It was nine o'clock in San Francisco California, in America. There was a huge party, celebrating the seventeenth birthday party of the most popular girl at one if the schools. Everyone in her year group had attended the party.
The sky was dark, but the beach was still packed full of buzz, coming from young lively, drunken teenagers, playing volleyball and drinking all sorts of sodas and cocktails.
Seventeen year old Josh was stood by the Hawaii themed bar. He was averaged height, and had black spiky hair and a dark tanned skin and hazel eyes. He was dressed in blue jeans and a simple plain white shirt, with new converse shoes. He had an empty glass in his hand, as the content of his glass had just been knocked onto his shirt...
Most teenagers would have just laughed and shrugged, but not Josh. At first, he just stared at his stained shirt, before dropping his glass and bolting to the ocean.
"Josh, mate, where are you going?" Someone behind him yelled, but Josh didn't respond, as he was focusing all his energy on getting to the sea.
He ducked behind a large rock and dived into the sea, swimming fifteen metres out.
Without anyone seeing, his legs transformed into a long blue merman tail, and his shirt completely disappeared.
Josh exhaled deeply, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. That was close, he had almost been caught. And nobody could know that he was a merman...
*****
It was almost three o'clock in the morning at Pembrokeshire in Wales, in the United Kingdom, and sixteen year old Gareth was sat on his bed in his tiny bedroom, the curtains closed and lights off. The only source of light was coming from his laptop, resting on his knees as he scrolled and typed away on his favourite social media site, tumblr.
Gareth was a few inches shorter than most of the boys in his year. He had skin paler than a ghost and blue piercing eyes framed by square glasses. He had ginger curly hair and a million freckles dotted all over his face.
He hadn't yet got changed into his pjamas, so he was still wearing his school uniform: a crisp white shirt under a black blazer with red lining the collar and cuffs. His trousers were black, and his red and navy stripy tie was hung around his shoulders.
Gareth looked to his bedside table, full of collectable figurines of his favourite superheroes, and he reached to grab his water bottle.
What Gareth didn't realise was that the cap of the lid was not fully on the water bottle. This caused the water to fall out of the bottle and soak into the sleeve of his blazer.
Most boys would have simply taken their blazer off, but not Gareth. Instead he groaned, and put his laptop on the floor by his bed amongst the comic books.
He closed his eyes, lying on his bed, and when he opened them again, his legs had been replaced with a long blue merman tail, and his blazer and shirt had vanished.
Gareth immediately gabbed a T-shirt on the floor and began to attempt to dry himself, in case anyone entered his room uninvited.
He couldn't let anyone find out it was a merman...
*****
It was the early morning in Valencia, in Spain, located in Europe, and sunlight was streaming on through the open window of the kitchen where Matteo was sat.
Matteo was twenty. He was employed at a local café, but still lived with his parents.
Matteo had dark skin and brown hair which he had continuously bleached blonde, and green eyes. He was in his work clothes of a blue tight shirt with black shorts and black pumps.
Matteo was always the first to wake up in his household, but he had always been a morning person, so this didn't really bother him. He liked to take the morning shifts at work, so he had the afternoons to hang out at the beach.
Matteo picked up his fruit smoothie and headed out into the garden, not realising that the sprinklers were on. As soon as he stepped on the patio, the sprinklers attacked...
Three seconds had passed, and he was completely soaked from his head to his toe.
Most people would have just turned off the sprinklers without a fuss, but not Matteo. He immediately dropped his smoothie and ran as fast as he could down the grass and behind the large tree in the corner of his garden. Just as he tripped and fell, his legs changed from legs to a long blue merman tail.
Matteo sighed unhappily and surveyed the garden and windows of his house. He couldn't let anyone know that he was a merman...