Chapter 2

I kept quiet about the mermaid thing. If I told anyone, they'd think I was crazy and would send me off to some mental school or something.

            The rest of the drive was a bore. After ten or fifteen minutes I gave up and went to sleep. Then four or five hours later we arrived at our hotel, the Jewel hotel. It was fifteen stories high with a very good view of the beach. I could see ten yeas of no allowance paid off. It was 2:30 A.M. when we checked in, so everyone was very tired. Dad parked the van outside with all our stuff and we just went in to our room, in our clothes, and slept until morning.

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            By ten the next morning we were all settled into our hotel room for two weeks. I was in my bathing suit, ready to hit the beach complete with my tote and earphones. No one else was, so I just went alone.

            “I’ll be back by six!” I called into the room as I headed out into the hall in my pink-flower cover-up over my bathing suit.

            The hall was long, with dark polished wood walls and lush red carpets. It kind of reminded me of the Titanic. Totally freaked out it was going to fall into the ocean, I hurried down the hall, out the door, and to the beach.

 

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            The sun was out, the sky was clear, and the beach was crowded. I jogged down the street and out to the sand before I realized someone was following me. I glanced behind me and caught a glimpse of him. Yes I said right. It was a guy. A really hot guy, might I add. Short brown hair, bright blue eyes I could see from five yards away, and man, did this dude have muscles. But sense he was staking me, I didn’t really notice the cute things about him. I was scared for my life.

            But soon he stopped following me, and I forgot about him for a while. I reached the beach and put down my long towel and put up an umbrella. I put down the cooler Mom made me bring for the rest of the family later that day.

            I glanced to the right, to the left, and satisfied, took off the cover-up for my bathing suit. It was white with silver stripes and had a tie neck, white with silver dots. My bottoms were white too, with silver dots. I reached into my tote and took out some sunscreen after I put on my sunglasses. I rubbed the sunscreen over all my exposed skin, leaned back, and relaxed.

           

            “Um,” I heard a male voice.

            I sat up, opening my eyes.

            “Um,” the guy was the same guy who was stocking me!

            “Earlier today, I saw you behind me. Where you trying to freak me out?” I asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

            “Oh, no. You just dropped something of yours. “ He held up a seashell on a necklace.

            My hands went to my throat. It was my necklace! I’d had that necklace for as long as I could remember!

            “Oh, yes. That is mine. Thanks.” I reached my hand over to grab it. He pulled it away, out of my reach.

            “Wait. Before I give it to you, I want to talk to you.”

            I was dumbstruck. He wouldn’t give me my necklace unless I talked to him?

            “So shoot,” I said impatiently.

            “Not here. Out by the water.”

            “What about my stuff? What if someone steals it?” I asked him gesturing out to the supplies.

            “I think the rest of your family is here.” He pointed behind me.

            I looked and was embarrassed to high heaven. My entire family complete with floatie-wings, floating ducks, goggles, and snorkels was heading in my direction. I groaned and grabbed my bangs, a nervous habit of mine.

            “Hey, Zoë!” Joseph yelled. He was the only one there without any life-saving devices.

            “Hi, Joseph,” I called back. He was ahead of everyone and just reaching me.

            “Who’s this?” He asked, motioning to the mystery guy.

            “Uh, this is-“

            “Garrett. Garrett Ence. Nice to meet you Joseph.” Garrett saved me from a very awkward moment.

            “Yeah, Garrett. Garrett, this is Joseph, obviously, and his twin sister, Jessie-“

            “-Hello!” She replied in her perfect angel voice. She even flirted with the guy! I didn’t even know she knew how to flirt!

            “-And this is Josh, James, and the one Mom is holding is Jessica.” I finished.

            “Hello.”

            “Oh, hello, young man. Zoë, who is this?” Mom asked, coming over.

            “This is Garrett, Mom. “

            “Nice to meet you, ‘mam.” Garrett said all gentlemen like.

            “Ooh, I like this one,” Mom replied.

            “-Mom!”

            “Okay, fine. What does he want?”

            “He wants me to go on a walk with him out by the ocean, and unless I go, he won’t give my necklace back!”  I hoped my eyes pleaded with her not to make me go. If she noticed, she didn’t show it.

            “I think that would be great! Go ahead, Zoë. Don’t be shy. She doesn’t have any boyfriends yet-“

            “-Mom!”

            “Oh, fine. Just go.”

            I made a groan at the base of my throat, got up, grabbed my cover-up, put it on, and followed Garrett away from my embarrassing family.

            But before I was out of earshot, Joseph yelled out, “See ya, Zoë!”

            I smiled to myself. Joseph is the best brother ever.

 

            “You have a nice family, Zoë,” we were about fifteen yards away when he started talking. “But I’m getting a vibe that you were adopted.”

            “Wow, how in the world did you figure that out?” I asked sarcastically.

            Garrett chuckled. What a cute chuckle!

            Silence. We walked in total loss for words. And then-

            “The moment I saw you, I knew you were different.”

            I turned my head to him in horror.

            “I mean, I knew you were different, like me,” he hastily corrected himself.

            “And what is different about you?” I asked.

            “I’m an orphan, too. But we are different than normal orphans. You don’t know who your parents were, do you?”

            I hate when this question comes up. It always does. And every time, my eyes start to water. It’s a curse, really.

            “No, I do not know who my parents are, thank you for reminding me.”

            Garrett tried backpedaling desperately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it in a mean way. I just meant-“

            “I know what you meant. How long is this walk going to take? I’d like to get back to sitting on a chair reading my book, thanks.”

            Garrett looked straight ahead and I could swear he was trying not to smile. “What?” I asked him; worried I had syrup on my cheek or something.

            “I just thought you’d rather walk down the beach with a hot boy than sit on your butt doing nothing. Have you ever been in the ocean?”

            I was taken off guard by his strange question, and his really haughty statement. “No, why?”

            “I’d like to show you something I doubt you’ve ever seen and never thought you would.” He started taking off his shirt and I put up my arms, shielding my eyes.

            “EW! What the heck are you doing?!” I yelled.

            Garrett chuckled and said, “We’re going swimming. Chill. From Utah, huh? Nice. Come on. The thing I want to show you is in the water.”

            I peaked out from under my arms and saw this guy had a six-pack. Wow. “How’d you know I came from Utah?”

            He shrugged. “Only people from Utah say ‘heck’ instead of-“

            “Don’t say it!” I cut him off before he could say it.

            “Okay, goodness, but anyway, take off your cover and let’s go swimming!”

            I hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not to submit. I guess I could, at least this guy was hot, right? He could be horrid. I was lucky to find a guy like him. I sighed and obeyed. I looked around and realized we were alone. Like, literally, alone. Absolutely no one was around. The beach was totally empty. “How long have we been walking?” I asked Garrett, not looking at him.

            “Only about fifteen, twenty minutes. No biggie.”

            “How far have we walked, then?”

            “Beats me. I’ve never been one for hum-uh-distances.” He tried to pretend to be occupied by folding his shirt. After about thirty seconds, I realized I was staring at him and I quickly looked down at my cover-up. I folded it carefully and placed it tenderly on the sand, out of reach of the high tide.

            “Oh, by the way, here’s your necklace.”

            I grabbed it from him and put it on my cover-up.

            I stretched and said to Garrett, “Great, so, we just go in?”

            “Yeah, just follow me. And if you feel something strange, don’t worry. It’s normal…for us…” he added when he thought I wasn’t listening. He yelled as he ran into the salty Pacific Ocean.

            I hesitated, I didn’t know how to swim. I shrugged and figured that he would save me if I had started to drown. I screamed as I ran in.

            The moment I touched the water I knew this was a mistake. I got a tingly sensation in my legs. I ignored it and kept running. When the water was up to my hips I lost feeling altogether in my legs. I screamed as I got sucked under