A Mermaid's Tail

I lay on my blue beach towel watching the other boys surf. I had declined going in the water, and the offers to teach me how to surf. No need to surf when you've got a tail that can propel you faster than any wave can. Stretching out my legs, I stood, adjusting my sunglasses, then I stepped toward the water. I told myself I wasn't allowed to go any further than the water covering my feet.
But it looked so inviting.
The ripples of the ocean seemed to be beckoning to me, and the waves washed onto the tips of my toes, making the nail polish I had on my fingers and toes turn the color of my tail. I stepped away from it. The water was too tempting; I turned away. I figured it would be better to be in the water at night; you can't see as well.
Well, you can't.
I sat on the shore, waiting. Before long, the guys came trudging out of the water. “Hey, Scarlet,” Jake said, running his hands through his hair. “Have fun?” I asked tentatively. “Yeah, the waves were great.”
“I'm glad you had fun.”
“So am I.”
I stood up from the sand and dusted it off my arms and legs. “Why didn't you want to come out with us?” Jake asked.
“Oh...I just didn't feel like going in the water.” Complete lie.
Clearly.
I wanted to go out there so bad, my legs were aching at the effort to keep my body staying still and not flying out there like a psycho person.
“'Kay, then. Are you ready for dinner? The guys and I are starving.”
“That's 'cause you're boys.”
“Are you hungry or not?”
“Yes.”
“Then come on.”
We walked up the sand to where the rest of the guys were, gathered around a bonfire pit, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. “Looks appetizing,” I commented upon seeing this.
“Yeah, the best dinner you could ever have. S'mores and hot dogs. Delicious.”
I laughed and walked over to the table. Besides hot dogs and marshmallows, there was watermelon, apples, brownies, chocolate, graham crackers – for the s'mores – buns, condiments, and several types of sodas.
“How much food do you guys need?”
“Hey, you eat just as much as we do. Which has me wondering how you stay so skinny.”
I blushed as Jake ran his eyes up and down my half exposed body. I pretended to ignore this and helped myself to a hot dog and bun. I noticed there was only one seat left, and it wasn't next to Jake. I didn't want to sit next to anyone else, since I felt more like myself when I was near him. But oh well. I sat down in the empty spot and shot a thousand hate daggers at the guys sitting next to me. Of course, no one payed any attention to me. Also, no one payed attention me when I didn't use a skewer to put my hot dog on, and stuck my hand right in the fire. It didn't hurt; we have skin that is impenetrable to most things, except fishing hooks. And fishing net we can't get out of. Kind of a downer, the fishing net, since there are so many in the ocean.
My mind snapped back into focus when I noticed the hot dog starting to flame on the outside. I quickly pulled it out and extinguished the flame in a single breath. I glanced around the circle, seeing if anyone had noticed. No one had said my name or was tapping on me. Then I looked around again and saw everyone was by the shore. The sky had turned a kind of dark that you could only get by driving out to the middle of the desert and putting a blanket over your face outside at midnight. The only sign of light was the fire, and there were some flickers of lighters among the guys. I tossed the hot dog somewhere behind me, hoping it wouldn't hit anyone; if it did, I could care less. I tiptoed up behind Jake, then grabbed his shoulders. He jerked around and looked at me.
“Scarlet! Don't scare me like that!”
“Sorry. What are you doing?”
“We were about to go in the water. Wanna come?”
I figured it was dark enough for me not to be seen , tail or no tail, so I agreed.
“Sure, why not?”
“Cool.”
I watched as the other boys jumped into the water out past the drop off that went down about 30 feet. They stayed out there, and Jake joined them, motioning for me to join them. I waited until he was far enough away, then slipped into the water. I went as far as I could before my tail formed and made it impossible to run any further. I swam underwater until I reached Jake, to whom which I promptly grabbed on the ankle. The results were hilarious. I heard his scream above the water, then I swam to the surface to see him kicking and thrashing. “Relax,” I assured him, patting his shoulder, but staying far enough away to where he couldn't feel my tail. I knew I was taking a HUGE risk going out with someone who isn't something that I am, you know?
I'm figuring at this point of my story you're wondering why I don't say directly what I am. One reason is because we aren't supposed to say the word to anyone but our kind. There are too many complications to which we have to explain, so I'm going to clear that up right now. We have tails that vary in color, we cannot be killed unless by something similar to a fishing hook. We have legs on land, and extra sensory senses when were on land or in water, i.e., we can see at night, and spot an ant from over a mile away; things like that. Back to what I was saying.

“Jeez, Scarlet, don't do that! You almost gave me heart attack!” Jake shook his head and splashed me.
“You're not old enough to have a heart attack yet, Jake.”
“So?”
“So exactly.”
Jake turned to look at the others, who were throwing water everywhere and kicking. “Guys, would you knock it off?” he said irritably; they responded by making wave with their arms to wet Jake. “Very nice.”
As they played, I felt another presence in the water, that wasn't a human, or someone like me. Something dangerous. When Jake wasn't looking, I slipped under the water to get a good look. My insides froze immediately. A few feet below was about three or four tiger sharks.
The splashing noises coming from above the water had made them come over. I knew I could fight them off, but I'm pretty sure no one else could. I swam to the surface as fast as I could without completely jumping out of the water. “Jake, get the other guys out of the water. Don't ask any questions. Just do it.”
Jake trusted me enough to tell them to go back to the shore to go clean up so we wouldn't have to do it afterwards. After they left, Jake couldn't help but ask why. In a whisper, I explained what was going on below. I quickly told him to be quiet before he could thrash around and catch their attention even more. “Just stay by me, and you'll be fine. Trust me.” I held out my hand. He looked hesitant for a second, then grabbed it.
“If I get hurt, you're paying the medical bills.”
“Fine.”
I felt the sharks moving closer to the surface, seeing that there were less to fight off than there was before. Jake looked down.
“Scarlet, they're getting closer...”
“You think I didn't notice?”
As long as one of them didn't try to bite Jake, we would be fine. The water began to ripple as the result of the sharks circling.
“What do we do?”
“You stay out of the way, and I'll handle the rest. No questions.”
“How are you gonna-”
“I said NO questions.”
“Sorry.”
“Stop talking, they can hear your voice.”
Jake grew quiet, and we were frozen, watching. I felt a small amount of pressure on the end of my tail. I looked; one had tried to take a bite out of my tail. I couldn't help but gasp in surprise, and Jake looked on worriedly.
“Jake, I want you to swim as fast as you can to that rock over there when I tell you.”
“Why-”
“NO questions!”
“Okay!”
“Shhhh...”
Luckily, the sharks seemed more interested in going after me, since I was obviously harder to get to. I slowly inched away from Jake, luring the sharks away. Once I was about 20 feet away, I turned to Jake.
“Go!”
It took him a minute to figure out I was talking to him, but then he was on the rock a few seconds later. He sat in the center, as far away from the water as he could get. He looked terrified. I dipped under and called out to my friends who also had tails. Audrey swam up a few seconds later, her purple tail swishing in the water.
“What happened?”
“Wewentoverpastthedropoffandthenapackofsharkscameandtriedtoeatusandnowthey'reeatingmewhatdoIdohelpme?!”
“Sure.”
We shepherded the sharks as far as we could out to sea, then swam back. There was one remaining, and this one was huge. It was easily twice my size, and even a little bit bigger than that.
“What do we do?” I asked Audrey, my words forming bubbles to the surface.
“I'm out of here. That thing's HUGE. If you want to save your human friends, you‘re on your own; humans don’t mean anything to me,” she sneered. She had had a bad experience with humans, and ever since then, she looked down on them. To her, she was the superior.
“Audrey!”
But she was already too far away to hear me. I didn't want to leave the shark there, and I didn't want to risk getting bit by it; since it was so big the pressure of it's bite might actually hurt me. But I was stupid enough to do it anyway. I swam down and took hold of it's dorsal fin. I knew this was bad for the shark - I didn't necessarily want to hurt it - but needed to get it out of there before anyone else came. As soon as I touched it, the shark shot to the surface, racing against the tide, thrashing around, trying to throw me off like a bull. I could see the moon reflecting off my tail; I knew then Jake could see it. I was far enough above the water to have my tail disappear and my legs take its place.
This couldn't be happening!
Once my legs were back, my skin would become soft and fleshy, which meant the shark could possibly rip my arm off. But for that I didn't have a choice; the shark managed to throw me off, making me land on a belly flop into the water. As I sank below the surface, my stomach burned like mad, and it spread to my tail. I swam towards the edge of the rock where Jake was, pulling myself along.
I figured he had already seen me, so I slid halfway out of the water to examine my tail. Jake stared as I sat on the rock. As my tail formed back, I saw several bite marks on the end, and I winced as I took a handful of saltwater and let it seep from my hand into my tail; it stung. I bit my lip to keep myself from crying.
I got back out of the water, and when my legs turned back, there was a deep gash, obviously from when my legs formed while I was above the water. The shark must've gotten me before I could regain myself. Jake's face was white with shock as we both watched the gash heal right before our very eyes.
“Jake? Jake, are you okay?” I looked at him worriedly. He started to say something, but we heard a shout from the people on the shore. “We should go back,” he said, without meeting my eyes.
“Yeah, we should.” I got back in the water. “Are you coming?” I asked him.
“Yes. Go ahead, I'll be there later.”
“Are you sure? You don't look too good.” As if I didn't already know why.
He didn't answer, so I swam behind the rock.
What had I just done?
Why didn't I just stay out of the water? They might've not gone as far out, and if I wasn't there, they probably would've been safe.
How could I have been so stupid?
What if this got out?
Jake and I were so close, and he just discovered this. I knew I should have told him before, but still, I should've known better. Now how would I ever gain his trust back? After so many years of not hiding anything from me, always telling me the truth, and this is what I give him? A big lie that I'd been holding against him for who knows how long? I wished that I had just fed myself to the sharks I didn't have to feel the enormous guilt that was crushing me like an elephant. I suddenly couldn't take it anymore, and I darted out to the open ocean.
I just had to get away.