Hello, my lovely readers. Well, this story has been bouncing around my noggin for awhile, and it took me a week, but I finally wrote it down. I won't babble on for long, only to say that I will be updating my other stories soon, and I do not own the character of Marin. He belongs to xJadeRainx. Everything else is my imagination. So without further ado, read on, and please, REVIEW.
They were giggling again.
Idly, Attina looked over the top of her schoolbook, just enough to see a group of girls huddled together. The teacher should have started class ten minutes ago, but he was late. So instead, they were all swapping summer stories, each trying to outdo the other with some fantastic tale. Every now and then though, one of the girls would look over at a boy, then quickly turn back to her friends and laugh like a maniac.
For the life of her, the princess could not understand what was going on.
After all, these were the merboys they all had grown up with. Why were they suddenly so interesting to the girls in her class? What, had they suddenly gotten uglier over the summer?
Attina peaked over at a group of them, and shook the idea off. Nope. Still the same rotten batch from last year, and all the years previous.
So then what was the matter with all the girls?
"Are you sure you have everything?" A familiar voice forced Attina out of her thoughts, and she looked up in surprise.
A mother with a toddler on her hip, and a very amused father, Marin's parents, seemed to have taken it upon themselves to see their son was settled for his first day of school. The only problem with that being, of course, that at old age of eleven, parents usually just dropped their children off and that was it! At this stage in life, no one needed their parents to be at school!
Wait, but why was Marin this close to her, when they had sworn a pact to hate each other for eternity? Unless…
Attina looked over at the empty desk next to her, suddenly very worried. Her heart pounded in her ears, and she hoped against hope that her instinct was wrong. Unfortunately, his name was indeed on the desk.
She mentally groaned. Every year it was the same thing.
Curse alphabetical order.
"Yes, Mom." An annoyed looking Marin slipped into the desk next to the princess, slumping into his seat. "Now, go."
"Marin, be nice," the boy's father chastised, "we only gets one chance to do this with you, and in a few years, we won't be able to do it at all."
"Okay, Dad." The merboy in question sighed, casting his eyes downwards and playing with his nameplate.
How humiliating, Attina thought, smirking to herself.
Still, a part of her considered whether it was really all that bad. After all, it looked kind of…well, sweet, the way his parents seemed to want to make this day a special memory. It sort of seemed nice to have someone dole out all that attention on you.
"Attina!" The sound of her name made the girl whip her head upwards. "I didn't even see you there."
Marin's mother smiled at her in a way that had become so familiar over the years. Attina managed a quick grin. The woman had always been nice, and it didn't hurt that she made the best tasting birthday cake in Atlantica. All of her son's school chums agreed that it was the highlight of his party.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Erkens," Attina replied, smiling wider when the toddler on the woman's hip babbled something her direction. "Hi, Miana."
"Hello to you, too." Mr. Erkens smiled at her, before he nudged his son. "Marin?"
The boy rolled his eyes, glaring at his desk and not bothering to look at her as he mumbled a half-hearted, "Hey."
In response, Attina dropped her eyes back to her schoolbook, sighing melodramatically before saying a very stiff, "Hi."
"You two are next to each other again?" Mrs. Erkens frowned, noticing the nameplate on Attina's own desk. "Every year," the woman swore to herself, shaking her head.
"Well, now that you're a year older, does that mean you'll get along?" Mr. Erkens asked, though there was almost suppressed laughter behind his words, as though he didn't even believe them.
"No."
The word flew out of the children's mouths faster than they could process it. They didn't even look surprised that they had said it at the same time; after all, the adults should know by now that they could not stand one another.
"It was worth a shot," Mr. Erkens chuckled to himself.
"Hey, Marin!" A voice from afar cried out, the owner of said voice swimming closer to the merboy. "Oh, hey Mr. and Mrs. Erkens."
"Hello, Joren." Mrs. Erkens greeted, though with hesitation.
Joren was one of those children who was always just one fin stroke short of being a juvenile delinquent. He was a good boy at heart, but he didn't think his ideas through. His parents had little control over his antics, and most of his ideas required more than one person, which was always worrisome.
"Hi, Attina," Joren leaned on the girl's desk, forcing her to focus on him. "So, what'd you do this summer?"
The girl suddenly drew a blank. What had she done this summer? This was always the best time of year for her, when she enjoyed a fleeting few moments of popularity in the wake of some grand story. Being a royal had definitely had its perks. But right now, she couldn't remember what sort of vacation she had taken with her family.
Then, her heart sank in her chest. Of course. She had gone nowhere this year.
"I didn't go anywhere," she admitted in a quiet voice, straining slightly to make herself sound calm. "I stayed at the palace all summer."
"Oh, come on," Joren laughed it off, apparently too dull to put two and two together. "You must have gone somewhere, or at least, done something interesting."
"I…um…" She struggled to find a summer story, but it was a lost cause. Her summer had passed in a blur of mourners and monsters. "I went to the surface!"
Immediately, she regretted those words.
"The surface?" The merboy repeated breathlessly, his eyes wide with shock. "That's…awesome! Did you get to see any humans?"
With a stinging pain in her heart, Attina nodded. She had seen humans alright. She could never live that memory down.
"Oh, cool! Then what happened?" Joren wondered, still breathless with excitement. Attina opened her mouth to say something, anything, but he quickly cut her off. "Wait, hold on, let me get everyone so you can tell us all what happened!"
The merboy quickly swam off, headed to a group of school chums with this information. Attina watched numbly as he started to animatedly start talking to the children, his hands flying about in excitement. Suddenly, the smiles and laughter faded from the boys faces, replaced by worried looks sent in her direction. The girl quickly pulled her eyes down, pretending to be immersed in her reading.
From her peripheral vision, she noticed Marin's parents staring at her. His mother in particular seemed to want to say something, but the words just were not there. The girl sighed. Even adults didn't know how to confront this situation.
"Well," Mr. Erkens voice sounded awkward, like he was struggling to keep it normal. "We should be going."
"That sounds," Mrs. Erkens adjusted her grip on the toddler, using that as an excuse to find the proper words, "like a good idea. Marin?"
"Bye," Marin said quickly, apparently hoping that his parents would leave soon. Attina noticed his eyes wander to her once, but then quickly settle back on his desk.
"Bye to you too, son." Affectionally, Mr. Erkens ruffled Marin's hair.
"Have a good day!" Mrs. Erkens added quickly. Then, she cautiously looked over at the other girl, who was pretending to ignore this entire situation. "Erm…bye to you too, Attina."
"Oh!" Attina looked up from her schoolbook, as though she hadn't been paying attention to the exchange just minutes before. "Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Erkens."
WIth one more glance in her direction, a worried one at that, both parents and their toddler quickly swam off. Attina returned to her schoolbook, once again trying to block out her surroundings. Beside her, Marin got up and headed to the group of boys.
"Joren, are you stupid?" She heard Marin's voice clear across the room. Immediately, she hunched her shoulders, protecting herself against what she knew was going to happen.
"He's not stupid, he just doesn't have a brain!" Another person declared, laughing.
Joren started to whine. "Awe, c'mon guys, what did I do?"
"You asked Attina what happened this summer!" Marin spoke up once more, and there was a sound of someone being punched in the shoulder. She winced.
"What's wrong with that?" Joren wondered, confusion lighting his tone. "She said she went to the surface, and that was it!"
"Joren, what happened to Queen Athena on the surface this summer?" Another exasperated boy, though it was put in an obvious sort of tone. Attina flinched at the sound of her mother's name.
"Oh, the Queen died."
And there it was. The blunt, casual, cruel shadow that seemed to linger over every part of her life. Queen Athena is dead, killed by humans; it was the story on everybody's lips. No one seemed to remember that she went by another name too; she was called 'Momma' by seven girls.
The same exasperated boy from before continued his questioning. "And who was Attina's mom?"
The girl in question gripped at her book tightly, willing herself not to cry at the way they so easily incorporated 'was'. It felt like a all three points of the trident were stabbing into her at once at the very thought that her mother can no longer be considered in the present tense. She could not cry; not now, not here.
"Her mom is…" Though she wasn't looking at him, Attina heard very well as he gave a gasp. "Her mom was Queen Athena."
"Yeah, nice going, Joren," someone sneered, "You were supposed to be nicer to her, not ask her about what happened!"
"I didn't know!"
Marin snorted. "You're lucky she's not upset. You should've just dropped it when she said she spent the summer at the palace."
"I'm tired of talking about this," another voice complained. "Can we talk about, I don't know, Kiala? Or Rena?"
Just like that, the conversation changed. The merboys were suddenly on the topic of girls, something which the princess tuned out because she assumed that, like all their conversations from previous years, it would just be about how to prank them. In a moment's notice, the adult world was left behind, and they were able to go back to their merry lives.
Attina, her heart breaking little by little, envied them so.
With a sigh, she placed her book flat on her desk. Then, she put her face in her arms, content never to see the light of day again. This wasn't the first time she wished she could simply vanish into thin waters.
"Alright, alright!" A authoritative voice called through the room, causing every child to swivel their head to the front. "Everyone in their right seats, come on."
The merchildren looked at one another, each immediately staking out the teacher. They were trying to determine what they could and could not get away with this year. Judging by the man's tardiness, their impression was not very kind.
With dramatic sighs, rolled eyes, and promises of 'see you later', they all dispersed across the room. Thankfully, Attina had already been seated, so she didn't need to move. Unfortunately, however, that also meant that Marin swam back to his seat next to her.
"Is everyone where they're supposed to be? Check your desk tags," the instructor said, causing about twenty heads to look down, before nodding back up at him. The man turned around to write on the board. "Good. My name is Mr. Finn, class, and I'll be your teacher this year."
From the corner of her eye, Attina saw a note already being passed around. Figures, she thought. Everyone was itching to find out who this teacher was, and if any older siblings had had him before.
"Before we go over some class rules and what we'll be covering this year," Mr. Finn started, running a hand through his greying hair, "let's do a quick roll call so that I can start memorizing your names. Dorie Aarne?"
"Here!" The girl in the very front of class called out, with no small amount of pep in her voice. Mr. Finn looked at her a moment before nodding, his brown eyes returning to the attendance sheet in front of him.
"Joren Arrain?"
"Hereeeeeee," the merboy yawned, drawing out the word as he did so. Mr. Finn didn't seem to notice, or really care, and he kept on.
"Adonas Cech?" In her peripheral vision, Attina noticed her other neighbor being slipped the note from earlier.
"I'm here!"
The girl was suddenly startled when she felt something being pressed against her hand. She turned to look at the person sitting to her left, Rena Fiala, but found that the girl was staring straight ahead, half asleep. Yet, it seemed like the mermaid had to be the one pressing that piece of paper against her hand…
Oh! She was being passed a note! Attina's heart started to race. She was never passed notes in class, never. This must be something important!
"Talya Cipris?"
She quickly received the note, and then sneakily placed it into her schoolbook. For a second, she looked around, before determining that the teacher would not catch her. Then, she began to read what it said.
"Present, Mr. Finn!"
Do you think Marin is cute?
That was all the note asked, in bubbly handwriting. The girl looked up, noticing Bria Lahti looking straight at her. The other mermaid's head was tilted to the side, as she twisted a neat blonde curl around her finger. Sighing, Attina turned slightly to her right, to take a second glance at the boy she'd known forever.
"Larcan Donne?"
Marin didn't look all that different than last year. Maybe a bit taller, but no more than the pre-teen girl he was forced to sit next to. His blonde hair had grown over the summer, and despite the bored look he had, his eyes still seemed to sparkle with that mischievous glint. He even had a lazy half-grin, as though he knew a joke no one else was allowed to know.
In all, Attina would have to conclude that yes, he was kind of cute.
"Here, sir!"
Wait a minute, the girl's mind suddenly recoiled. Kind of cute? It was just last year that the boy had pulled her hair, stolen her dolls, and had sworn that the only thing she'd ever be queen of was morrats (a.n. the Atlantican version of cooties)! How could she ever consider him cute when he was so…so...!
"Marin Erkens?"
Why was Bria even asking her this? Why was Bria even considering that the boys in their class might be anything but annoying? After all, last year the girls had agreed that the boys were nothing short of stupid; what could have possibly changed that over one little summer break?
"Here!"
Attina looked back at Bria, mouthing the word 'no'. In response, the other girl frowned. Her eyes trailed over to Marin for a moment, before she gave an odd sounding sigh. Instead of turning around, however, she kept on looking at the merboy, even fluttering her eyelashes and making more of those weird sounds.
"Attina Erteon?"
Perhaps Bria was sick, the preteen mused. After all, none of those noises she was making sounded very healthy. Maybe she was so ill that her mind had warped around this odd idea, making it sound like a very good one, when it obviously wasn't.
"Attina Erteon?"
Okay, Marin didn't exactly have spots all over him, but he certainly shouldn't be getting attention for how he looked. Honestly, Bria had seen him every school year and never cared before; why should that change now? After all, the girl thought to herself, she was already good at dealing with him; it would be stupid for someone like Bria to take over at this point.
"Is Attina Erteon here?"
Besides, she already knew Marin so well, she mused. She'd been to his house a million times to play; Bria had probably only been during his birthday parties. So then it was official! Bria couldn't be allowed to think Marin was cute, when her friend knew him way better than she did and-
"Ouch!" Attina suddenly hissed under her breath, her eyes narrowing angrily at Marin for elbowing her. "What was that for?"
"Mr. Finn's calling you," he answered just as quietly, rolling his eyes at her.
"Oh!" Attina whispered again, before quickly clearing her throat. "I'm here! Attina Erteon, here! Sorry."
Ruefully, the girl looked up at her teacher. She really did try her best to look apologetic. Mr. Finn did not look like he was in the forgiving type mood.
"Well, Miss Erteon, you're not starting off on the right fin." Mr. Finn looked at her shrewdly, before his eyebrows pulled together in an expression of confusion.
"Erteon…Attina Erteon…" He allowed the name to roll off his tongue, before frowning. "You wouldn't, perhaps, be related to Crown Princess Attina Erteon of Atlantica, would you, Miss Erteon?"
The girl sighed heavily, slumping in her seat. You would think by now that all the teachers would have realized that there were seven princesses in the school, with the addition of Ariel this year, of course.
"Yes, that's my full name," she looked up at Mr. Finn with a helpless, almost grimacing sort of smile. She was really trying to downplay this whole situation, already embarrassed enough.
Her teacher, however, did not seem to pick up on that. In fact, he seemed downright appalled. "Oh, accept my apologies, Princess! You can start of on whatever kind of fin you like!" The man gave a nervous laugh, and an immediate bow, focused solely on her.
Attina's cheeks blazed as red as her baby sister's hair. "It's okay," she mumbled softly, looking up at him with newly desperate eyes in the hope that he would abandon this formality.
"No, no, it's not, but it's kind of you to say so anyway, Princess!" Mr. Finn fretted, before hesitating for just a moment, as though he wasn't sure whether or not to do this. Finally, he made a split second decision. "Accept my condolences as well, Princess. Your mother was a wonderful woman; it was a terrible tragedy, and everyone misses her."
Did she say embarrassed? She meant mortified. Now, all the children who had tuned out the entire deal, used to it after so many years, had twisted around in their seats to stare at her. This was an unexpected part of the speech.
It had happened more than once that one of her parents hadn't been able to speak to the teacher beforehand about the 'in school she's not a princess, she's just another student' rule, and Attina had gone through this embarrassing ordeal. Obviously, the day after the issue was usually resolved. It had never been this bad.
And oh, this was bad.
Attina clenched her hand into a fist, trying not to let on how her throat was starting to close and tears wanted to form in her eyes. "Thank you for your condolences," she started in a practiced, monotone voice after saying it so many times, "My sisters and I are coping with these circumstances together, in the palace, as a family, and it helps to know that so many people care."
"Of course, Princess." Mr. Finn said gently, as though he believed the girl would fall apart. When, after two minutes, Attina did not lift her head or say another word, he decided to continue calling roll.
"Rena Fiala?" Everyone seemed startled by the sudden return to normalcy; many students did not look away from the princess, still expecting her to cry.
"Um…here!" It was at Rena's words that made the merchildren shift uncomfortably, turning back around in their seats so that they could look at one another.
"Bace Iber?"
Marin threw another elbow in Attina's direction. The girl, startled from her thoughts, looked sharply at him. He casually looked over at her, noticing how her eyes had reddened, but thankfully, she wasn't crying.
"What now?" She hissed, not really in the mood to deal with his antics.
"Can I ask you a question?" He asked quickly, making sure to stay just quiet enough not to attract the attention of his peers.
"Here!"
Attina choked back a bitter laugh. "Sure, why not?"
"Eran Jelan?"
"When did it stop being 'home' and start being 'the palace'?" Marin cocked his head to the side, the question he'd been toying with for awhile finally out.
"Eran Jelan?"
Attina's ranging expressions went from near murderous (something he was quite used to seeing), to an extreme form of dislike, to even sadness as she processed his question. The more she thought about it, the heavier her heart became.
"Over here!"
Finally, she settled on a look that had it all; devastation. In a very quiet, strained voice, she managed to say, "I don't know."