The next morning, I wake up tired but happy. After getting dressed into some casual clothes, I walk down the stairs with a skip in my step. When I walk into the kitchen I see Raven, Sean, Hank and Alex, who's eyes were on me except for the latter. I give a small smile and 'hello', before walking to the fridge and pouring a glass of milk.
"How's your eye?" Raven asks me, studying my left eye.
"It's alright, I guess. It doesn't hurt unless I touch it," I shrug and take a sip of my milk, sitting beside her and Alex. I see Alex shift uncomfortably out of the corner of my eye and I look at him, seeing his cheeks slightly tinted pink. I try to hold back my smile when Sean says 'then don't touch it'.
"So, Charles wants to see your tail today," Hank says, and I swallow.
"Uh huh. And did you want that blood sample?" I ask him and start to feel uncomfortable when I feel everyone looking at me once more.
"Yeah, if it's possible."
"Cool," I say and try to look confident. A part of me is fine with everyone seeing my tail, but the other part is skeptical. I know that because they're my friends, they won't laugh but I can't help but worry.
A few hours later, after Charles apologises four more times, it was time to get in the water. I was wearing an old pair of pants and shirt, because I knew they would stretch/rip once I get in the water. I tie my hair up and sit beside the pool, looking at both Charles and Hank for support. Hank gives me a thumbs up and Charles smiles encouragingly. I take a deep breath in and slide in.
One, two, three, four, five, I mentally count the seconds as Charles times me, seeing how long it takes before my legs disappear. When I reach number five, I look down just in time to see my tail sprout through the water, and my pants to be ripped of. Butterflies flutter around my stomach when I look at Charles and Hank, who are in shock. I see Charles mutter something under his breath that resembled 'exquisite', and I blush. All of a sudden, I hear cheering coming from the upstairs window and look up to see Sean, Raven and Alex, all smiling. I feel tears of relief well up in my eyes and I try to cover it up with water, which worked tremendously.
"Absolutely brilliant, Amelia, truly. Whenever you are ready, start swimming," Charles says, and I can tell he's lost for words. I nod my head and suddenly I don't feel shy. My heart takes full control of my body, and I dunk my head under the water. I continue to hold my breathe as I start waving my tail up and down throughout the water, swimming laps around the pool. For some reason, I don't remember what swimming is like without a tail. It has been years since I have done so, and a part of me doesn't want to. I've never felt more graceful or alive than I do in this very moment.
I lose track of time as I continue swimming, and I start to wonder how long I've been under water. I stop in my tracks and bob my head up, only to see everybody standing still in shock. Hank was the first to move, and I see him press a button on the timer. He looks at it and his eyes widen. Have I really been under for that long? Hank reached over and shows Charles what the timer had read. Charles then mutters the time under his breathe, but I don't quite catch it.
"Sorry?" I say and I furrow my eyebrows. I look up and see Raven and Alex talking with a wide grin and Sean shouting 'woo'.
"Three minutes, seventeen seconds and twenty-seven milliseconds. That's how long you have been underwater, Amelia," he says, walking over to me and showing the timer as proof. I swim up to the edge of the pool and rest my arms against it, reading the timer. 03:17:27.
I raise my hands up to my mouth in shock and I can't find any possible words to speak. I settle with 'wow', and Charles chuckles.
"'Wow' indeed," he says, looking over to Hank.
"What d'you say, shall we get the blood test over with before we time how long she can really stay for?" He asks and Hank shrugs, still shocked.
"Sounds good to me," Hank replies and looks at me.
"Go for it," I grin.
Hours later, the blood test is finished and we are still timing how long I can stay under. I'm almost positive I have passed the one hour mark, and I still have no problem holding my breathe. All of a sudden, I feel vibrations in the water as if someone had jumped in. I look towards the splash and see a manly figure stick his head out of the water, causing me to lose sight of his head. Judging by the body, I realise it was Alex, and somebody had pushed him in. He stays in that spot for a few moments before he bobs his head under and gives a toothy grin because he was underwater. Without thinking, I open my mouth and try to speak. The words come out incoherent but I realise my breathing is fine. He furrows his eyebrows and signals for me to come up. I do so, and I see Sean standing by the pool laughing and clapping his hands.
"Oh man, that was something," he says, gasping for air and wiping a tear from his eye. Alex looks at him dirtily and I understand that it was Sean that had pushed Alex in. I ignore Sean laughing and look at Alex.
"Did you see that?" I ask him as he swims towards me, nearing the shallow side of the pool. He nods his head with a grin.
"Yeah, you were amazing. Honest."
"Thanks," I say, "but I don't mean my tail. Just then, I swear, I breathed underwater," and before could reply, Charles walked over, obviously listening to our conversation telepathically.
"Wait, you breathed underwater? Amelia, that's amazing," He leaned over the edge of the pool to squeeze my shoulder. I smile at him and Alex.
"Yeah, that's awesome. Plus you're tail was beautiful," Alex then says and I blush. Raven walks up from behind them both and grins.
"Just beautiful, Alex? That's not what you were saying earlier. It went something along the lines of-" Raven says in a deep voice, "-the most gorgeous thing I've ever laid eyes on." I look over to Alex and he turns a shade of deep crimson.
"I wasn't that dramatic," he says, "not that you aren't the mos- okay let's go." He then stands up and climbs out of the pool, avoiding my eye contact. From behind him, I see Raven mouthing 'he was', and I giggle. The three of them help me climb out of the pool, and pass me multiple towels. Eventually, I manage to dry off and my tail disappears, leaving my legs bare with only a towel covering my parts. I smile in am embarrassed way and ask Raven to bring me a shirt, pants and underwear from my dresser, leaving Charles to meet with Hank in the lab and Alex to sit beside me in another chair. He opens his mouth to say something, but Erik comes from around the corner.
"I saw your tail from the upstairs window - you have nothing to be ashamed of," he says to me, winking friendlily and before he walks away. I give him a smile. Alex and I stay seated quietly for a while before Raven comes out and hands me a pair of old jeans and matching lacy black underwear, which isn't mine. I look at Raven strangely before speaking.
"Oh Raven, these aren't mine?" I say questioningly and she gives me a sinister smile.
"Sure it is, I found it in your dresser," and with that, she walks away leaving me there blushing like a tomato. I look over at Alex and see him looking down at the floor with a small smile. I clear my throat and he looks up, before realising I had to put some pants on. Alex then stands up and follows the direction Raven had left in.
I stand up and take my shirt and bra off, after checking my surrounding, slipping the underwear on and noticing that it was a little big for me. This proves that it isn't my underwear, but Raven's, and she was trying to embarrass me in front of Alex. I shake my head and chuckle while I slip the jeans on afterwards, along with my shirt.
After I finally finish changing and putting my wet clothes in the dryer, it was time for lunch. The rest of the crew had already finished lunch, but left some salad for me in the fridge, which I quickly eat before heading up to my room to have some well needed me time.
I put on an old record and slip into more comfortable clothes, leaving Raven's underwear at the foot of my bed and my hardly-used clothes back into my dresser. I then decide to continue reading my book, but before I can pick it up, I hear a knock at my door.
"Come in," I yell out and Hank walks in with a grin. He leaves the door wide open and races over to my dresser, placing a stack of papers on it and sorting through it. I raise and eyebrow and let him finish. He finally lets out a triumphant sound and lifts a piece of paper into the air, turning around and facing me.
"Amelia," he starts, "I have found some phenomenal discoveries within your cells. Your cells happen to be very similar to Raven's, which means you have the ability to change at will." I let out a squeal and a 'no way' to which he smiles at.
"Yes way," he says. "But that's not all. All afternoon, I have been studying this theory that I am about to tell you, but you have to bear with me. You may have the ability to not only grow the tail of a fish, but control dihydrogen monoxide, which is the scientific name for water," Hank grins and opens his mouth, waiting for me to say something.
"W-water? You're joking right?" I grin and he shakes his head. "Oh my god, I can control water? W-how? What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said, you can control water. Not only that, but you can control things containing water, so a majority of liquids and best of all- human beings."
"Human beings? Oh my god, that's amazing. How do I do it?" I say and his smile falters.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure. I expect it is like controlling a muscle in your body or h-" he pauses and thinks, "maybe you can ask Erik, he can control metal, right?" I nod.
"Yeah, maybe I can. Do you think he'll help?"
"There's no reason why he shouldn't," Hank shrugs.
"Awesome, I'll go and find him," I say, and with that, I exit the room abruptly to find Erik.
•••
yay, everyone finally got to see her tail! I'm sorry you have waited so long for them to see it, I totally forgot they hadn't seen it yet until two people reminded me last chapter.
and thank you so much to everyone who has read the little mermaid, i'm currently on 1.3k reads, which is insane because i never expected this many, especially so early on.
please vote and comment, it means so much to me seeing how much everyone is enjoying reading as much as i enjoy writing.
i love you all and thank you again for 1.3k.
xoxo
-a