The Mermaid Girl Page 5

  I had posted for the first time a few weeks back. I said mermaids were real, because I found one. It was exciting, partly because I was able to tell people about Mermary, and partly because they believed in mermaids. Since everyone used a made up name on the site, I used Sea Bee to disguise my real initials. I had written:

  “Mermaids are real. I found one in a puddle after a storm near the beach. I think she came out of an egg.”—Sea Bee

  Questions had popped up right away, and I had answered:

  “A puddle? How big is she?”—Island Girl

  “3 inches when I found her.”—Sea Bee

  “She has grown. She is 5 inches now.”—Sea Bee

  “Did u c egg?”—Undine

  “Saw an egg shell.”—Sea Bee

  “Y in puddle?”—Island Girl

  “Luna Beach flooded during storms.”—Sea Bee

  “Where is she now?”—Sirena T

  “My house in a tank.”—Sea Bee

  Since then, there were lots of new posts, people asking more questions and telling me to post pictures of her. On the disbelieving side, people said things like:

  “Right, a 3 in. mermaid.”—Waterman

  “I don’t believe you. Prove it.”—Navy Jones

  “Anyone can say anything on the internet.”—Aqua Lung

  “No response. C.B. lying.”—Navy Jones

  I realized my handle didn’t fool anyone.

  A guy on the believing side posted,

  “I blv u. but wrong to keep mermaid. Luna Be. 1 hr from Monterey Co. Donate mermade 2 Monterey Bay Acquarium so we cn c her.”—Sea Cowboy

  A lot of people on both sides agreed with Sea Cowboy.

  “Sea Cowboy is right. How are you going to take care of her so she will survive? The aquarium people will provide the right environment for her.”—Sirena T

  Then someone who called himself Pirate Andy Kydd wrote

  “I KNOW WHERE LUNA BEACH IS, AND IT’S NOT BIG. BET I CAN TRACK YOU DOWN, THEN WE’LL HAVE A LOOK AT THIS MERMAID OF YOURS.”

  That got me really scared. Everyone said the Internet was anonymous, but I knew that some e-mails and stuff on the Internet could be traced. Could Pirate Andy Kydd really find me? Now I knew why my mother didn’t think the Internet was safe and guarded the computer at home. There were a lot more questions and some posters begged me to say more, but I decided not to post there again. I left the site.

  After that I found an article titled, “The Mermaid Mystery.” It was about a team of scientists who went to an island in Indonesia because the native people said they had mermaids in their bay. They called them ilkai. The scientists watched and searched the waters, and finally discovered what the Indonesian people were actually seeing were dugongs, which are sea mammals related to manatees. I knew about manatees because I read that a lot of sailors have mistaken them for mermaids. Dugongs don’t look anything like mermaids. In fact, they’re related to elephants.

  I looked up—uh oh, Miss Bratty was making a beeline for me, and she looked cross. I looked around and saw all the adult computers were full now.

  “You know you’re not supposed to be using the adults’ computers, Camile,” she scolded. “What are you looking at?”

  “A story about dugongs,” I said. She could see I was telling the truth, because there was a diagram of dugong sizes compared to a man. “I can’t get this on the children’s computer.”

  I wasn’t sure if this was true, but she calmed down. Last time she caught me, I was looking at mermaid cartoons.

  “How about if I print it out so you can read it, and we can let an adult use this computer,” she said. She printed it out and gave it to me, and didn’t charge me, which was really nice because she’s usually so crabby.

  I went to pick up the books I ordered. One was actually a magazine, and the other was a book on how to draw mermaids.

  My mother still wasn’t back, so I wandered into the reference section, where I saw different kinds of dictionaries and encyclopedias. I looked up mermaid in a nautical encyclopedia. It said that although mermaids were mythical, sailors had been sighting them all over the world for centuries, which sounded contradictory to me.

  An Encyclopedia of Piracy said pirates and mermaids had a long history, and there were some pirates who actually had mermaid girlfriends. Good mermaids saved men from drowning, granted wishes, and sometimes led them to treasure. The bad ones put curses on people, made storms, and sank ships. Some kinds of mermaids lured men to them with their beauty and singing, then drowned and ate them. It said that while there were some good mermaids, mostly they were bad and it warned pirates to stay away from them.

  A dictionary on folklore said mermaids were connected to fairies and seals, were believed to be magic, and that many cultures had tales and songs about mermaids. It also said there were stories about mermaids turning into humans and coming on land, and that some of them married and had families.

  A dictionary of symbols said mermaids could be symbolic of bad luck or intuition, which is when you know something deep down inside, without anyone telling you. Mirrors, combs, and harps were connected with mermaids, which had been in some of the tales I’d read. Mermaids were connected with the moon and could sometimes tell the future.

  “There you are!” I looked up. It was my mother. “I’ve been looking all over for you!”

  I was in an aisle, sitting on the floor with the books, so I got up and started putting them away.

  “What are you looking up, Cammie?” she asked. She picked up the encyclopedia on archeology.

  “There are so many encyclopedias,” I hedged. “I can use them for homework.”

  My mother smiled at the nautical encyclopedia. I knew she wanted me to go into a research field like hers. Maybe I would. I could be a woman sailor-scientist and do research on mermaids.

  Chapter 19

  Bully Girl

  I loved summer school and couldn’t wait to get there every day. Miss Calista said I was very flexible and I was good at doing the positions. She chose me to demonstrate yoga positions a lot. I didn’t mind because I didn’t have to say anything. One day I noticed a girl at the back of the class looking angry. Her name was Libby and I had seen her picking on some of the kids. She was big and had frizzy brown hair that always needed to be combed, and she wore glasses with thick brown frames. Miss Calista sometimes got after her because she didn’t stand straight. Libby would straighten up for as long as Miss Calista was watching, and as soon as she turned away, Libby would slouch again and make a face.

  We lined up for lunch that day, and Libby cut in line in front of me. I didn’t say anything but the boy behind me yelled at her.

  “Hey, no cutting, Libby! Get at the back of the line!”

  She pointed at me. “She was saving my place, so there.” Then she gave me a warning look like she was going to get me if I said anything.

  The boy behind me poked me in the back and grumbled, “It isn’t fair to save places. What if everyone did that? You’d be at the back of the line, starving.”

  I didn’t say anything of course. Sometimes I got in trouble because I didn’t stick up for myself. When I told my parents about stuff that happened, my mother would say, “Use your words, Cammie. People are going to pick on you if you let them.”

  But my father had told me, “Sometimes it’s better to keep quiet when things like that happen. Keep your own counsel. People will eventually find out the truth.”

  Luckily it didn’t happen very often because I always behaved, plus people didn’t notice me. I thought of it as protective coloring, like animals that are hard to see because they match the environment and keep really still.

  But it seemed like that was changing, because the summer school teachers called on me a lot. At first it was really hard to get up in front of everyone. Like one day when Miss Calista gave everyone a Japanese character and made us get in front, one by one, and try to take the shape of the character. It was easier when I thought about going home an
d demonstrating the character to Mermary, so when it was my turn I did my best.

  Lunch that day was an egg salad sandwich, a chocolate cookie, and bananas. Libby’s banana had brown spots. Mine was bright yellow, with some green. After I got my tray, Libby came over and grabbed my banana, then put hers on my tray and ran away laughing. I didn’t mind because I actually prefer bananas with spots. Sometimes the yellow ones taste green.

  While we were all eating lunch, I saw Libby sitting with her friends. Libby noticed me looking at her and she started whispering in Nancy’s ear, who was sitting next to her. Then they both looked at me and laughed. Libby was probably telling her about the banana, and I thought they were being silly because it wasn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t even funny.

  After lunch was our class with Green Jerry, which he always made really fun. That week he was teaching us about compost. I had noticed Libby wouldn’t do any of the jobs Green Jerry gave us, even though they were all really simple. She just sat in the shade while everyone else worked. But on this day he saw her.

  “Hey Libby,” he called. “Grab the hose and put some water on this garbage, will you?”

  Libby made a face and took her time getting the hose.

  I was helping to tear up newspaper with some other kids, and Nancy was talking to Gigi, who was one of the other girls who hung out with Libby.

  “Look at Libby,” Nancy said to Gigi. “She’s so lazy, and now that Green Jerry is making her to do something, she’s moving really slow.”

  “I know. She always does that,” Gigi said back.

  I was surprised, because I thought they were Libby’s best friends. She was always sitting with them.

  Then Gigi said, “I can’t stand her. Just because we go to the same school, she acts like we’re best friends. I don’t know how to get rid of her.”

  “I know,” Nancy said. “She always invites herself when we do something.”

  “Oh, I never tell her,” Gigi said.

  “Yeah, but a lot of times she figures it out, like that time we went to the children’s matinee, and she invited herself along.”

  Gigi looked over at me, but I pretended like I wasn’t paying attention. I gathered up a bunch of paper and took it over to the pile of garbage that Green Jerry was preparing for compost. Libby was scattering water from the hose over it, then all of a sudden squirted me. I didn’t get very wet because the water wasn’t on very high, but Green Jerry saw.

  “Libby, cut that out. That’s not very nice,” he said.

  “She looked hot,” Libby said, although she looked glad that she’d done it.

  I actually opened my mouth and said, “I don’t mind. It is hot.”

  Then Libby looked mad, but I didn’t know why since I kept her from getting in trouble. After a minute she threw down the hose. “I’m going to tear paper with my friends.”

  Green Jerry asked me to water in her place, and while I was doing it, I saw Libby sitting between Nancy and Gigi and letting them do all the work. I think she was talking about some of the kids because she would point and say something, and they would all laugh. Actually, Libby laughed and Nancy kind of smiled, but Gigi didn’t even smile.

  After school when the shuttle was full and taking off, I saw Libby walking home. She walked funny, slouching as usual, and she looked hot and sad. There was a gang of six or seven kids in front of her talking and laughing. She tried to catch up with them, but one of them saw her and said something, and they all ran away.

  When I got home I told Mermary about my day like I always did, and a big part of it was about Libby.

  “I used to think Libby was popular, because she hangs around some popular girls, but it turns out they don’t like her,” I told Mermary. I thought about the gang of kids running away from her. “I guess she’s just horning in on people. I’ve heard people call her Lub the Tub, or Tubby Lubby, making fun of her.”

  “Maybe Libby is mean because kids are mean to her,” Mermary said.

  That actually made sense. Mermary was really smart sometimes.

  “I can tell Libby hates it when teachers call on her, because she doesn’t pay attention and usually doesn’t know what we’re talking about. And she hates to get up in front of the movement class.”

  “Why?” Mermary asked.

  “I’m not sure, maybe she feels self-conscious, like I do. Once the teacher set the room up with furniture and demonstrated how she wanted us to dance around them, using them as props. Then she chose Libby and two other girls to perform for us. The girls did okay, but I think Libby was trying to be funny because she made faces and danced like a monkey, and the teacher said she was just being silly.”

  “What did Libby say?”

  “Nothing. She just shrugged her shoulders and sat down. The next day, she didn’t go to class. After Movement I went to the bathroom, and Libby was in there sitting on the sink, chewing gun. She said, ‘I hate dance class.’ Then she asked if she was in trouble because she didn’t go to class. I said I didn’t know, and she said, ‘Is Miss Calista looking for me?’ And I said I didn’t think the teacher even noticed. So Libby says, ‘I better not go out yet because she might be out there.’ ”

  “She was hoping the teacher missed her, and maybe felt sorry for her,” Mermary said.

  “Really?” I had noticed Mermary had intuition, because she was always telling me things she figured out about people.

  “Yes. Why else would she be asking those questions about your teacher?”

  “Maybe Miss Calista was actually glad Libby wasn’t there. Libby gets on everyone’s nerves, and it seems like no one likes her.” I knew what it was like to have no friends, even if it was for completely different reasons. But I, at least, had Mermary.

  “You know what, Mermary? I feel sorry for her. I think she does all that stuff trying to make friends, but it just makes people not like her more.”

  “Why don’t you be friends with her?” Mermary asked.

  “Me? But . . . I don’t know how to make friends.”

  “Yes, you do,” she said. “You just start talking to them, like you did with me.”

  Chapter 20

  Learning to Make Friends

  The next week I went to school and decided I was going to be nice to Libby. So I went and sat next to her in writing class. She glared at me, but after that didn’t pay any attention to me. I sat next to her again in art, but she didn’t seem to notice.

  In the lunch room after I got my tray, I saw Libby sitting by herself. I went over but she put her hands on the seats next to her and said, “Saved,” so I sat at another table. Gigi and Nancy came through the line, but when Libby waved at them, they pretended not to see her and sat with some other girls.

  The next morning I waited to see where Libby sat, then went and sat next to her. I said “hi,” but she either didn’t hear me or was ignoring me. People not noticing you was almost the same as being ignored, so I didn’t know which it was.

  “Okay, class, today I’m going to have you spell out the letters of the alphabet with your bodies,” Miss Calista said. “For instance, I’m going to show you ‘I.’ ” She stood straight and held one of her hands made into a fist over her head. “Think about the letters of the alphabet and how you might get into its shape. Some letters will probably need two people. Now, who would like to try first?”

  Nobody raised their hand. She looked around the class. “Camile? Why don’t you and Libby come up here and do ‘A’?”

  Libby turned and gave me a really annoyed look. Miss Calista often called on me to demonstrate, so Libby probably thought it was my fault she got called on since I was sitting next to her. I started going up to the front.

  Libby stayed in her seat. “I don’t know how.”

  “Camile, can you show her?”

  I nodded. Libby stood up and plodded to the front of the class, her mouth turned down and still looking cross. I thought about how to do an “A,” then knelt down and motioned for Libby to do the same. She looked confused,
but she did it, about two feet away from me. Then I grabbed Libby’s hands and pulled her toward me slowly, and I pushed my head forward until my forehead touched hers, still holding onto her hands. The kids laughed and clapped.

  “Well done, Libby and Camile!” Miss Calista said. “That was very creative. Now that’s what I want from all of you,” she said to the class.

  Libby and I went back to our seats. Libby wasn’t mad anymore, she was grinning now. She laughed as the other kids did their letters, sometimes one person, sometimes two, depending on the letter. When everyone in the class had had a turn, Miss Calista said we had to finish the alphabet.

  “Do I have any volunteers?”

  “Hey, let’s go do ‘W’!” Libby said. She grabbed my hand and dragged me up to the front. It was exciting to have someone holding my hand like that. I told Libby to sit on the floor so we were facing each other with our legs out.

  “Do what I do,” I whispered. I leaned back on my arms and she copied me, then I put my feet together and stuck them straight out and up, toward Libby, and balancing on my butt. She copied me and rested her heels against mine up in the air.

  “Very good again, girls,” Miss Calista said. “ ‘W’ is a hard letter to make.”

  At lunchtime I went to sit with Libby, but she was already sitting with Gigi and Nancy, and ignored me. I didn’t mind because I was starting to figure out how people made friends. Now all I had to do was figure out what to talk about.