Deep [Niall Horan]

Chapter Twenty-Three

"No. I didn't. Sorry."

"Fuck! What am I supposed to do! My entire life is on that phone!"

Harry's gripping his hair and spinning around on his feet.

"Harry, calm down. I'm sure you will find it somewhere."

With his hands still in his hair, Harry goes back to his seat. A herd of girls start to approach me. Their faces covered in ten pounds of makeup. I gulp.

"Stay away from Harry," one says.

"Yeah, keep off."

"Slut."

"He doesn't want you."

"Whore."

"He's not into girls like you."

"Um, then tell him to stay away from me?" I say.

All of their mouths drop in unison and they walk back to their seats with their arms crossed.

"What's up with those girls?" I ask Stephanie.

"Part of the school sluts. I'll tell you about them later. Class is about to start."

Class begins. He says we are to study a poem today. I don't read much poetry, so I'm not super excited about today's lesson. The poem is titled "The Mermaid" by William Butler Yeats.

"He's not an American poet," the teacher says as he hands us all a printed version, "but this is one of my favorites and I hope you can treasure it as much as I have. Read it a few times for good measure."

The poem is only six lines. I don't know how much depth can occur in six lines, but I'm open-minded. I begin to read:

A mermaid found a swimming lad,

Picked him for her own,

Pressed her body to his body,

Laughed; and plunging down

Forgot in cruel happiness

That even lovers drown.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you okay Emily? You seem a little off today."

"I can't stop thinking about that poem we read in class today."

I'm sitting with Stephanie in Starbucks. She stares at me with despondency

"Niall?" she says.

"I'm the mermaid. I found him. I was happy. We pressed our bodies together. We laughed. But then we drowned. Not we, I did. I fucking drowned because of my stupidity. I forgot that even lovers can drown. Not everything can end in happiness. But I was stuck in a fake bliss with him that I should have removed myself from. If only I did, I wouldn't have drowned. I wouldn't have sunken this deep."

There is a very long moment of silence between us.

"Wow, Emily. I think you may be the only one who got anything from that poem."

"It really spoke to me."

"I guess that's what poetry is for."

"Yeah. Anyways, please tell me more things about Niall."

Stephanie takes a deep breath, "Okay, what questions do you have?"

"First...who the fuck is Melissa?"

Stephanie thinks before answering, "Honestly, I can't figure her out either. She's a slut though."

"Is she who he was kissing at that party?"