Get Happy by Mary Amato Page A

around the blade of sea grass? This is called a
holdfast.
After a seahorse is a week or two old, it finds something to cling to so that it isn’t swept away by a current. Beautiful, isn’t it?
    The entry had seven comments. I should have turned off the computer. I should have listened to that inner voice that said:
You don’t need to see more.
Instead, I scrolled down and saw it.
    Keanu Choy says:
    I stood up and literally yelped — I could because my mom wasn’t home. Then I looked at the screen again.
    Keanu Choy says:
    Congrats! Yes, the holdfast is critical. I’m sure this blog will inspire other young divers to join in the Save Our Seahorse Project! Thanks, Cassie!
    After calming down, I reasoned that, as weird as it felt, this actually wasn’t weird at all. It made sense. Cassie’s profile said she was volunteering at the Shedd Aquarium, and she was following both the Shedd Aquarium and the SOS Project on Twitter. I clicked a link to the SOS Project, and it was all about encouraging “recreational divers” to document seahorses. Her name was on a long list of “Seahorse Spotters.”
    I don’t know why I was surprised. Seahorses live in the sea, and they are very compelling little creatures, and lots of scuba divers must be interested in playing hide-and-seek with them. Keanu Choy probably commented on the blogs of all his followers whoposted pictures of seahorses. They were cyber save-the-seahorse buddies. How cute. How educational. How adorably nauseating.
    He had shared six of Cassie’s blog entries with his own followers and had left several comments on other entries.
    Keanu Choy says:
    I agree. The sea slug is beautiful!
    Keanu Choy says:
    This is a gorgeous description of sea dragons,
    Cassie!
    Keanu Choy says:
    I love the way you captured that moment when the sun came shining onto the reef. Well done!
    On and on. The man loves his exclamation points!
    I stared at the screen. I got up and paced. Then I sat down and created a new email account. Name? [email protected].
    Back on Cassie’s blog.
    Would you like to leave a comment?
    Yes, I would.
    Landlover says:
    This blog is extremely uninformative. The writer obviously just loves the sound of her own voice.
    Send.
    I imagined how excited Cassie would be to see a comment from a new visitor and then how hurt she’d be to read it. Within seconds, though, I felt sick to my stomach. That’s the thing about being mean: You have this rush, this wicked thrill, but then it fades quickly and you’re left feeling like scum.
    I texted Fin. He didn’t answer, and I remembered that he was at a cousin’s wedding or funeral in Mundelein. I have learned from experience that Irish people have way too many relatives. I wasn’t about to tell him that Keanu Choy commented on Cassie Lott’s blog, because he would tell me to immediately find out if he was my dad and I wasn’t ready for that, but I needed to hear Fin’s voice. Even if it was just in a text. I sent him three more messages.
    Finally, he replied: What’s up in Minervaland?
    Me: I’m leaving evil comments on Cassie’s blog.
    Fin: I want to see them!!!!!
    Me: She irritates me.
    Fin: Perfect people are perfectly irritating.
    Me: Don’t do any more Soul to Sole workshops with her. I forbid it.
    Fin: I told you I’m not going back there. The studio smells like horse manure. The teacher doesn’t use proper hygiene products. Chow time. Guess what the bread basket has in it?
    Me: Bread.
    Fin: Biscuits!!!!!!!!
    Me: Son of a biscuit.
    Fin: Nummy nummy.
    Me: Why doesn’t anybody say daughter of a biscuit?
    Fin: Too many syllabyllables.

11
THE SQUID & THE PROMISE
    N OTE: O VERNIGHT self-tanning lotion takes days to fade. Rick Rogan, the mean guy in my first-period class, had so much fun with me that week, he should have paid me.
    Excited to have a job, I blocked him out. Nothing like walking down the hallway of high school knowing you are employed. The pukey green paint on the walls seems less nauseating,