Teenage Mermaid

Chapter Eight

I felt frightened. Where was Spencer? Would the man hurt me since I didn't have any coins? Did he have a knife? I felt like I was in the Underworld again without shark mace.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any money with me," I confessed. "But you're welcome to this," I said, handing him my coffee.
"Hey, Candy," Spencer called, anxiously running back.
"Thank you, miss," the man said, his withered face lighting up like the sun. He took the coffee as Spencer approached. "Most people don't even make eye contact!" said the man as he turned to leave.
The man turned his attention to Spencer.
"She has a pretty smile and a gracious heart. Don't let her get away," he said, and sauntered off.
"Speaking of leaving," I began, rising. "It's been totally - "
"But I don't know anything about you," he said, handing me the plastic bottle. "Here, everyone likes water."
"I can't live without it!" I said, laughing at my inside joke. He smiled fondly. I twisted off the cap, like I'd seen an Earthlady do earlier, and I sucked it down in one gulp.
I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He leaned his arm against the railing, blocking my escape. I glanced down at his Abbey Road T-shirt.
"I 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!"
"The 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.
"Mermaids don't have two tails!" I said, looking at the drawing. "And crowns are so five cycles ago!" I rolled my eyes.
"You'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.
"Do you believe in mermaids?" I asked playfully, but secretly hoping for a positive response.
"Like 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 what
"Well . . . I better - " I said.
"It's funny," he began, "but when I saw you underwater I thought - "
"That I was a troll?"
"It must have been the lack of oxygen," he said, with reservation. "But I thought I saw a ta - "
"Really, I should be - "
"Why were you swimming so early, anyway?" he asked.
"I love swimming," I defended. "I prefer it to walking."
"Yeah." He smiled. "Me, too!"
He stared at me, his eyes mixed with passion and nervousness.
"Why did you transfer to Seaside?" he asked, looking at a ship on the horizon.
"It 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.
"Are you kidding? He's so like the dudes back home. He was just trying to help me find you."
"Well . . . 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.
"Ready?"
"Of 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 soon
"Oh, no!" I screamed. "What do I do now?"
"Drive on!" he said, shifting his stick.
"But the man's drowning!"
"You can't save everyone," Spencer teased, swerving to avoid a lighthouse.
GAME OVER lit up on my screen. My boat no longer moved. While Spencer continued to drive his own boat, I decided to explore the rest of the arcade.
I had heard of guns. I'd even seen some rusted cannons at our Pacific Museum. But these two were pointing at a screen of ghosts.
"Wanna play?" Spencer asked, catching up to me.
I nodded, curious.
Ghosts floated in front of us, like delirious mermen. We had to shoot them. My stomach turned over as red blood squirted out from their gun wounds and their heads popped off. By mistake I shot a girl with yellow hair. "You play," I said, and handed Spencer the gun.
"I'm sorry," he said, following me through the maze of games. "I wanted to show you a good time, but we're just doing things I want to do."
I stood mesmerized in front of brightly colored fuzzy animals in a glass case. I tapped the glass, but the animals didn't move. It took me a moment to
"Which one do you like?"
I pointed to a wide-eyed pink swan.
Spencer maneuvered two white controls on the machine, and a metal crablike claw grabbed the pink fluffy swan and dropped it. Spencer picked the toy out of the chute and proudly handed it to me.
"I love it!" I exclaimed, squeezing it to my chest. "It's the softest thing I've ever touched besides - " I began, as our eyes met.
I wanted to say "your lips." He stared at me with soulful eyes. But I felt a sharp pain shooting through my veins.
"Besides?" he asked, grabbing my arm.
"I gotta go!" I exclaimed, turning away from him and walking out of the arcade.
"But it's only one-thirty," he said, following me along the pier. "What about a ride?" he asked, pointing to a huge wheel with swinging chairs that touched the sky. "You can stay another three minutes."
"Well . . ."
I was enjoying Earth. I would have stayed forever if I could. I wanted to touch, see, smell, and hear everything. What was so important at home that it couldn't wait for a three-minute ride? "Okay!"
Spencer ran to get tickets and came back with a huge blue weblike substance on a stick as well.
We sat close on the ride. I could feel my legs against his blue pants.
I stuck my finger in the soft weblike treat. Sweet grains slithered on my tongue. "This is amazing - what is it?"
"Don't tell me you've never eaten cotton candy!" he said, taking a bite of the blue cloud.
Suddenly we lifted off the ground. I grabbed Spencer's arm for dear life as we swung into the air. I had never seen a view of the world like this before!
"I feel like a bird!" I said, wide-eyed, when we reached the top.
"You've never been on a Ferris wheel?"
"I've never been higher than the rocks at the pier," I confessed in my excitement. "Look, there's Seaside High School! Look at the students! They're so tiny!" I exclaimed, pointing. "They look like sea horses!"
"Everyone else says ants. You're totally clever."
"Yeah . . . ants," I corrected myself.
"You really have a unique view of the world. You say things no one else would ever say. You do things no one else would ever do."
"Like saving you?" I said, looking at him.
His face turned red. Now he was the one who looked down, pointing. "Hey, look at the steroid
"That was incredible!" I said to Spencer as the attendant let us out.
"Thank you . . . for my life . . . for coming here. I hope we can do it again sometime," he said. "Too bad you have to go."
"Yeah. Too bad." I glanced along the boardwalk. "What's a fun house?"
"You've never been to a fun house, either? Man, you've had a deprived childhood!"
We looked at each other.
"Five more minutes?" I asked.
"Not a second longer, I promise!" Spencer said enthusiastically.
He quickly led me into the creaky house. The floors were bumpy, curvy, and shook from side to side.
I grabbed onto the rails with all my might, my stuffed swan dangled from my shaking fingers. Spencer crossed to the other side and laughed at me. I remained motionless, unsure how to proceed. He extended his hand, and led me safely across the shaky boards. I gave him my swan for safekeeping, and he stuck it securely in his back pocket.
In the next room we stood in front of life-size mirrors. But I didn't look like myself. And neither did he.
Spencer laughed again. He was really enjoying himself at my expense. He must have thought I was a complete idiot. I began giggling to cover my embarrassment. In the next mirror my head and body were short and fat. No longer frightened by these weird reflections, I forced another scream, just to make him think my first scream had been faked as well.
The walls of the next room were painted with flowers. I had read a book about Earth flowers and was trying to identify them when the room went black. Ghosts appeared, flying over our heads. A hairless man, covered with blood, extended his arm toward me, only the hand was missing!
"Spencer!" I reached out for him, but he wasn't there. I hurried away from the ghosts and found myself in another hall of reflections. This time I looked normal, but I was everywhere. A thousand frightened Lillys staring helplessly back at me.
But where was he?
"Hello!" I called again. I couldn't see where I'd come from, or the way to the exit. I felt trapped. I began to panic. "Spencer?"
There was no answer.
All I saw was myself, growing redder and redder with fright.
"Where are you?" I shouted.
"Candy?" I finally heard him call.
Suddenly I saw a thousand Spencers. I reached for his outstretched hand, but instead I touched glass.
"I'm over here!" I screamed, totally frightened. I felt a sharp pang in my veins. The moon was rising, and I feared I'd be left for the rest of my life to stare at not two legs, but two thousand.
"Find me!" My hands shook uncontrollably. Water mysteriously dripped from my palms, streaking the reflections as I continued to search for Spencer's hand.
I finally felt something grab me and I screamed.