Pretty in Pearls: A Forgive My Fins Novella (HarperTeen Impulse) by Tera Lynn Childs

he and Quince will be besties and we can go on double dates.” I jam my hands on my hips. “What are you really doing?”
    She drops her head to one side and sighs. “Fine, smarty-pants. I thought it would do you both—you and Riatus—some good for him to see you as . . . desirable.”
    “Desirable?”
    “As in, desired by other mermen.” She stares at me, waiting for me to get it, but I don’t. Finally, she gives. “You should make him jealous.”
    “Jealous?” I laugh out loud. “Lily, he doesn’t like me. You can’t make someone jealous if they don’t like you.”
    “You said he can’t like you,” she argues, “not that he doesn’t. And I’m pretty sure you can. If you go out with Lom—let Riatus see you out with Lom—then maybe that will make him think twice about why he can’t go out with you.”
    I can’t believe this is the crazy scheme my best friend has cooked up. Sure, she has a point that Riatus never said he didn’t like me, just that he can’t, but is there really a difference? The end result is the same: my feelings remain unrequited.
    “I can’t believe you thought this would work.” I drop my voice to a furious whisper. “I can’t believe you involved that poor boy in this ridiculous plan.”
    “He doesn’t know anything about the plan,” she insists. “He just thinks I’m setting you two up on a date.”
    “That makes it worse,” I say with a sigh. “You’re only messing with my love life because Quince is on the mainland visiting his mom.”
    “That’s not true.”
    I cross my arms and raise my brows.
    “Okay, maybe it’s a little bit true,” she relents. “I just want you to be happy. Quince is hoping to be back in time for the dance. If I get to go with the boy of my dreams, you should too.”
    When she puts it like that, I almost want to let her try.
    She means well. She’s so ecstatically happy with Quince, I know she just wants to help me find that same happiness. But sometimes her plans are a little misguided.
    “I don’t want to play any games,” I say. “If he doesn’t like me—” When Lily opens her mouth to argue, I correct, “If he can’t like me, then he can’t like me.”
    “Fine,” she says. “I shouldn’t have interfered.”
    “I know you’re just trying to help, but this is something I have to figure out on my own.”
    “Understood.” She grins at me. “You should still go out with Lom. He’s a sweetie, and you two have a lot in common.”
    I give her a wry smile. “Not today.”
    She nods before turning and swimming out of the kitchen. “Come on, Lom. Time to go.”
    “Nice to meet you,” he says, his voice carrying through the house as Lily drags him to the door.
    Make Riatus jealous? What a ridiculous idea.
    I can’t fall asleep. My mind keeps going over everything that has happened in the past few days. From following Riatus to the edge of the kingdom to seeing him at the market today, and then Lily bringing a nerdy merboy to my house.
    I should be able to relax knowing that everything is settled. That I might as well give up on my crush on Riatus because that’s all it will ever be, and that Lily won’t try any more crazy schemes to make him jealous. I hope.
    But my mind won’t let it go.
    There is an old mer saying that goes, If you fall off the sea horse, you have to get right back on and try again . That might be just the advice I need to get past this thing about Riatus.
    If he is the sea horse I fell off of, then maybe I need to try another sea horse. Okay, that analogy went really bad very quickly, but the general meaning is sound. I need to go on a date. Not to make Riatus jealous—if that was even possible—but for me.
    I mean, there’s nothing wrong with Lom. In fact, beneath that nerdy exterior is . . . well, a nerdy interior, but he was sweet. Nerdy can be adorable sometimes.
    And Lily did say we have things in common.
    She had the motive wrong, but maybe she had the right idea.
    I flip out of