[Jason's POV]

My entire class was buzzing when the first bell rang. Today we were going on a field trip to the aquarium in downtown New York, which is ten times better than the two other field trips we've gone on this year. The first one was to a wheat farm, and the other was to a factory. They both were boring beyond belief. So the class was really excited to go on an actual good field trip. Well, everyone except for Ty. Whenever I mentioned it, he would start shaking nervously. He wouldn't tell me why.

When the bus finally showed up, our teacher Mr. Quill gave us a lecture about being good representatives of our school and stuff, then had us all pile into the bus. I sat next to Ty. The trip consisted intense rounds of rock-paper-scissors and thumb war, then a couple minutes of just staring out the window next to me thinking about the aquarium.

A couple months ago, Kelly had taken me to a zoo, and I found it amazing. Even though humans look similar to the people back on my home planet, the other animals here are completely alien. They all look so strange compared to the ones back home. And I heard that sea creatures are even weirder, which is why I'm so excited for this trip.

Soon, the bus stopped and everyone started to jump out. Except for Ty of course. He stayed firmly planted in his seat. And because he wouldn't move, I couldn't move. "C'mon Ty. We don't want to be left behind," I told him.

He shook his head, "Nuh uh. I can't do it."

"Why not? What's so wrong with the aquarium?" I asked.

He sighed. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah. You can trust me."

"I'm afraid of water."

I struggled not to laugh when he said that. "How can you be afraid of water?"

"It's a long story. I don't wanna talk about it." He sunk down deeper into his seat.

I sighed to myself. "Ty, the water isn't gonna hurt you. It's water. You're literally made up of seventy percent water." He didn't move. "Fine. If you aren't gonna move, then neither will I." I sat back down in my seat.

"Alright. I'm cool with that," He replied.

"Hey!" The bus driver came back to where we were sitting. "You kids need to get off this bus now!" Well, we did. Ty may be stubborn, but he's not stupid. You don't want to mess with any New York public transportation driver, even if they just drive a school bus.

We walked into the aquarium and Ty looked like the was gonna have a heart attack. I put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine." He nodded, but still looked paranoid.

Our class was nowhere in sight, so we started going around the exhibits by ourselves. I loved reading about and seeing the weird animals. Even Ty seemed interested once he got over the fact that we were standing next to a giant tank of water.

We walked over to a tank labeled 'American Bluefish' which apparently is a newfound species. But there didn't seem to be anything in the tank. We both looked at the plaque talking about the Bluefish. "That's one weird looking fish," Ty commented when he saw the picture.

Something tapped on the glass. "I am not a fish!" We both looked up and screamed. The fish had just appeared in front of us, crossing his arms and looking miffed. "I'm an amphibian."

"It talks!" Ty screamed.

It rolled it's eyes. "First off, I'm not an it. I'm a he. My name is Husky. And second, of course I talk. Why wouldn't I talk?"

I cleared my throat. "Well, not many fish-"

"Amphibians."

"Amphibians that I know of can talk to humans."

Husky covered his face and mumbled something. "Sorry. I forget that I'm not supposed to talk to humans. Please don't tell anyone! The only thing worse than sitting in this tank for the rest of my life is being dissected in some government lab for being a talking mudkip."

I made the zipper motion across my lips. "Our lips are sealed."

Ty glanced at the plaque. "Mudkip? This says that you're an American Bluefish."

Husky scowled at it. "Is that what that says? Leave it to those idiots to mess up the name. As if it wasn't enough to kill my sister…"

"Wait, the people here killed your sister?" Ty asked.

Husky nodded sadly. "A few months after they captured us. They didn't take care of her properly and she just died." If he wasn't underwater, I'm sure he would've started crying.

"Hey, it's okay man," I said. "I lost my family too. They died in a war. I'm Jason by the way."

Ty nodded. "I'm Ty. My dad died in a plane crash and the rest of my family hates me."

We all started talking about our families, then moved on to lighter topics. We talked and talked for hours. Eventually I glanced at a clock on the wall. It was ten to two. Crap! "We need to find our class Ty! We're leaving in an hour!"

Ty waved to Husky. "See you later Husky."

He waved back. "Can you guys come back and visit sometime? I didn't realize how much I miss talking to people."

"For sure Husky. See you."

We began walking around the aquarium looking for our class, but the place was huge! After fifteen minutes of searching and not finding anyone, we decided to hang out by the exit. They'd have to go there eventually. But for another five minutes we just stood there and got bored. Still no one showed up. "What kind of teacher doesn't notice two of his students are missing?" Ty mumbled.

"Let's just go kill some time by the gift shop or something," I suggested.

There was a lot of stuff you would expect from an aquarium gift shop in there: t-shirts, hoodies, stuffed sea creatures, snowglobes, backpacks, and jewelry. There was also an assortment of different snacks for some reason. It would've been completely normal if it wasn't for the kid with messy brown hair and a tattered red and black hoodie running around the store shoving whatever he could grab into one of the backpacks. "Is he stealing?" I asked Ty.

Ty rolled his eyes. "No. I'm sure he's just some random rich kid who loves aquarium stuff and likes to run around in old ripped clothes. I'm sure he'll pay for it all."

I walked up behind the kid as he was taking some of the chips from the snack section. "Hey, are you gonna pay for all that stuff? Cause that looks like it's gonna be like a hundred dollars incase you didn't know."

The kid turned around and flashed a fake smile. "Yeah, I know. My mom's gonna pay for it."

I was far from convinced. "Really? Where is she then?"

I swear I saw tears in his caramel eyes for a split second. Then his fake happy demeanor came back. "Here. I think she was looking at the penguins. I got bored and she told me to just come here."

I crossed my arms. "Who are you?"

"I'm Nathan," he replied instantly and stook out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

If I wasn't already suspicious of "Nathan", his lie would've slipped right past me. He's obviously done it before. "I mean really, who are you?"

He gave me a confused look. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I should really go find my mom, so…"

He tried walking around me, but I grabbed his shoulders and pinned him against a wall. "Who. Are. You?"

He froze in shock for a second then replied, "M-Mitch."

"More details," I demanded.

Mitch looked at me with a scared expression, then kneed me in the stomach. I collapsed to the ground and he took off with all the stuff. Once Ty got out of his state of shock, he walked over and helped me up. "That was… intense."

I coughed and held my stomach. "Yeah, no kidding. We should tell someone about him. He was so good at lying, he has to have done this before."

"Let's not tell someone," Ty said. "They won't believe us. Besides, there has to be security cameras around here somewhere, right? The adults will take care of it."

I took a few steady breaths in and out. "I guess. I hate people who think they don't have to listen to the rules though."

Ty smirked. "Goody-goody."

I flicked him in the arm. "Shut up."

Soon the rest of the class showed up and we left for the bus. Well, after Mr. Quill apologized for not noticing we were gone and telling us not to tell our parents. Then we left. On the bus ride back I couldn't help but think about Husky and Mitch. Why could Husky talk? Why was Mitch stealing all that stuff? Can all fish- I mean, amphibians- talk? Why did Mitch get all teary-eyed when he mentioned his mom? Where did Husky really come from? Because it seemed like he was really comfortable doing something he's not supposed to do. Mitch too, for that matter.

"You okay Jason?" Ty asked. "You have a weird look on your face."

"I'm just thinking is all."

"You think too much," he replied.

I smiled. "Yeah. Maybe I do. Too late to change that now. How about some rock-paper-scissors?"

Ty put his hand in a fist. "Finally! Watching you think is really boring."