Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~Three~

It was weird thinking about merpeople being real, but mermaids seemed more realistic then mermen.

What if I was high?

This was the ridiculous question that I had continually asked myself the whole ride to the carnival in my parents red jeep. The wind blew through the car as I drove down the road, my dad had had helped us remove the doors and roof, and the boys were blasting whatever new song was playing through the speakers. The sun shinned brightly and the coast ran with me to my right.

But the perfect soon to be summer moment wasn't even helping me relax. All I could focus on was the fact that I had seen some mystical creature swimming outside my house. Who would be able to stop thinking about that? How often did this happen anyway? I hadn't personally heard about any sightings and with how often the kids at my school went to the beach that was saying one in a few thousand. But then you had to count all the tourists and new people in the area with all the events. It made what I had seen seem so unrealistic that I had no other choice but to think I was on drugs.

The only problem with that theory was the fact that I hadn't taken any drugs willingly and I didn't think my parents had put any in my Chinese food the night before. Not to mention my brother hadn't screamed that the couch was trying to eat him or that dolphins were coming out of the floor. So it was safe to say that I was not on drugs, too bad that meant my sanity was the only thing left to be questioned.

*

*

I parked the car a block from the fair and then waited in line with the boys to pay for our wristbands. I watched as families walked around, a husband and wife with their children, excited expressions on their faces. I watched as couples of all gender combinations went happily about their business, eating ice cream cones, laughing, and holding hands.

"Wrist please," said a grumpy sounding woman. I absently placed my hand into the booth as I people watched. I heard the paper as she wrapped it around. Finally I was released.

I suddenly realized that not only did I not have a relationship with anyone but not even my brother and his friend wanted to be near me. I sighed as they waved bye to me and headed to a spinning ride. Feeling unloved I walked over and sat down at a small picnic table.

Forever alone.

That is until someone sat down beside me.

"You're that new girl Audrey, right?" a girl asked. I looked over to see a beautiful dark skinned girl with long, black hair. A random little braid on the side had a feather weaved into it. Her eyes were dark and her lips were full.

For a second I was speechless. "Yeah, yeah I'm Audrey." I finally got out. "Not really that new though; I've been here over two weeks."

"That's new enough to be called new," a boy with light brown hair and cold brown eyes said as he appeared in front of me.

"I'm Heidi," said the girl as she stuck out her hand. I wasn't a fan of touching hands after my accident, actually, touching at all made my skin crawl; but, I forced myself not to be rude. These, after all, were the only people who had really talked to me since I had moved and I need friends not enemies. "And this is Jake."

I nodded my head towards the boy across from me, Jake, he nodded back and then flipped his hair out of his eyes.

"How did you know my name?" I asked. It might have seemed a strange question but since no one had bothered to really acknowledge me since my first day of school, I thought it was pretty reasonable.