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

bed and kick over to my desk. I pull out my old bubble machine, the one Lily and I used to use to send messages back and forth between my bedroom and hers when we were little. I scribble a quick message to Lily on a little sheet of stationery.
    I need to move on. Do you think Lom still wants to go out?
    A few seconds later, I’ve popped the message into the pale blue bubble and I’m shooting it across the open water toward the palace.
    This could be some kind of stupid rebound reaction. Or it could be exactly what I need to get over Riatus.
    A few minutes later, a bright pink bubble floats in my window and lands on the center of my bed. I swim over, pop it, and pull out the message inside.
    Of course he does! I’ll talk to him tomorrow.
    Okay, the plan is in action. Now I just need to get my mind—and my heart—to follow through.

     6
     
    I don’t know why I set up this date. I don’t know why I ever possibly even considered that this might be a good idea.
    But I did and now, in less than two minutes, Lom is going to show up at my door and take me out. On a date.
    Some people might think it’s pathetic that after more than seventeen years of life under the ocean, I’ve never gone out with a boy before, and maybe it is. It’s not that I haven’t had offers before. A few merboys have asked me out over the years, but I never really wanted to say yes. When your parents had a true love match and you can see what that’s really like—when you see your mom still loyal to him even years after he’s gone—then that makes your standards really high, I guess.
    And then there’s the little matter of being in love—or believing myself to be in love—with Riatus since forever. What ordinary merboy stands a chance against a pirate?
    The fact that I am now, at seventeen, about to go on my first date isn’t all that awful. The horrible part is that I still wish I were going with someone else.
    “It’s wrong,” I say to Lily. “I’m using him. It’s not fair.”
    “It’s one date, Peri.” She fusses with my hair. “Not a bonding ceremony. You’re allowed to go on a date.”
    “I guess, but it still feels—”
    Ding, gong, ding.
    My eyes widen. “He’s here.”
    “Relax,” Lily says, swimming to the door. “Just have a good time. Don’t think of it as a date .”
    “Then what?”
    “I don’t know.” She grins as she grabs the handle. “A not date.”
    I frown at her.
    My heart is racing as she opens the door and lets Lom inside. He is wearing—I am not joking—a suit jacket and a tie. I glance down at the fluttery top Lily helped me pick out. I look like I’m going on a picnic. He looks like he’s going to the opera.
    Oh yeah, totally a not date.
    If I were the kind of mergirl who went for nerdy cute, he would probably be my type.
    “You look very pretty, Miss Wentletrap,” he says, his head bowed a little.
    “You look, um, nice too, Lom. And please”—I give Lily a this-is-so-wrong look—“call me Peri.”
    It’s a good thing Mom is busy in her studio. She would find this absolutely hilarious. Or horrifying. Either way, I just want to get out of here and get this over with.
    “Come on, Lom,” I say, grabbing his arm and swimming for the door. “Let’s go.”
    “Bye,” Lily calls after us. “You kids have fun.”
    I throw one last angry-worried look over my shoulder and see Lily waving at me with a dreamy look on her face. She thinks this is so romantic. I think it’s going to be a nightmare.
    “I have our date all planned,” Lom says, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I’m dragging him away from my house at breakneck speed.
    See, he’s thinking of it as a date.
    “Oh yeah?” I ask absently.
    Lily promised she would tell Lom this was just a casual thing. So he wouldn’t think this was anything more than new friends hanging out.
    She and I are going to have a serious conversation about promises and meddling in other mergirls’ personal lives.
    “It’s a perfect