Mermaid on Land
The next few weeks had been a whirlwind of planning and preparing that left Fontaine's head spinning. It had been difficult finding and agreeing on a school that fit everyone's requirements. Kaiko wanted a school that excelled in academics while Will was more concerned about the school's swim team. Not that he didn't care about her classes, he assured Kaiko after she accused him of just that, he just wanted to make sure his daughter didn't end up on some awful second rate team. She had to follow in his footsteps after all and how was she to do that if her team couldn't place? In other words, he totally cared more about the swim team.
They finally found what seemed to be the best school for Fontaine. Elephant Bay High School had positive reviews, an excelled academics program, a great swim team, and it was just a stone's throw away from the beach. That was highly important. If they ever needed to pick her up in an emergency it would prove no problem. With everything planned, prepared, and paid for, Fontaine was off on her own adventure.
The Aronax breached the surface of the bay as it pulled into the dock. The occupants of fishing and tour boats watched in amazement as the humongous submarine loomed above them. Several pulled out their phones to snap a few pics and posed in front of it.
Kaiko pulled Fontaine into a large hug. "Are you sure you have everything you need?" She asked for the third time.
Fontaine had exchanged her usually wetsuit with something a normal teen would wear: jeans and a t-shirt. She'd deny it if you asked her, but she felt a little strange not wearing her family's signature wetsuit. She had two large duffle bags, her guitar, and a backpack of all of her belongs resting a foot behind her as she and her mother embraced.
Fontaine pulled away. "Of course mom. I've checked, double checked, and triple checked. I have everything I'll need for the entire school year." seeing her mother's face still showing worry, she went back in for another hug. Squeezing her tight, she continued saying, "Everything will be alright, I can handle anything that's thrown at me, I promise."
This made Kaiko smile proudly. "I never doubted for a second. Just promise to call. Everyday. I don't care if we are in a different time zone. I'll always want to hear from you."
Now Fontaine was tearing up. Who would've thought saying goodbye would be so hard? Suddenly living on land and going to school seemed a lot less worth it. She was determined to stick it out though. She had come this far with convincing her parents and finding housing; she wasn't about to give up now.
Speaking of housing, looking up through her teary eyes, she could see a couple holding hands on the dock apart from the crowds of tourists with cameras. The two were lean and muscled, both having an obvious swimmer's physique. Fontaine recognized them as Jim and Kendra Sanderson. They had only ever spoken through video call, but the two had agreed to house Fontaine during her time going to school. Apparently Kendra had been very good friends with Kaiko during college. Her father had run a diving business right here on the coast that Kendra and her husband now ran together. Kaiko would go out with them on dives to study the marine life in the surrounding reefs.
Will and Kaiko also seemed to notice the Sandersons and wiped away any stray lowered the ramp and descended to the dock, Fontaine making sure to grab her bags and guitar.
"Jim! Kendra! How have you been?" Fontaine's dad asked while he strode over to embrace them. He had to wait his turn though because his wife had beaten him to it and was already hugging and chatting away with her old friend.
"We've been great," Jim chuckled deeply. "It's great to see you in person. I can't believe you and your family of mermaids finally made it up to the surface," he teased with a grin.
Ant and Fontaine stepped forward and gained his attention. "Ah, speaking of the mermaids! It's nice to finally meet you kids in person. Actually I've already this little lady," he said gesturing towards Fontaine. "However you were just a tiny baby so I wouldn't expect you to remember." He winked then grabbed each of their hands and shook them in turn.
Ant grinned in that wild yet friendly way of his. "Nice to meet you too Mr. Sanderson. I've actually been doing extensive research on mermaids lately." He looked over his shoulder as if he was afraid of someone overhearing and then continued in a conspiratorial tone, "I feel like I'm getting close."
Jim smiled widely. "I don't doubt it. You're a Nekton. They're always discovering things that we thought previously were myth." Fontaine couldn't help but think about how right he was. He didn't even know the half of it.
Kendra and Kaiko finally pulled apart from one another and joined the rest of their families. Kendra Sanderson did not hesitate to pull Fontaine into her next hug, almost knocking Fontaine to the ground. "Oh I haven't seen you since you were a baby! Well, I saw you in pictures and the occasional video chat, but look at you! You've become so beautiful! Jim and I can't wait to have you stay with us. We even got the guest bedroom in our house all ready. All you need to do is unpack, and oh! This is just so exciting!"
Fontaine felt like she had just been dragged through a hurricane, and yes, she had experienced that firsthand before. It seemed as if Mrs. Sanderson had the same amount of energy as Ant. She would have thought that was impossible before today, but she had just experienced it for herself.
Jim rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry," he apologized, "she's just really excited to have you stay with us."
Kendra flushed a little bit before smiling apologetically. "What he said."
"No problem. I'm very excited to stay with you too."
Both of her parents broke out in laughs. "You two never change," said Will. He smiled and continued gratefully, "Thank you so much for opening your house to Fontaine. Going to Highschool is very important to her, but we wanted her to stay with someone we knew well while she was here. We really owe you guys."
"What are you talking about?!" Kendra practically exploded. Fontaine felt like she had gotten whiplash. One moment she was completely subdued, the next she was highly animated and loud. "If anyone owes anybody here it's us! Who was it that rescued me when my air tank got caught on that coral reef? Who always tells us where to take tourists for the best experiences? And don't think I don't know about that 'anonymous donation' that was conveniently enough to buy a new engine for our boat after I complained to you that ours was busted."
"Nothing ever gets by you, does it?" Kaiko grinned at her friend.
"Of course not," she sniffed and smiling in pride.
Will cut in. "Well, putting aside who owes who, we are very happy that you are taking our daughter in."
Jim reached down and grabbed one of Fontaine's bags that was at their feet and turned to speak to her. "Well, grab all your stuff. The cars are waiting for us in the parking lot. We'll take all of you to see the house." They were all shuffled past the boats and off of the dock where two jeeps were parked. Each one had the slogan 'Elephant Bay Scuba Tours' written on the sides with the logo of a snorkeling elephant.
She wondered if there was a story behind why this place was named Elephant Bay. It seemed too strange of a name to not have one. Even the High School was called Elephant Bay High. And the mascot, you guessed it, an Elephant. It was strange considering there were no signs of any actual Elephants.
Seeing how they all couldn't fit in one car,Ant jokingly suggested they separate by gender so that the boys could have 'guy talk' in their jeep.
"Do you even know what 'guy talk' is?" Fontaine asked condescendingly?
"No, but if girls can have 'girl talk,' why can't men have 'guy talk?'"
The adults seemed to humor him and piled in to their designated vehicles. After a ten minute drive of listening to her mom and her mom's friend reminisce about college and chat about the Scuba diving business, they arrived at a house practically smack dab on the beach. It was a little home. Two room, two bath, a kitchen, and a little living room. The outside was faded and peeling due to the sea air. Fontaine guessed that if might have been dark blue at some point. Flowers bloomed all over to add bright patches of color to the faded exterior. Two tall palm trees seemed to be reaching for the heavens on either side. As she stood, gazing at the place she would spend the next several months, listening to the waves beat the shore, Fontaine decided she felt right at home and wouldn't want to stay anywhere else.
"Would you like to see your room?" Kendra asked. She looked like she was very excited about showing her something.
Fontaine refocused and nodded. "Sure let me just unload first." they had beaten the boys to the house so it was just her mom, and Kendra helping to carry all the bags into the house. Kendra led the way to a door that had a small pastel mermaid painted on it. It was about the size of Fontaine's fist and utterly adorable.
Kendra threw the door open with gusto to revealing a small room behind the door. There was a white twin sized bed resting against the wall beneath the large open windows. It came with a white nightstand and matching dresser. There was also a closet. However, she barely noticed any of that in favor of the walls. Every single wall was covered in paint that depicted a mural unlike any other she had seen. For a moment it was like she was back in the Aronax, looking out of the large windows into the ocean. Sea creatures of all kinds swam across the the painted ocean on her walls. Whales, dolphins, manta rays, tropical fish, she even saw a fish that looked suspiciously like Jeffrey, and countless others.
Fontaine couldn't even express how happy it made her. She tried her hardest though. "Oh Kendra, It's absolutely stunning. I can't believe you did all of this for me."
Kendra positively beamed, she was so happy Fontaine liked what she did to her room, "I wanted to make it seem like you were still under the waves. After all, we wouldn't want our little mermaid to get homesick," she winked.
The boys came in, having finally arrived and getting the tour from Jim. Ant bounced in excitement upon seeing her room. "Wicked! Fontaine, how come you get a cool room." He turned to Kaiko. "Can we paint my room on the Aronax like this? Pleeeeeaaaaasssse?"
Their mom just laughed. "Perhaps. Although you could always just look out your window and see the real thing." Ant conceded that she had a point there.
After making sure that all of her stuff was put in her room how Fontaine liked it, they all went out to eat. They went to a nice Italian restaurant and took turns talking about recent events and a few of their less secret adventures.
After a few hours, it was time for the majority of the Nektons to leave. Many tears were shed (Ant denies it but he was totally tearing up too) and the last of three hugs were exchanged. Then Fontaine watched as her family boarded the Aronax, her home, and disappeared beneath the waves.
Kendra put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you'll miss them, but have no fear!" Fontaine was beginning to become used to Kendra's upbeat and excitable personality. "We are going to have lots of fun together. I have mountains of ideas of things for you to all, you came here to have new experiences." Her grin was somewhat terrifying, but she was right. No need to cry. She'd see her family again soon. She shouldn't squander the opportunity given to her at this time.
"That sounds great," she said while stifling a yawn. "But first, I need some shut eye. It's getting dark so I don't think we'll be able to do anything on your list."
That mildly terrifying grin made a comeback. "Oh you'd be surprised."
Luckily her husband chose to intervene. "Now now Kendra, Fontaine's probably exhausted. Let's let her get settled in before you take her on one of your crazy adventures."
She pouted. "You take all the fun out of everything."
Fontaine laughed loudly. Those two balanced the other out perfectly. Jim was cool and level headed (though by no means was he boring) and Kendra was a real spitfire, going off every which way her heart desired. She could already tell that his was going to be one interesting school year and it hadn't even begun.
Sorry for the late update. I've been so focused on some of my more read fics that this one kinda got shoved under the rug. I'll try to do better!
Amaz24- I'm glad you enjoyed it! Don't worry Finn will play a very big role in this fic ;)
