Fly sat on the beach watching Heath and Edge surf after school. Heath was surfing well and was pulling tonnes of wicked tricks. But Edge? He was clearly having a rubbish day.
Fly wasn't surprised; she and the rest of the girls had spent the night consoling Becky after yet another massive fight between her and Edge. Everyone knew they liked each other except them, and it secretly amused everyone to see their constant fighting. It was like they were in kindergarten; picking on the one you liked just to get their attention. But this last one appeared to be bigger than normal. It seemed more serious.
She was doing the same thing with Heath, but he wasn't noticing anything. The girls had sympathised with her but he was clueless. She watched him land an aerial and clapped enthusiastically. He grinned and waved at her.
Edge didn't stay in the water long. As determined as he always was to be the best of the best, he knew now when to quit. He plunked himself down beside Fly with a face like thunder.
"Are you feeling alright Edge?" Fly asked innocently.
"I'm fine." He grumbled. Silently Fly counted to five. As soon as she hit five he burst out angrily. "Where does Becky get off telling me I'm a pig?"
Fly rolled her eyes. "I think, and don't bite my head off or anything, but I think she might have a point."
"What? That's insane. I'm a great guy."
"I know you are." Fly insisted quickly. "You know I love you. But, sometimes, you can be a bit piggish."
Edge looked very hurt and got up. Taking his board with him he stormed back to the house. Fly watched him go. He never could take criticism.
She ran a hand lazily over her surfboard, which lay on the sand next to her. She had been surfing but hadn't been able to enjoy it.
Something caught her eye in the distance down the beach but she wasn't sure what it was. Glancing at Heath, who was too preoccupied with surfing, she got up and picked up her board.
She didn't know how long she walked for but she did find a new beach. It was very like her own usual beach but there was an island in the middle of the natural bay. An island with a volcano.
But the waves on this beach were excellent and she wasted no time in testing them out. She had a lot of fun out there but when she was resting on her board in the water she felt a strong current in the water. She tried to paddle back to the shore but the current swept her away. She was already tired but soon her strength gave out and she let the currents take her.
They were taking her to the island. She went ashore and sat on the beach despondently. The day was turning quickly to night and she could see the big full moon rising above the surface of the water.
She heard the engine of a boat coming close and saw three shapes in the water zooming towards her. The shapes emerged from the water and Fly could see that they were three girls about the same age as she was. Except that they had tails. Mermaids? They pulled themselves out of the water and turned into humans. They walked purposely into the woods.
Fly, hesitantly, followed, leaving her board on the beach. The three girls walked trance-like through the trees until they came to a rocky clearing. By the time Fly got up to it they had vanished. She walked around trying to see them.
Suddenly the ground disappeared from under her feet. She slid down a rocky tunnel to a sandy cave. Dusting herself off, she stood up and looked around. There seemed to be another tunnel ahead of her so she went through it and came to what looked like the heart of the mountain.
It was half filled with a pool of water and half with sand and rocks. The three girls were on the bank. They seemed to be waiting for someone.
"We knew you were following us." one of them said. She had brown curly hair and darker skin than the other two.
"We want to give you a present." The tallest blonde said.
"A gift. Like us." the third, also blonde, said.
"What are you talking about?" Fly asked. The girls seemed to be in a trance of some kind.
The girls drifted forwards and took her by the arms and pulled her towards the pool. The full moon was now directly above them; seen through the hole in the volcano. The water started to bubble and grew hot like a hot tub.
The three girls pushed Fly into the water. Light swirled around her and little golden balls of light floated in the white moonlight. Fly didn't know what was happening.
"Girls! Are you down here?" a male voice said coming into the cave. He glanced around the cave and saw the scared Fly in the water and the magic happening as the magic stopped and the pool went back to being still and, looking up, she saw that the moon had passed over and out of sight.
"What happened?" she asked the boy. He seemed normal and helped her out of the water kindly.
"What's your name?" he asked Fly. She told him. The three girls dived into the pool and swam out of the cave. Clearly there was an underwater tunnel or something. "Hi. I'm Lewis. Listen Fly, I know it's hard to understand but magic just happened to you. It's good magic though."
"I just want to go back to the academy."
"Not the surf academy? I saw your surf board out on the beach. Are you part of the surf academy three beaches down?"
"Yeah. One of the top surfers."
"You're going to have to stop surfing. In fact you're going to have avoid swimming and water in general. Don't worry I'll help you through everything. But you must keep it secret. Avoid water and the full moon. If you see the full moon it tends to put you in a trance."
"Like those girls?"
"Exactly. I help them and I will help you too. Here give me your cell phone number and your home number." He handed her his cell phone and she entered the numbers. "There. Now I'll send you a text so you know who it is and then you can call me whenever. The process can take some getting used to. Cleo, the brown haired girl, she took it the hardest. But we got her through it and we will get you through it. Whenever something happens concerning this, just call me and I'll help you."
"Thank you Lewis. But what's going to happen to me?"
"I'll let you find out on your own. Why don't I take you home in my boat?" he helped her up and led her out of the cave and back onto the beach. Moments later they were chugging along in his white tin boat with her surfboard between them, down to her beach again. He said goodnight and left again, searching the water for the other girls.
Slowly she walked up the beach to the house. She stored her surfboard in the shed and went into the house. The other housemates cried out greetings to her and rushed to hug her. They'd been worriedly waiting in the kitchen, working out her disappearance.
"Where have you been, liebe?" Anna said hugging her the longest.
"Sorry. I got a little lost." Fly lied bashfully.
"Where? The south pole?" Heath said looking worried but intensely relieved.
"No, a couple of beaches down. I walked and walked and didn't notice where I was going. I think I'll take a bath. I feel a little grubby."
"Don't you want any food?" Becky asked.
"No, I'll grab something later." Fly hurried up the stairs.
As she collected her bath things from her room her cell got a text from Lewis. 'Don't worry. It's all fine. Lewis.' It read. She smiled and took it with her into the bathroom.
She sank into the steaming bath with a sigh and felt her muscles relaxing. Ten seconds later however she lost her legs and grew a golden brown scaly tail and matching halter bikini top.
"Oh my god!" she gasped and screamed. She grabbed her cell phone and dialled Lewis's number. "Lewis. I think I just found out what happened to me. I'm a mermaid."