I woke up the next morning feeling like my head had been repeatedly stomped on with a steel boot. Not a good feeling. I sat up in bed, then immediately fell back down. The headache was unbearable. At that moment Nadia bustled in with her basket of dirty laundry she was collecting. I wasn't sure if I should admit to her I was horribly hungover, or try and cover it. I decided to lay low.
"Hey Nadia," I said in what sounded like a whisper.
"Hello Dan!" she practically shouted it, then 'accidentally' knocked over a stack of my books, which loudly clattered to the hardwood floor. I almost teared up at the throbbing in my head. So she definitely knew I had been screwed up last night.
"Ughh Nadia I need something. Fast. I think my head's gonna explode pretty soon," I admitted desperately.
"I know, I know. I already have some French toast going and four Tylenol waiting for you downstairs. Come down whenever you're ready." She walked out quickly. I sighed and rolled out of my huge bed.
I eased down the stairs relying on the banister and made my way slowly to the kitchen. The smell of French toast overwhelmed me, smelling incredibly good and making me want to puke at the same time.
"I've never been this messed up," I assured Nadia as I collapsed into a chair. It was true.
"I believe you. You don't seem the type," she said absentmindedly as she flipped the toast. That triggered my memory. Maggie, Layla, fish people. Whoa. My head hurt even more.
"Where are those Tylenol?" I asked, putting my head down. Nadia put the pills down in front of me with a glass of milk. I didn't know what to think. Layla was a fish person? No. I would just have to think that over when I felt better. Which could very well be next month.
I was already late for school and I didn't really care. I made straight As so it didn't matter. I would enjoy my breakfast and recuperate as much as I could before I went back to school. Whose bright idea was it to have a party on a Sunday anyway? Oh well.
I ate my French toast and drank my milk peacefully. Then I took a quick shower and climbed in my car regretfully. I really didn't want to go to that terrible building with those terrible people. And I had no idea what to think about Layla. But, being the person I was, of course I was going to go back.
I slowly pulled myself out of my car and walked to- oh, perfect, it was time for Biology. Naturally.
I entered the classroom with the rest of the class and took my seat next to Layla. So she was back. Wonderful. And she was obviously less than thrilled to see me. Mr. Banner told the class today would be a quiet chapter review. He assigned pages and questions and said what he expected of our answers, told us we could work with our neighbor and that was that. I pulled my textbook out and felt Layla's eyes on me. She was staring at me, burning holes in my head.
"Do you need something?" I asked, annoyed.
"Nothing at all. Not from you." She spat. This really set me over the edge.
"What is your problem? Are you upset with what you saw last night? Because that was none of your business," I said just as petulantly.
"None of my business? I think it was my business. Now I know what you're really like. Thank goodness I was there,"
"Don't even try to sound like you're better than me. And don't even try to suggest I'm a bad person. You know very well I'm not just another asshole and I shouldn't have to defend myself to you. Why does this matter? It's not like you give a flying shit about me," I said, working myself up. I didn't normally cuss like this.
"I don't care about you? Where did that come from?" she sounded honestly puzzled.
"You take off without a second thought! And I'm supposed to know when you're coming back? And I'm supposed to know I'm not allowed to kiss another girl? You didn't even want to kiss me! You ran away! What was I supposed to think?" It was a good thing everyone in the class was talking, because we were getting pretty loud.
Layla didn't seem to know what to say. Served her right. She knew I had a point and she took a minute to think it over.
"I… I'm sorry. I assumed you kissing another girl would never happen. Even without me saying anything about it," she said quietly. That was a kick in the stomach. She assumed I couldn't get another girl anyway, so why worry about it? She assumed she was my only option.
"Wow. Well I get it now! That's really fucked up. Don't worry about it anymore, there was never anything between us and I guess there never will be." I shoved my seat as far from her as I could and turned my back on her. I finished all the work before class ended.
I kept my pissy mood for the rest of the day, deciding I had good reason. I stormed to my car, slamming the door louder than usual. I sped home to crumple onto my bed again. I had a lot to figure out.
Maggie. She was amazing. Smart, gorgeous, funny, sweet, amazing at kissing. And she was completely honest with me, completely open. I learned more about her in two days than I had Layla in the months we sat next to each other at school. I really, really liked Maggie. I could see myself being in a serious relationship with her, easily.
Layla. She was… I didn't even know. Smart, mind-blowingly beautiful, and other than that, a complete puzzle. She had just seemed to warm up to me before she went MIA, expecting me to be loyal to her in her absence. That was pretty arrogant. But then she had every reason to be arrogant, as far as I could tell. She had a hell of a lot of explaining to do before I would think about dating her again, though. And I found that, despite everything that had happened today with her, I still couldn't get rid of my attraction to her. It was like a sickness. I had no control over it.
Now, mixing the two. Maggie said the Kelbys were a large, rare, smart kind of fish. That was peculiar. But she had been hinting at something else. A mix between human and fish… the only thing I could come up with was mermaid, and that was absurd. Mermaids didn't exist, just like vampires and werewolves and unicorns. But maybe that would explain all the weirdness that surrounded Layla and her family…
On a whim I turned my computer on. One little Google search wouldn't hurt anyone. And I didn't have much homework anyway. Why not? I typed in 'mermaid' and spent about twenty minutes ruling out all the idiotic stuff. Finally I came to a semi-intelligent looking page on the history and questionable reality of mermaids.
Often called sirens, the mermaid creature has most recently been attributed to good nature, as in
Disney's 'The Little Mermaid', but these developments are misleading. The little-known mermaid that
appears throughout ancient literature is a dangerous, terrible beast bent on causing destruction and
havoc among the open seas.
The most obvious account in ancient literature would be the Sirens of The Odyssey. Their enchantingvoices draw in sailors, causing shipwrecks and disappearances. The thousands of mysterious missing
ships with no proven crashes cause speculation that mermaids and sirens must still exist today.
The rest of the site was an alphabetized listing of all the literary references and different myths of mermaids held throughout the world. I read through dozens, finding that the most common mermaid or siren characteristics were extremely pale, sometimes glowing skin, a long, thick head of hair, physically changing skin temperature, and an unnatural appeal to humans. That all seemed to fit.
But what about all the other aspects of sirens? The gruesome, dangerous tales about hundreds of shipwrecks and thousands of missing sailors. The alluring nature of the sirens that drew humans in to never be seen again. That had to be all myth. If, and it was a huge if, Layla was anything like a mermaid or siren, she hadn't tried to draw me in. In fact, she had done a heck of a good job pushing me away.
And then what did this make Maggie? Some kind of mermaid hunter?
This was too much to think about. I shoved it all to the back of my mind and got ready to make a late dinner. I had heard Nadia doing something downstairs earlier and I knew she would be waiting for me for dinner. I flipped off the computer and went down.
"Hey, sorry I haven't started anything to eat yet, I lost track of time," I apologized when I saw Nadia.
"So? I'm the adult, you're the kid, that's okay," she chuckled. I smiled.
I started dinner, a chicken casserole, and kept my mind distracted with that.
"I heard you and Maggie hit it off last weekend," Nadia said, hungry for gossip. I had to laugh.
"Yeah. At the beach and at a party in Pasadena. She's really cool, I like her a lot," I answered honestly. She looked pleased.
"That's great! I'm always worried about her meeting some sleazebag that doesn't deserve her, but you! It's great!" she was obviously thrilled. And again I was the nice guy that would never hurt his girl. It was good, I guess, but getting pretty annoying.
"Yep. Now how much casserole do you want?" I changed the subject.
We had a nice dinner. Afterwards I took a book outside to the back deck and lay down. I knew I wouldn't really get much reading done. I forced myself to focus on the two most vital questions I had to answer.
First, I had to decide if the Kelbys were sirens. My first, logical, practical instinct told me no. Of course not. The more I thought about it though the more it made sense. Why else would they all have the same skin? The same hair? A special group? That special alluring draw that kept me wanting Layla? And perhaps most incriminating, why had Layla's skin changed temperature when I kissed her?
The best answer I could come up with was that it was a possibility. And that was crazy itself.
Second, Maggie or Layla? I wasn't the kind of guy to even try to pull off two girls at once, and today Layla had made it obvious it was her or Maggie, no in between. But then did we even have anything, Layla and I? Maggie and I obviously did, and I liked what we had very much. I didn't even want to imagine her face if I had to tell her I was choosing a Kelby, the thing she hunted, I guessed, over her.
The best answer I could come up with for that question was to continue things with Maggie and see what happened with Layla.
Feeling somewhat better, though I had really come to no great conclusions, I went up to bed. On my way the phone rang and Nadia brought it to me. It was Jesse.
"Hey! That party was great wasn't it?!" He said happily.
I laughed. "Sure was. What's up?"
"Do you wanna go with me and Luke paintballing tomorrow night?" I guessed I was in his close circle now. I didn't mind. I liked Jesse. I didn't so much like Luke though.
"You sure Luke doesn't mind me going?" I asked cautiously.
"Ah forget him. You coming?" he sounded unworried.
"Okay, sure. See you tomorrow."
"Aight. Peace, man." And we hung up. I cleared it with Nadia and went to bed.
The next morning was clear and pretty again, renewing my hope that things would get better. Or maybe just less confusing. I checked my email to find my dad's multiple attempts last night to talk to me. Guilt pulled me down into the chair to respond.
Dad,
Sorry I haven't responded. I actually went to a Cali party last night. Crazy, right? I got messed up but Nadia, the cleaning lady, she's awesome. She took care of me. I haven't done anything stupid yet, I think, so stop worrying. Betsy's here about %5 of the time, but I expected it, so it's okay. I'm doing pretty well. Tell Susan hello for me,
Dan.
I figured that was the best I could do for now. I showered, got dressed, and picked up the breakfast sandwich Nadia had made for me on my way out.
The day went fairly well, none of my teachers were mad at my absence yesterday, and I got good grades back. Lunch went well, Jesse and Luke promising to take me out tonight, and me happy to get some frustration out. I looked over anxiously only to find a missing Layla. I wasn't sure if I was upset, but I relaxed quite a bit.
The rest of the day was as good and calm as the beginning, and I almost ran to Jesse's Mustang when the last bell rang. My excitement increased exponentially as we actually drove out of the city limits.
