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Ch. 2: Deep Sea Problems

"Kairi, hurry up!" Melody urged, her peach-tinted tail twitching irritably. I frantically kicked my own tail in order to keep up with her, but it was no use. I was her little sister after all.

"I can't swim as fast as you, I'm only nine!" I complained as I caught up to her. She shrugged it off, and then quickly threw her black hair into a sporty ponytail.

"Well, try harder."

I was about to retort when our mother, Lady Ariel, interrupted our little argument.

"Girls!" she scolded, frowning. The frown appeared awkward on her dainty face, making me stifle a smirk.

"Kairi…" she warned.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I apologized profusely. She smiled once again, ruffling my long, auburn hair.

"Apology accepted," she said lightly. "Anyway, I have a surprise for you!" she added excitedly. Melody and I inched closer to her.

"What is it?" I asked eagerly.

"We're going to visit your father on the surface tonight!" she cried happily. In response, my sister and I squealed, catching each other's hands in excitement.

You see, our father, Eric, is a human. My mother fell in love with him when she was only a couple years older than me. After some sort of an adventure involving a sea witch, they fell in love and had Melody, who was born as a human child. Ten years later, I was born a mermaid.

As a child, Melody exhibited more mermaid-like traits, so thanks to a little help from my Grandpa Triton's magic, we ended up being raised down here after I was born. This meant we didn't see our dad as often, which especially hurt my "daddy's girl" sis and my still "madly-in-love" mother.

"Now, I want you both to begin getting ready-" At this, my tomboy sister groaned, but Mom continued as if she didn't notice, "- and meet me downstairs when it's time for the tide shift."

"Ooh, can I go to my friend, Selphie's house? She can make my hair pretty really fast!" I pleaded. Unlike my sister, I liked girly things.

"Okay, but be back-"

But before she could finish, I had already darted off.

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"Hello, Mrs. Flotsam? I was wondering if I could see Selphie," I asked as calmly as possible. Selphie's mom narrowed her eyes, but said nothing as I glided into her home. The clamshell walls were covered in vibrantly colored kelp strands, and small shell fragments were scattered on top, creating a very lovely effect.

"What do you need Selphie for?" Mrs. Flotsam asked, breaking me from my trance.

"I get to see my dad today, and I wanted Selphie to help me with my hair!" I replied cheerfully.

She looked as if she was about to say something more, but then my golden-tailed friend burst into the room.

"Kairi!" she cried happily, giving me a giant hug. Her brunette hair bounced happily, as if in agreement.

"Selphie! I was wondering if-"

"Say no more! I heard you, and I know exactly what to do!" She put a finger to my lips, and then dragged me into her room

Selphie's room was a bit mature for a nine-year-old. The regular clamshell walls were covered in neon-orange fish scales, matching her large jellyfish cap bed and dresser. The main piece of her room, however, was her giant vanity. It was overflowing with the coolest products that only teenagers usually had (well, normal teenagers, at least. My sporty sister barely had any cleaner for her hair). On top of the vanity appeared to be an infinite number of hair accessories, causing me to stare in awe.

Apparently, I must not have been paying attention, as my hand resting on the doorframe accidentally snapped a part of the clamshell wall off.

Oops.

I looked around frantically as she cleared a space at her vanity for me. I then carefully placed the chunk of clamshell back where it was, and tried to act as if nothing happened.

"…your hair is perfect! It's like your mom's hair, just a slightly different color." I hadn't even noticed that Selphie had been talking to me.

"Thanks!" I answered, hoping that I didn't sound suspicious. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary about my statement.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked impatiently. "I want to work on your hair!" I giggled at her excitement, as I joined her at the vanity.

As she worked on my hair, we giggled and talked about normal things like the mermaid concert coming up, and how our parents were making us go with them. C'mon, we were nine; we could handle ourselves!

"Here, could you hold this for me?" Selphie handed me a starfish hairpin. "Sure," I responded, taking it between my fingers. Snap.

I stared numbly as the little shards of pink starfish floated away. Finally, panic began to flood me.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I cried, attempting to catch the pieces.

"It's fine, It's fine!" she replied airily, as if unconcerned. "I can always find something else for your hair. Mom will buy me a replacement."

Just then, the mother of all disasters occurred: I broke her vanity.

I'm not sure how it happened. I was placing the fragments of hairpin that I managed to catch onto the vanity as gently as I could, but my hand still managed to leave a large dent right in the center of it.

A horrible silence descended from above. What was going on? I knew I was klutzy, but I wasn't usually this bad.

A voice from behind me somehow answered my thoughts.

"It's because you're not a mermaid."

I turned to see Mrs. Flotsam standing in the doorway, tossing the chunk of wall up and down in one hand, the other hand resting on her hip.

"But-but I am!" I protested weakly.

She merely snorted in response.

"You're only part-mermaid. You're other part is human." She spat out the last part. "You're nothing more than a human with a fish tail."

I was about to say something back, but I stopped as I stared at both Selphie and her mom. They both had delicate, almost faery-like features. Their arms were lean and dainty compared to my thicker (1) and muscular arms, and their angular and perfectly proportioned faces were very different from my rounder one.

"Get out of my house, half-breed," Mrs. Flotsam demanded. I wordlessly obeyed, ignoring Selphie's cries of protest.

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(1) Kairi isn't fat, human arms just have a layer of fat preventing their muscles from rubbing against their bones from what I've heard. Faeries/mermaids aren't human, so their limbs work differently. They probably have pixie dust or something cheesy on top of their bones or something, I don't know. Ask one sometime. XD

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