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  I was going for speed, not quality. It might not have been the best thing to do, but I had other, more urgent things to get to.

  CHAPTER 11

  SMUDGED

  As soon as my jobs were done I sprinted out the front door and over to the island. Nobody was there. I heard Trevor yelling at me from the direction of Janae’s house. I couldn’t see anyone, but stepping up to her house, I could hear my friends in the tree next to Janae’s driveway.

  I climbed up in the tree and sat on the branch next to Aaron. Jack and Rourk were both holding two big garbage bags stuffed with inflated balloons. Teddy explained that they had filled the balloons with the notes and now they were waiting for Janae to come home from her tennis lessons so that they could …

  I explained to them that the idea was to make Janae like me, not hate me more. They all looked disappointed.

  They all nodded. It had been Jack’s idea. He thought that the messages would have more of an impact if they were in water balloons.

  My talking was interrupted by the sound of Janae’s mom’s car pulling into her driveway. All of us froze.

  Janae got out of her car with two of her friends. Her mom, who had been driving, got out and went inside the house. Janae stood near the tree, talking loudly to her friends.

  As Janae’s friends talked, Rourk began to whisper about how much his butt hurt sitting in the tree. I whispered that all of him would hurt if he didn’t keep quiet. Teddy sneezed, but luckily Trevor covered it up with a birdcall he had learned in Scouts. Janae and her friends looked up, but from where they were they couldn’t see us. We might have gone unnoticed, but a bird flew into Aaron’s big hair and began to make a nest.

  The bird pecked around at Aaron’s head, and he let loose with a huge scream. Rourk fell from the tree, hollering and pulling Aaron down with him. Teddy shifted to avoid Aaron, and the branch beneath him snapped. All the balloons fell from the bags as Jack and Teddy pulled me and Trevor down with them. Balloons splattered everywhere as Janae and her friends screamed almost as loud as we did. Rourk rolled a good ten feet, knocking Janae’s friends over like bowling pins. By the time we were all done falling, we were just a big pile of wet arms and legs. Janae was the only one still standing. She stared at me, and her mouth did that thing that is the opposite of smiling:

  Janae looked at all the popped balloons and the little pieces of white paper littering the ground. I could see a few of the messages around me. They were smeared because my brilliant friends had filled the balloons with water. Janae bent down and picked up one of the notes.

  Janae looked at me like I was a piece of moldy meat that someone had dipped in barf and then sneezed on.

  She helped her friends up as I tried to apologize. She wasn’t listening. Her friends left, and Janae slammed the door on me and my friends as she went inside her house.

  We were all just sitting there like babies when the shadow of someone drifted over us. I held my hand in front of the sun to see better.

  The arrows gave her away. I guess Kat was thinking about shooting the gong soon. All my friends were suddenly jumping up and clearing their throats. Trevor said Kat’s name, and as I got to my feet, she grabbed him by the right elbow and gazed into his eyes. Trevor had never looked happier.

  Kat let go of a very sad-looking Trevor. She looked in my direction. I thought about saying something clever, but I had nothing clever to say. Then she took off running. I was going to chase her, but she was a much faster runner, and I had a good idea where she was going. We all watched her disappear down a far alley as we dusted ourselves off and shook water from our bodies. Trevor was pretty shook up about Kat saying he wasn’t the one.

  Trevor began picking up the little slips of paper and bits of balloons. He was mumbling something about how he probably needed a siesta. Jack started to make fun of me for trying to impress Janae. Remembering it was his idea to fill the balloons with water, I turned and confronted him.

  The gong in Mr. Foote’s backyard rang out. I had been right about where Kat was going. We all looked at each other with a new sense of panic. It was one thing to have Janae and her friends mad at us. It would be even worse if Mr. Foote thought we were the ones abusing his gong. All of us took off running in separate directions to our houses. Five of us screamed in English as we ran.

  CHAPTER 12

  STUDYING UP

  It was terrifying to wait at my house for Mr. Foote to come and accuse me of ringing his gong. I knew that at any moment the police would show up and I would be the one blamed.

  No one came. In fact, before I knew it most of Saturday had slipped away and it was late afternoon. My mom had been far less disappointed in me today, so after dinner I asked her as nicely as I could if I could hang out with my friends.

  Nobody was out on the island. Usually I could expect to find at least Jack sitting by himself. But the island was as empty as my sister’s head.

  I went to Trevor’s house and knocked on the door. When his mom opened up, she informed me that Trevor was busy reading.

  I wasn’t surprised that Trevor was reading. Even before my closet had begun spitting things out, Trevor had been into books. He bought books, borrowed books, and checked them out from the library. He was a member of a book club and an honorary member of a book society. It used to be a problem in our friendship, but now that I was beginning to see how interesting books could be, I didn’t think Trevor was quite as geeky. So it wasn’t surprising to find out that he was currently reading. What was surprising was what happened when I knocked on Teddy’s door and his older brother with the gross mustache who always called me champ answered.

  I got almost the same answer from Aaron’s older sister, who also had sort of a gross mustache. She always called me Backside because my last name is Burnside.

  Now here’s where it gets even more eerie. When I went to Rourk’s house, his mom answered the door and told me to come inside. She went down the hall to Rourk’s room, and when she came back, she looked like she had seen a ghost.

  When I got to Jack’s house, he answered the door with a book in his hands. He didn’t seem embarrassed or bothered.

  It was suddenly perfectly clear why all my friends were reading. They were looking to have a better shot at Kat liking them. I thought it was great that they were trying to improve their minds. I just wanted them to improve their minds at a better time.

  I couldn’t find Kat, and I had no idea where to look for her or why she was here. I had already finished The Hunger Games and was halfway through Catching Fire. Usually the old lab supplies in my closet dripped and mixed with a few books. But the mix wasn’t obvious this time. The only thing I really had to go on was that she had called me Eric once. I didn’t remember there being an Eric in The Hunger Games. I needed my friends’ help, but they were all too busy reading. Weird.

  When I got home I was in for a few more surprises. The table was set and my family was sitting down to dinner. That wasn’t too surprising. What sort of caught me off guard was seeing Kat next to Libby.

  I had a feeling that Kat bumping into my sister wasn’t an accident. She probably stalked Libby just so she could get invited to dinner—which was kind of weird when you considered what had happened at dinner yesterday.

  After a much cleaner dinner than last night, my mom decided to act fancy by serving ice cream out on the patio by the pool. We usually didn’t have dessert, and we almost never ate outside, but the weather was good and we had a guest. Little did they know the guest had come from my closet, but if it meant getting ice cream, I was happy to keep my mouth shut.

  My dad got out his guitar and sang while Libby and Kat braided each other’s hair. To make things even more uncomfortable, Tuffin danced while my mom did some weird humming.

  I think they were trying to show Kat what an American family does after dinner, but it looked like a lie. Typically things were more like this after dinner:

  CHAPTER 13

  THINGS MUST CHANGE

  After the
ice cream, my dad went inside to put his guitar away, and my mom went in to straighten up. Libby ran off to get a magazine that she wanted Kat to see. That left me alone with Kat and Tuffin.

  Tuffin was done with his ice cream and began throwing it around so Puck could lick it up. It didn’t bother me that much until Tuffin took a chunk and heaved it into the pool. Puck ran for it and jumped into the water.

  Most dogs could swim, but not Puck. He was so fat that his little legs just spun him in circles. He had fallen in once before, and we had to snag him with the net and push him over to the pool steps. This time, before I could grab the net, Kat sprang up and jumped into the water. She moved so fast it was like a blur.

  Kat grabbed hold of Puck and pushed him back to the edge, where I reached down and pulled him out.

  Tuffin hugged Puck while I went to help Kat out of the pool. But suddenly she looked different—very different!

  I couldn’t decide if I should pass out, flip out, or get out.

  Kat had gone all mermaid on me! Her bottom half was a giant fish tail, and her hair was now red. She had on a seashell bikini top over her jacket and white pearls around her neck. Plus, her left hand looked like a fin.

  Kat gazed up at me, smiling. She didn’t seem very surprised by her new shape. I, however, couldn’t really speak.

  I didn’t know what to do. Kat couldn’t get out of the pool now because she had no legs. I also had a strong feeling that she probably needed to stay in the water, being a mermaid and all. She swam across the pool and jumped up. Tuffin turned around and stared at her.

  I knew Libby would come back any second and I would have more explaining to do than I was capable of explaining. I had to get Kat out and away. I jumped into the pool and picked her up. She put her arms around my neck and her tail over my arm. I had never liked the smell of fresh fish, so it wasn’t the greatest moment of my life.

  I lifted Kat out of the pool and set her in the empty wheelbarrow that my mom used for hauling manure for the garden. I then pushed Kat as fast as I could to the back of our yard and out the gate into the alley.

  There was a man named Dean who had a saltwater pool. He lived down the alley and he was an airline pilot. Because of that, everyone called him Pilot Dean. I don’t even know what his real last name is. He was friends with my parents, and whenever he went out of town to fly a plane, he had me water his plants and take in his mail. I knew he wasn’t home at the moment because my mom had me water his plants earlier today. I was thinking I could place Kat in his pool until I figured out what else do. Kat liked the idea, so I kept pushing.

  When we reached the back gate of Pilot Dean’s yard, I pulled open the latch and pushed the wheelbarrow in. The backyard was completely dark. There were no porch lights on and the windows of the house were dark.

  I wheeled Kat to the edge of the pool, and as gently as I could I dumped her in. She went into the water with a small splash. I couldn’t see anything, so I lay down on my stomach and whispered into the water.

  Kat popped up just a few inches from my face. I could barely see her smile thanks to the black of night.

  I had no idea what Kat was talking about. Leave it to a fish girl to bring up love at a time like this. All I knew was that in Pilot Dean’s pool there was a mermaid who had originally come from my closet. I told Kat I’d be back, and she splashed her tail and swam to the other side. I ran home as fast as I could. When I got back, my mom and dad were coming out of the house with Libby. Tuffin was still having a fit.

  Tuffin wouldn’t stop saying fin and pointing to the pool. Luckily my dad thought he was just talking about where Kat was from. Apparently, he had forgotten that he thought she was from Panama.

  I couldn’t get Kat off my mind. I was confused, bewildered, and concerned. My body was having a hard time knowing how to act. I was worried and excited at the same time.

  I felt pretty certain that she would be okay in Pilot Dean’s pool, but there was a real sense of urgency to figure out what I needed to do before anyone discovered her. I’m pretty sure the sight of a mermaid would be something that I wouldn’t be able to explain.

  I knew I needed to do some research, but I also knew that I couldn’t do it until my family was asleep. So I yawned really loud and tried to drop a few hints about everyone going to bed.

  Strangely, everyone seemed okay with my suggestion except Tuffin. He agreed to go to bed but only if he could sing us a song first. So we all stood around while he sang.

  Everyone besides me thought his song was cute. Luckily nobody took it seriously. As soon as Tuffin was done singing, my mom took him inside and tucked him in while my dad gave Libby and me one last lesson.

  I was planning to go to bed. I just wasn’t planning to sleep.

  CHAPTER 14

  OLD-FASHIONED ANSWERS

  I was tired, so staying awake in my room and waiting for the rest of my family to fall asleep wasn’t easy. I slapped myself so many times I hardly recognized myself.

  Eventually I could hear my dad snoring, and I felt pretty confident that everyone else was asleep. I opened my bedroom door and snuck quietly down the hall. I turned on our computer and looked up the book The Little Mermaid. I was surprised to find that it was a short story. I found a copy online and read it.

  It didn’t take me very long to read the whole thing, and let me say, it was not my favorite story. It was all about mermaids falling in love and wanting to be human. I needed to know more, so I turned off the computer and went into the kitchen. On the counter near the toaster, we had a small, portable TV with a videotape player built into it.

  It was really old, and my mom used it to play videos for Tuffin. I guess in the olden days they used to make movies on things called videotapes.

  My family had a bunch of old videotapes, and Tuffin would shove them into the little TV and watch kid movies for hours.

  I picked up the little TV and grabbed the video I was looking for, then I snuck back to my room without waking anyone up. I locked my door, plugged in the TV, and slipped in the movie.

  I felt kind of weird watching one of Tuffin’s movies, but I was hoping that I could discover something about Kat’s purpose and story. I don’t want to embarrass myself, but I was so busy watching the movie that I didn’t notice I had a visitor.

  Jack climbed into my window. It was late and he should have been at home sleeping, but he had been carving soap under the moonlight on the island and he saw my window glowing. I had no choice but to tell him everything. I told him about how Kat had fallen into the pool and had become Katfish. I told him she was at Pilot Dean’s and how it was important that I watch The Little Mermaid to learn as much as possible. I thought he was going to make fun of me for the movie, but he just said,

  It was kind of strange watching The Little Mermaid with Jack in my dark room, but I’m pretty sure we had done weirder things when we were younger.

  When the movie ended, I wasn’t sure if I had learned anything about Kat’s purpose. I knew that she had called me Eric, which was the name of the guy the mermaid in the movie liked, but I wasn’t sure how, or if, I could get Kat to have legs again.

  Jack went home, and I changed into my pajamas. I then snuck out to the kitchen to put the TV back. Since I was already out there, I decided to make myself a midnight snack. For some reason, I was craving a certain something.

  CHAPTER 15

  RECKLESS DRIVER

  Sunday was a mess. My family went to church in the morning. The air-conditioning wasn’t working inside the chapel, and light coming through the stained-glass window was making us extra warm. Libby believed it was a sign of how the heavens thought she was beautiful. Tuffin felt differently. He was too hot, and he had gorged himself on scrambled eggs at home. So when the preacher wouldn’t stop talking and our bench got super warm, Tuffin lost his breakfast all over Libby.

  After we got home and Libby got cleaned up, more mess happened. Tim Knollmiller, one of the older neighborhood kids, crashed into our mailbox with his mom�
�s station wagon. Tim had just gotten his license, and everyone knew he drove too fast. Now he claimed the mailbox had jumped out at him.

  My dad was actually really nice to Tim. He told him a story about how he had accidentally knocked over a can of paint while painting a fence when he was a kid.

  There was no damage to Tim’s mom’s car and the mailbox was fixable, so my dad let Tim go but with a warning.

  Tim thanked him for the advice and drove off quickly. I helped my dad repair the mailbox, wanting all the while to get away and check on Kat. I didn’t know exactly when Pilot Dean would be home, and I was worried about her. So once the mailbox was fixed, I made a couple of sandwiches and hiked down the alley and over to Pilot Dean’s house. When I got there I could hear someone talking in the backyard. I opened the gate slowly, and there was Jack sitting on the edge of the pool, having a conversation with Kat. She was still very much a mermaid. Jack was wearing a nice shirt and had his hair combed back. He looked upset about something.