Chapter Text
"I can't believe we actually have to count birds for a grade," Luke complained to Calum.
They were sitting on a patch of grass in the park, looking out over the pond, some bushes and a small group of trees.
Calum shrugged. "It's better than cutting fish open," he offered.
"I hate Biology," Luke said, scrunching up his nose at the memory of fish dissecting—or 'trying not to vomit, and smelling terrible for the rest of the day', as he preferred to call it.
"Same," Calum said. "Although the rest of Science is okay. It's better than Math. Plus it's nice to be outside."
Luke wasn't convinced, especially since he was kind of good at Math.
"Oh look, there's another one of those..." Calum trailed off as he leafed through the small bird guide on his lap, trying to find the name of the bird he just spotted.
Luke heaved a sigh. "That's just a starling, Cal."
"Really?" Calum looked bummed. "I thought it'd be something more special. It looked cool, all spotted over like that," he said.
"Sorry to disappoint," Luke mumbled, adding another tally to their list of starling sightings. "We've seen this one before several times today."
A shrug shook Calum's shoulders. "At least I'm trying," he said, shooting Luke a look, "I can't say the same for you."
Luke had to admit he felt bad for letting Calum do most of the work but he couldn't bring himself to take this assignment seriously. He shrugged and stretched out onto the grass, enjoying the sun.
He heard Calum sigh next to him. It wouldn't be long or he, too, would be relaxing in the sun. Maybe they should take turns so they didn't mess up the assignment completely.
Just as the skin on Luke's face started to tingle with the comfortable warmth of the sun, a shadow fell over his face. Luke groaned and pried open one eye. "I'll watch the birds later on, I promise. I just want to enjoy the—" He stopped mid sentence when he realised the figure blocking the sun wasn't Calum at all. He didn't even come close.
It was a kid from his class. Luke didn't like him; he was obnoxious, weird and loud but at the same time not very talkative or sociable. Luke could never decide what to make of him. "Oh, hi," he said. He'd intended to call the boy by his name but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was.
"Michael, hi!" Calum piped up on his left, "What's up?"
Ah yes, Michael, that was it. Of course Calum'd know. Even though he was a quiet guy, he always seemed to know everything about everyone. Maybe because he was genuinely interested in every single person, unlike Luke who'd rather direct his attention and energy at a smaller amount of people.
"Hey, Calum," said the kid named Michael. He looked uncomfortable standing there with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slightly hunched. "So, uhm, I hate to ask you this but I'm really not good at this whole bird watching thing." He gestured towards the green around them, and said, "and I was wondering if I could maybe copy your results later today." His voice went up at the end, making it a question.
A snort escaped from Luke's throat, earning him an eye roll from Calum. He couldn't help it, he felt no empathy for Michael. Nobody was good at bird watching but they all had to do it, whether they liked it or not. He knew it wasn't fair to feel annoyed towards Michael, he had done the exact same himself. However, it was different for him, or so he told himself; he and Calum were friends and he'd make it up to him some time. Michael didn't have the right to enjoy the perks of having Calum as friend.
Before he could speak, however, Calum had already given Michael the green light and Luke groaned again.
"Don't pay attention to him, he likes to think he's better than others," Calum informed Michael. "It's a typical character trait for specimens like these," he added, mocking a documentary voice, "especially the lanky ones with blond hair tend to express narcissistic behaviour towards others when they're in an unfamiliar environment."
Luke could hear the grin in Calum's voice and had to try his best to keep looking annoyed while a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"My natural hair colour is blond," Michael confessed.
Calum's smile froze for a second before he burst out laughing. "Oh, right, sorry. I was only talking about my friend over here." He poked Luke's belly button through his shirt. "Anyway, you can copy it during Math later today if you want, it's no biggie. Just make sure to alter to results a bit so it's not too obvious."
Michael looked grateful but Luke could tell he was still uncomfortable—probably because Luke was being such an asshole to him. Good , he thought. He was in a particularly bad mood today and he had no problem taking others down with him.
"Thanks a lot." Michael smiled at Calum, making an effort to ignore Luke. "I'll see you at Math, I suppose," he said, and waved an awkward wave before turning around, raking a hand through his hair which, Luke noticed only now, was turquoise instead of the red it had been before—or the black it had been before that, or the green it had been before that, or the purple it was before that. Funny how he hadn't been able to recall his name but could still remember most of his previous hair colours.
As Michael walked away, Luke found himself feeling sorry for Michael's hair.
Calum shot him an ugly look. "You can be such a dick sometimes," he said.
Luke sighed. "I just have no love for bird watching and I have no love for that turquoise haired lazy ass either," he defended himself.
As soon as he said it, he realised how bad it sounded and started to feel guilty for his behaviour. "Okay, I'm sorry, Cal." He pushed himself up on one arm and turned towards his friend. "I don't know what's up with me. I didn't mean to be such a twat. I'll apologise to him during Math, I promise."
"Good." A smile crept onto Calum's face. "You watch the birds for now, I'm going to get us some food." Without awaiting a reply, he dumped the papers and books onto Luke's lap and took off on his quest for nourishment.
"Okay," Luke muttered to himself, "I suppose I deserved that."
After stretching thoroughly, he sat up and crossed his legs. With one hand holding a pen and the other underneath his chin, he lazily let his eyes wander over the green, scanning for movement.
He didn't see a lot of birds but he did spot a middle aged couple walking by, an elderly man taking a stroll a bit further on and some of his classmates fighting over what bird it was they'd just seen. A lady with a dog walked by and he felt sorry Calum wasn't here to pet it.
He sighed. Without Calum, this was even more boring.
Then he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. A bit further down the path, a bunch of teenagers were laughing and raising their voices. It didn't sound friendly. As Luke narrowed his eyes against the sunlight, he noticed another figure standing a bit to the side of the group, close to the edge of the duck pond that was the center of the park.
Oh no.
Luke knew it was coming before it happened. He jumped up and began to run, leaving his papers sprawled out on the grass, but he was too late.
Someone in the group extended an arm and pushed the lonely figure in the chest, making him stumble backwards. The figure lost his footing and fell into the water with a big splash and flailing arms. Luke heard a yelp and then he heard laughter coming from the group again. What jerks.
He stopped in his step and waited until the group had moved along, he'd rather not be the next one going for a dive. Fortunately, as soon as the splash was over, the kids lost interest and took off to bother someone else.
Luke placed his hands above his eyes and scanned the surface of the water for movement. Apart from a few ripples from the last splash, the surface was smooth. His breath hitched. Was someone drowning? He took a sprint to the edge and stared into the water. He thought he saw a blurry patch of blue move, or was it just a fish? "Are you all right?" he said loudly. A mixture of different colours moved beneath the surface. "Can you swim, do you need help?"
If no one showed within the next two seconds, he would jump in. No one could remain under water for so long without coming up for air. Maybe whoever was pushed in hit their head and passed out.
Luke had already started taking his clothes off when something moved the water. A stream of bubbles and foam came up on the surface, accompanied by a sizzling sound.
What the hell? He leaned over as far as he could but still couldn't make out what was causing all the fuss.
Suddenly something broke the surface with a splash, causing Luke to yelp and effectively soaking his clothing in cold water.
A familiar face stared up at him with a shocked expression, turquoise hair plastered to his forehead. For a second, Luke thought he had scarred Michael with the sight of his underwear, but then he saw it.
It was ocean blue, large and looked strong. The sunlight reflected off the scales in a spectrum of different colours. It was a tail; a fish tail. Luke felt his jaw drop as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing, disbelief surging through his veins.
Panic radiated from Michael's face. "Please, Luke, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone. Promise me," he hissed.
Luke swallowed hard. He couldn't take his eyes of tail that lay glittering in the water. Michael 's tail. "What the fuck?" was all he managed to squeeze out.
"Luke, listen to me," Michael said, and whipped his head to all sides to see if anyone else was watching. No one was. "This is not a fucking joke, no one can see me like this."
When Luke didn't respond, Michael gave his tail a flick and sent another bucketful of water over Luke's head.
"Hey!" Luke yelled, mad about his underwear getting wet. The splash did its job, though, and he was pulled back into reality—or whatever this was.
"Listen," Michael hissed urgently, staring him in the eye. "You've got to get me out of here. I can only hide for so long before anyone sees me."
"And how do you suggest I do that?" Luke asked, incredulous.
"Get a bunch of towels, blankets... Anything that can dry or cover me up. And a set of dry clothes. There's a willow tree with branches hanging in the water over there, I'll hide there until you get back," Michael spoke quickly, his eyes constantly scanning the area.
It was mad. Absolutely bonkers. But there he was, standing at the edge of a duck pond, staring right into the eyes of a mermaid wearing a Green Day shirt. It made no sense.
"Go!" Michael snapped when Luke still didn't move.
Quickly, Luke pulled up his pants and laced his shoes. From the corner of his eye, he could see Michael disappear under the surface, leaving only a few bubbles and a vague shape moving towards the willow tree.
He turned around on his heels and began to run.