Page 21 of While We Waited

I wrinkle my nose. “It was a dare.”

She chuckles. “At least you were dressed unlike this one.” She motions to Chloe who shrugs.

“Nothing wrong with nudity.”

“Disagree,” Maya mutters.

Chloe elbows her. “Don’t be shy. You have a banging body. I’d kill for all those curves.”

“No body shaming,” I order and Chloe holds up her hands before backing away muttering sorry.

Sloane hands us each a number. “Pin these to your swimming suits.” She points to a table. “You can get your mermaid tails there. The first event is the synchronized swimming competition.”

“Synchronized swimming as in music plays and we do tricks the way they do in the Olympics?” Sophia asks.

Sloane groans. “I don’t want to think of what act the lot of you would come up with. Probably some stripper song.”

“I was thinking moreI’m too sexy,” Sophia says.

“Anyway.” Sloane clears her throat. “The synchronized swimming competition is actually a race. Two mermaids have their hands tied together and swim across the lagoon.”

“Chloe should do this event. She has some experience with being tied up.” Sophia winks.

Chloe gasps. “How do you know?”

“My big brother’s a cop. I can recognize handcuff chafe anywhere.”

“This is why no one wanted the five of you on the cheerleading team,” Sloane says.

“Hey! I’m offended. The lead cheerleader asked me to try out.” I’m not lying. The only reason she asked was because my mom had died but still. She asked.

Sloane lifts an eyebrow. “And how did that work out for you?”

“I tripped. It happens.”

“Except you tripped and literally caused the entire row of cheerleaders to fall down,” Paisley says. “I believe one girl broke her wrist.”

“Shall we get our mermaid tails?” I don’t need to be reminded of how embarrassing my try-out was. Although, banning me from cheerleading for life was a bit over the top.

I herd everyone to the booth set up with all shapes and sizes of mermaid tails. Despite living in Smuggler’s Hideaway – where believing in mermaids is the norm – my entire life, I’ve never seen this many mermaid tails gathered in one place.

“They’re pretty,” Maya murmurs as she trails her finger along the display.

“Come on,” Sophia orders. “Pick out a mermaid tail and get changed. We don’t want to miss the first event.”

Paisley pushes her glasses up her nose. “Chloe and Nova should participate in the race. Nova’s the best swimmer and Chloe’s the best athlete.”

I don’t argue since Paisley’s right.

Chloe picks out a blue tail with fish scales on it while I choose a rainbow one. We sit on a bench to put our tails on. Chloe’s quicker than me. She’s tall and slim. The perfect body for a mermaid.

“I think I found my Halloween costume,” Chloe says as she hops to her feet.

“How are you going to trick or treat with a tail on?” I ask.

“I can hop.” She proceeds to hop all the way to the starting line of the race. Paisley wasn’t kidding when she said Chloe is the most athletic of us.

Meanwhile, I can’t stand. I hold out my arms. “Someone help me up.”

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