"Hello? Veronica?" I asked as I knocked on the front door of her house. The door slowly opened, revealing Veronica wearing a long, lavender beach dress. "Delphine?!" She gasped. I nodded, and we tightly embraced each other. The last time we held each other this tight was the day she moved away. We were both crying, and we worried that we were never going to see each other again.
"I missed you so much," she muffled into my shoulder. "I missed you too," I whispered back. Then, I heard someone clear their throat, and when we pulled out of the embrace, we saw Veronica's Stepfather, Count Olaf was staring at us. "Hello, hello, hello, I did not expect to see you again, Delphine," he said, twiddling his fingers.
"Hello, Mr. Olaf, it's nice to see you again," I smiled. He gave me a small half-smile before walking into the kitchen. "So, what are you doing here? I thought you would be spending the summer with your parents," she questioned. "My parents got called to the Mortmain Mountains, so I'm spending the summer with Aunt Kit and Uncle Dewey, oh and Baby Beatrice too," I explained. Veronica gave me a sad smile. I think she knew that I was sad that I wasn't able to go with my parents.
"I'm sorry you didn't get to go, but I'm glad you're here," we embraced each other once more, this time making it last longer, even though it had been almost a year since the last time we saw each other, it still felt like it had been an eternity. "Veronica, don't leave the door open, your gonna let bugs enter the house, go outside or invite the girl in, for heaven's sake," Mr. Olaf said, sticking his head out from the kitchen.
"Sorry, Father, we're gonna head down to the beach and catch up," Veronica sighed. "Okay, but be back before sunset if you want to still go to the full moon party tonight," She closed the door behind us, and we walked across the street. There was a small set of stairs that led down to the beach, it was only a few houses away from us, and it was the perfect time to head down there. The sun was getting closer and closer to touching the sea, but it would be at least a half-hour until it would be time for us to head home.
"What is the full moon party?" I asked as we stepped onto the first wooden stair. "Oh right, I forgot you've never been to one. It's a celebration of the full moon, it happens once every month, and this time, it's supposed to be a blood moon! I can't wait to see it!" She answered. "What do they do at these parties?"
"We celebrate and thank the gods for giving us moonlight, of course! Besides, you should know what happens if someone goes into moonlit water on the night of a full moon," Veronica chuckled. I had no idea what she was talking about, and even though I knew a lot about mermaids, I didn't know every single fact about them in existence. "What happens on the full moon if you go into the water?" I asked.
After asking that question, we reached the bottom of the staircase and began to walk towards the light blue waves that kept crashing every few seconds. "I don't know if it's true or not, but rumor has it that if you go into the water when the moon is fully in the sky, you could become a real mermaid, just think about it, Delphine, we could become mermaids like we always wanted," Veronica smiled.
Veronica and I had shared an interest in the ocean. And soon, we became obsessed with finding mermaids to try to put the rumor that Mermaids aren't real to rest, as well as trying to become one of them to prove it. "That's amazing, Veronica! Let's hope that my Aunt and Uncle will let me go. You know how tired Aunt Kit is about me talking about the ocean," I giggled slightly. "Yeah, I remember we were hanging out at their house, and she told us to stop talking about the ocean because she was tired of hearing about it,"
I nodded as we sat down in the sand and watched as the sun got closer and closer to the water. The sound of the waves crashing against the sand was so peaceful. I was so glad to be reunited with my friend again, and I wanted to spend all summer catching up with her. "If your Aunt lets you come to the party tonight, maybe you'll get to meet some of my friends," Veronica said, looking back over at me.
"Well, let's hope she says yes," I said, looking back at the large house where in the distance, I could see Aunt Kit looking out at the window with Beatrice in her arms.