Free Teenage Mermaid by Ellen Schreiber

smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He leaned his arm against the railing, blocking my escape. I glanced down at his Abbey Road T-shirt.
    â€œI have that compact disc at home,” I said.
    His eyes widened. “No way. You like the Beatles? So many girls at school are only wiggy about current bands. But the Beatles were real musicians!”
    â€œThe Beatles, the ocean, saving you. You might say we’re connected,” I said.
    His face flushed and he immediately took a sip of his latte. A freakish mermaid on the side of the cup stared me in the face.
    â€œMermaids don’t have two tails!” I said, looking at the drawing. “And crowns are so five cycles ago!” I rolled my eyes.
    â€œYou’re funny,” he said, with a laugh. “You know what? My best friend thinks you’re a mermaid!”
    I gasped. Was my identity obvious? Had he known all along? But Spencer’s grin reassured me that he was only joking.
    â€œDo you believe in mermaids?” I asked playfully, but secretly hoping for a positive response.
    â€œLike I believe in trolls and gnomes!” he exclaimed.
    We both laughed. He had the cutest smile, the corners of his mouth turned up sweetly. I wondered whatit would be like to kiss his lips out of the water, to touch his face, his wild blue hair. But he averted his eyes toward the sea.
    â€œWell…I better—” I said.
    â€œIt’s funny,” he began, “but when I saw you underwater I thought—”
    â€œThat I was a troll?”
    â€œIt must have been the lack of oxygen,” he said, with reservation. “But I thought I saw a ta—”
    â€œReally, I should be—”
    â€œWhy were you swimming so early, anyway?” he asked.
    â€œI love swimming,” I defended. “I prefer it to walking.”
    â€œYeah.” He smiled. “Me, too!”
    He stared at me, his eyes mixed with passion and nervousness.
    â€œWhy did you transfer to Seaside?” he asked, looking at a ship on the horizon.
    â€œIt was either that or the Atlantic,” I replied truthfully enough, placing my foot on the railing so that it was almost touching his.
    Spencer was so different. And not just because he was an Earthee. He was different from every soul I had ever encountered. I felt a connection without our sharing words, a connection just sharing space.
    â€œSo, is Calvin your boyfriend?” he asked in a halting voice.
    â€œAre you kidding? He’s so like the dudes back home. He was just trying to help me find you.”
    â€œWell…then I should thank him,” he said sweetly. He looked to the ocean.
    I felt a strange pulse deep inside my veins. I could tell by the sun that it was after one o’clock. The moon was on the rise. “I wish I could stay longer,” I said, trying to push past him.
    But he didn’t budge and instead grabbed my hand and led me into Seaside Arcade—a room filled with metal machines, flashing lights, and loud, wild sounds. “This is my favorite place in the world, besides the beach.”
    I covered my ears.
    He stuck four coins into a model of a motorboat and told me to sit inside and steer the wheel. He then got into the next boat.
    â€œReady?”
    â€œOf course!” I said, having no idea what I was in for. I looked at the screen, but my boat wasn’t going anywhere. Then I noticed Spencer was pressing a pedal on the floor, so I copied his moves. My boat began to move. It was wild pretending to be on top of the water, instead of deep below the surface. But I sooncrashed into another boat whose driver flew overboard.
    â€œOh, no!” I screamed. “What do I do now?”
    â€œDrive on!” he said, shifting his stick.
    â€œBut the man’s drowning!”
    â€œYou can’t save everyone,” Spencer teased, swerving to avoid a lighthouse.
    G AME O VER lit up on my screen. My boat no longer moved. While Spencer continued to drive