Swimming Downstream
an excerpt

Swimming Downstream
An Original Novel by Hannah Sugarman.

Table of Contents

Prologue: In Which We Meet our Main Character, and She Has a Drastic Act
Chapter 1: In Which We Meet the Merman
Chapter 2: In Which Everyone Acts Fake
Chapter 3: In Which We Meet the Mer People, Robert has A Freakout, and Kaila Worries.
Chapter 4: In Which Our Two Main Characters Ponder Whether They Are in Love or Not
Chapter 5: In Which Our Two Main Characters Realize That They Are, Indeed, In Love
Chapter 6: In Which Time Passes
Chapter 7: In Which A Tragedy Occurs
Chapter 8: In Which Robert Attemps to Help Kaila Make A Recovery
Chapter 9: In Which the Father and the Son talk , A Secret is Revealed, And an Important Decision is Made.
Chapter 10: In Which Another Secret is Revealed, and Kaila has a Very Strange Dream.
Chapter 11: In Which A Plan is Made, and A Very Strange Creature Makes A Visit

Prologue: In Which We Meet our Main Character

Kayla stood on the high bridge, staring down at the dark, crashing, churning waters. The sky was littered in dark clouds. It was a miserable, gloomy day, and the sun was nowhere to be found. It was a fitting day for Kaila’s mood; dark, and miserable. Suddenly, Kaila was struck out of her reverie by the loud, obnoxious ringing of her cell phone, not to mention it‘s bright, flashing lights! Why had she done that again? She would never know. She hated that ringtone with a passion, and still couldn’t muster the effort to change it. It was just one indication of how far Kaila had fallen from her former heights.

Hey! Hey! You! You!
I don’t like your girlfriend!
No way! No way!
I think you need a new one
Hey! Hey! You! You!
I could be your girlfriend
She groaned and fished it out of her pocket, taking a second to look at the wallpaper picture of her boyfriend and swallowing deeply before answering.
“Hello?” she asked irritably.
“Hello?” A tentative voice whispered into the other end. “Hello? Kaila?”
“Who’s there?” Kaila snapped, not feeling patient in any way whatsoever.
“Um, this is Lauren? From Bio? I was just wondering if you understood question number seven on the homework? Um.. I’m so, so, so, so sorry, for bothering you so late. It’s just that I’m really worried about it because of the test tomorrow…”. She let her voice trail off.
Kaila stifled a laugh. Lauren was one of the strangest girls she knew. She was *obsessed* with popularity, literally, but she was incredibly shy and didn’t talk at all. So how could she possibly be popular? It was unfathomable.
Kaila loved, okay, hated, how people got so nervous around her, like she wasn’t a normal person. She was a normal person, an one hundred percent real, normal person. Well, at least sometimes. On the days she wasn’t being fake. She bit her tongue to avoid saying something incredibly rude to the girl on the other end of the extension, and breathed in deeply for a second before releasing it and speaking.
“ Sorry, I don’t have it with me. Just read the question out loud and I’ll help you.”
Lauren laughed nervously. “Thanks so, so much! Okay, number seven. Umm… What is protein synthesis?”
“Okay.” Kaila sighed. “Think about it. What is a protein?”
Lauren bit her nails. “Hmmm..”
This wasn’t getting anywhere. Kaila sighed for the third time. “What does a protein do?”
The other side of the extension was silent. Kaila surrendered. “I don’t have time for this.” she muttered under her breath, but nevertheless, she patiently explained the ins and outs of protein synthesis to Lauren.
Forty five minutes later, she could almost hear Lauren’s brain fidgeting, and tried vainly to wrap it up. Wow, did she love to talk. And she hated it. She could ramble on for hours, and hours, and hours; even on topics as “intriguing” as protein synthesis.
“Umm… Kaila?” Lauren interrupted her verbal diarrhea. “This is really interesting and all.. But I kind of have to go.. Can we finish this another time?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure. Bye!” And with that, Kaila hung up the phone. Then, she pitched it over the side of the bridge, cursing loudly. The expensive phone that Kaila had begged and begged for hit the dark water with a crash. Water sprayed up, and Kaila had used so much force that the water hit her full in the face, causing the dark eyeliner that framed her chocolate brown eyes to immediately begin running down the side of her face, causing the effect that she looked like she was crying. But she wasn’t. Kaila was so past crying.
It was time. She could stall no more.
She opened the small red shoulder bag that sat beside her, rummaging through it for a small notebook and her favorite pen, the one with the tassels on the end, the one that alternated colors of ink with the click of a button. She opened the notebook, her hand shaking slightly as she thought about what she was about to do.
She tore out a piece of paper haphazardly, so that the end was a jagged line; kind of like her life. That was the messiest she had ever tore out a piece of paper in her life. She clicked the end of her pen and put it to paper, but the first few sentences she wrote had to be crumpled up and thrown over the side of the bridge, because they were completely illegible. After twenty fast minutes of writing, where her hand had skimmed dutifully over the paper, she had this written;
Robert, I’m sorry, truly, truly sorry, but I can’t have this kind of relationship anymore. It’s too serious for me. I’m only eighteen! And I can’t live like this- it’s crazy! I feel like I’m two different people; with my family, I’m the sweet, popular, smart girl that everyone thinks I am. I get good grades, I talk far too much, I give excellent homework advice, even if I do tend to ramble. And with you- well, with you, I‘m a completely different person. I‘m not going to detail it here- who knows who will find this letter! I’m not mad enough at you to give you away, though I’m getting close. I’m not going to lie; I’ve thought about killing myself several times over the last few months. I’m depressed, I’m filled with angst, I’m miserable- but I can’t stop! It’s like I’m addicted or something! You’re my drug, Robert. But it’s not the kind of drug that makes you feel good. It’s something much, much worse. Look, Robert, I’ll tell you the truth here. I’m tired of hiding this secret from the world. Tired enough that I’m ending it tonight. I spent so long writing out these lyrics for you- I hope you enjoy them. I hope they make you smile. Love you forever. - Kaila.
Underneath the main text, she had skipped four lines and completely changed her handwriting. Quickly, she dashed down the chorus to the song that was the story of their relationship. Their song.

Just to see you smile
I’d do anything
That you wanted me to
And all is said and done
I’d never count the cost
It’s worth all that’s lost
Just to see you smile

She looked up from the paper and noticed, for the first time, that the sky was clearing. Crap! She had to hurry up and get it over with! There would be people swarming around here within a second if the sun really started to shine.
She took a deep breath and stepped over the rail. Then she realized she was still holding her note to Robert. She had never been this scatterbrained before- what was happening to her? She laughed. She knew what was happening to her. She had to stop this.
She grabbed the letter and ran, ran far away from the bridge; she left her bag there, the only way she could ensure she would return. She ran for five minutes straight, until she was panting and wheezing; and came to a stop in front of his house. She took a deep breath before walking up to the front door, her bare feet enjoying the soft welcome mat that was the only familiar thing she had felt the whole day. She was in pain. And she didn’t care.
She took one last deep breath before placing the letter carefully in his mailbox, checking one more time to make sure she had signed it, even though she knew that Robert would know who it was from anyway. She took one more deep breath, than pushed one trembling, pale finger to ring the doorbell. She stood there for five minutes until Robert’s hairbrained mother, Jodi, answered the door.
“Hello?” She stared at Kaila for a few seconds. “Robert’s not here right now, dear. Didn’t he tell you? He had to run off to… a religious convention. Yeah, this, erm, conclave thing. It’s for the weekend- so he’ll be back on Monday, you can come see him there.”
“ I know, Ms. Benshin.” Those four words had such a simple meaning; but they hid something much, much deeper. Jodi didn’t seem to pick up on though.
“Oh, alright then dear. Why did you come? Forget something? Come in, I’ll help you look.” She laughed, an odd musical laugh that seemed unnatural somehow; like she was hiding something. The trouble was, she was hiding something that Kaila already knew. Why was she wasting her time.
“No, I mean, I know.”
The silence was deafening. Jodi stared at Kaila for a full thirty seconds before speaking.
“You mean, you know? You truly, actually know?” She expelled air from her mouth, before her expression became furious. “That Robert- can’t he keep a secret, can’t he listen to what his betters tell him? That silly boy- all in the name of love… “ she paused for a second from her tirade, before looking straight at Kaila. “He did tell you, right? I mean- you didn’t figure it out on your own, did you?”
Kaila shook her head. “He told me.”
“Well, well..” Jodi seemed speechless. “I suppose you better come in.”
Kaila shook her head again; she was quickly becoming a broken record. “ I have to go, I’m actually in quite a hurry. I just thought you ought to know.”
Jodi shook her head. Great, now the dignity of this exchange was being turned into a head shaking match. “I suppose I wasn’t quite clear. There is no choice. You have to come in.”
Kaila did that action again. “Nope, sorry. I really can’t.”
“No, really, I insist…” Jodi’s sugar sweet voice was coated with malice. “ The door is wide open…” Her voice quickly turned into a high soprano as she sang out “Come in, come in, the door is wide, the days are short, it’s cold outside…”
Kaila knew better than to give into this. How many times had she been tempted by Robert’s hypnotizing voice? She wasn’t going to let Jodi rope her into going in. She had to go.. She had to end this now…
But the temptation was too much. She blinked a few times and blindly followed Jodi into the house, the song still resonating throughout the huge main hallway.”
“Come into the sitting room.” Startlingly, Jodi’s voice turned back into the sweet, but non melodic voice she normally used.
Kaila nodded and followed into the large room. She had never been in there before; it was only used for serious guests. Usually, she and Robert spent all of their time swimming in the huge pool in his basement- more on that later- or in his bedroom. The room was breathtaking. It was lined with dark black leather couches that complimented the dark blue walls. Framed paintings hung on the wall, of Van Gogh to Picasso, and everything in between. Beyond that, the room was indescribable.
Jodi plopped down on one of the couches and indicated for Kaila to follow. She did.
“ You can’t tell anyone.” It was a straightforward enough statement. And it wasn’t like Kaila hadn’t been expecting it.
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“How long have you known, anyway?”
Kaila grimaced. “Um… six months? I’m not sure, it feels like forever.”
“Why did he tell you?” Jodi’s expression was grim.
“ Isn’t that the same question?” Kaila asked innocently.
Jodi looked at her. “Stop this right now, Kaila. I understand you have places to go. If you want to get this over with just answer my questions! I need to know these things- it’s essential for the safety of our people.”
“The safety? Even I don’t understand that one.”
“I’m asking the questions here, Kaila, not you. You need to stop this insolence. Now, when did he tell you?”
Kaila grind her teeth together and pressed together her lips. This was private.
“Kaila? ANSWER ME!”
Kaila shook her head. Jodi almost laughed.
“This isn’t funny! This is…”
Kaila finally spoke. “It’s none of your business.”
“It is.” Then she opened her mouth to sing again. “Sweet Kaila, sweet Kaila, let your voice rise in song with me! Proclaim your secrets to the world… true love is a beautiful thing, a beautiful thing indeed, but it can be broken…”
Kaila sighed as she realized she had nothing to lose. And she really had to go do it before she lost her nerve.
“He told me right after my mother died. I was so upset.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, honey. I, I’d forgotten that that happened.”
What a tactless thing to say, Kaila thought. That had been incredibly rude. She had forgotten that her mother died? Her son’s girlfriend?
“I understand why he would choose that moment to release the information to you, he obviously felt guilty.”
“He didn’t feel guilty, okay? He didn’t pity me. He just wanted to tell me.”
Jodi looked extremely angry, but decided to, at least for the minute, ignore her anger.
“Do you swear, swear, swear not to tell anyone about this? Because if you tell anyone- you do know that your life is going to end, don’t you?”
“Oh yes, I know.” Kaila smiled to herself.
Jodi still looked worried, but Kaila kept checking her watch. She had been here for long enough.
“Fine, you’re free to go. But if I ever catch word of anyone finding out about anything…. Robert is ON a religious conclave, got that? That’s all your allowed to say about him.”
“Fine.” Kaila said. She hopped off the couch and walked slowly out of the room and out of the house, towards the bridge, and her impending doom.
When she finally reached it, the sun was almost fully out; but luckily, no was there yet.
Kaila wanted to kick herself! What had she been thinking, going to talk to Robert’s family like that! She knew that it would be crazy. She knew that things would be asked of her that she didn’t want to answer- and still she did it. Not to mention that she had probably now gotten Robert in incredibly unbelievably big trouble. Not just with his family, but with the rulers of his world!
What had she done? She didn’t even want to think about that right now. She didn’t want to think about it ever. It was time to end it. She had been saying this all day. But now it was really coming true.
What other choice did she have?
So with those thoughts in mind she took a deep breath, about the one thousandth of the day, in fact, and then she bent her knees, and jumped. Jumped down into the crashing waters below.
“Better hope I float!” was her ironic last thought before she hit the water.

Chapter One: In Which We Meet the Merman

Two years previous:

Robert folded his hands in front of him as he attempted to at least pretend to be listening to the teacher drone on about things he had known since he was about six. He could feel his eyes start to droop, and immediately he took a large swig from the huge water bottle that was under his desk. God, he loved water. Why was school so unbelievably tedious?
Nothing exiting ever happened. Why did his parents insist he spend time living a “normal” life? He wasn’t normal. And he never would be! How would all these normal things ever be useful to him in any way in his adult life?? His parents never used the stuff that their parents had forced them to learn! It sucked.
And the worst part was how busy he got. The second “regular” school ended, he had to rush down for his other school. Which was much more fun, and much more informative, and much more relevant to his life! Seriously, Biology? His body didn’t even work this way! None of his friends had to go to school.
Here, He was strange. He tried to fit in- in fact, he was basically forced to, or else he would risk exposing his world. His real world, the one he felt like he truly belonged in. But he couldn’t live there full time, because he only half belonged there. His thoughts were all jumbled- to be perfectly honest, he got like this a lot. It must be a casualty of living in two worlds.
Robert Benshin was a half merman.
He had never told anyone this. For two reasons. One, obviously he couldn’t for a very practical reason. He wasn’t allowed. To tell anyone about the world that existed below the sea was one of the worst crimes he could commit. Being only half merman, and not whole, punishments were especially hard on him and it was likely that he would end up dead, or in a dungeon somewhere, hanging by his tail to the ceiling.
Yes, he had a tail. Well, sort of, anyway. Yet another one of the problems of being half merman. He didn’t really have a whole anything. Well, back on topic.
The second reason that Robert would never tell anyone his secret was simply that he didn’t have anyone to tell it to! He didn’t have a best friend, he didn’t have any good friends, he didn’t have any friends! He was simply too strange, too mysterious; and often seemed unapproachable. And he certainly didn’t have a girlfriend. It was actually quite pathetic, to be honest, because he was considered pretty darn good looking around his fellow mer people. But then again, mer people probably didn’t have the same tastes as human people. Robert wouldn’t know.

Robert could be described as large. He had a huge, hulking body reminiscent of Frankenstein. He had muscular shoulders, a muscular chest, muscular everything, like most merman. He had dark blonde hair that flopped over his eyes often. He had dark green eyes, piercing, shattering eyes. He thought that his eyes were his best feature. They probably were. He didn’t really like his hair; every day he tried to get the floppy piece out from on top of his eyes. It didn’t usually work.

He had a mermaid girlfriend for a while, until she found out that he was only half merman. That had not been a happy day at all; he had been miserable for the rest of the week, in fact. And he hadn’t met anyone since. All the girls in his “normal” school were revolted by him, or creeped out, or maybe a bit of both. And the majority of the mermaids he knew thought him to be too unpure for them. That was irrelevant anyway, seeing as he wouldn’t have had to tell his mermaid girlfriends, they would already know!
Robert laughed out loud, albeit very quietly. Here he was, thoughts rambling again. He found that once his mind got going, he never stopped thinking. His brain was always running on double speed; sometimes it was horrible, sometimes it was wonderful. On one hand, it helped him get work done fast. He was an amazing typist. He could type almost one thousand words in only twenty minutes. But he didn’t usually like to type things. He didn’t like writing essays, or writing novels, or writing almost anything

God, this was boring. Was the period going to end anytime soon? How long can this go on for? He tried to listen to the teacher’s lecture. All he got was
“Cells can be divided in many ways.” Then the teacher’s voice turned to mush inside his head, and his thoughts rambled again.
He hated being half merman. Not just for the reasons already said. There were actually a lot more, too. The main problem with being half merman was that he had to do everything half- spend half his time underwater, and the other half on dry land. He had to breathe air half of the time, and guzzle water the other half of the time. That just turned him off of the schedules that normal people in both worlds ran. For example, in order to make “normal” school, he had to miss the first five minutes of mer school, and he did not enjoy doing that. He was always hopelessly behind. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, to tell the truth. He tried, but his efforts were generally fruitless. He was living a pretty pathetic existence right now, he thought.
Another reason he didn’t like being a half merman was that, as we already said, he was looked down by most mer people. He was an illegimate child- his parents had never married- that was forbidden even more than having a half merchild in the first place! He didn’t even know how his parents met. Of course, he saw them equally; he stayed with his father on nights he was underwater, and with his mother when he was on land. Neither of them talked about each other; but it was in their conscience. They spent a lot of time thinking about it, and his mother, Jodi, had to make a solemn vow of silence. In fact, she was going to be killed, but when they found out about the child, they decided against that. Instead, she was granted a special power called enchanterment, which many mer people, including Robert and his father, possessed. This power was the power of convincement, and it was very easy to use. All she had to do was sing; and people would be instantly swayed to follow her wishes.
In this way, people would never find out about her secret, and the secret her son harbored. This power came with a price, however- she had to come underwater once a month, to ensure that she had not told anyone or allowed anyone to find out.
She wasn’t planning on letting anyone find out. She wanted to keep it a secret. Besides, who would believe her! It was absurd to think that anyone would ever actually believe that. But she still had to go underwater once a month; a painful process indeed, seeing as she couldn’t breathe down there. She had to attach an air tank to herself, it was heavy, and just not too fun. But it was worth it; she was alive.
The final reason why Robert could not stand being half merman was that nagging feeling that he didn’t belong anywhere. What was he, really? He only had half a tail, he breathed like a human sometimes, and sometimes not; he wasn’t even sure how his body functions worked, whether he peed like a human, talked like a human, etc. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to find out. What if his traits were mostly human? What would he do? How would he feel? He certainly felt more comfortable in the merworld. He knew that he would feel more comfortable if he had friends, more family, a girlfriend; for now, he was almost alone in the world. And he couldn’t stand it.

The bell rang, finally. He gathered up his books and swung them into his back effortlessly. One perk of being half merman was that he was extremely strong and fast. Especially in swimming. He was an amazing swimmer and didn’t hesitate for anyone to know it. He had to be careful, of course, because if he stayed in the water *too long* he developed gills. That problem, however, could normally be solved if he got out of the water every half hour or so, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for him.

Swim team was what kept him truly happy. Yes, it was an effort finding a swimsuit that would cover his tail. Yes, he had to hide his gills. But he could spent time in the water away from all judgmental eyes, and that practically made up for all the time that he spent miserable and alone, and feeling, well, like he was being judged by everyone, all the time. Literally, of course, in swimming, he was being judged, and timed. But it wasn’t about him, just the way he swam, and so he was okay with it. He enjoyed seeing his times go down after each practice, he got faster and faster, and had more and more fun each day. Swimming was his passion; how was that surprising, at all? He was mermish, for god’s sake!

Of course, there had been complications. At first, Jodi had not wanted him to swim. After all, she said, he had unnatural talent at it! It wouldn’t be fair, first of all; it was considered cheating! There was other things to factor in, too, like the fact that it would be suspicious if he was so much more natural in the water than everyone else! Because of Jodi’s agreement with the rulers of Mertopia, she couldn’t dare let anything even come close to exposing them. But after a large amount of needling, whining, crying, poking, scratching, and other unpleasant techniques, Robert was finally allowed to sign up for the swim team. Jodi came to many, many of his meets. She wouldn’t admit it, but she got a huge amount of pride watching him swim.. Even though she knew that his talent did not come from her. At all. In the slightest. It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but Jodi was a horrible swimmer.
Occasionally, Robert wondered if the reason that she was reluctant for him to do water related things was that she was jealous of him. It was certainly possible, of course. She had always wanted to be a swimmer; or at least to be able to swim without drowning! She had learned, of course, but she was still incredibly slow and swimming was somewhat painful for her. Robert felt bad. It wasn’t exactly fair to her that she had to watch her lover and son do something she had never been able to. But in the long run, it wasn’t a huge deal.
His thoughts were rambling again. Crap. He hit himself on the forehead and looked around. He had been walking the completely wrong way. How pathetic can he possibly get? He blushed bright red as the warning bell rang; he took off at a run. He hated being late for classes.
Of course, he made it; he was just too fast not too. He had just settled himself in his seat for English, the only class he actually enjoyed, when there was a knocking on the door. Mr. Pedicini, the teacher, called out
“Hello?”
The door opened and in walked the school principal, Mr. Larstein. Mr. Larstein was, in Robert’s opinion, a horrible principal. He didn’t care about anything but his hair. No, seriously. He had the most coiffed hair Robert had ever seen. And once, Robert had been called to the principal office (long story, won’t go into it here), and he peeked inside Mr. Larstein’s drawer when he wasn’t looking. It was full of hair products; gels, lotions, brushes, combs, etc. It was really quite funny, and pathetic. Okay, it was actually really, really pathetic.
Mr. Larstein was followed by a girl who was kind of huddling behind him. She was short, in relative terms. But the first thing that Robert noticed about her was her eyes. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He wasn’t being sappy here, either. They were aquamarine, no, they were teal, no, they were- well, whatever they were, there wasn’t a color for it. She blinked and her dark eyelashes fluttered up and down. Robert’s heart did the same thing. Those eyes, they were indescribable. What was it about them, anyway? The way they kind of glittered in the ugly fluorescent lights hanging from the classroom ceiling? The way they closed every two seconds or so? The way that the light reflected in them, so he could almost see himself? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was in love with this girl’s eyes.
“Class, this is Kaila. She just moved here from California. I hope you will all give Kaila a warm welcome, and I hope you will make Kaila feel comfortable here.”
Mr. Pedicini smiled at the girl.
“Thank you, Mr. Larstein. So, Kaila, would you like to tell us something about yourself?”
The girl smiled brightly. She had very white teeth, I noticed. “ HI, I’m Kaila! I love the beach, I love to swim, I love to shop! I love a lot of things, actually! I even like to study!” She giggled.
The class stared at her in silence. Then chatter broke out. Mr. Pedicini yelled over the din, “Go ahead, pick a seat, honey. There are plenty of empty ones.”
Kaila nodded and bounced over to the seat next to Robert’s, which was, coincidently, empty.
“Hi.” he smiled at her. “I’m Robert.”
“Cool!” She said perkily and then tossed her head. Her bouncy ponytail swayed. So did Robert. Yup, He was definitely in love. Oh, great. He had picked the candidate least likely to return my affections, hadn‘t he?
The rest of the period passed in a haze. All Robert could remember from the period afterward was her eyes. Those beautiful, beautiful eyes.
The bell rang. Robert numbly gathered up his books as Ashleigh, the most popular girl in the class, rushed over to Kaila.
“Hey, I’m Ashleigh!” she said in her normal perky tone. “ And this is Jamie, Lea, and Sheila!” She pointed to the three clones behind her. “ Do you want to sit with us at lunch today?”
She smiled brightly at them. “ I’d absolutely love to!”
“Like, OMG! That’s so hot. Let’s go!”. The four girls took off together, leaving Robert standing in the background, slightly upset. Ah well, there was always tomorrow.
He went through the rest of his school day in a odd fog. He discovered that Kaila was in three of his classes, and his lunch period! He hadn’t been happier in a long time.
He knew this was stupid; this sappy, love at first sight thing, but he truly felt it! He truly, truly did! Just looking into her eyes spurred something in him that had never been roused before. And he had to admit that it felt amazing. Swimming could never compare to this.
This was true love.

Chapter Two : In Which Everyone Acts Fake

The final bell rang, and Kaila sighed with relief. If she had to say one more fake “I’m so happy to see you”, she thought she would throw up. Seriously, when she had vowed to make a fresh start this year, at her new school, she knew that it wouldn’t be easy. But she didn’t know it would be this nauseating. It was absolutely sickening, how those girls acted. If I’m acting fake, she thought to herself, then I don’t even want to know what you describe these girls as. This had been the extent of the conversation, all day, well, five periods worth.
“Oh My God, did you see what Rose Smith was wearing today? Like, oh my god, ew, who would, like, be caught wearing something like that? That was, like, so disgusting.”
That was usually said by Ashleigh. Then, her clones would repeat it.
“Like, oh my god, ash, you are sooo right. I mean, oh my god, who could ever wear that in public?”
And then the people who followed after them, those were the most pathetic ones of all. They just said stuff like “Oh my god, yeah.” and nodded a lot. It was scary, in Kaila’s opinion.
But she was such a hypocrite, she realized to herself, because the sad truth was she followed Ashleigh too. At least it was for a different reason. At least she knew that she was acting fake. Because the really sad part was that half of these people didn’t even realize how they were acting.
Kaila had gotten into a huge fight with the “popular” clique at her last high school. It had started quite simply, actually. It had ended- not so simply. Kaila had been expelled, and the girls who tormented her were given awards. Yes, awards for what they had done. What had they done? Set the school library on fire. And then accuse Kaila of it. It was all too easy to believe. Kaila was this girl who dressed in black, wore dark eyeliner, dark scarves, dark coats; her appearance was the slightest bit intimidating. It was easy to visualize her as a pyromaniac. It was not easy to visualize those perfect, gorgeous, straight A girls as arsonists. So they were never suspected. And in the end, Kaila had been expelled. Life sucked that way sometimes.
Kaila had vowed after that that she was never going to become bitches like them. But here she was, dressed in Abercrombie and Fitch, and saying “Oh My God.”
What was happening to the world?
Kaila kept telling herself that it was all for a good reason, that she was not *really* being like them. Yes, she was acting fake- but she had to make a good start in this school, or her mother would die of grief.
Her mother was already dying, mind, and Kaila refused to be the tip of the iceberg. In fact, Kaila would’ve rather died herself than caused her mother’s death, which is what she was essentially doing.
Kaila really needed to stop blaming herself. Her mother had developed brain cancer last year. It hadn’t been anyone’s fault, least of all Kaila’s. But she had been convinced that all the times she was mean to her mother, or sang rock songs in her ear much too loudly and gave her a headache, or all the times anyone made her mother in any way upset led to this. And Kaila had been miserable. First, she went through her rebellious phrase. She dressed in all black, listened to music people call “emo”, and hated the world in general. Now, she was turning over a new leaf. Her mother had always been popular and a bit of a prep; Kaila was going to be exactly what her mother wanted her to be. Maybe then her mother Would hold on and recover; because now she was still too sick to do much but lay in her hospital bed. Every time Kaila went to visit her mother, who was named Brandi, she felt her heart break for what her mother had become. A shell of a person, a shell of the person she had once been. Hyped up on drugs and all those wonderful things; Brandi was no longer Kaila’s mom, on the outside. But Kaila knew that on the inside she was still the same old person.
Anyway, Kaila had turned over a new leaf. Her new life had began. Nothing could stop her now. Not even fake, plastic people; the kind of people she’d sworn of all of her life, even when she was in her artistic phrase, in her “regular” phrase, in her musician phrase, in her athlete phrase, she would NEVER become. But it was for her mother.
When she arrived home, she collapsed on her bed, exhausted. She hated her new room. It was so plain, and she couldn’t think of a way to decorate it. She didn’t really have a personality. She was so split from trying so many different things over the years. She figured that she’d probably paint it pink, get some posters of celebrities- who was popular these days? Oh, right, Disney channel. Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale. Those people. The fakest of the fake. Airbrushed faces, computer altered singing voices; nothing about them was real in any shape, size, or form. Kaila almost felt bad for them.
It was almost 9:30 before Kaila finished all of her homework. She had been enrolled in all honors classes, but now, she was kind of regretting it. Her old school had been kind of behind, apparently- oh wait, no, that was just the fact that she hadn’t picked up a single book all last year. She had the right to neglect her schoolwork though, she was terrified for her mother. And still was. But she was going to do her schoolwork now.
She had homework in almost every subject, even gym! She had to write a two page report on the history of any sport she chose. Just peachy. She didn’t know anything about sports, and frankly, didn’t care to know anything about sports. She hated sports. She told people she liked them, well, this year, because they were “cool”. But she was completely un coordinated, truthfully. She just hoped she wasn’t expected to be on the cheerleading squad. Because nothing could make that happen. Cheerleading was the bane of Kaila’s pathetic existence. She never understood the point of it. That’s what the crowd was for, to cheer!
Her most grueling homework of the night was in art. It’s hard to believe that art class can produce homework, let alone challenging homework, but it can. That was proved quite easily to poor unsuspecting Kaila. She had went through a phase in her life where she fancied being an artist. She had worn black berets, and black turtlenecks, and walked around holding a sketchbook at all times. That had grown old quickly, however, when she realized how much she sucked.
This particular assignment was hard for her.
“Please describe a happy moment you had in the last year and illustrate it.”
Kaila hadn’t had a happy moment last year. She had no idea what she would possibly do. After an hour of staring at the paper, she started to spew bullshit about a family picnic that they had all taken together. That was true. They had taken a picnic together. However, she left out the part where her mother felt so sick after her chemotherapy that they had gone home after ten minutes. That was a demon of her past. She was focusing on her future. Then, she drew a happy picture of a beautiful, happy, healthy family sitting in a beautiful green field. There were butterflies and flowers all around. The sun was out. She could almost hear the birds singing. The food was spread beautifully on the picnic table, on top of a neat, beautiful checkered tablecloth. The three people she didn’t recognize, that she had still drawn nevertheless were all smiling happy contented smilies. It was the opposite of the picnic she had held. And she didn’t care a bit. Let the teacher believe it was a happy family. She still had hope that it would be- someday. But she figured that some Someday was coming pretty far away.
Suddenly the radio randomly came on in her room. That was odd. The announcer was saying in his deep voice, “Now it’s time for the movie classics! First is Somewhere Over the Rainbow for The Wizard of Oz, as sung by Judy Garland! Enjoy, everyone!”
Kaila remembered this song. She remembered that at one point in her life, she had liked it. A lot. Judy Garland’s gorgeous voice drifted out of the radio, right into Kaila’s ears, seeming to echo her very thoughts.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
She laughed somewhat to herself. Yes, someday she would find that bluebird, that picnic. Who knows what it would be? But it would be somewhere. Yes, she would find it. She was determined.
She called her mother to wish her good night, but she was already asleep. Kaila figured it was time to take a leaf out of her mother’s book. She was exhausted. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to a dreamland far, far away.

Chapter 3: In Which We Meet the Mer People, Robert has A Freakout, and Kaila Worries.

Robert was angry. And upset. And angry. And upset. He didn’t know a person could be this emotional, actually. Merschool had been really, really, really bad today. There was a huge, important test on the study of tail grooming for merman. The mermaids had taken a similar test on the grooming of their tails. This test had not been easy for Robert at all. His tail, or lack of one, had been hurting all day, and brushing it did not help. The fact that he didn’t even have a long enough strand on his to comb wasn’t helping matters, either. He figured that he would be extremely lucky if he even passed it. Chances are, he didn’t. His mind hadn’t been on the test, either. It had been on Kaila’s eyes.
That particular lust had come at a very inopportune moment, just when they had divided into boy/girl partnerships for water dancing. He was horrible at that, in any mood, he usually ended up hitting the girl he was dancing with with his stubby tail. As usual, none of the girls had wanted to pair up with him, so he had been stuck with Eloise Serco. Eloise was perfectly nice, but she was a little on the round side, and had one particular facial expression that she often used that, to be quite honest, left something to be desired. It was a little strange.
This particular dance involved a lot of grabbing the girl by the hips and swinging her around. It was very difficult to do with Eloise, to put it in the nicest terms possible. But the trouble really came when he looked into her eyes and saw that they were blue. Immediately, he had thought of beautiful Kaila’s eyes, and lost all concentration. He adapted a rather lustful expression on his face, and stared dreamily into space. Suddenly, his peace was jarred by Eloise’s grating voice.

“Um, Robert? We’re supposed to be dancing?”

Robert blushed. Some of the nearby mermaids laughed. “ Ooh La La! Robert’s in love! With Eloise!” The ones who could do Entrancement did so right away, so that soon everyone in the hall was convinced that Robert had a huge, heart aching crush on Eloise. He did not. Eloise was a nice girl, nothing more, and he tried to say that in his own gift of Entrancement. It didn’t work. Somehow, the other people’s powers dominated over his. And now he was getting a lecture from Eloise’s parents. They wanted a full merman for their daughter. He was out of the picture, they said. Here’s how the conversation actually read.

“Mr. Benshin!.” A stern voice rang out across the almost empty hall.

Robert wheeled around and came face to face with Meyer and Jiana Serco. “Yes?”

“ Eloise told us that you have a crush on her today.”
Robert sighed. “Look, Ma’am and Sir, Eloise is a nice girl. I just don’t like her like that.”
“I find that very hard to believe.” said the high, squeaky voice of Jiana. “Practically everyone in your class confirmed it!”
“Look Ma’am, I’m sorry. I’m not in love with your daughter.”
“Oh, don’t be afraid to admit it!” said Meyer heartedly. “You can feel free to like her! No one cares!”
Jiana interrupted her husband sounding slightly angry. “Meyer, stop beating around the bush.”
Meyer shot his wife the evil eye. “I am NOT beating around the bush! I’m simply guiding the bush on it’s way!”
Jiana looked at her husband with disgust. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not sure.” Meyer admitted.
“ I guessed as much.” Jiana snickered. “Anyway, the point is, Mr. Benshin, no matter how much you like our daughter, you can’t date her.”
Robert didn’t say anything. He thought he knew where this is going.
“Look, I’m sorry. But your family isn’t exactly.. Respectable. I want my daughter to end up with someone she deserves, someone with an ideal family, someone who can produce me perfect little mermaids and merman for children. And that’s not you. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, that’s not you!” Meyer echoed in what he thought was a threatening tone.
“Meyer..” Jiana said, looking at her husband wearily. “Why did I marry you again?”
Meyer looked thoughtful. “I’m not quite sure.. Hmm, wasn’t it because I had the biggest tail out of all the merman in our class?”
Jiana flushed a bright red. “MEYER!” she slapped her husband. “The point is,” she said, talking hurriedly, she wanted to get away as quickly as possible. “The point is that you can’t date our daughter.”
“Fine.” Robert said.
“What???” Jiana said in surprise. She had been expecting Robert to fight for his girl. That had been the true test, if he wanted her enough.
“Fine.” Robert repeated. “Okay, I can’t date Eloise. Can I go now?”
Jiana fumbled for words. “Fine, go, just don’t… don’t.. don’t date her behind my back!!”. And with that she grabbed Meyer by the arm and stormed away.
Robert was upset. Not that he couldn’t date Eloise, he couldn’t care less. That someone was so closed minded as to ban him from their daughter just because of who his parents were. Lucky for Robert, however, the girl he really wanted was human…The only problem was how to get around the “don’t tell anyone about us” rule. Oh, and the fact that she probably didn’t even know his name yet.
That night, Robert collapsed into bed, utterly exhausted. He wasn’t sure how the next day would play out. All he knew was that at some point, he would marry Eloise. Eloise? His thoughts were running wildly. He was very tired. He closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep.“Oh, don’t be afraid to admit it!” said Meyer heartedly. “You can feel free to like her! No one cares!”
Jiana interrupted her husband sounding slightly angry. “Meyer, stop beating around the bush.”
Meyer shot his wife the evil eye. “I am NOT beating around the bush! I’m simply guiding the bush on it’s way!”
Jiana looked at her husband with disgust. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not sure.” Meyer admitted.
“ I guessed as much.” Jiana snickered. “Anyway, the point is, Mr. Benshin, no matter how much you like our daughter, you can’t date her.”
Robert didn’t say anything. He thought he knew where this is going.
“Look, I’m sorry. But your family isn’t exactly.. Respectable. I want my daughter to end up with someone she deserves, someone with an ideal family, someone who can produce me perfect little mermaids and merman for children. And that’s not you. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, that’s not you!” Meyer echoed in what he thought was a threatening tone.
“Meyer..” Jiana said, looking at her husband wearily. “Why did I marry you again?”
Meyer looked thoughtful. “I’m not quite sure.. Hmm, wasn’t it because I had the biggest tail out of all the merman in our class?”
Jiana flushed a bright red. “MEYER!” she slapped her husband. “The point is,” she said, talking hurriedly, she wanted to get away as quickly as possible. “The point is that you can’t date our daughter.”
“Fine.” Robert said.
“What???” Jiana said in surprise. She had been expecting Robert to fight for his girl. That had been the true test, if he wanted her enough.
“Fine.” Robert repeated. “Okay, I can’t date Eloise. Can I go now?”
Jiana fumbled for words. “Fine, go, just don’t… don’t.. don’t date her behind my back!!”. And with that she grabbed Meyer by the arm and stormed away.
Robert was upset. Not that he couldn’t date Eloise, he couldn’t care less. That someone was so closed minded as to ban him from their daughter just because of who his parents were. Lucky for Robert, however, the girl he really wanted was human…The only problem was how to get around the “don’t tell anyone about us” rule. Oh, and the fact that she probably didn’t even know his name yet.
That night, Robert collapsed into bed, utterly exhausted. He wasn’t sure how the next day would play out. All he knew was that at some point, he would marry Eloise. Eloise? His thoughts were running wildly. He was very tired. He closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep.
Two minutes later, he bolted out of bed. He had the feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on what, exactly, it was. It was extremely irritating to him, and he knew that he would not get a wink of sleep til he figured out what it was. Was something wrong with his father?
He raced into his father’s room and pulled his tail til he woke up, groggy eyed, and not very happy at being awakened.
“What the Loch Ness, Robert?” he asked, sounding extremely angry.
“Is anything wrong, father?” Robert asked nervously.
“Not that I know of.” said his father, looking even more angry than before. “Why did you wake me up?”
“I don’t know- I had this feeling that someone was wrong.”
“You felt wrong. Go to bed. And don’t wake me up in the middle of the night ever again if you ever want to see the light of day again.” He sounded very serious.
Robert tried to go to bed. He found it impossible. He still had that nagging feeling. He bolted out of the small apartment his father owned and raced up and down the streets of the complex where the inhabits of his sector of merworld lived, calling out “Is
Two minutes later, he bolted out of bed. He had the feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on what, exactly, it was. It was extremely irritating to him, and he knew that he would not get a wink of sleep til he figured out what it was. Was something wrong with his father?
He raced into his father’s room and pulled his tail til he woke up, groggy eyed, and not very happy at being awakened.
“What the Loch Ness, Robert?” he asked, sounding extremely angry.
“Is anything wrong, father?” Robert asked nervously.
“Not that I know of.” said his father, looking even more angry than before. “Why did you wake me up?”
“I don’t know- I had this feeling that someone was wrong.”
“You felt wrong. Go to bed. And don’t wake me up in the middle of the night ever again if you ever want to see the light of day again.” He sounded very serious.
Robert tried to go to bed. He found it impossible. He still had that nagging feeling. He bolted out of the small apartment his father owned and raced up and down the streets of the complex where the inhabits of his sector of merworld lived, calling out “Is
Anything wrong? Anyone hurt? Any emergencies?”
All over the complex, doors opened. The people inside couldn’t understand the shouting from outside, so they thought that there was a problem.
“What’s wrong?” panicked people shouted!
“I don’t know!” Robert shouted back, panicking at the sheer sight of all the nervous people.
The king of the city pushed his way through the crowd, looking as regal as always, even in his bedclothes, which were covered in little orange fishies. “what’s the problem here?” he asked loudly.
One person pointed to Robert. “We don’t know, your highness! This kid came running down the hallways, screaming! We figured something was up!”
The king looked down at Robert. “Robert?” he asked. “Would you like to tell us what the problem is?”
Robert blushed. “I don’t know.”
The crowd erupted into laughter. That laughter was short lived, however, it soon made way for angry glares in his direction.
“I felt like something was wrong.”
The king looked at him with utter contempt. “ You woke me up because you felt like something was wrong? That is truly unforgivable! To the dungeon with you!”
“Wait!” Robert shouted! “Please, wait! Are you sure nothing is wrong?”
The king glared at him. “Everything looks fine to me.” He raised his sea trident and sent it in Robert’s direction. Robert suddenly felt an excruciating, burning fire in his shoulder, a horrible pain. Then, suddenly, he felt himself zooming along the wall towards the dungeons. He screamed out in pain and desperation, “Wait! Wait! Please, I think something’s wrong! Is everyone’s children safe? Please, check! I’m so scared! Don’t lock me up, please, don’t!”
They ignored his pleas, and within five minutes he was locked inside a tiny, dark room. His tail and arms were chained to the wall. He was utterly miserable and in pain. And to make things worse, he still couldn’t shake that feeling that something was wrong.
A horrible thought suddenly occurred to him. What if it was his mother? What if the problem was happening on dry land?” He felt his hands start to shake despite the chains, he was so scared. What if she was laying there, on her bed, dying, and he couldn’t help her because he was stuck here? Not to mention that he had to get air tomorrow morning, or else he would get incredibly sick! He bit his finger nervously and tried to work out a plan to escape. Who knew how long the king would leave him in there?
Two hours later, he finally drifted into an uneasy sleep. But he was not exited for the prospect of the next morning. Not at all. He knew he would wake up crabby for air, hungry, and utterly miserable.
The next morning, he found his predictions incredibly close to the truth. He was woken by a fat security guard shaking him.
“Wake up, vermin!”
He bolted awake and looked around.
“What time is it?” he moaned.
“ Eleven. Not sure why I’m answering your question, scum, so you better be grateful I did. It won’t happen again.”
“ELEVEN?” he had missed school by a lot. Who knew what else he had missed! “Do you know how long I’m going to be here for?”
“Until it strikes His Majesty’s fancy to let you go, worm! I only came here to bring you your meal for the day. “ He handed it to Robert.
It was a green slop. Utterly unappetizing in every way. Robert wasn’t even hungry enough to eat it, so he just let it sit there. He couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm to eat it. In fact, he could barely breathe. With a jolt of horrible realization, he realized why.
“AIR!” he shouted loudly. “AIR! I NEED AIR!”
“What, pig?” asked the guard sneeringly.
“I can’t breathe! I’m choking! I’m dying!”
The guard looked at him incredulously.
“We’re underwater. You’re fine, your merman as far as I can tell.” He snickered unpleasantly.
“No, I’m half!” As much as Robert hated to admit it, he couldn’t breathe! In a few hours, he would die if he didn’t get air. He repeated that to the guard. “ I’ll die in a few hours if I don’t get air!”
“Serves you right, you disgusting dirty piece of filth! I would have never brought you anything, let alone that meal I served you up, had I known you were a half vermin!”
Those words stung. Robert bit back tears. He was starving, miserable, in pain, and he couldn’t even breathe!
“Please?” he begged, sounding pathetic. “Please, please, I’ll do anything!”
“Anything?” the guard asked with a malicious look on his face.
Robert grimaced. “Anything.”
“Lick my tail.” the guard announced. “Lick my tail. Prove that you are loyal to me, and then I will report to the king your situation.”
Robert grimaced and nodded. The guard unlocked his chains. Robert took a deep breath, and extended his tongue. He licked his disgusting, dirty tail. “I am loyal to you!”
“I think I believe you.” the guard grinned. Then he left the cell to talk to the king.
In all of the guard’s frenzy, he had forgotten to lock Robert back up! Escaping would be as easy as pie! But he knew that if he escaped, he could likely never come back. With the way his day had went, that might not be a bad thing. But he knew that he could not escape. It just wasn’t fair to anyone, especially his father. His father would most likely be given a criminal status for his escapee son.
So Robert waited, gasping for breath in pain the whole time. After what seemed like an eternity, the guard returned.
“Your free to go.” he said gruffly. “When’s the next time you will be in the kingdom?”
“Tonight.” Robert said, sighing with relief and happiness.
“Report to the king’s chambers as soon as you return. I may be seeing you soon.” He grinned maliciously again and took off. He Hadn’t even noticed that Robert’s chains were off.
Robert took off as fast as he could toward the surface. The second his head broke free, he gasped in lungful, lungful, and lungful of the fresh, cold, sweet, wonderful air. That air which sustained him. He just stood there, gasping in air, for a full ten minutes. Then he took off towards the direction of his home, a pounding feeling in his chest. He was terrified of what he might find.
The front door was locked, which was a good sign. At least they hadn’t been robbed, and no break ins had occurred, as far as he could see. He unlocked it with trembling hands and crept towards the kitchen. The first thing he heard was his mothers’ voice, talking frantically on the telephone.
“He never came home this morning! Of course, he could just be late, but who knows! I shudder to think about what might have happened to him down there, I do worry every time he goes…”
He breathed a sigh of genuine relief and walked slowly into the kitchen. They saw each other at the same time.
“ Mother! Are you alright?”
“Robert! Are you alright?”
They both laughed anxiously and ran towards one another.
“Oh Robert, I was so scared I lost you!”
“ That’ s how I felt about you! Are you alright? Has anything bad happened?
His mother looked perplexed. “No honey, not that I can think of? Is there a reason you think something bad’s happened?”
Robert did not want to explain his bad feeling again. He had a feeling it would only get him ridiculed, even by his mother. Obviously, he was the only one who believed that feelings you got in your gut were right.
“I’m not sure, mom, it’s just that I couldn’t sleep last night. I had this feeling that something was wrong. But I couldn’t figure out what it was.”
“Does that have anything to go with why you were so late?”
“It’s a long story, mom, and an odd one. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
“I’m sure.” she laughed. “ I don’t have all day. Start talking.”
Robert took a deep breath. “Okay, so last night, I was lying in bed awake for the longest time. I just couldn’t make myself fall asleep, and I couldn’t figure out why! Then I realized that I was sort of getting this sinking feeling in my gut, like I knew something was wrong. Even though, apparently, nothing was wrong. So I freaked out and ran into dad’s room, right? And he was so mad at me for waking him up, and told me that everyone was fine, that I must have been imagining things, that I shouldn’t go with my gut feelings, apparently. But I still couldn’t shake it- I still thought something was wrong, so I ran into the hallway and tried to wake everyone up. I was so scared that something bad happened.”
“Did that work? She enquired, looking like she wanted to laugh but was too polite too.
“Well, they woke up, alright. They came out of their rooms screaming at me. Loud enough to wake the king, apparently, since he showed up right in front of my room.”
She whistled. “Uh, oh.”
“Needless to say, he was not very happy with me. He locked me up in the dungeon for the rest of the night. He would have kept me longer in there, but in the morning, this guard came with my food. I didn’t touch it- it was some sort of green slop..” at that moment his stomach rumbled. Loudly.
“Sweetie, why don’t you take a break and have something to eat. You look, and, um, sound hungry.”
He laughed. “Okay, but the story’s almost over. So then, I begged the guard to let me out. He didn’t. But I told him I would do anything! He made me lick his tail.”
Her face was disgusted. “Ugh.”
“Yeah. It was pretty bad. But then he went and got the king to let me out, so I didn’t die, so it ended up okay.”
“Wow.” She said. “That was one hell of a night, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, It was one crazy, horrible night! And I didn’t tell you what happened before that!” He laughed and groaned at the same time.
“And I’d… love to hear it. But you have to eat something first. How about I fix you some nice macaroni and cheese!”
“Sure, why not? I love it, anyway.”
“Grab me a pot, will you?”
While Robert’s mother prepared him a hearty dish of Mac and Cheese, he recounted to her the story of Eloise. She got a good laugh out of that one, especially at his description of Eloise.
After a few minutes of silence at the end of the story, Robert spoke again.
“Mom?”
“Yes, honey?”
“ Do you ever feel.. Jealous that I have adventures under the water and you can’t?”
“Jealous? No. Well, occasionally, yes, I wish I could be doing them with you. “ she froze seeing Robert’s crestfallen expression. “Don’t feel guilty! It’s okay! I had my share of adventures, too, when I was your age.” She laughed. “But those are stories for another time, honey. Are you sure you’re alright?”
Robert nodded.
“Okay, then, grab your bag. Time for school!”
“WHAT?”
“It’s the period after lunch! You still have four left!”
“Moooom.” Robert groaned. “Being thrown in the dungeon isn’t boring enough for one day?”
“Robert, stop complaining. You know perfectly well you have to go to school, honey.”
Robert could see it in her eyes that she was about to start echanterating. He did not have time for this. “Fine, I’ll go.”
“Aw, how sweet! Thanks for listening to your old mom! I’m sure it’ll be fun!” She said this enthusiastically. Robert looked at her and rolled his eyes. But then a new thought occurred to him.
What if someone at school got hurt. Maybe that was what his feeling was about!!
What if Kaila was hurt?
He grabbed his coat and rushed off to school.
“Don’t forget your books!”
“Damn.” He rushed back to the table to grab his schoolbag.
“Honey- there’s no bus! It’s eleven o’ clock! I have to drive you!”
Robert groaned. Where was his brain, and what was this foreign thing that had invaded?
The car ride was very short. And awkward. Robert thought about Kaila. His mother thought about his father. It was horrible.
When they pulled up to the ugly brick school building, Robert felt a rush of terror flow through his veins. The trouble had occurred here. He just knew it!
He almost ran inside and to his third to last class of the day, Spanish. Kaila wasn’t in this class, he didn‘t think. He rushed in the room, scanning it quickly. No Kaila. Shit.
“ Mr. Benshin!.” He looked up. The teacher was shouting his name. “Mr. Benshin, do you have a late pass?”
Robert’s hands were shaking, but he still managed to hand the pass to his teacher.
“Thank you. Please take a seat and turn to page 408 in your textbook.”
Robert nodded and shakily sat down. After five minutes, however, he couldn’t take the anticipation of waiting to see Kaila in Math. He raised his hand.
“Yes, Mr. Benshin? Do you have the answer?”
“Oh, no. I just have to go to the bathroom.”
“Answer the question and then you can go.”
“Oh, okay.” Robert tried to concentrate, with not much success. After much needling from the teacher, he managed to get the answer right. “Can I go now?”
The teacher, Ms. Poll, nodded. “Come back quickly. I’m timing you.”
Robert groaned. He hated maniac teachers who felt the need to time your bathroom use.
“Be back in less than three minutes, or detention.”
This was really not good. There was no way he was going to make it. Nevertheless, the second he was out of view, he took off at a full sprint towards the library. He was pretty sure Kaila had research this period. Peering through it’s glass doors, he saw her. His heart pitter pattered in his chest. She looked fine. Not hurt at all. He breathed out. Maybe he had just been overreacting. Yes, that was it.
Now that he had seen that she was alive and well, he could wait until next period to see her, he supposed. He sprinted back into math just one second inside the time limit.
Panting heavily, he took his seat and vaguely tried to pay some attention. Predictably, it didn’t work. Within ten minutes, his notes all said “Ms. Kaila Benshin.” He really didn’t want to fail math, so he pinched himself nine times in a row to stay awake.
“Mr. Benshin, do you have something to share with the class?”
“what?” Robert said, startled. He looked down to see that he was standing up! He blushed heavily and sat down. “I’m sorry sir, I seriously didn’t even notice that I was standing! I’m not sure what’s wrong with me today.”
“Would you like to visit the nurse?” the teacher kindly suggested.
“Yeah, that’d be good.” he said, blinking. “ I think I’ll go to the nurse, maybe lie down for a while.”
As soon as Ms. Poll gave him a pass, he sprinted back to the library. Kaila was gone, but he had faith that she would be back soon. Probably went to the bathroom or something.
After ten more minutes of boredom that was passed by sitting in the library and staring at the wall, the bell rang. Robert gathered up his books and headed into the hallway. He walked quickly, and bumped into someone.
“SORRY!” they both exclaimed at the same time. Robert looked up. It was Kaila. He almost felt like fainting.
Kaila smiled at him. “You have class with me next period, right? I forget where it is. Will you show me, by any chance?”
“Sure, why not?” his voice was saying, , while his heart was saying “I’d like absolutely nothing more.” Total truth.
Life was good. He was walking side by side with Kaila. He was scared for what the night would bring, but other than that, he was happy. Just him and Kaila, walking side by side.
Chapter 3: Tears
At roughly the same time that Robert was rotting in the dungeon, Kaila awoke with a start. It was four in the morning. And she knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. She crept through the living room quietly towards the kitchen, intending to grab a bite to eat. Even though she wasn’t very hungry. At all.
She opened the fridge. Nothing but housewarming gifts. That and cereal was all the food they had in their house. Cereal, it is, then.
She grabbed a chipped blue bowl from the cabinet and poured some rice krispies in it. She hummed a little song as she poured the milk in.
“Yum, yum, yum, tasty in my tum..”
She settled in front of the TV with her bowl of cereal, but then realized that she had forgotten the spoon. She backtracked to the kitchen again to find one. On the way there, she bumped into her father.
He looked worried, and tired. Dark circles were under his eyes. “Can’t sleep either?”
Kaila shook her head nervously. “Nope.”
Her father sighed. “I’ve been waking up on and off all night. I’m so tired.”
“Me too.”
An awkward silence filled the room. Then her father mumbled “I’m going to call the hospital.” and he walked out of the room. Kaila found her spoon and settled in front of the TV. She flipped through the channels mindlessly. Nothing interesting was on. Until a news item caught her eye.
“ This is Katie Bell reporting from Channel Ten News live with an important news bulletin.” She perked up her head to watch the “important news bulletin.”
“A hospital in New York has recently gone up in flames. I repeat, a hospital in NY is burning as we speak. Oh wait, another update from my partner, Josh.”
“This is Josh Wiley, live from the scene. I am here at the Memorial Kellenberg Hospital..” Kaila began to shake. Her mother was there. “.. which is burning as we speak.” Kaila gasped and shook even more.
“NO! PLEASE, no!”
Her father rushed into the room. “Kaila, what’s wrong? The hospital isn’t answering my calls!”
Wordlessly, Kaila pointed to the TV. The two of them could only stand there and watch. He gasped, and ran to the door, throwing on his coat.
“I’m going there. I’ll be back much later. Expect a call!” And with that, he locked the door behind him, leaving a shaking and in shock Kaila. She didn’t know what else to do, so she paced around the living room, watching the TV. She didn’t make a sound. She didn’t think she could.
The man was continuing. “Many of the patients have been evacuated in the lower floors. A full report on which departments were evacuated so far in a few moments. Please stand by.”
Kaila literally stood by the TV, hanging on every word, praying and hoping beyond reasonable prayer that it would be her mother’s department. “Please, please! I’ll do anything. “
The newscaster came back on screen. “Breaking news, the list of departments that were evacuated before the fire did serious damage. These are as follows..” she held her breath. “The diabetes ward, the juvenile cancer ward, the burn ward, the oncology ward, and the adult cancer wards of bone cancer, lung cancer, and brain cancer.”
Her heart stopped with absolute relief and joy. She quickly dialed her father’s cell phone number.
“Dad! Dad, her ward got evacuated!”
“What?” he asked, his voice sounded muffled. “It’s so loud.”
“Don’t worry about mom! They evacuated her ward already!”
He breathed in. “Did they really?”
“They did! I heard it on the news!”
“Oh, thank goodness! Thank god! Thank everyone!” he sounded elated. He sounded like he was about to start singing in joy. “I was so, so worried!”
He took a few deep breaths. And a few more. “I’m alright now.” He said. “ Okay, I’m still going to continue over to the hospital just to verify that, okay? I should be home soon, if that’s true. Your mother is probably terrified, I might have to talk to her. I love you, and try and get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay, dad, love you!” She settled back on the coach, comfortable now that she was sure her mom was safe. She knew there was no way in a million years she would be able to sleep. Her father knew that too. She laughed. And promptly lay down on the couch and fell asleep.
An hour later, she was awakened by the phone ringing. She rolled off the coach groggily and picked up the reciever.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Kaila?”
“Dad?”
“Your mother’s fine. Very, very, very shaken up. Terrified, in fact. When she was running out of the building, her IV ripped out and she had a bit of a panic attack, but she’s okay now. I’m going to stay with her the rest of the night if that’s okay with you?”
“Are you sure she’s all right?”
“Yes, I’m positive.”
She smiled, reassured. “Okay, dad, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“One more thing, Kay, when you see her tomorrow, don’t talk about the fire. It’ll upset her so much to remember- her friend, Abby- remember her? Abby.. Didn’t make it out in time.”
“Ohhhh.” She sighed, sadly. “That’s upsetting.”
“Yes. It is. And it’s a very sensitive subject right now, it’ll be one for a while, keep that in mind, okay, hon?”
“Always.” she said.
“Alright, take care. Please try to fall asleep. I know it’s hard, but your mother’s fine, they’ve fixed her IV…”
I interrupted him. “Where are they keeping all the patients who were evacuated?”
“Dashind Hospital. But they don’t have too much room, they might have to transfer some of them.”
“That’s really upsetting. We moved all the way here just so mom could get some of the best medical care available- and then it burns down?”
“ I know.” he sighed. “Almost makes me wish we’d stayed in California. But, we couldn’t have, with your.. Problem.”
“Dad, I’m sorry about that..” Her voice trailed off. There was nothing to say.
“Okay, I really have to hang up, and your really have to get some sleep. Good night, hon.”
“Night, dad.” She hung up the phone, sat on the couch and twiddled her thumbs. She couldn’t sleep. And yet, in a second, she had drifted off. At least, she thought she had. She wasn’t completely sure. The world of dreamland was a very confusing place.
The next morning, she woke up feeling almost as miserable as Robert had in his dungeon. She was exhausted. It was probably really late, she thought to herself. She rolled over and checked the fancy alarm clock next to her bed. Eight O clock. If she hurried, she could make school. She wanted to go. She wanted it to be a completely normal day, as if the previous night had never happened. But the chance of that was slim. She picked up the phone and promptly called her dad.
“Dad?”
“Honey, you’re up?”
“I’m going to school today.”
“How much sleep did you get?” He asked, concerned.
“I fell asleep two minutes after you hung up, I woke up two minutes ago.”
Her father didn’t seem to thrilled about it, but he agreed she could go to school. It was a good sign, he thought, that she wanted to go. A great sign, actually. Maybe she was actually going to become committed to this new school.
“Alright, I’ll see you later!”
He hung up the phone and turned back to his wife.
Kaila rushed around the house in a huge hurry, throwing all of her school books haphazardly into her school bag, She grabbed her purse and made it to the door in record time. The bus was just pulling up when she arrived. She forced herself to get on it, and sat down on one of the ugly, stiff seats herself. A girl she vaguely recognized from yesterday, Amber, or something, motioned her over. She smiled and went to sit with her.
She yawned widely.
“You okay?” Amber asked, flipping her straight brown hair behind her eyes and quickly fixing her makeup in the mirror.
“Yeh. I’m fine.” Kaila muttered. She was amazed at how little concern Amber showed.
“Kay.. So, like, omg, did you see any guys you think are gorgeous, or hot, or sexy, or, like, good looking in any way yet? Because I’d be totally willing to tell you all the hot guys, I’m sure they’d all be, like, dying to go out with you.”
“No, I didn’t really notice anyone yet.” she frowned. “Still looking, though.”
Amber giggled that annoying, high pitched giggle that all the girls who went to this school seemed to have. It grated on Kaila’s ears, but she ignored it.
“Hold on.” Amber said.
“What?” Kaila asked, confused now.
Amber looked at her weirdly and indicated that she was talking on a phone. Kaila blushed and then laughed. That was her feeling stupid moment of the day.
“So, omg, she is SUCH a slut, I mean, omg, I can’t believe that she would do that with him…”
Kaila was losing brain cells with this kind of talk. If she wasn‘t careful, she would be, like, talking like this. Uh oh.
She tried to block it out. It wasn’t working. Crap. She guessed that she was doomed. Doomed to become; one of them.
Amber was still chattering away. “So, like, yeah, Whatever, be a whore. It’s not like I care. Oh my god. Byee. Love ya lots!.” She hung up her phone with a flourish, then turned to Kaila.
“Oh My God, you’ll never guess what Brad and Cianna did…”
Kaila inwardly groaned.
The bus ride seemed to go on for hours, when it was really ten minutes. Kaila yawned. God, was she tired. She didn’t think she would make it through this day without falling asleep in at LEAST one class. And she hadn’t even BEEN to any of her morning classes yet, ever!
When the bus rolled to a shaky stop in front of that ugly brick building they called “school”, Kaila lifted up her bag with a big heave, and walked lazily towards her first class. The day passed, and Kaila remained in a sort of stupor. She played her part of interested student, interested friend, rising social bee, or whatever they called cliques nowadays, and she played it well. Ashleigh invited her to sit with them again. She didn’t really want to- she had lost enough brain cells for one day- but nevertheless, she accepted. She could never be that rude not to, and besides, she had to have somewhere to sit!
The lunch that day sucked. It was disgusting, practically moldy it was so old, Macaroni and Cheese. She could barely scarf down two bites, even though she was starving and hadn’t eaten any breakfast this morning. Sometimes, when she was bored, she sat around and pondered random things, like why the word breakfast was used to describe the first word of the day, for example. After a long analysis, she had concluded that it was called breakfast because during it, you “broke the fast”, the twelve or so hours in which most people did not eat anything, or very little. She loved thinking about things like this. It was the little things that made her days so special. Even when she was “emo”, she still pondered these little things.
One of the main things she spent time pondering was who she really was. She couldn’t figure that out for anything. She was always being someone different. She was always being a fake. She hated it, but it was all she knew how to do, and her mother’s illness had only made this problem ten times worse.
Psychologists always told her that it was because she was drowning in grief, and pain, and needed an outlet to express her emotions, so she did it by masking her true emotions and acting like someone she wasn’t. Or something like that. Didn’t make a lot of sense to her. She didn’t think she was drowning in grief and pain. She was upset often, yes, but that’s not DROWNING in it!
She stopped pondering. People were staring.
“Um, Kaila? Are you, like, okay? You’re kinda, like, staring off into space, and it’s, like, the tiniest bit creepy, so um, can you please, like stop it?”
Kaila nodded quickly. “Sorry, just thinking.”
“Oh…umm, okay.” said one of the clones. Kaila couldn’t remember which and didn’t honestly care, either. “Like, what were you thinking about?”
“That really hot guy sitting over there.” said Kaila, and pointed off randomly, hoping that her finger would land on someone these girls found at least remotely attractive.
“Oh My God, Drew Roney? Sorry, no. He’s going out with Jade.”
“No, she’s pointing at, like, Leon Kappatis!”
“Oh my god he’s so hot, you should so totally ask him out, Oh My God!.”
Kaila shook her head. “Second thought, he’s not really my type.”
“Whatever.” said another clone. “You need, like, a boyfriend. We all have them. So if you want to, like, hang with us?”
“Yeah, I’ll find one.” Kaila promised.
“Ohkay, cool, just, like, ask Ashleigh to make sure he’s available.”
The bell rang.
“Off to research I go!” thought Kaila sadly. She hated that class after only one day. It was boring, as boring can possibly be, but she was forced to go to it. She trooped miserably to the library, feeling more like she was heading towards the guillotine than a class.
The library was nearly empty still. She sat at a table with Meghan, another one of Ashleigh’s never ending supply of friends. Meghan, at least, was somewhat intelligent. Research was an honors class, which meant that automatically, about half of her crowd was out. Anyone who uses like twelve times a sentence does not belong in any honors classes.
The teacher droned on and on. She was bored. What a surprise. She stared out the library door, watching the people walk by. Some of the people looked bored. Some looked happy. One was crying. One boy walked up to the door and stared right in, scanned the room like he was looking for something. His eyes locked on hers.
Hands touch, eyes meet.
Sudden silence, sudden heat.
Hearts leap, in a giddy whirl.
That’s the boy she wanted to be her boyfriend. If she had to have one, she might as well have the right one. She got up out of her chair, asked to use the bathroom, and walked around the library, trying to find the door marked “exit.” It was a losing battle. She couldn’t find that pesky exit door anywhere. That was upsetting her greatly. She had to talk to that guy before he left.
She thought she recognized him. Oh yeah, he was in, like, four of her classes! ( There she goes again with the like.) She walked up to him quickly.

Chapter 5: In Which Our Two Main Characters Ponder Whether They Are in Love or Not
As the two walked down the hallway together, they locked eyes for a moment. It was a moment neither of them would ever forget. A moment of joy, a moment of happiness, a moment where the world was perfect.
They walked in silence for a few moments before Kaila broke it.
“So.. are you doing anything this Saturday?” She smiled brightly at Robert.
He could hardly believe his luck! Unfortunately, though, he didn’t think he could make it on Saturday. He could be in any place! Whether he would be above land or not was still in decision. For all he knew, he might be locked up then. He didn’t want to think about that. He could still remember, in perfect clarity, the moments he had spent in that dreadful, horrible, miserable drafty dungeon, in pain. He could remember that gasping feeling because he couldn’t get any air! It was torture even to remember.
But he couldn’t focus on that now. He had to focus on something happy. Something that would keep him in a good mood. Something like Kaila. He looked at her again.
“No, I’m busy this Saturday.” He said, sounding extremely upset and feeling it, too. “ But can we make plans for Sunday? I’m never busy on Sundays!”
Kaila looked thoughtful. “Maybe. I’ll have to call my dad and ask. Do you want to go out with me to the movies?”
Robert hated the movies. He usually couldn’t sit through one without being bored. It was pretty pathetic, actually. But he knew that if he was there with Kaila, the movie would seem like the most amazing thing in the world.
“Sure!” he said brightly, smiling at her. “I’m not really sure what movies are playing right now.. do you know?”
Kaila rattled off a list of movies.
“… but what I really want to see is True Love! It’s this really cool movie about a witch who falls in love with a human… I heard it has a great soundtrack, too!”
Robert looked at her nervously. Is there any way she could guess that he wasn’t.. quite human? He sure hoped not. He put on his cheery face again. “ I haven’t heard much about that, but I’m sure it’s great! I’d love to go with you!”
“Awesome! So can you pick me up around seven?” She asked.
“Um.. I don’t have a car. I can’t drive yet..”
“Neither can I, silly! Your mother can drive us. I don’t mind. Do you?”
Robert shook his head. “Okay, I’ll be at your house at seven. Can I have directions?”
Kaila laughed. “Cedar Lane. It’s the big, white one!” She smiled at Robert for the thousandth time that conversation.
Robert laughed too, even though he didn’t get the joke. “Okay.” He made to walk away.
“Hey, where are you going? We’re walking to class together, remember?”
“Oh yeah.” Robert said sheepishly. “Sorry, forgot.”
“No problem!” she laughed.
Robert took a deep breath. God, he loved this girl. Probably too much. He had to warn her that their relationship might not be the best thing for her social life.
“Look, Kaila.. I really want to go out with you.” Great job, he told himself. Very forward. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. “But.. I’ve seen you hanging out with Ashleigh and her friends. I just want to warn you that I’m not exactly.. popular. Going out with me won’t keep your social status intact for long.”
Kaila was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, she really, really, really liked Robert. She really, really, really wanted to go out with him. She really, really, really thought that he liked her back. And it would be a great date, she knew it would. But on the other hand- her mother was dying! She had to keep her happy, even if it was at great personal sacrifice. And this was a great personal sacrifice- although, she thought, her mother might be pacified by the fact that she had a boyfriend in the first place. She hadn’t been on many dates- one or two at the most, and her mother wanted better for her daughter. She wanted the crazy whirlwind love life she had in high school for her daughter. Kaila wasn’t sure if she wanted that. She wanted Robert. And she would keep Robert.
“That’s okay. I don’t really mind.”
Kaila wasn’t sure if she should tell Robert the truth, that she wasn’t usually like this. That words like Oh My God, like, totally, whatever, and all those other things that Ashleigh and the wannabees (that’s what she had taken to calling them) used regularly. She knew there was a connection between them, and she trusted him. There was an aura around him that she knew she could trust. She didn’t know how to explain it. All she knew was that she was drawn to this guy, and that in a second, she would be telling him all of her life’s secrets if she wasn’t careful. She clamped a hand over her mouth, then realized what she had done and quickly took it off.
“Hey, Robert? I just wanted to tell you- I’m not like that.”
“Like what?” he asked distractedly.
“Like those girls that I hung out with. Look, I have a long story to tell you. But this isn’t the time for it. I’ll tell you during our date on Sunday, I promise. I just want to make sure you understand that I’m not like that at all! I’m not fake, I hate to shop, for God’s sake. Please, don’t tell anyone.”
“You must have a reason for acting like this.” Said Robert ,confused. “If you aren’t really like this, why are you acting like it? I don’t understand- but I can oversee it. I believe you. If you say you aren’t, you aren’t.”
“Thank you, so much for that vote of confidence.” She laughed. “ It’s just that I’m pretty insecure about starting a new school- I had to make friends with the first people who were nice to me, and it just happened that it was Ashleigh and her friends!”
Robert looked at her with understand in his eyes. He really did understand. He understood how it felt like to be friends with anyone who would have you! It was a strange thing, friendship. Almost as strange as love. And love was one of the strangest things in the world, really. Actully, it was one of the strangest. Robert had never found himself attracted to a “popular” girl like Kaila before. Of course, Kaila wasn’t a “real” popular girl anyway. The one thing that Robert didn’t like about Kaila was that she was fake, obviously. Anyone who would change themselves to make friends wasn’t really a great person to begin with, obviously. But Kaila was different.
There was something about her. Something special. Something that Robert couldn’t put his finger on, no matter how hard he tried. She wasn’t normal. Maybe that’s why Robert was drawn to her. Who knows? Robert certainly didn’t.
Sometimes, Robert lay in bed at night and thought about girls. He thought about the ones he liked, the ones he hated; he thought about why he liked them, why he didn’t. He used that time that he had at night when he had nothing better to do, to think about life. And he did a great job of thinking about life. He had discovered that he was not generally attracted to beauty as much as he was attracted to whether a girl was nice or not. Generally. But Kaila had killed that all. She had ruined that theory. He had first been attracted to her because of her looks. He admitted it. Her personality, well, at least the personality that was visible on the outside, left something to be desired. So that was why he was initially attracted to her.
On the other hand, however, Robert knew there was something special about her. It wasn’t just her looks that had drawn him to find her. It was that spark in her eyes; the first sign of life he had seen in almost any girl at his school. Most of the girls at his school were shallow; look into their eyes and all he could see was his own reflected. They were basically zombies walking around. And yes, zombies did exist. He had decided, after much deliberation, that they were not real zombies. They were just absolutely amazing at acting like them. They were fashion zombies. And he hated it. He couldn’t stand watching them walk around. Even though they were pretty. He had to admit they were pretty.
Lost in thought, Robert walked alongside Kaila towards class. When they arrived, they saw that the room was empty. A sign had been posted on the door “Everyone who has Mr. Landon today, classes are cancelled.”
“Whoo!” He whooped! He loved free periods, and this one was looking especially promising since he would be spending it was Kaila beside him.
“Where do you want to go”? He asked Kayla grandly, as if the whole world was before them, not just the school.
“I don’t know.” She said. “I don’t care- where is there to go?”
“You know what? I’m kind of hungry.” Robert said. Just then, his stomach laughed. Kaila laughed. Robert’s heart fluttered. God, he loved that laugh.\
“Okay, sure!” she smiled.
They took off towards the cafeteria.
“Race ya there!” Kaila shouted, as if they were four year olds who have known each other all their lives, as opposed to high school sophmores who had just met the day before.
“You’re on!” Robert replied.
Their speed intensified until Robert ran smack into the principal of the school. Crap.
“Mr. Benshin!.”
“Sorry!”
“Slow down! These are our school’s hallowed halls, not a playground.”
“Yes sir. Sorry, sir.”
Kaila approached, and slowed down when she was that Robert was standing next to the principal. She fell in line next to him, panting and laughing hysterically.
“That was fun.” She laughed. “Oh, hi!” she said cheerily to the principal. Robert stifled a groan. The principal of their school was not exactly a happy or forgiving, or fun loving person. He couldn’t take a joke. At all.
“This kind of behavior is simply not acceptable!” the principal shouted. He looked so angry that Robert half expected to see steam shooting out of his ears. “Both of you, follow me.”
“Uh- oh.” Said Kaila under her breath. She was seriously worried. She didn’t want to get in trouble her second day here! She hadn’t even tried to do anything wrong. She was just.. enjoying herself. For the first time in a very long time. This neighborhood was good for her. She didn’t need to get kicked out of it already.
The two teenagers followed the tall, stern man towards the principal’s office. “Wait here while I call your parents.”
“Wait, no!” shouted Kaila. “Please, don’t. They aren’t even home right now. Please don’t call them, my dad will kill me! He’s upset enough as it is.”
Robert didn’t want him to call his parents either. His mother would not be amused in any way. Well, actually, Robert could see her laughing about it privately, but she would at least pretend to be unbelievably angry around him. She had to leave up the “stern parent” façade most of the time. It was tiring for her, probably. She wasn’t really a stern person at heart.
Kaila was still begging the principal. “Look, I just moved here ! I don’t know the rules of the school yet- my mother’s in the hospital, my father’s with her- please don’t call my parents. They don’t need any more worry!”
Robert stepped forward. “It was my fault. I convinced Kaila to do it. She really didn’t want to, but I basically forced her. You can call my parents. Kaila didn’t do anything.”
Kaila opened her mouth to speak, but Robert shot her a glance. She looked at him, looking very gratuitous. “Thank you so much.” She mouthed at him. “I’ll make it up to you.”
Robert smiled and shook his head. He didn’t care. He was doing it for love. For Kaila. And that was all that mattered.
And I can’t regret what I did for love, what I did for love. – A Chorus Line.
That had been one of Robert’s favorite songs when he was younger. Of course, he had never told anyone; that would be the ultimate sin a guy could admit, liking a musical. He would never, ever tell anyone. But that song really described what his life was about. That song could make him cry, even. He would do anything for love. Especially this love. Kaila's love.
The principal ushered Kaila out of the room, looking extremely angry. As soon as the door was closed, he erupted.

"HOW DARE YOU! CORRUPTING A NEW STUDENT TO MISBEHAVE??? I THOUGHT BETTER OF YOU!!"

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to welcome her to the school! I thought she would be happy if people wanted to hang out with her."
"Hanging out is one thing. running in the hallways is quite another. It is in blatant disregard to our rules. I'm very ashamed in you."
Robert didn't know what to say.
"Detention for two weeks. Every day after school."
Robert panicked. "How long is detention?"
"Ranges from forty minutes to an hour, why?"
"I have.. commitments." Robert bit his nail. This wasn't good. He did not want to have to cut detention. But obviously, he might have no choice.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t justify any commitments as more important than detention.”
“Well, I can.” Robert said determinedly. “Look, I’m sorry too. But I can’t make detention.”
“And what would be so important that you would miss detention for it?”
Robert paused. “I… cant’ really tell you that. It’s kind of a secret.”
“Well, It’s no secret that if you don’t show up in detention tomorrow night immediately after school, you are going to be in monster trouble. “
Robert didn’t like the sound of that. But, hey, a person’s gotta do what a person’s gotta do. And that’s what he obviously had to do.
He was doing it all in the name of Love.
As Kaila walked down the street on the way home, she wondered just what had happened in there. She couldn’t believe it. She had only known Robert for a very short time; two days, to be exact. And he had already sacrificed himself for her! Just how cute was that?
Kaila loved Robert. She knew that for a fact.’ And she couldn’t wait until the date.
The week passed slowly. Robert didn’t think he could stand it. Life was good. Well, somewhat. He had returned to the king the day before, cutting detention in the process. He had been yelled at and screamed at, but then his mother had showed up with some excuse that immediately cleared him. He had no idea what it was, and he was kind of scared to find out. But the principal had been very sweet and sympathetic to him, saying things like “It’s alright, no one’s mad that you couldn’t come. We understand.”
The meeting with the king had gone as easily as pie. He had been nervous when he first entered the grand chamber, he had to admit. He had been nervous when he bowed before the king. But all those nerves went right away as soon as the king spoke. He was not mad. In the slightest. Instead, he was grateful to him. It was a strange meeting indeed. The diologue had went like this:
“We formally apologize for throwing you in the dungeon. You did not deserve that kind of horrible treatment and we are sincerely embarrassed. “
Robert was astounded.
The king had went on to explain that he had overreacted because he did not get enough sleep that night. He was exhausted and acted like a young child who didn’t get his way. He explained to Robert that the kingdom was truly grateful they had someone who was looking out for the welfare of the community so diligently, even though his inklings of trouble weren’t always accurate. It’s okay, he had said. “We appreciate the effort you made.”
Robert was astounded.
But he wasn’t complaining. The mere fact that he would not be spending the rest of his life in the dungeon was enough to ensure his happiness for the next week or so. Add in the avoided detentions and the upcoming date with Kaila, and there was nothing that could faze him.
Except for a letter from the swim team coach, telling him that due to his “lack of commitment”, he was off the team.
He cried, he needled, he wheedled- no one could get him back on. Needless to say, he was upset. The swim team had been one of his favorite things in the world.
However, the gloomy feeling he was experiencing somewhat decreased when he remembered that he now had more time to spent with Kaila. And although they weren’t “officially” a couple yet- they hadn’t even gone on a date yet, it seemed like they were attached at the hip for the next three days. They walked to classes together, chatted, talked, raced (when nobody was looking), and got to know one another. Soon, they were natural. They “fit” together. And neither of them could wait until they could actually be together.
Saturday passed in a fit of boredom for both of them. Kaila spent it at the hospital; mostly in the café and gift shop. Her father wanted a lot of time alone with her mother, and she was not the kind of person to deny him that. She usually gave her mother a fast hug or kiss, talked to her for fifteen minutes until the silence got too akward, and left. As a result of this, the people at the gift shop and café had gotten to know her well. And it had only been four days since they started going to that hospital; since the Kellenberg one had burned down.
Robert, on the other hand, spent his day under the sea.Literally. He dove under the water in the early morning, hung out with his father all day, swam a lot (he missed the swim team), and did all those other fun things. The Saturday passed extremely slowly for both of them. It was boring. They were anxiously awaiting the next day.

Sunday morning came not a moment too soon. That day passed even slower than the Saturday. Both Robert and Kaila spent the day catching up on missed homework. It wasn’t exactly very fun for either of them. But seven O’ Clock came sooner than expected.

Chapter 5: Love

Kaila waited anxiously at the door for it to ring. She was all dressed up in one of her favorite outfits. A pair of dark wash Abercrombie jeans that were ripped at the knee, a white tank top, and a green jumper with flowers on it on top. On her feet were grey flip flops, despite the fact that it was barely pushing forty degrees outside. Her hair was curled prettily around her face. She looked like the perfect example of a popular girl.

She tapped her foot nervously against the side of the radiator that she was leaning against. It developed a steady rhythm. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. She found that it calmed her nerves and helped her relax. No matter how comfortable she felt around Robert, it was still a date! She had never been on too many dates. They weren’t really her style. When she had been going through her various life phrases, she had treated dating in many different ways. Mostly, it was flirting. In her Emo phrase, she had pretty much ignored guys. She didn’t even look at them. In her “dancer” phrase, she flirted mercilessly with everyone she saw.

Now she was trying to settle into a rhythm of having a steady boyfriend. That’s what she hoped Robert would become, anyway. She loved him. She really did. She knew that she was sounding like a broken record and everything; and that she was turning into everything she didn’t ever want to be, but she couldn’t help it. And she wasn’t sure she cared right now.

If Kaila was nervous, Robert was crazy. His stomach was a big black pit of nervousness. He wasn’t sure, exactly, what he would say to Kaila. Dates were different than being friends in the hallway. You had to say something meaningful on a date! And Robert wasn’t sure he had anything to say that was in any way, shape, or form, meaningful.

He sat in his mother’s green Volvo, hulking over with nervousness. His mother tried to console him.

“ It’s only a date, Robert, No matter what happens. Remember that. There will be many dates to come. I promise.”

Secretly, Jodi was thrilled out of her mind that Robert was finally going to do the things that normal teenagers his age did. She worried about him often. He was so fragile, and so lonely. And it was so wonderful, she thought, that he had met a girl who was just right for him. She knew that she would be praying for the date all night long. Robert really, really deserved this, especially after the whole dungeon and detention business.

Jodi was also proud of her son for sticking up for Jodi in the principal’s office. She sure wished a guy would do that for her sometime. Her son was a gentleman! It made her so, so proud. Her heart wanted to burst as they drove up to Kaila’s house and Robert nervously straightened his shirt, and ran up to ring the doorbell. He waited a couple minutes before the door swung upon and a pretty girl stepped out. She smiled at Robert and waved good bye to her family.

“We’ll be home at eleven?”

Kaila’s father emerged from the house.

“That’ll be fine! Be good, now!” he shouted as the two walked towards the car.
Once they were in the car together, Jodi attempted to make polite conversation.

“So, Kaila, how long have you lived here?”

“Oh, actually, I just moved here from California.” Kaila said.

“Oh, that’s cool! Is it nice there? Do you miss it?”

“Yeah, I do sometimes. The weather’s a bit different here.”

Jodi laughed. “It would seem so.”

And akward silence fell over the car for a minute. Jodi spoke again. “ So, how do you like it here so far?”

“Oh, it’s very nice. Very different from my old home, I have to admit, but I’ve met some great people here”, she turned around to smile at Robert, “and the school district is defiantly better. I also like my house better here.”

“That’s great. I’m really glad you like it here. I’m really glad that you and Robert met.”

“Yeah, me too.” Kaila said. “I’m really, really glad.”

When they arrived at the theatre, it was almost empty. Jodi slipped a twenty into Robert’s hand and whispered into his ear, “Pay for her!”.

Robert nodded. But when they walked up to the ticket booth, Kaila immediately drew out her wallet and ordered a ticket.

“I’ll take that.” Robert said.

“No, it’s okay, I can pay!”

“No, really. I have plenty.”

“So do I.” Kaila shot an exasperated glance at Robert. “Just let me take this.” she muttered to him. “If you really want, you can pay for the popcorn.”

Robert looked at her. “To be honest, I couldn’t’ care less. My mother wanted me to pay for you. You know; be the perfect gentleman…”

The two of them got a good laugh out of that.

“And you are the perfect gentleman,” Kaila teased. The two of them shared some friendly laughter as they walked towards the movie.

It was a romance, plain and simple. Robert felt his eyes droop more than once. This was not his type of movie at all. In the slightest. The music in the background just contributed to his haze. But ten minutes into the movie, Kaila reached over and grabbed Robert’s hand. Robert’s heart leapt as he turned around and looked at her. Their eyes met for a second. Then Robert turned away, squirming.

“Do I make you uncomfortable or something?” Kaila teased.

“No, no.” Robert mumbled, embarrassed. “I just don’t like awkward silences.”

“This isn’t awkward! We’re at a movie, for god’s sake.”

“Good point.” They fell into silence again.
The movie was playing on the screen. The faces of the two main characters suddenly filled the screen.

“Oh, Jeremiah, how I need you!”

“ We aren’t destined to be together! You know that.”

“But, please, take me, take me to the moon!”

“Sarah, stop this. We aren’t meant for each other. You’re a witch, and I’m just a plain old human.

“You’re revolted by me?”

“No, Sarah, no. Not revolted. Never.” He looked straight into her clear blue eyes. “Just horribly, horrible in love with you.”

They leaned forward and their lips met, interlocking in a fiery kiss of passion. Sparks flew, literally.

Kaila turned around to look at Robert one more time. Their eyes met. This time, it wasn’t awkward at all. It was natural. But as soon as she turned away, she broke into a firey red blush. She wanted to feel Robert’s lips crushing against hers. She wondered what they tasted like. Her best friend, and only, for that matter, had told her that guy’s lips tasted like chicken. She hoped that wasn’t true.

She turned back around to concentrate on the movie. It was a particularly romantic scene. The heroine was running around her house, leaping for joy, because she had just been kissed.

The movie wrapped up at the saddest scene in the world, in Kaila’s opinion.

“Just let me kiss you one….. Last……. Time……”

“JEREMIAH!!!!!”

Even her powers of witchcraft couldn’t save him.

She bent over and pressed her lips to his cold, lifeless ones.

“I’ll love you forever, Jeremiah.”

Kaila was sobbing. Tears were flowing freely out of her beautiful eyes. Robert watched, entranced. He bent closer.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry.”

Kaila grabbed his hand in a fit of her own passion. Tears were still running down from her eyes, but she appeared to be trying to stop the flow. A honking sound came out of her nose. She blushed a bright crimson red.

The end credits rolled. The audience was full of crying people. All the females in the room seemed to be sobbing at once. Their men were trying, awkwardly, to comfort them.

Robert patted Kaila on the back reassuringly, and let her lay her head on his shoulder.

“It’s only a movie.”

“But it’s just so, so” she coughed and tears flowed out again. “So sad!”

Their arms flew around each other, and suddenly they were hugging. A song was rolling on the end credits.

Just to see you smile
I’d do anything
That you wanted me to
And all is said and done
I’d never count the cost
It’s worth all that’s lost
Just to see you smile

Robert looked at Kaila. “ I swear, I will do everything I can to make you smile.” he said seriously.

“Awww, that is so sweet. Thank you.” Kaila tried to stop crying.

Both of their heads bent towards each other at the same time. Kaila made a motion to press her soft pink lips against his.

“Wait.” interrupted Robert. “ Isn’t it strange to kiss on the first date? That‘s what my mother said. ”

“I don’t care what your mother said! I love you, Robert. I have never loved anyone like this, ever, before.” Kaila said passionately.

“And I love you too, more than anyone I‘ve ever loved before.” Robert agreed.

“God, this is so sappy.”

“I know.”

They both laughed, which helped ease the slight tension of what they were about to do.

Kaila shyly and tenderly pressed her lips against Robert’s in a soft, wonderful first kiss.

Kaila was in heaven. His lips tasted like Chocolate, the sweetest chocolate in the world. The kiss warmed her body and she rocked slightly with the weight of his lips.

After a moment, they broke apart. The manager of the cinema poked his head in.

“Hey kids, if you want to see it again, you betta pay again! Ten bucks each or get out.”

The two new lovers walked out of the theater hand in hand.

“Don’t tell my mother we kissed.”

“Obviously.” Kaila smiled a sly smile and winked. “It never happened.”

They walked out to the car, and got in. And rode home.

They were both glowing the rest of the day. Jodi noticed. The second that Kaila left the car, she asked, “ How did the kiss go?”

“How did you know we kissed?” accused Robert. “Were you spying on us?”

“Of course not. I would never dream of spying on your dates.”

“Right.”
“Really.”

“Right.”

“Stop it, honey.”

“No.”

The mother and son burst into laughter.

“So, how was the kiss?”

“None of your business, mother.”

Jodi continued to wheedle at him.

“Fine, fine. It was AMAZING. It was wonderful. I’m in love. Better now?”

“Just Peachy.” Jodi said.

They sat in silence for the rest of the car ride.

That song rang through both Robert and Kaila’s head all night. All they could think about was that they wanted to make each other smile. And they would. They were “officially” a couple.

Robert’s cell phone rang. He picked it up. It was Kaila.

“Hello?”

“Rob?”

“Kay?”

“Yup. Hey, know what I was thinking about? You know how couples always say that a certain song “belongs” to then? Well, I think that that smile song from today is our song. That way, whenever we hear it, we can yell out ‘They’re playing our song!’”

“I like that idea.” Robert said.

Just then, Robert heard a scratching on his phone.

“Hey, I think the connection is breaking up?”

“Nope.”

Just to see you smile
I’d do anything
That you wanted me to
And all is said and done
I’d never count the cost
It’s worth all that’s lost
Just to see you smile

“I can tell I’m going to get really sick of this song.” Robert said. “ I bet that we’ll break up because you play this song too much.”
“Don’t say that!” yelled Kaila. “You might jinx it!”

“Well, maybe I’m trying to jinx it.” teased Robert.

This was how most of their conversations ran for the next week. They talked on the phone all the time. If they had been almost attached at the hip before, they were Siamese twins, now. They rarely went anywhere without the other. This was actual love, they assumed. Could you fall in love, in serious love, and meet your soul mate at sixteen? Was it possible? It sure seemed like that.

Chapter 6: More Time Passes

This happy pattern continued for two months. The love struck couple continued to spend all their time together. They were in some sort of heaven, they believed. These two months had flew by so quickly; it was as everyone said. Time flies when you’re having fun. And this was fun. They quickly fell into a rhythm. For the classes that they had together, they would sit next to each other but not talk; they didn’t want to get moved. She would wait at his locker every morning, and they would walk to first period together. Sometimes, when they were feeling especially mushy, Robert would carry Kaila’s books. They would sit at lunch together, sometimes by themselves, sometimes with Kaila’s “friends”, who had mysteriously decided that Robert was cool enough to sit with them, now that he was going out with Kaila. He didn’t really want to sit with them, but Kaila sometimes did, so he usually agreed. He never really got why Kaila wanted to sit with them. The one time he asked, she had kind of mumbled “my mother.” Robert wondered what was up with Kaila and her mother. She was never home, and Robert had never met her. Of course, Kaila had never met his father, so they were about equal.

Sometimes, Robert felt incredibly guilty that he was keeping secrets from Kaila. They told each other everything, and he was confident that Kaila put her full trust in him. But he couldn’t put his full trust in her. Not because he didn’t trust her; he was sure that she would never tell anyone his secret, and she would probably even believe him. But he knew that if anyone got wind of the fact that she knew, he would be executed, and Kaila probably would be too. It would be hard to keep the fact that Kaila knew a secret; it was bound to slip out sometime. Yes, Robert was really doing Kaila a favor by keeping it a secret. That’s what he told himself, anyway.

Yet, Kaila was getting suspicious that he could never hang out after school, or on Saturdays. She didn’t appreciate that at all. The story that his mother fed everyone was that he was part of a religious group that did community service, as well as held their own worship services every day after school and on Saturdays. Kaila didn’t seem to buy this story, really. Robert did not seem like a religious person to her. He didn’t seem especially religious to anyone, probably.

“Robert?”

“Kaila?’

“ Do you want to hang out after school today?”

“I wish I could. I have religious group.”

“Why do you spend so much time there? I don’t even know what religion you are! I really want to see you outside of school and Sundays! You don’t even answer your phone after school.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it! I didn’t even join it voluntarily!” Robert cursed under his breath. He had not meant for that to slip out. Yet it had.

“Your mom made you join?”

“Yeah, kind of.”
To Robert’s surprise, she laughed. “My mom made me join the math team for a semester back when I was in eighth grade. It was horrible. I feel your pain.”

Robert laughed too, the tenseness temporarily broken. “Math team?? And to think I’m complaining?”

She punched him in the stomach teasingly. “It wasn’t thaaat bad. I would rather be in it than some other things that people I know are in…”

Robert wished that he could hit a girl. He had this huge urge to sock his girlfriend in the nose. He didn’t. But he was really tempted sometimes. Really, really tempted. Like, there was a yummy, scrumptious looking chocolate pie hanging right in front of his nose, but he couldn’t quite reach it. It was absolute torture.

No, he was just joking. He loved Kaila. He would never want to hurt her. That was a main worry for him, that he was hurting her by not telling her the truth.

God, did he miss swim team. He was getting a pool installed in his house in a few weeks, because he couldn’t stand being out of water for as long as he sometimes was. Not to mention that he wasn’t really able to swim laps in the lake. It wasn’t flat enough, and sometimes he hit his nose against the bumpy ground while he was trying to swim and ended up with rocks up his nose and a huge red gash would occur, and blood would flow freely into the water. It was quite disgusting. So the moral of that story was never to try to swim laps in the lake. He really wished he was still on swim team. Then he wouldn’t have had to resort to pathetic measures like that.

Even more days passed. Weeks passed. Months passed. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.

Had it really been a year since he had met her? The light of his life? He found that unbelievable.

They were juniors in high school now. He was back on the swim team. He had a pool in his basement that he and Kaila swam in every day. It was a huge pool. His father had paid for it’s installation. It was gorgeous, too. The basement’s stone floors had been covered in poolside tile. A slide, and two diving boards, of various heights, were installed.

His life was going exactly the way he wanted it to. He had a steady, wonderful relationship with the most wonderful girl in the world. He had high grades, a pool, a group of friends; everything he had ever lacked.

Life was high. He was happy. Kaila was happy. Life was good.

Chapter 7: Tragedy and Sadness Go Together

Kaila was sitting in her seventh class of the day, which just happened to be math class. It was a particulary small classroom, with no windows. There was nothing for her to stare at except for the ugly teacher, Mrs. Fletcher. Mrs. Fletcher was the oldest person in the entire school. She weighed about four hundred pounds too, and hobbled around, her fat bouncing after her. It was disgusting to watch. Even more disgusting was her fashion choices. Today, for instance, she had decided to wear a huge, atrocious purple sweater. The sweater was at least two sizes to small for her, and everything was showing. It was disturbing to watch. Mrs. Fletcher often got into the habit of droning.

“IF you add x and y together and divide that by x minus twelve, what kind of function will that be?”

No one raised their hand.

“Hello? Anyone awake?” Mrs. Fletcher tapped the side of her head, an annoying habit she often did. Everyone in the class absolutely hated it, but she didn’t know. “Hellooo?”

Kaila wished that Robert was in this class. He always had a witty comment to make that would wake her up.

Suddenly, the classroom phone started ringing. The teacher hobbled over to pick it up.

“Hello? Yes? Alright. I’ll send her right down. Alright, bye.” She hung it up. “Kaila, go to the main office. Bring your books.”

The ever mature juniors in herclass snickered “ooohhhh.” Mrs. Fletcher yelled at them to be quiet. They shut up right away. Mrs. Fletcher is pretty darn scary when she wants to be.

Kaila gathered her books nervously. What could’ve she done? She didn’t recall doing anything wrong! She didn’t do anything wrong. A really scary thought came into her head. Her mother. She grabbed her bag and flew off towards the main office, her heart pounding in her chest an unbelievable amount. Her hair was frizzing all over the place as she full out sprinted but she didn’t even notice, let alone care.

Her mother could be dying, for all she knew! She ran, and ran. And tripped. She felt her bag break behind her and almost cried out in frustration. It wasn’t fair! She needed to get there. And now.

Determinedly she threw all of her books into her arms, even the really heavy ones, and continued sprinting to the office. She arrived in a little less than a minute and burst through the door.

“Hello? This is Kaila!”

The first thing she saw was her grandmother. She was slightly red eyed. Kaila took a deep breath. No. No. Please. NO.

“Kaila. Thank god you’re here.” her grandmother said. Her voice was scratchy, like she had been crying. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, what’s wrong?” Kaila begged to find out.

“Your mother. Let’s go!” They bolted out of the office, cane and all, towards the car.

Tears were streaming down Kaila’s face now, and she didn’t even know what was wrong. “What’s wrong? Please tell me!”

“Your mother’s…. .. well, I don‘t really know what to say about it. It‘s not looking…good. She’s not doing well.” Her voice was breaking. “ They’re not sure how much longer she can hold on.”

Kaila held in a gasp. She started to hyperventilate, breathing in and out, in and out, in and out. Everyone was okay, she told herself. Everyone was okay. Her mother would be fine. Everyone would be fine. Everything would be fine and dandy- what was she telling herself? She was such a liar.

She started to breathe faster as they approached the hospital. Her grandma placed a hand on her shoulder. “ Maybe you should wait outside?”

“ No!” she shouted quickly. “ I mean, no. I’ll be fine.” There was no way she was going to miss seeing her mom. She wouldn’t miss seeing her mom for anything in the world.

Her cell phone rang. She ignored it. It wouldn’t stop. She sighed and picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Kay? Where are you?”

The second that Kaila heard her boyfriend’s voice, she broke down and started to cry.

“Kay? What’s wrong? Where are you?”

“Robert…” Kaila burst into loud, noisy sobs, and no matter how hard she tried to compose herself, it wasn’t working. “Rob- my mom, she’s.. she’s sick..”

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I never told you..” she hiccupped. She tried to stop crying enough to talk. “I never told you- my mom’s been sick… god, how long?..a long time. That’s why” she gasped, and hiccupped again. “That’s why she’s never home, she’s either in the hospital or resting away from human eyes- my god, why didn’t I tell you?” she broke down sobbing again.

“Shh, shh, shh. It’s all going to be okay.”

“NO, Rob, it’s not! My mom- she’s going to die.. Don’t you see that?” she was hysterical.

“Look, Kay, do you want me to come over? I can if you want. No one cares if I cut a couple classes.”

“I’m not home- I’m in the car on the way to the hospital.”

“Should I come?”

“My mom,” a tear dripped, but she was calming down with the prospect of Rob coming. ‘I don’t think she can have visitors who aren’t family.”

“Okay, so I shouldn’t come?” asked Rob, confused.

“NO, come! Plea