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Probably from him taking a shower and not drying off.
But it still sent a tingle up her spine. The nightmare flared in her mind.
You have twenty-four hours to return to my lair . . . No takebacks. No second chances.
The sea witch’s voice echoed through her head. She shook it off, deciding to revisit everything soon. She didn’t have time to worry about it all now or they’d be late for the bus.
* * *
The bell rang, and Shelly darted from the bus into Triton Bay Middle School.
She wove through the crowded hallway, hoping that no one would see her. She missed her private school, which was smaller and less chaotic. She headed straight for her locker, scanning the halls for Kendall and the twins in hopes of seeing her friends. They would cheer her up after her nightmarish morning. They knew that Dawson sometimes got on her nerves. But to her dismay, she didn’t see them anywhere.
A few minutes later—though it felt like an eternity—she reached her locker. “Come on,” she whispered, twisting the combination lock and tugging it, to no avail. Ever since she had gotten to middle school and had to change classes throughout the day, she had been having stress dreams in which she forgot her locker combination. She tried again. Click. It unlocked, and the metal door swung open.
Right as a group of students walked past, rotten fish spilled out of her locker. They spewed onto the floor, their eyes wide and pale, along with a pile of plastic garbage—straws, plastic bags, old coffee cups, plastic bottles. It was the kind of trash that washed up on the beach.
The stench was overpowering, making Shelly gag. Worse yet, she stepped on a fish and lost her balance, hitting the floor with a thud and shouting out. The other kids turned to stare at the scene as more and more fish spilled out in a heap that coated Shelly’s body on the floor.
She tried shoving them away, but they kept gushing out of her locker and all over her, their lifeless eyes staring. Now everyone in the hall had stopped to look.
Normie laughed. “Fish lover!” he whooped, nudging his friends.
“They’re n-not mine!” Shelly stammered, pushing the slimy bodies off her and standing, holding on to the wall of lockers to keep from slipping back into the rotten fish pile.
Her mind st
ruggled to come up with a rational explanation. Maybe her archnemesis, Judy Weisburg on the rival swim team, had planted them to intimidate her before the first meet? They’d face off that night in the hundred-meter freestyle. Judy was famous for pulling off elaborate pranks. Legendary, even. But then again, where would Judy have gotten all those fish? They looked exactly like the ones they fed to the dolphins at the aquarium. And also, how would she have snuck them into the school without being seen? More puzzling, how would she have gotten the combination to Shelly’s locker?
“Fish lover!” kids chanted.
Shelly’s face flushed. Now she was completely soaked in awful-smelling fish juice. She backed away from her locker. The fact that her family owned the aquarium made matters worse.
The other kids kept taunting her. “Fish lover! Shelly wants to marry a fish!”
“Tuna for lunch?” one kid quipped.
Shelly had never wanted so badly to disappear. Her cheeks felt as if they were turning into molten lava, like from an underwater volcano. She opened her mouth, then closed it, unsure of what to say.
“Look! She looks like a fish out of water!” someone cracked, followed by more laughter.
That was when Kendall stepped into view with Attina and Alana, all dressed in their designer yoga pants and T-shirts. They stared at Shelly. Kendall shot her a worried look. Her dainty nose scrunched up in disgust at the stench.
But then Kendall set her hands on her hips and turned her ire on the other kids. “Hey, don’t you losers have better things to do than make stupid jokes about fish?” she called out.
The twins joined her. “Yeah, hashtag Losers. Capital L,” Alana said.
“Stop being lame and leave our friend alone,” Attina added with a sneer.
Our friend, Shelly thought, warmth spreading through her body.
So they were friends.
The second bell rang, causing the crowd to scatter and rush off to their classes. Shelly slumped against her locker. Hot tears spilled from her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. This was turning out to be the worst day of her life—and it was only beginning.
But then Kendall wrapped her arm around Shelly. “Hey, don’t worry about this mess,” she said. “It’s probably just Judy and her annoying pranks. But we’ll show her tonight at the swim meet. We’re winning that trophy this year. You’re going to fly past her in your race.”
“Thanks, Kendall,” Shelly said, sniffling. “And you’re so right.”
