The searing pain shot through my hand and into my wrist, my middle fingers feeling numb. I tried not to let the pain show on my face as I straightened my back, refusing to break eye contact, even though everything in me wanted to shrink down and cry. I refused to let any tears fall down my face in front of them.

“You crazy bitch!” Dora yelled, running to put herself between James and myself. James was still just standing there, his right hand cradled over his cheek. 

“I am the bitch?” I laughed, gesturing to her. “Look at you.”

She hadn’t even been able to pull her dress back on, yet. She was standing there, her black curls still all over the place, trying to clasp her bra behind her back. 

“You can’t just slap him.” She argued, pointing to James once it was clasped. It tempted me to slap her, too, but my hand hurt enough right now. I hadn’t expected his face to be so sharp and hard. 

“Kel,” James finally found his voice, sounding apologetic. He took a step forward, placing a hand on Dora’s arm and moved her out of the way. I forced myself to take a step back as he reached for me. 

“No.” I shook my head, tears now stinging my eyes. I squeezed my hand, trying to regain feeling. 

“It isn’t what you think.” 

“Yes, because I hang out with all of my friends naked, too.” I spat, turning around and heading for the door. One reason being I was so done with this, but I also couldn’t hold back these damn tears anymore. 

I heard him call after me and Dora say something snarky, but I didn’t make out the actual words. I was just focused on getting down the stairs and to my car with no one seeing me like this. 

By the time I was in my car and driving out of their circled driveway, James was running out of the front door, yelling my name. At least he had on a pair of jeans now. Thankfully his house was secluded, so there weren’t any nosey neighbors to witness any of this drama. 

He raced toward my car and I slammed on the gas, getting out of the driveway before he reached me. Right now I wasn’t sure if I would actually run him over or not. 

My cell phone instantly started ringing with his calls. What could he possibly have to say after that? Sorry, Dora appeared in my room and my clothing magically vanished and I slipped and fell onto her?

When I stopped at a red light I blocked his number and deleted his messages without reading them. Then, with the little time I had left, I hit call on Claire’s name. It would bluetooth with my radio, so I didn’t need to worry about the distraction of holding the phone. It was these pesky tears that were making driving difficult. 

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Did you know?” I asked when I heard the phone pickup, before she even got her greeting out.

“Kels?” She sounded confused as if she hadn’t seen my name on her phone. “Did I know what?”

“About Dora?” I spat her name out. “And… and…. Him?” I wasn’t even able to say James’s name. If anyone would have known this information, it would be Claire.

“Him?” She laughed. “Sweetie, you will have to be more specific. We both know that girl goes through a lot of ‘hims’.”

“My him!” I yelled at her, hearing my voice crack. I cursed myself, because now she knew I was crying.

“OMG! James? You mean Dora and James?” Was that excitement in her voice?

“Thanks for sounding so concerned.”

“Oh, Kels, I am sorry.” Her voice dropped a few tones. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. But are you serious? Of course I didn’t know! I would have said something!”

She is right. She would have told me, along with the rest of the student body. I sighed, shaking my head, realizing my mistake in calling her. I hit the end call button without even saying goodbye. I turned my phone off for the rest of the drive.

“Kelliope,” Nettie called out as I slammed the door to our apartment. She appeared at the doorway into the kitchen moments later, a confused look on her face. “Are you all right?”

I opened my mouth to ask her if I looked fine. I could imagine that I probably had mascara all over my face now and the wind had torn apart my brown hair that had been neatly in a ponytail. I probably looked like a wreck. 

“Not really.” I ended up saying instead. Smarting off to her was just going to make me feel worse. 

“Did something happen with James?” She walked over to me and ran a hand over my hair. 

Nettie had been my mother’s best friend and the only family I have ever known. My skin looked so pale next to her tan as I took her hand and pulled it off of my head. 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I tried my best to keep the edge out of my tone. “I just want to go have a soak.”

“Okay,” she nodded, smiling down at me. “I will order sushi from that restaurant you love so much.” 

“Thanks.” I tried to force a smile back at her as I headed toward the hall.

“Kelliope,” she called and I stopped, not turning around. “I know it feels like the end of the world now, but it will fade.”

I chose not to respond to that and pushed myself to continue toward my room to get a change of clothing.

I filled our big tub with hot water and swirled my hand around it a few times. This always made me feel better.

I sank into the water and let out a moan as my legs submerged in the water and began to form into one. 

By the time my body was fully in the water, my blue and green scaled tail was handing over the edge. The sensations flowing through my body when I was in the water was enough to push Dora and James out of my mind completely. It was like a tingling all over my body, like the water was massaging my body. 

Nettie says it is nothing compared to being in the ocean where we belong. I have never experienced that for myself, though. Or at least not that I can remember. Nettie brought me to land when I was three.

Nettie says that there is a group that hunts our kind in the sea. That is why my parents wanted me to be on land, so I wouldn’t have to go through that. They are supposed to be hiding and finding somewhere safe. She keeps telling me that one day we will return, but it has been nearly fifteen years now and I am having my doubts. 

“Kel,” Nettie knocked on the door. “The food is here.”

“Okay.” I yelled back. Had I really been in here that long? “Be out in a minute!”