When I came onto the shore, I dried myself off and continued to walk home. When my house approached, I saw my dad sitting out on the porch. "Hey Dad," I said as I sat next to him.

"Hey Will. Where were you?" my dad asks.

"Just out with the gang," I replied.

"You seem to like your friends a lot. You hang out with them practically all day," my dad laughed.

I smiled. "Yeah, they really are fun to be around."

My dad smiled and nodded. Suddenly, his face had a look of concern. "Do you know why Kaylie has been pretty quiet lately?"

"No I don't," I say. "Maybe I should go talk to her."

"Maybe you should. It seems like something is bothering her," my dad says with a worried look on his face.

I nod, and get up from my spot. As I walked through the door, I started to think that my assumptions were true. I walked up the steps and then made my way to Kaylie's room. I knocked on her door. Seconds later, the door opened slightly. "Kaylie, I need to talk to you," I said.

"Okay," Kaylie said as she led me into her room. "What's up?" she asked as she flopped onto her bed.

"Well, you've been acting pretty different lately and I just wondering if there was something I should know." After I said that, Kaylie tensed up.

"Nothing's wrong," she said a little too quickly.

"C'mon Kaylie, I know you too well. I'm your twin brother for crying out loud. I know when something's wrong."

Kaylie sighed. She knew I was right. "I guess I'm just a little jealous of you."

"Really? What for?"

"You get to explore the ocean and not have to wear scuba gear. You get to swim with a tail and I don't. I feel so left out," Kaylie sulked.

"Kaylie, having a tail isn't everything. You don't have to worry about every drop of water you see. If I or any of the girls touch water in public, we'd be finished."

"I guess..." Kaylie trailed off.

"I need you to stay normal so you can help me with things I can't do. Also, on the off chance we do get discovered, I don't want you to be in danger. You're my sister and I couldn't handle it if you got hurt."

"Okay, that makes sense. Thanks Will," she smiled.

I smiled back. It felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I definitely didn't need someone, especially my sister, to be jealous of me. I left her room and dived onto my bed. I then drifted off to sleep with no worries. Little did I know that I soon would have a whole new thing to worry about.

The next morning, I woke up and grabbed my phone. I wanted to see if Lauren wanted to meet up at the JuiceNet.

To: Lauren

Hey! Do you want to meet up at the JuiceNet?

As I waited for a reply, I got changed and straightened up my room, since my mom has been telling me to clean it for the past few days. Suddenly, Kyle walked into the room. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To the JuiceNet," I said. "I'm meeting up with Lauren."

"Isn't she the one that you like?" he smirked.

My face turned red. "Yeah," I said quietly.

"Well," Kyle said as he put a hand on my shoulder. "I hope you don't screw up," he grinned.

"I'll try my best," I laughed as I punched my brother. My phone buzzed. I picked it up to see that Lauren replied to me.

From: Lauren

Yeah sure! I'll be there in ten minutes!

"Alright, I gotta go," I say to Kyle.

"Okay, see you later," he replied.

I then remembered that I had to stop by Lewis's house to give him a toenail sample, so I ran to his house and rang his doorbell. Seconds later, Lewis appears behind his door. "Hey Will!" he said. "Are you here to give me the sample?"

"Yeah," he then led me inside to his couch. After I got situated, he handed me some toenail clippers. I took off my shoe and sock and clipped my big toenail. I handed it to Lewis and he then put it in a small container with what I assumed to be Cleo's toenail. "Are you sure you could do this? I asked. "I mean, Doctor Denman could walk in on you when you're in her lab."

"C'mon Will," Lewis said. "Have a little faith in me."

"I do..." I trailed off. "It's just that I don't want anything bad to happen."

"And nothing bad will happen," Lewis assured.

I nodded slowly. "Well Lewis, I gotta go. I'm meeting up with Lauren.

"Is it a date? Because I've seen a goofy look when you're around her," Lewis smirked.

I just laughed. "I could say the same for you."

"What do you mean?" Lewis asked nervously.

"Oh come on," I said. "Anyone with eyes can clearly see that you like Cleo." Lewis's face got beat red. "I'll see you later," I smirked as I walked out of Lewis's house. I then continued my trek towards the JuiceNet. As I walked through the entrance, I saw Lauren sitting at the booth. Her face lit up as she saw me. God I love that smile. I walked up to the booth and sat across from her.

"What took you so long? Were you doing your makeup? Lauren joked.

"Well look who's turned into a comedian!" I joked back "Actually, I just stopped by Lewis's house to give him a toenail sample. He's going to take it to a lab at the marine park to study it and Cleo's toenail sample."

"Who works at the lab?" Lauren asked curiously.

"Doctor Linda Denman," I reply.

Lauren's jaw practically fell to the floor. "She's a famous scientist! Do you know what she would do if she found out where those samples came from?"

"I know. But Lewis said he would be careful."

Lauren sighed. "Even though I trust Lewis, I'm going to find out if he can handle this."

"How?" I asked.

"I'm going to sneak into the marine park and watch what he does."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

"Okay, if you're going to do this, you're not going alone."

"You're coming with me?" Lauren asked surprised.

"Yeah, I don't want anything bad to happen to you. If something bad did happen to you, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

Lauren smiled and kissed me on the lips. "Thanks Will," she said as she pulled away.

"You're welcome," I say with a dazed look on my face.

"Well, let's get going," Lauren said as she started to walk out. I ran beside her. As we approached the edge of the dock, her and I smiled at each other and jumped in. We swam slowly for the first couple minutes. We were just enjoying swimming together and looked at all of the sea life. After we had our fun, we sped off towards the direction of where the underwater gate for the marine park would be. Even though we both have never been through there, merpeople have a great sense of direction while in the water, so in no time, we were in front of the underwater gate. There was a switch next to it, so I flipped it and the gate slowly opened. Lauren and I then swam through, but before we went any further, I made sure to close the gate. I didn't want to be responsible for any animals escaping. We swam to the edge of the dock and poked our heads out of the water.

I saw Cleo and Lewis enter what seemed to be Doctor Denman's lab. "Look!" I said. "There's Lewis and Cleo!" I pointed to them.

"What're they saying?" Lauren asked.

"Nothing really. So far, Lewis is just playing with all of the science instruments. Suddenly, I see a young woman, who couldn't be older than twenty five, walk through the lab entrance.

"That must be Doctor Denman!" Lauren said with certainty.

I nodded. I noticed that as soon as Lewis saw Doctor Denman, he got nervous and his face got red. "Don't tell me that Lewis already has a crush on that woman!" I said.

"Great! Now he might tell our secret!" Lauren said angrily.

"Don't give up on him yet Lauren," I said. "He still may be able to get the information we need."

"Hopefully he won't blab about us," Lauren says a little scared.

"Don't worry, he won't," I reassured her.

I looked back to Denman, Lewis, and Cleo. Another thing that I noticed was that Cleo started to get flustered at the way Lewis was acting towards Denman. Figures, I thought. Cleo likes Lewis too. Isn't that just peachy? She won't like Denman one bit. I'm almost sure of it. Suddenly, I see Denman push Cleo and Lewis out of the lab. Lewis just stands at the doorway with a dopey smile on his face. I can't wait to hear what Cleo has to say when we get back. "Let's get going before someone sees us," Lauren said. I nodded answer both left the marine park the way we came in. Once we were back in the open ocean, we swam around some more. I looked at Lauren and realized that she was smiling at me. That smile just gets me every time. I then realized that I had to do the unthinkable. I really wanted to do something special. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. I motioned for Lauren to stop. I then summoned my trident and aimed it at the ocean floor. Bolts of lightning then shot out again and again.

After I opened my hand and the trident disappeared, the bolts on the ocean floor read, "Will you be my girlfriend?" Lauren just stared at me for a moment, and then threw her arms around me. She then looked at me with her beautiful green eyes. I couldn't hold in how I felt any longer, so I leaned in and gave her a long, passionate kiss. After what felt like an hour, we pulled apart. We both looked at each other and smiled. As we started to swim back to the mainland, we held hands. One thought was running through my head. Best day ever.