The Bad Boy And The Mermaid

Blue

“Hannah, where do your parents live?” I asked her since I’d never heard Hunter talk about their parents.

“We used to live together at first. Me, Hunter, Ryan. I’m still in high school so I live with my parents, Ryan has a condo downtown and he takes care of the family business. And Hunter, well. He’s not the obeying kind so Dad disowned him temporarily after a series of bad behavior. He’s the black sheep of the family.”

Hunter certainly didn’t seem like a sheep to me.

“What kind of bad behavior?”

I didn’t think there was anything remotely bad about Hunter’s behavior. Sure he was a little scary when he was angry, but he was still nice.

“He used to get kicked out of schools, the soccer team, getting into fights. That sort of thing.” She explained.

I nodded. I could ask Hunter about it later.

“Who is Ryan?” I asked.

“He’s our oldest half-brother. Ryan’s mom died when he was four and then Dad remarried Hunter’s Mom who...well, it just didn’t turn out well. They separated, and then he remarried for the third time to my mother.” She said taking a sip of her drink that she called a “slushie” it made her tongue look blue. “Dad’s been through some rough marriages.”

“So the three of you have three different mothers?” I was surprised. I’d never heard of something like that.

She nodded. “Yup, but we share the same Dad. My moms pretty cool though.”

“My mom’s cool too.” I told her.

Then Hannah started talking about music and some boy band that I didn’t know anything about so I continued to nod my head. I guess she was really tired of my nodding, because she suggested. “How would you like a nice haircut?”

“A haircut?!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah. We’ll just trim your hair a bit.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m not allowed to.”

“Why not?”

“Mermaids can’t cut hair. It’s a sin.”

Hannah seemed suspicious. “Mmm-hmm.” She eyed me warily. “Oh, I see.” It was clear she didn’t believe me at all.

It’s a good thing she didn’t push about cutting my hair. I liked my hair long.

“Hannah, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“How do I make Hunter like me?”

She laughed. “I think he already likes you, honey.”

I didn’t believe her. “I don’t think so. Whenever I ask him if we could kiss, he gives me his cheeks.”

She snorted. “Well in that case, you should take the lead.”

“What do you mean?”

permission, just

eyes widened. “Really?

wrong with that, and I’m pretty

I have your number so that we can talk

she picked her bag (that read Prada) and dumped the contents onto the table. Finally she picked the phone out of all the junk. “Save my number. It’s double four...” after we’d successfully saved our numbers and she’d dumbed the garbage back in her bag, she asked me. “What do you

of your nails.

I know a great saloon in this mall. We are giving you a mani and a pedi and then we’ll do some makeup for your face.” She declared with a mischievous smile. “I’m just dying to

fine but I kept refusing. In the end, they painted only my toes and did a mani for my hands. My nails looked lovely with the peach nail color. I stared at it in awe. I had matching beautiful nails

Hunter gave me but she waved it off and told me to keep

did some face painting that she called “makeup”. She assured me that she was good at it. When I looked at myself in the mirror for the final product, I really looked different. I had something called a lipstick on my lips. It was

I looked pretty, right?

Would Hunter like it?

home and that Hunter would come to collect me after his part-time work.

then, Hannah received a call and she excused herself. “It’ll just take a minute.” She said

at me, mostly boys the age of Hunter. I

saw a little shop with a huge ice-cream cone on it. “Ice-Cream!” I shrieked loud. I think some people turned but I kept walking towards the cone. It was humongous and lit up, shinning like a star. I stared at it in awe and reached my hand towards it. If I

The guy inside the shop yelled. “What are you

on the truck. “I was wondering if I can get that ice-cream.” I pulled

he was looking at me, it was similar to Hunter’s but also different. Hunter’s gaze never made me feel uncomfortable.

to leer at me. “Are you

there was no sign of Hannah. Where was she? It was crowded and I couldn’t see her. I’d strayed away from her because

Stupid Blue!

There was no way she would

I still couldn’t see her. I remembered I had a spare phone that Hunter had given me. I could call him and then he’d know where to find me. I reached for my pocket when I realized I was wearing the new dress. The phone was in the pocket of the shorts that I’d worn in the morning, the shorts

I was going to cry. What if Hannah couldn’t find me and went back home? What if Hunter didn’t bother to come to the mall and decided I wasn’t worth all the trouble? What if he looked for me but failed to

“Hunter.” I whispered.

tears had blurred my

older man with a bushy mustache. He was tall and had a

for my friend.” I said.

“What’s her name?”

“Hannah.” I said.

help you

widened.

as I followed

* * *

Hunter

knew something was terribly wrong or else she wouldn’t have called me again when I’d already

“Hey.” I said.

That was the first thing that my sister said when she answered the call. Hannah answering on the first ring was a

“What is it?”

“Blue.”

as I stormed into the staff room of the café, pulled down the apron and stuffed it inside the locker. Good thing my brother wasn’t around, or else I’d have to give an explanation as to why I was leaving an hour earlier. The cafe

was moping the recently vacated table. I was going to talk to her and make up an

call from my sister, Hannah. She’s in trouble, kinda.”

her Harry Potter glasses with suspicion. “Huh. For once,

I go? Will you cover for me? If Ryan asks

If you agree for a

Stella had a thing for me and it seemed like everyone knew about it, excluding me. Sometimes when we were working together, she’d find a reason to touch my

of watermelons, dark hair tied in

date.