Beautiful Rose blinded Patrick Walsh. Her sun-kissed skin glowed, and her deep brown hair blew lightly in the wind. It was a shame she had already decided she would be a nun when she grew up, or else Patrick would chase after her. He just admired her from afar, knowing she would never change her mind about her life-path.
They were passing a volleyball among friends, when suddenly, Patrick lost control and whacked the ball with such force it flew down the beach and hit a girl laying on a towel on the stomach. He ran over to her to apologize, and as soon as he got a good look at her, he stopped dead in his tracks. She was undoubtedly the most gorgeous girl he’d ever seen, even more than Jen. Without even opening her eyes, she picked up the volleyball and threw it hard into his stomach. He caught it and doubled over slightly, opening his mouth to speak to her, but no words came to him.
She spoke before he could collect his thoughts. “Watch where you hit that thing! You’re lucky no one was hurt.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “It won’t happen again. He swallowed and stared at her, unaware he was Are you new here? I’ve never seen you around before.”

She sat up fast and stood up. She brushed the sand from her legs and pushed her sunglasses away from her eyes. They were the prettiest shade of blue Patrick had ever seen. “No. I’ve lived here my whole life. I just don’t get out much.” Marina started to notice how attractive he was. HE wasn’t wearing a shirt, only a pair of red swim trunks. His body was so toned, he could’ve been a lifeguard. He was almost as tan as her, and his light brown hair was turning lighter from the sun. He had emerald green eyes that gazed at her for just a second too long.
Across the beach, Patrick’s cousin Ben yelled, “Hey Pat! We’re packing up! We gotta get home! Come on!” Patrick whipped his face towards the noise and waved off his buddies.
Patrick turned to his mystery girl once more. “Again, I apologize for the volleyball incident. I have to go, but it was nice to meet you. My name is Patrick, by the way, but my friends call me Pat.” He extended his hand to shake hers.
“Oh, I’m Marina,” she replied. She stared at his hand, having no idea what to do with it. Suddenly, he grabbed her hand and firmly shook it. She gasped and glared at him, shocked.
“Sorry,” he said. “You really don’t get out much, do you?”
She shook her head and grinned at him.
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll work on it. See you later.” He said, grinning right back and turning around to walk to his friends.

Once Patrick was gone, Marina grabbed her stuff, ran to her locker, stuffed her beach stuff in it, and ran down to the water. She immediately went as deep as she could, getting shoulder deep before her tail sprouted. She dove her whole body under the surface of the water, and swam back to the reef where her colony lived. Almost immediately, she spotted her best friend, Scarlett. She was impossible to miss, with her fiery red hair and piercing green eyes. She grabbed her friend and dragged her a few yards away before surfacing so they could talk.
“I was on the beach, and I met this really cute guy. He was really nice and kind of strange, but I guess all humans are weird to us.” Marina smiled.
“I’m so happy for you, Rina!” Scarlett squealed. “But what would your father think? And your mother?”
Marina frowned. She hadn’t thought about it like that before. Her father, leader of the mermaid clan, absolutely despised humans. He felt like the humans were inferior to the superiority of the mermaids. He wouldn’t approve of her being friends with one. Her mother, full of poise, respect and tradition, stood quietly by her father, supporting him every step of the way. She had lined up for Marina to be “courted” by Robert, the son of her father’s right hand man, but Marina had no feelings toward him. He was older than her by a few years, and he bored her.
A voice interrupted Marina’s thoughts about the drab Robert. “Marina!” someone shouted. Marina whipped her head around to face shore. She squinted at a dark figure, shadowed by the bright full moon. She swam closer to the shore to see who was calling her.
She heard the voice again. “Marina!” She realized who was calling for her. It was Patrick. She turned to smile back at Scarlett, who winked at her and smiled, and she swam to the shore.
Marina came to be waist deep in the water, and Patrick spotted her. He moved to get in the water to swim to her. She couldn’t let him learn her secret, and she panicked.
“NO!” She screamed. He stopped and eyes wide, glared at her with his mouth hanging wide open. His hands flew up, almost like he thought he was being arrested.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “You startled me!” Her tail then split into two human legs and she stepped out of the water, a turquoise bandeau bathing suit with white polka dots now appeared on her.
“It’s okay,” he replied. “Sorry to bother you right now, but I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Why were you swimming out here all alone at night?” He was wearing the same trunks as before, but he now had a fitted white t-shirt over his muscular chest, stomach and arms. Marina wished it weren’t there.
“I, um, just really enjoy night swims, especially during the full moons. The moon is so bright and the water is calm and it gives me time to think.” Marina answered nervously. She hated lying.
“I can relate to that.” Patrick responded. He sat down in the soft, cold sand. He gazed out at the blue, sparkling water. “So I still can’t figure out why I’ve never seen you before. Where do you go to school?”
Marina sat down next to him. Their shoulders were almost touching. “I was homeschooled, but I finally convinced my dad to let me go to a normal school this year. He only agreed to it because my cousin Tyler moved down here and agreed to keep an eye on me. I’m starting as a sophomore at Oceanview High in a few days.” Marina was nervous to go to a real school because she had never been to one before. The closest thing to school she had been in was the schools of fish she swam with daily. Her father despised humans, so he wouldn’t let her be around them too much.

“Really? That’s where I go, but I’ll be a junior this year.” Patrick smiled at her, looking her right in the eyes.

“So then there’ll be at least one friendly face.” Marina flashed her white, sparkling teeth back at him, meeting his gaze.

Patrick’s instincts took over and he brought his face closer to hers. She turned her face so that they were nose to nose without even thinking. Before she knew it, his lips were brushing against hers, and she placed her palms on the back of his neck. He pulled her into his lap, and she pushed her lips against his, kissing him slowly. Realizing she was kissing him, he kissed her back hard. After a few seconds, she broke the kiss, startling him. She stood up fast and started pacing.

“Sorry,” they both said at the same time. He stood up slowly and grabbed her wrist gently. He rubbed the inside of her wrist calmingly. She put her hand over her face shyly.

“Sorry,” she said again. “I didn’t mean t-...” he stopped her midsentence by dragging her closer to him lowering his lips to hers. She let go of herself and kissed him back. They were so in sync. When he moved, she moved. She was a few inches shorter than him, so to keep him from bending over to reach her, she stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He stood up straight and slid his arms around her waist. This time he pulled away first, and pulled her to his chest in a bear hug. Her arms went to circle his back, and she rested her head on his shoulder. He gently put his head against hers.

“I don’t know why, but I can’t control myself around you. My body just acts so instinctively to yours. It feels like I’ve known you for years rather than a few hours.” He smiled to himself.

“Yeah,” she said. “Almost like we were meant to be together.” She picked her head up and looked up into his sparkling green eyes. She ran her fingers through his thick, light brown hair and stood up on her tiptoes once again. She gave him a kiss on the mouth and backed away from him. She looked up at him for a second, thinking.

“Can I trust you?” She asked.

“Always,” He responded with a playful but serious look.

She flashed him a mysterious smile, took his hand and led him towards the water. Hand and hand they stood, the waves barely touching their toes when they came in. After a few seconds, she let go of his hand and ran into the water. He quickly pulled his shirt over his head and turned his head towards the shore for a second, tossing his shirt to the dryer area of the sand. When he turned back around, Marina had disappeared. Terrified, he sprinted into the water so that the water came halfway up his chest and screamed her name.
“Marina!” he yelled, worried. “Marina, where are you?”

She slowly raised her head above the surface of the water a few feet in front of him, but she only came up enough to where he could see her from her shoulders up. He sighed with relief and put a hand behind his head.

“Can you keep a secret?” She asked him, winking. He nodded without a sound. “Close your eyes.” She instructed him. He hesitated, but then shrugged and closed his eyes. “Promise me you won’t freak out?” she asked.

“Marina, I promise I won’t freak out.” Patrick replied calmly.

She took his hands and placed them on her waist. Slowly, she started pushing his hands down so that they were on her hips.

He made a confused face before opening his eyes. “Rina, I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to.” He looked worried.

“No, calm down. That’s not what I’m doing, trust me.” She winked at him again. He nodded and closed his eyes again. She put her hands on his and hesitated for a second before pushing them further down. His palms felt her skin merge into something slick and mildly slimy. He tilted his chin down and traced the scales of the top part of her tail with his thumb.

He opened his eyes and looked at her tail. “So I guess mermaids really do exist, then?” he looked back up to her face.

“You don’t seem surprised at all.” Marina didn’t expect him to be so calm about her secret.

“Well, my family has been trying to convince me my whole life, but they never could. You see, they’re all fishermen, see my dad and uncles own and operate Walsh’s Fish and occasionally they’d tell everyone they caught or killed a mermaid, but no one would ever believe them because the mermaid would always disappear, dead or alive.”

“Your family owns Walsh’s Fish?” Marina spat. “They’ve killed people from my clan! You can’t be one of them!” she cried out, tearing up.


“No, I’m not one of them at all. I hate what they do. They kill hundreds of fish and they’ve murdered innocent creatures. They had no idea they were swimming into a net and they were killed because of that and that’s not fair.”


Marina, relieved, sighed. “So you’ll still keep my secret?”


“Of course I will,” he winked at her.

“Thank you so much,” she grinned. She wrapped her arms around him for a hug and put her head against his chest. He pressed his lips to her hairline. After resting there for a minute, he put his fingers under her chin and pushed her face closer to his. He kissed her, sliding his hands through her hair. She kissed him back, pushing her hips to his. He felt her scaly tail against him, and it didn’t seem weird to him. It felt right.

Suddenly Marina felt something whack her tail. “Owww!” she exclaimed, breaking off the kiss.

“What was that?” Patrick asked.

Marina saw a flicker of red by her feet and knew exactly what hit her. “Hold on one second.” She stuck her pointer finger in the air before diving under the water. She grabbed her attacker by the arm and pulled her to the surface.

“What was that for, Scarlett?” she yelled at her best friend.

“Sorry, Marina, but your dad is freaking out. He didn’t know where you are and he’s starting to get really angry. You have to come now before he calls out an entire search party for you.” Scarlett explained.

Marina turned to Patrick. “Sorry, but I have to go now.” Scarlett dove under the surface, to give them privacy. She pulled herself into Patrick’s arms and their lips came together once more. “Kay, bye.” She smiled and waved.

“Wait,” Patrick said. He grabbed her hand and kissed each one of her fingers. He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead, then her nose, then both of her cheeks, before kissing her neck. He kissed up her neck until he was right under her ear. He breathed into her ear, and closed his eyes.

“I love you.” He whispered.

Now it was her turn. She kissed his cheeks, his lips, and then put her forehead to the side of his head.

“I love you too.” She whispered.

They kissed one final time, hungrily, as if they could never get enough of each other. They tasted each other and their hands slid all over each other. Patrick backed away and swam to the shore. When he got there, he turned around and she was exactly where he had left her, she hadn’t even moved. She blew him a kiss and he pretended to catch it and put it in his pocket. Then she dunked herself under the water and disappeared from Patrick’s view.