Beyond the Sea (8 page)

“Hey Jamie,” he said.

“Hi,” she said shyly. She didn’t know Peter even knew her name.
He’s probably trying to suck up to Melia
, she thought and suddenly felt a little braver. If Peter expected to spend any more time with her best friend, well, he’d have to pass her inspection first.

“How was your weekend?”

“Uh, ok,” Jamie answered.

Melia said, “She saw a baby being born!”

Peter’s face went white. Jamie internally sighed. She was gonna have to have a talk with Melia about the male species’ thoughts on birth.

“Yea, my aunt had a baby.”

“That’s, uh, good. I was forced to watch my brother and sister being born. I think I’m still scarred from it.”

“Wouldn’t your mother be the one that got scarred?” Melia asked.

Jamie elbowed her. “Oh, Melia, you comedian.”

As they crossed the courtyard, Peter said, “Melia, I was, uh, thinking. Do you, uh, want to go out tonight? Maybe get some ice cream or something?”

“Jamie and I have plans to watch a movie about ants gathering food for other bugs.” She didn’t notice the horror on Peter’s face, but Jamie did, knowing full well that sounded like a piss poor excuse. It was clear that Peter thought Melia was blowing him off.

 
      
“Melia, I know
I
made
you
promise to watch it with me, but you don’t
have
to.” She prayed Melia would understand her. And after a curious stare, Melia nodded.

“Tomorrow then, we will watch it.” She quickly whirled around to face Peter. “I’d love to go out with you tonight. And I love ice cream.”

“Great!” He let out a huge sigh of relief. “Want me to pick you up after school?”

“I rode with Jamie this morning, so you can take me.”

“Ok,” he said enthusiastically, already trying to come up with a convincing lie to tell his parents. They took their seats in chemistry.

“He was so cute and nervous around you!” Jamie whispered.

“How can you tell?” Melia whispered back.

“The way he fidgeted when he talked to you. And when you said that you already had plans, his face was so sad!” She giggled. “He likes you.”

“How can he? We haven’t known each other that long.”

“Yea, but you did talk for six hours straight, did you not?”

“Yea.”

“So it’s like you took a weekend’s worth of dates and crammed them into one night. And then you hung out again the next day. So, technically, you’ve had three dates worth of time with him.”

“Oh. I guess it makes sense.” Melia opened her chemistry book. “Is he going to expect me to be easy?”

Jamie laughed. “No, I don’t think so.”

“At least not on the first date. When should I be easy? The movies say at least three dates.”

“You mean, when should you have sex?”

“Yea, that.”

Jamie smothered another laugh. “You can just say that, then. ‘Being easy’ is different than having sex. And I don’t think you need to worry about it yet.”

“Right. Because I want to be in love first.”

“I am not letting you watch anymore chick-flicks.”

*

“Brandon told me that Nick told him that Nathan overheard Melia talking about
swimming
down to the bottom of the ocean to take pictures of some shipwreck,” Janet said with a flip of her short, dark hair.

“So?” Peter asked with his mouth full. Janet had spent the first half of lunch ‘randomly’ remembering odd facts about Melia.

“So?! It’s weird! No one can
swim
that far! Everyone knows she thinks she’s a mermaid!”

“Janet, that’s bullshit. Melia does not think she’s a mermaid.” Peter finished chewing his sandwich. “And she did take pictures of a shipwreck. I saw them.”

Janet gasped. “How?”

“How did I see them or how did she take them? I saw them with my eyes. And in case you haven’t heard of it, there’s this crazy new invention called a camera. Some even work under water.”

“You don’t have to be such a jerk.”

“I’m not,” he said defiantly.

“Well, that’s not even the best part. Nathan heard her say that she used to play inside the boat when she was a little girl.”

Kaitlin looked up. “The girl’s a freak. I so don’t see why everyone thinks she’s pretty. I mean, she hardly wears makeup, and what’s with the stupid little braids she puts in her hair?”

Janet agreed. “And the ugly shells she’s always wearing. Hello, she totally wants to be Ariel.”

“You guys are so jealous,” Connor said, grinning.

“Please,” Kaitlin snarled. “I don’t even care about her.”

“Then why are you talking about her?” Connor laughed.

“Because someone needs to point out her weirdness!”

Peter rolled his eyes. Ok, so Melia was a little strange. He was sure growing up in a super rich family with parents that were rarely around would make anyone seem a little strange. And he liked it. He liked not knowing what to expect from her, he liked how different she was from anyone he’d ever met.

“Well, Pete,” Connor began, in a mocking tone. “I expect a full report of her weirdness then. And stay away from bodies of water tonight. She might drown you and eat you.” He and Peter laughed.

“Wait!” Janet cried. “You’re going out with her tonight?”

“What does it matter to you?” he asked, not even looking at Janet.

“Uh, why would you even waste your time with her?”

Connor said, “Maybe ‘cuz she’s super hot!”

Janet turned to Kaitlin. “I bet she’s a slut.”

Peter rolled his eye once more. He was so glad Melia wasn’t like them.

*

The rest of the day dragged on for Peter. He was slightly nervous; he didn’t want to say anything wrong. He met Melia at her locker at the end of the day.

“I have to pick up my brother and sister and take them to soccer practice,” he said apologetically, opening the passenger door for Melia. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” She smiled. Peter’s heart skipped a beat.

“Good.” It would work out perfect, that is if his siblings would keep their mouths shut. He set his and Melia’s bags in the back and put the top down on his Mustang.

“Janet doesn’t have the power of the evil eye, does she?” Melia asked, spying Janet’s icy gaze from a few cars over.

“Uh, not that I know of.”

“Good, because she looks like she wants to curse me.”

Peter laughed.

Adam and Ava stared admirably at Melia after Peter introduced her.

“You’re really pretty,” Ava told her. “I like your hair.”

“Thanks. You’re pretty too. And so is your hair. I like blonde.” Melia smiled.

Ava beamed. “You do?”

“Yes. It’s like shimmery gold.”

Peter smiled. Janet loathed his siblings. Yes, they were only eight and somewhat bratty (it was his parents’ fault for giving them whatever they wanted), but they were his little brother and sister, and Peter was very protective of them.

“How did you do that?” Ava asked, pointing to an intricate braid in Melia’s hair.

“This?” she asked, separating it from the loose waves. “It’s called a fish tail braid.”

“I like it!”

“I can do your hair like this.”

“Really?! Can she Peter? Can she?!”

Peter turned to look at his sister. “Only if she wants to.”

“It’d be fun!” Melia told her. Since she’d been on land, her interactions had been with adults or people her own age. She missed talking to the young merrows. Braiding was the only thing merrows did to their hair, since styles were very limited, being underwater. Melia knew how to do a large variety of complicated and interesting braids.

After Peter parked, he and Adam got out, carrying Ava’s bag.

“See you inside!” Adam called to his twin. He looked up at Peter. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“No. Well, not yet. Hopefully,” he answered. “Listen, you can’t tell Mom or Dad, ok? You know they’re already mad at me.”

“I won’t.” He smiled. “She’s smokin’!”

Peter couldn’t help but laugh. “You shouldn’t say that. She’s ten years older than you. But she is, isn’t she?”

Melia gently raked her fingers through Ava’s messy, long hair. She divided it into two sections and started braiding.

“Do you like my brother?” Ava asked.

“Yes,” Melia said honestly. Ava tried to turn around. “You have to keep your head still, sweetie.”

“Ok, sorry. Peter’s a good brother. Sometimes he plays Barbie’s with me.”

“That’s really cute and nice of him.” She knew Barbies were some sort of dolls. Having a big merfamily used to be a dream of hers… “What about Adam, is he a good brother too?”

“Sometimes. He picks on me, but he doesn’t let anyone else.”

“So he’s the only one who gets to pick on you.”

“Right!” She involuntarily moved her head. “Oops!”

“It’s ok, just pick something straight ahead and look at it.” It worked; Ava stayed completely still the rest of the time Melia braided her hair. She walked Ava inside.

“Have fun!” Peter told the twins. “Thanks for doing that,” he said to Melia, wondering if he should hold her hand while they walked back to the car.

“You’re welcome. I used to do…all the little girls’ hair at the, uh, school I used to volunteer at.”

“You do volunteer work?”

“Yea, with Jamie. There’s a lot of sadness in this world.” That was the hardest part of living on land. Under the sea, no one was homeless, no one did drugs and no one went hungry. Land dwellers were selfish, not wanting to share with anyone, only out for themselves. Melia shook her head. “I enjoy helping others, but helping out at the animal shelter is my favorite.”

He opened the door for her again. Once the car hit the road, Melia flipped through radio stations. She settled on a local hip-hop channel.

“Really? Everything else about you is perfect, and you listen to this awful music?” Peter joked.

Melia didn’t get the joke at first until she saw his smile. She laughed. “Guilty. Why, what do you like?”

“This,” he responded, pressing a button and turning up the volume. “Alternative or rock, mostly.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard this.”

“You’ve never heard Awolnation?”

“Who?”

Peter laughed. “This is a good song, just listen. I think you’ll like it.”

Melia nodded and looked at Peter. She liked the way the wind moved his hair, the way he tapped the steering wheel in tempo with the music, the way his eyes danced when he looked at her. As if he could read her mind, he glanced over and smiled, causing the butterflies to become active again.
Feels more like tiny fish
, Melia thought. She wondered what his skin felt like, if it was hot like Jamie’s.

“Are your parents home yet?” Peter asked, and then realized it sounded like he was trying to get Melia alone.

“No,” she sighed. “My mom called and said they won’t be back until Thursday now.”

“You sound disappointed. I would be happy if my parents went away.”

“I get lonely in that big house. Charles is there, but only until after dinner.”

“Who’s Charles?”
 
Wait, was that a spark of jealousy Peter had felt? He knew Melia had no surviving siblings , so who was this Charles? Yes, he had to admit, it was jealousy.

“He’s our cook. But he’s more like my friend.”

“Sweet. Is that who made us breakfast yesterday?”

“Yea. Isn’t he good?”

Peter nodded, wishing he had a personal chef. He stole another glance at Melia. She had her head tilted back, enjoying the wind in her hair. Janet always complained about her hair getting messed up when the top was down. The smile returned to his face, staying there the rest of the night.

*

“Who did your hair, Ava, it’s pretty,” Sue asked during a late dinner.

Peter’s hand froze, his fork hovering over his plate, the precariously balanced heap of rice threatening to tumble off. He had a similar talk with Ava as he did Adam.

“Melia,” she said, grinning at what she thought was her wit.

“Who’s Melia?”

“A really pretty girl I met after school.” She looked right at Peter as she spoke, proud of her non-lying lie.

“Oh. And Peter, why were you letting your sister talk to strangers?”

“She’s not a stranger, Mom. She goes to my school. It’s Edward VanBurren’s daughter. I have a few classes with her.”

“Hm.” Sue looked at Peter’s father, wanting him to take over the questioning.

“And why was she hanging around a gymnasium filled with children?” he asked.

“She takes Tae Bo lessons there.” Peter shoved food in his mouth. Peter wasn’t a good liar either. “With Jamie Forester.”

“Nikki Forester’s girl? Oh, she’s a nice girl. A bit odd, though she doesn’t do anything stupid like party,” Sue stated and picked up her glass of wine. And that was all that was said about Melia.