my pearl by the end of the week that is.