[IC] Aguamarina: Song of the Sea | ravenhuffle & carsgovroom

[carsgovroom]

Moving to a new town that's more than halfway across the country is hard. Moving to a new school just before senior year is also hard. But what's even harder is moving halfway across the country from a big city to a small town, and then starting senior year at a brand new school with a bunch of kids who have basically all grown up together and have concrete groups of friends already formed.

It had been about two months since Clara and her father had arrived in the coastal town of Waverly Bay, California all the way from Chicago, Illinois, and about a month and a half since the school year at Waverly High had started. And Clara could count the number of friends that she had made so far with only one hand. And she didn't even need all five fingers to do so. She had no idea what was wrong with her. But in Chicago, and in all of her old schools, she had had a lot of friends and she had made them rather easily. But here, in Waverly Bay, she just felt...awkward. Like she stuck out like a sore thumb in the worst possible way. Maybe it was because Waverly's atmosphere was so different from Chicago's. Where Chicago had been loud, fast, and hectic, Waverly was quiet, slow, and peaceful. Even for the last month of summer, when tourists came for the beaches and the fishing and everything, it was still relatively sleepy. Also the people were so different. Small town people seemed to know everyone and everything about everyone, and within a week Clara had learned all of her neighbor's names while back in Chicago she had maybe known four of her neighbors in the seventeen years she had lived there. Waverly was also amazingly safe and it wasn't scary to walk alone at night, and there were virtually no big chain stores of restaurants. Everything was Mom and Pop. It was all so different from what she was used to and Clara felt a little bit like an alien in this small town setting.

And the kids, her fellow students, had all grown up with the same people in the same classes every year since kindergarten. And they all knew each other very well and had firm friendships at this point. It was hard to insert herself into such tight groups and to make new friends, and with her second full month in school quickly approaching Clara could say that she had a grand total of two budding friendships. That was why her father had encouraged her to sign up for this overnight, extra credit science camping trip when the opportunity arose a few weeks previous. He said it would give her an opportunity to make some more friends outside of the school environment. Maybe he was right. Maybe it would be easier to get friendly with her classmates while they camped on the beach for one night to chart stars and watch a meteor shower.

Her dad really believed that they could be happy here. And she wanted to believe it, too. She knew that he had been looking for a place to start over for the last few years. Ever since her mom had died when she was fourteen. Still Clara wasn't going to say that she had been particularly thrilled when Jason Pace had told her earlier that year that they were actually moving to California for real. But she never yelled at him, or fought, or hated him for it. They were too close for that. It was lame to say that her dad was her best friend, but it was true. Especially here in Waverly. And he seemed happy with his new teaching job, despite the hour and a half long commute to the college campus, and if he could be happy then surely she could be, too. No matter how much she missed her old room, house, school, friends, and life. So when he had suggested she sign up for the trip she had done so. One of her two new friends, Elise Marlowe, was on the trip, too. Maybe they'd pair up and Elise could introduce her to more people and friendships would form.

Except they didn't get to pick their partners. Mr. Carmichael had paired them up randomly to share a tent and to work on the star charts. He had assigned her to be the partner of Emma Sinclair. Clara knew of her but couldn't say that she actually knew her even a little bit. But Elise and her other new friend Alex had pointed Emma and her group out on her first day, and it was difficult not to notice them. Clara had deduced almost immediately that Emma and her friends were the cool, popular ones of the social hierarchy. The queen bees of Waverly High, if such positions existed. And, for some reason, Clara got the feeling that none of those girls liked her very much. She had no idea why, since she had never spoken to any of them, but she was almost positive that she had felt icy glares coming from those girls whenever she walked past them.

And now she was walking beside one of them along the shore, carrying her shoes in one hand so they didn't get filled with sand and a flashlight in the other. It was dark and cold, and Clara was shivering despite the fact that she was wearing a thick sweater and a jacket over her t-shirt and jeans. Mr. Carmichael had told them to spread out along the beach to chart stars and watch the shower, with plenty of distance between each pair so they had their privacy and no chance of copying off of another group. But Clara was pretty sure that they had been walking for almost an hour, and they were surely way further along the beach than any of the rest of their classmates. It was hard to see in the dark but Clara wasn't sure if she had been to this area of the beach before. She looked over at Emma questioningly. "Don't you think this is a pretty good spot to stop? I mean...it's hard not to have a good view of the sky."

[ravenhuffle]

Emma was not Queen Bee of the school; she was just one of the drones. Melissa was the Queen Bee. Everyone in the town knew of Melissa Jenkins. To all the teachers, parents, and elderly, knew Melissa as a kind-hearted young lady who did anything to help her community. Her peers knew her as the Queen Bee, head cheerleader, lead partier, the one girl you never wanted to cross because she would screw your life up if she wanted. To be a part of her group was considered a privilege that was only handed out to a select few.

Life in a small town was difficult; everyone knew everyone’s business. It made a wrong decision into a mistake that followed you all of your life. So when Emma made the mistake to kiss the wrong boy in middle school, Bobby Joe, the ex-boyfriend of Queen Bee Melissa. Seeing a potential threat, Melissa had blackmailed Emma into joining her group of friends. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. After a few years, in their sophomore year of high school, Emma had stopped worrying about trying to find a way out of the group. While Melissa could be controlling, rude, and manipulative, she had managed to change Emma’s life completely around.

Being a part of the ‘it’ group came with its benefits. Emma’s parents were never really home, so Melissa and her group took Emma under their wings and taught her how to do her make-up, how to dress fashionably, and it helped that the boys flocked to them. Over the years though, the girls had become her family. They protected each other, kept secrets, and had each other’s back, even when it came to dealing with Melissa’s attitude. Her friend group that the Queen Bee had black mailed her into joining were some of the best people in her life.

This night was going to be awful. At first, it hadn’t sounded so bad. Emma had planned to get paired with one of her friends, there was a ten of them going so the odds of hanging out with one of them was pretty high, but of course she got paired with the new girl in town. It had been her plan to go off somewhere with a friend, take a midnight dip, drink some alcohol, and use this “project” as an excuse to have some one on one downtime with one of her girls. Tonight was not at all what she had hoped.

Soon she found herself walking along the beach next to the new girl. Her face was really plain, had she never heard of make-up? Emma sighed and looked behind her. Most of her friends had been paired together, except Melissa. She had been paired with Zach. Emma rolled her eyes. “Of course.” She mumbled. Emma had told Melissa that she had a crush on Zach, her mistake. By the way Melissa was clinging onto Zach, Emma knew exactly what the Queen Bee had in mind for her night on the beach. Kelly and Brea noticed the same thing and mouthed ‘sorry’ to Emma, but continued in their own direction.

In all the years that Emma had been a drone, she had never once had a boyfriend. It had never been confirmed, but she had a feeling it had always been Melissa who kept boys from being interested with her. Tonight just confirmed her suspicions, every boy she had ever been interested in, or had been interested in her, had always fallen through. Now it was clear as to why. Melissa would probably have a boyfriend by the end of the night, and she would act sorry on Monday, but she wouldn’t be sorry.

The walk down the beach was quiet; all Emma was thinking about was how far away she could get from what had just happened. Images of Melissa and Zach ran through her mind, and she tried pushing them away, but they kept coming back again and again. It did not even occur to her that she had been walking for an hour. The new girl talking snapped her out of her own thoughts. Had they really been walking for so long? Emma glanced down at her watch to confirm. “Yeah here should be fine.” She looked around at the beach for the first time since they started walking.

It was dark, darker then she had been expecting it to be. They must be well away from the town lights. The sky was breath taking though. It would make it easier to chart the stars. Down the beach a little ways, Emma could just make out a small enclosed pool. “Let’s go up there.” She didn’t give the new girl any chance to give her opinion before she took off towards her destination. Jumping into the pool and forgetting about what she will have to face in the morning sounded like a great plan to her.

[carsgovroom]

Clara had only just looked in the direction that Emma had pointed out to her, and didn't have time to get a word in, before the blonde girl was walking away from her. She squinted her eyes slightly at whatever Emma was walking to, trying to see it better in the dark. She saw water, and rocks surrounded it, secluding it from the rest of the beach. Then she noticed that Emma was halfway towards it. "...Hey!" Clara started after her, nearly tripping in the sand but managing to maintain her balance and not falling on her face in front of one of the popular girls at school. Or behind her. Whatever.

It didn't long for her to catch up with Emma as they approached her destination. Any words Clara had been about to say to her were forgotten as she stared at what the other girl had discovered. It was a pool of sea water, cut off from the rest of the ocean by the beach and the rocks that enclosed it. The water was simultaneously clear and the deepest blue that Clara had ever seen. It looked like it had existed for a while yet also undisturbed, like no one had ever taken a swim in it before. But it's isolation somehow made it even more beautiful. Clara let out a low whistle. "Whoa...I haven't heard anyone say anything about this place. Have you been here before?"

She looked over at Emma for her answer and for some reason she knew exactly what the other girl was planning on doing. "But...Emma, we're supposed to be charting stars, and watching the meteor shower," Clara said, feeling a little lame and like a goody-two-shoes. What was it about this damn town that made her so awkward? It wasn't like she had been Queen Bee at her old school (it had been way too big for that), but she had been fairly popular and well liked among her peers. She had conversations easily, could make people laugh with her sarcastic sense of humor, enjoyed a nice party now and again, and probably would have jumped into the water without hesitation. But now all she was was shy, nervous, and way too aware of her status as the new girl in school.

Clara set the bag with the blankets, extra lights, and all of the charting stuff down on the ground and looked between Emma and the pool. The tall rocks enclosing the pool were blocking the cool breeze, so she didn't feel too uncomfortable taking her jacket off, leaving her in her sweater, shirt, and jeans. Her bare feet were cold but she didn't feel like filling her shoes with sand. "You know it's getting colder out here, right? I don't have a towel. Or a suit." She probably wasn't invited for this midnight swim, anyway. But Clara didn't think she was going to let Emma swim alone late at night. She was supposed to be making friends tonight, although she was with a girl who didn't seem interested in making friends with her in the slightest.

[ravenhuffle]

It did not take long to get to the pool of water. It was amazingly beautiful! She had lived her whole life in this sleep, one-horse town, and never had she seen this place before. “I do not think anyone has ever heard of it.” Emma said in answer to the new girl’s question. “At least not that I have heard of.” She placed all of her equipment on the ground and moved towards the pool. The sight of the pool, and the thought of being able to swim somewhere new pushed all thoughts of Zach and Melissa from her mind.

The water was all but calling her name. It was so deep, clear, and blue. Emma walked right up to the edge, knelt down, and put her hand in the water. It was oddly warm. The new girl was saying something behind her, but she wasn’t really paying that much attention, it was like she was mesmerized by the water. She stood up suddenly and started shrugging of her jacket as her face tilted up towards the sky. “It’s only midnight. The shower doesn’t start for another hour, and charting the stars won’t take that long.” She sent the new girl a smile over her shoulder.

“You up for a midnight swim?” She took off the rest of her clothing, leaving her in nothing but a bright blue bra and matching panties. Emma turned to face the other girl. “You don’t need a suite. You have one.” She turned and jumped into the water. For a moment, she was completely suspended in the water. It was warm, quiet, and peaceful. Then she broke the surface and started laughing. “You don’t know what you’re missing!” she called. With a relaxing breath, she laid on her back and stared up at the moon.

Any minute now, it would be exactly midnight and the moon would be directly over the pool. What a find! Emma had certainly found a place she could come when she needed to get away. “Hey, new girl! The water really feels good, you should join me!” Emma turned her head to look at the shadowy figure that was the other girl. Really, she didn’t care one way or the other if the girl got in the water, but it would be much less creepy if she got in rather than just stood there watching.

[carsgovroom]

The water, the beautiful clear blue of it, was pulling at Clara much like it was at Emma. The ripples seemed to be beckoning to her, inviting her to just let go and jump in like she really wanted to, reminding her that she loved swimming and the one solace she found in moving was that her new home was on the coast. She wanted to jump in, despite her reserved words. They did have time to kill, after all. A whole hour to work on the charts before the shower. Clara wanted to say yes when Emma asked if she was up for a midnight swim, but she remained silent, biting her lip uncertainly.

She watched as Emma stripped down to her bra and panties, and was surprisingly fine. It happened all the time in the locker room at school, and if she could do it in front of a bunch of girls in there then she could do it in front of one girl out here. It was basically just like wearing a bikini, like Emma said. The other girl jumped in, making a splash as she hit the water and submerged. A few moments later she broke the surface and was laughing. The plashing and the laughter seemed to strengthen water's own call on Clara and she swallowed as she could feel herself caving in to her desire. Chicago Clara certainly would have done it. Why shouldn't Waverly Clara?

She made a face when Emma called her "new girl," and crossed her arms over her chest. "Clara. My name is Clara, alright? Jeeze..." For a few seconds she stared back at Emma and then back at the rippling surface of the blue water. And then she wasn't able to contain herself any more. Clara let out an exasperated sigh as she pulled her sweater off and let it fall to the floor. "Fine. Fine, you win." Was she talking to Emma or the pool? Clara pulled the white t-shirt over her head and dropped it before peeling herself out of her jeans. For a few seconds she shivered as she moved to the edge of the pool, wearing nothing but the purple bra and panties, then she dove in with a couple of minutes to spare before midnight.

It was...warm. She had been so sure it would be as cool as the air outside, but the water felt comforting on her skin and seemed to fill her with warmth all the way to her core. She broke the surface, a smile on her face as she looked at the other girl. "Wow," she breathed, spinning in a circle as she laughed herself. "Okay, you were right. This feels amazing..." All of her previous reservations forgotten, Clara let out a contented sigh as she floated on her back and stared up at the sky. The stars were bright while the moon was full and was inching across the sky. Soon it would be shining down right over them. "Maybe we should watch the shower like this," she suggested to Emma, turning her head slightly to look and smile at the girl beside her.

[ravenhuffle]

Finally, the new girl, Clara, jumped in. It is much easier to relax when Clara is in the pool rather than watching her. Emma continued to float on her back and stare up at the stars. “I am Emma.” She said as the girl laid on her back nearby. Clara had said her name; it was only fair to return the favor. The night around them quieted down until the only sound that could be heard was the splashing of the waves and the breath of the two girls. “I agree, Clara. We should just stay here to watch the shower.” She found herself smiling back at the other girl.

Long blonde hair framed her face like a halo, and the water kept her body warm despite the cold temperature. Without warning, Emma flipped over and dove into the water. There was nothing like moving through the water. It was complete freedom, no pressure of any kind, just weightless floating. Emma broke the surface again, about a hundred yards out. “What” she breathed. She had not been under that long; at least it didn’t feel like she had been. Maybe she was just losing track of time, the water did feel good….

Just then, the moon reached its peak just over the pool. The water started to get warmer and then bubbled filled the whole pool. Emma looked around her; any edge was hundreds of yards away. “Clara!” She called in panic. As quick as she could, she started swimming for the beach. As she swam, the pool around her began to shimmer and turned a bright blue as if a bright midday sun was shining on it. Emma stopped swimming to cover her eyes from the bright light. Then it was gone.

The water was calm, like nothing had happened. “The hell?” Emma turned around in a circle, slowly. “What was that?” Emma swam towards Clara, throwing suspicious looks at the water, half expecting it to magically reach up and swallow them both whole. “I think we should get out…” She whispered. Thoroughly spooked, Emma began to slowly make her way to the water’s edge.

[carsgovroom]

Emma formerly introduced herself and Clara nodded. She knew that, of course, but saying so would sound a bit creepy despite the fact that Emma and her friends were the most well known girls in school. "Nice to meet you," was what she said in response as the floated near each other for a moment, and the other girl agreed that they should watch the shower from the water. They shared a smile and it was almost what making friends felt like. Then Emma flipped over and dove down into the pool, the water splashing Clara a bit, and it made her laugh.

She finally resurfaced again and Clara shook her head slightly at her impulsiveness before settling on her back again to watch the sky as midnight struck and the full white moon hung directly above the pool, casting pale moonlight down onto the blue water. And things immediately went weird. The water had already been warm, but Clara felt it's temperature rising on her skin. Despite the warming water she got a chill inside of her and she stopped floating on her back to tread the water uneasily. Then the water erupted with bubbles, as though the water were being boiled. Clara spun around, her heart pounding, and she heard Emma call out her name in a panicked tone. "Emma!" She didn't know what else to say, what else to do. What was happening?

Before she could process any more thoughts the water was starting to shimmer, and soon she was surrounded and blinded by bright blue light that made her cry out in surprise and squeeze her eyes shut. And then it was gone. She opened one green eye warily to see the water as smooth and normal as it had been moments ago. Clara opened both of her eyes as she turned on the spot, scanning the entire pool before meeting gazes with Emma, who looked just as spooked as she felt. The other girl asked what had happened and Clara shook her head slowly. "The hell if I know." She looked around the pool again, uncomfortable and desiring nothing more than to get out. Emma expressed the desire and Clara nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

The swam to the edge of the pool and Clara pulled herself out onto the firm, sandy floor. She was immediately greeted with the cool, coastal air and she shivered as she wrapped her arms around herself. This was stupid, this had been a stupid decision. Not only was she now freezing, but whatever had just happened to them in the pool had...happened. She looked back at the pool, still beautiful but now eerily so, before reaching down to her bag and pulling her blanket out and wrapping it around her slender frame. It wasn't a towel but it was better than nothing. Water dripped from the end of her long ponytail and ran down her back, making her shiver even more. "Let's...never mention that, whatever just happened in there, to anyone," Clara suggested to Emma through slightly chattering teeth, though it probably didn't need to be said. "It's just...too creepy. I don't want to think about it."

[ravenhuffle]

It was clear that Clara had no idea what had happened either. When Emma swam up to the other girl, she could see it written all over the girls face just how freaked out she was. Honestly, that made the two of them. Since when does the sea boil near winter time? Or any time for that matter. After suggesting they leave the pool, Emma took one long look at the pool and got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something inside of her knew, no matter how quickly they could get out, this pool of water was not done with them….

Emma followed Clara onto the beach. In so many ways, she was ready to be out of that water. Once on dry land, she grabbed her blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. It was much colder now than it had been when they jumped in. Looking back out at the water, Emma had to admit that it was beautiful. Then the images of the water bubbling around her came to mind and she looked away. “Right. Let’s not talk about it.” Emma whole-heartedly agreed. Silently she got up and began to put her clothes back on.

“We should start charting the stars.” Emma said as she pulled on her shirt. The last thing she wanted to do was sit there and stare at the creepy pool. “It would make for a nice distraction.” Now fully dressed, Emma pulled out their materials to chart the stars and lit a lamp so that she could see the paper they were supposed to use. “Let’s find the big dipper. It should be the easiest to find.” Emma was trying her hardest to forget the pool, but every once in a while she caught herself looking over at it in awe.

[carsgovroom]

For the rest of the night Clara was unable to get the pool out of her mind entirely. While they sat there on the sand charting stars and waiting for the shower to begin she'd glance back at it often, sometimes catching herself gazing at it with an equal mixture of unease and wonder, before shaking her head and turning away from it again. She wanted to forget about it, pretend like she had never seen it before or stepped foot inside of her, and she definitely didn't want to think about the bubbling and glowing water, but it did no good. No matter how much what had happened spooked her, Clara still felt drawn to the pool. Like it was now apart of her, and Emma as well, and neither of them would be able to escape from it.

Clara was immensely glad when the meteor shower was over, when they were finally able to leave the pool behind, though she wasn't able to fight the feeling that they'd both find themselves back here very soon. She shook the thought from her head as they packed up, and after sparing one last mesmerized look at the rippling water they started back to the camp. It took a long time to get back since they had walked so much farther than everyone else. After an hour she finally saw the tents and the fire. Mr. Carmichael briefly scolded them for taking so long and being the last pair back, but their completed star charts quickly won him over and he directed them to their tent. Clara was too tired to say anything to Emma as she crawled into the tent they were sharing, and was also too tired to even change. She just bundled up inside of the sleeping bag, mumbled a sleepy, "Night," to Emma, and closed her eyes, so relieved that the night was over an she could put the weirdness behind her. Her last thoughts before she fell asleep were of the pool and bubbles and the glowing water.

Unsurprisingly she dreamed about the pool. She couldn't recall what exactly had happened in the dream, but she had been suspended in the clear blue water, her long brown hair floating around her head, as she was surrounded by bubbles, light, and a mesmerizing song. Clara thought that Emma might have been in the dream, too, but wasn't positive. And she said nothing about it to the other girl as they were roused in the morning in order to break down camp to head back home. It was a beautiful early autumn Saturday morning, and Mr. Carmichael directed the students efficiently enough so that it didn't take long for all of the tents to be put away and loaded into his truck, or for the student's bags to be stored in the yellow school bus. Soon she was gazing out of the buss window, watching the ocean as they all headed back to the school.

It wasn't a long trip. The thing that seemed to take the most time were for the student's bags to be sorted. Elise had found her and they chatted for a little while before they got their bags. Clara didn't mention the pool at all, and had pretended the evening was as simple as Elise's had been. She'd occasionally looked around to spot Emma, no doubt with her own friends, and wondered if it putting the pool behind them would be as easy as they'd like it to be.

Getting home took maybe ten minutes. It wasn't that big of a town after all. Clara pulled up in front of her house, noting her father's car was there, too. She smiled tiredly, and shouldered her backpack and sleeping bag as she headed into the house. In the kitchen she found her father, apparently packing some food. Her smile faltered a little and she looked up at him. "You're going somewhere?"

Her dad looked up at the sound of her voice. "Clary!" He enveloped her in a hug, which she returned, the smile returning a little. "How was the trip?"

"Fine, Dad. It was fine. I maybe made a friend, but I'm not sure."

Her father nodded, his eyes softening. "You'll be fine, Clara. You just need a little more time." She wanted to believe it was true, so she smiled. He looked back at his stuff and his expression turned apologetic. "And I'm sorry, love, but you'll be on your own for the afternoon. I'm going fishing. With Mr. Kincaid and some of the other neighbors."

Her smiled widened. "You? Fishing?"

He shrugged. "When in Rome. But hey. When I get back let's go out to dinner. To the wharf, maybe? I know how much you like the clam chowder there. But right now...you look like you need a shower."

Clara reached up to tug on her messy ponytail and nodded a little. "Yeah...but dinner sounds good. Be safe, Dad."

Jason smiled as he picked up his stuff and headed for the door. "I will! See you tonight, Clara!"

Clara dragged all of her stuff upstairs to her bedroom before stripping out of the dirty clothes and slipping a bathrobe on. She went into her bathroom, across the hall from her room, and started the shower before making a trip to dump the clothes into the laundry room, then returned to the bathroom as she sighed and pulled the band out of her hair so the long brown locks fell around her shoulders. A warm shower...just what she needed to wash the weird events of last night away.

[ravenhuffle]

Of course, she was right all along. When Emma got back on the bus, she went and found her group of friends. They were all chatting away about their fun night of partying. Hidden behind the group was Melissa sitting in Zac’s lap as she talked with everyone else. “Emma!” she called when Emma got close to the back of the bus. “Come sit by us! I heard you got stuck with that freaky new girl.” Melissa put her hand on Emma’s knee as she sat down. “You poor thing, it must have been an awful long and lonely night.” She patted Emma’s knee with a frown.

“Where are my manners?! Zac, this is Emma. Emma, you remember Zac.” Melissa leaned forward. “We started dating this morning, isn’t that exciting?!” Melissa pulled away from Emma and kissed Zac on the mouth as if to prove her point. The mysterious pool long forgotten, it was time to go back to her normal life. Julie, a girl across the aisle from Emma gave her a small sad smile. The group, knowing exactly what had just happened, was quite for a few moments before Melissa busted into a story about how great and romantic her night was.

The ride home was long and miserable for Emma. She tried to tune everyone out, especially Melissa, but the Queen Bee made a special effort to keep Emma in the conversation. Getting to the school was a relief for Emma. As soon as she grabbed her bags she made a bee line for her car. Melissa stepped into her path before she could get too far. “Aren’t you going to have breakfast with us?” She asked sweetly. Emma sighed and shook her head. “I didn’t get much sleep, and my parents are probably expecting me.” She lied.

Melissa smiled and kissed Emma’s cheek. “That’s fine, one less person to take my mind off of Zac!” She beamed and skipped back to where everyone was waiting. Emma made her way to her car, got in, and drove home. Once inside her house, she threw her bags onto the floor near the door and called out, “Mom? Dad? Anyone home?” Her voice echoed in the long, cold, and empty hall way. No reply. Emma grabbed her phone and made her way to the kitchen.

A bright pink sticky note was on the fridge. Emma grabbed it and read it, knowing what it would say before she even began. “Darling Emma, your father had to leave this morning for business he will not be back for several days. I got called into work, I will be late. Don’t wait up. There is food in the fridge, and the credit card on the counter, eat what you like. Love Mom.” Emma wadded up the paper and threw it against the wall.

A salad and a sandwich was what her mom had left her for lunch. Emma grabbed the food, the credit card, and her phone then made her way up to her room. With the television on for noise, Emma eat in silence by herself. After she finished, she laid back on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

With another sigh she rolled off her bed and went to her bathroom. She might as well wash off the night. She turned on the bath, poured in some bubble, turned on her iPad and undressed. A few moments later she was sliding into the tub with a sigh of contempt. She leaned her head back and relaxed in the bubble bath.

[carsgovroom]

Clara had one of those old fashioned claw-foot tubs in her bathroom. A shower head, rod, and a light blue floral shower curtain that matched the parts of the wall that weren't covered with white tile had been added to it to modernize it, but the classic look of the tub somehow still remained. A lot of the furniture in their house were classic antiques. The house itself for that matter looked rather old, like most of the buildings in the town. Must have been part of the small town charm, but for someone who had lived among skyscrapers for years it took a little getting used to. Clara was perched on the sink counter in her robe flicking through her phone while she waited for the shower to get steamy. Her Chicago friends had sent her some Facebook messages, but she didn't feel up to responding to them right now. It hurt a little more than she cared to admit to remember the time only a few months ago where she wasn't considered freaky by classmates. Though why Melissa Jenkins even thought that about her was a mystery.

She set the phone on the counter and shrugged out of the robe with a disgruntled sigh before handing it on a town rod on the wall. The shower should help take her mind off of things, and she could finally wash away the grime and last remnants of the salt water from that pool. She carefully stepped into the tub, though she had a mat under her feet so she had no fear of slipping, and close the curtain around it. Then Clara stood under the shower head and allowed the warm water to pour down on top of her. It felt exquisite, and she closed her eyes and felt herself relax.

It only lasted about ten seconds. Then Clara started to feel strange, like her entire body was tingling. She opened her eyes and looked down at herself, then felt her heart almost stop beating. The streaming coat of water that was touching her skin had taken on a horribly familiar shimmer, but before she could react properly the shimmering spread, covering her, and it intensified into bright light. The tingling sensation became more intense for a long moment, then everything was gone. The shimmering, the tingling, the light, all of it. Clara didn't get a chance to look back down at herself, though. Because in a millisecond she felt her balance leave her and with a surprised shout she fell backwards, pulling the shower curtain down with her.

She must have lost consciousness for a few moments, or had gotten the wind knocked out of her, because it took a little while for her to move again. When she opened her eyes she was staring up at the ceiling, her back hurt, she could feel the shower curtain under her, and the water was still pouring from the shower head. Tenderly she reached out to turn off the flow and let out a soft groan. At least her arms worked. Clara tried moving her legs next, and was struck by the strangest, most frightening sensation. It hadn't felt like she had moved two limbs, but rather only one.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Clara's rose rose from where it had been resting against the edge of the tub to look own at her legs. Only she didn't see them. Instead, where her legs should have been, she saw a glistening, scaly tail. And at the end of it the tail spread into a very large coral colored fin. Clara felt her breath catch in her throat, but she was noiseless as she stared at it. She just kept telling herself that it couldn't be real, that it wasn't really happening. She had just hit her head when she had fallen and she was hallucinating. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the dream away before opening her eyes again. The tail was still there. She made a weak sort of whimpering sound as she reached a hand out to touch it. The wet scales felt slightly slippery and horrifyingly real against her fingers, and she pulled her hand away immediately. Then, after taking a shaky breath for courage, Clara willed the lower half of her body to make a simple motion, something as simple as flexing her foot or bending her toes.

It was only when the fin flicked, when she felt it flick, when she could not deny that she appeared to have made it move, that it seemed to be a apart of her, that Clara screamed.