Pretty in Pearls: A Forgive My Fins Novella (HarperTeen Impulse) Read Free Page B

the stall.
    You’d think I would stop coming.
    But no, I’m a glutton for punishment, it seems. Especially if that punishment involves getting to look at him for even a few seconds.
    “You want to tell me what happened?” Lily asks as we float over to the nearest display.
    I trace my fingers over the field of pale blue pearls. “Not really.”
    “Come on,” Lily urges, swimming close enough to whisper. “I can’t help if I don’t know what happened. And because right now, to be honest, you’re acting a little crazy.”
    I am acting crazy. What is wrong with me? I’m usually a very together sort of mergirl. That’s why I’m Lily’s emissary—basically her personal assistant—because I can keep my head on straight and make sure she knows everything she needs to know before state events.
    This? Freaking out over a boy and feeling completely adrift? This is not normal Peri behavior.
    Neither is thinking about myself in the third person. I need serious intervention. No, I need to tell my best friend what’s happened.
    I draw in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. She’s going to find out eventually. I might as well get it over with.
    In a tight whisper, I begin, “Well, you know I’ve had a crush on Riatus for, like, ever.”
    Lily nods enthusiastically.
    “Two weeks ago,” I continue, “when he was first back from his swim around the world, it seemed like he was finally going to see me as something other than the little mergirl who shopped in his stall. It seemed like he might actually be interested in me, like he might actually ask me to the Sea Harvest Dance. My dreams were finally coming true.”
    “I know,” Lily says too loudly. I glare at her and she continues at a lower volume, “You seemed so happy. So excited. I knew it was something good.”
    “Right,” I say, my shoulders slumping. “Then the next time I went back, it was like an iceberg crashed into his heart. He wasn’t rude or anything; he was just . . . polite. Distant. Like we’d never met.”
    “Like how?”
    “Like . . . he smiled politely, chatted politely, helped me—”
    “Politely?” she suggests.
    “Yes,” I say. “He’s been exactly the same ever since.”
    “That’s so weird,” she says.
    Don’t I know it?
    No bubble message. No date to the dance. No acknowledgment that maybe, for a moment, he kind of thought he might be interested in me as more than a mergirl who shops in his stall. Nothing.
    “Well, forget him. He doesn’t deserve you,” Lily says, cheering me like only a best friend can. “You’re so much better than him.”
    “I know,” I say in a small voice.
    But that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to know why, doesn’t mean I don’t still want him . I sigh again.
    “Don’t let him ruin our expedition,” she says, swimming into the stall. “You love pearl shopping.”
    She’s right. But for today, I can abstain. I keep to the edge, hoping that maybe I’ll be able to see him without him noticing me.
    “Peri?” a male voice says from right behind me.
    Great. Clearly that hope was futile.
    I wish my skin didn’t tingle at the sound of him saying my name. I wish I could remember how he’s all but ignored me since that first meeting that had seemed so . . . promising. I wish I could think about anything other than the fact that I can feel his warmth, even through the chilly water.
    Time to be a big girl. I paste a friendly smile on my face and turn to face him. “Hi, Riatus.”
    Those pale silver eyes seem to glow as they watch me. But his mouth is pursed slightly, like he’s irritated that I’m here.
    Well, I’m irritated that he’s irritated.
    I don’t know what I did or what made him change his mind about me, but it’s pretty hard to ditch feelings for someone just because they lose interest.
    Which is why my heart is beating faster than normal.
    For an instant, I see something in his pale eyes that is far from disinterest. Then it’s gone and he’s back to the