Something Fishy

Chapter 1

"I'm sorry Felicity, it just that, these long distance things never work-" Eli tries to explain to me. " But it will work for us!" I cry, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Eli, don't tell me you just want to end it here." My voice is barely above a whisper now. He doesn't say anything, he just gives me a sad smile. "Like I said before, sorry." He shuts the door, leaving me crying on the sidewalk like a big baby who just got dumped. I walk home and give the doorknob a tight, angry squeeze before I open the door. My mom is sitting on a moving box in the front room. She sees me crying and comes up to hug me. "I know you'll miss him Hun, but everything will be alright between you two." I don't tell her that we just broke up because it's not important at the time, we still have a few more boxes to put in the van.

I pulled out of her embrace to pick up the box nearest to me. "So," I said, sniffing, " tell me why we're moving again?" I already knew the answer but I hoped that maybe this time mom would see how ridiculous it was. " Because we need to downgrade, Hun. We need to get away from the city for a while and find out what real life is like." Nope, she still firmly believed that living in New York City isn't "real life";my life is very real here! I have real friends, a real school and I had a real boyfriend. My mom and I took the last of the boxes outside and stuffed them in the truck. We walked to the front of the car and hopped inside. "Ready?" My mom asked. "No." I say. " Felicity, everything will be fine. You'll love it." She assured me. "I highly doubt that." I say. Mom just sighed and started the engine.

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Before I knew it we were in Beachcrest, the small town that my mom decided to move us to. Beachcrest is a fabulous town that has clear waters and many attractions, at least, that's what the tour guide pamphlet said. We got out of the car and go inside of our new house. I saw a brick townhouse that was much smaller than our old one. I walked inside and unpacked all of my boxes, stopping when I get to a picture of Eli and I, sharing a milkshake, my best friend Mia took that picture. The picture starts to become blurry as I begin to cry. I wipe my tears away and stash the picture at the back of my closet. I finish unpacking the rest of my stuff and run downstairs. "Mom, is it ok if I go to the beach for a while?" I ask. "Sure, just be back by 7:30."she answers.

I jogged to the beach and stopped at a tiny shop that read "Surf Palace". "Kind of small for a palace." I mumbled. I decided to enter out of curiosity and opened the bamboo door. "Welcome to Surf Palace." A male voice called from behind a surfboard. I laughed to myself. A head peaked out from behind a board. "Can I help you?" He asked. "Nope, just looking around." I said, looking at the pretty surfboards around me. In between two orange boards was a binder labeled "Get to Know the Boards". "What's this?" I asked. "A guide to all the different surfboards in here, you must be new." He said. "Yeah, Celine." I introduce myself. "Glenn." He says. He's up close now, so I can see a mermaid necklace around his neck. He noticed me staring and said "Uh, I like mermaids, I think they're real." This guy is nuts. I think. "I know, I'm crazy." He said. "Yeah, you are." I replied, looking through the binder. "Uh, listen, we kinda need some help here at the shop, and you seem to be really into this stuff so, if you want to work here just say the word."he said. "Well, I could use the extra cash but, don't you want to interview me first?" I look at him and he blushed "We are really desperate here, I mean, it's literally just me and the manager." "Alright. I'll work here." I said "Thank you!" He exclaimed."Sorry, just excited to have someone else around" he said. I just nod my head.

I headed out the door and took out my phone to check the time. It read 7:02. Which meant that I still had some time to be out. I headed to the waves and cautiously put my feet in the water. My feet start to feel numb. My head starts to race with memories from my ninth grade field trip. "Help!" I scream but my cries are blurred out by the water. I can't feel my legs and I'm drowning. I'm going to die here. Someone pulls me out of the water and starts to scream my name before I pass out. I shake the horrific memory from my mind and look down. My feet are starting to look orange, and long, and fin-like. I pull them out of the water and stare at them as they slowly return to their mocha color and small size. Maybe I'm just hallucinating. I thought, as I slowly walked back home.

"Mom, this place is crazy." I called to her as soon as I enter the door. No one answers. I figure that she must of went grocery shopping because we have zero food in the fridge. "Uuugh." I groan. I walk upstairs and change into some pajamas before heading to bed.