The Struggle For Love

Chapter 9

*Stacie's POV*
        Alex’s parents don’t seem too friendly. They acted as if they hated me, and it had only been a few minutes that they had known me. They didn’t even give me a chance before they started judging away. I wonder what they meant by what kind of mermaid I am. There’s only one type of mermaid; the good ones. The only time there was another kind of mermaid ever was when the dark mermaids were around, and that hasn’t been for centuries. Could I be wrong though? Could Alex and his parents be dark mermaids? Alex seems so sweet and innocent though. How could he ever be a dark mermaid?
        “Stacie! You’re home!” I hear Blythe scream as I near our front door. She must have been waiting, watching through the window until I got home.
        “Of course! A promise is a promise. I would never break it, especially for you or Avery. Did you eat already?”
        “Yes. Mommy made us food. We finished a couple minutes ago. Did you eat?” she asks curiously. Blythe always has been the one to worry about someone and their health.
        “No, but I’m not hungry.” Shockingly, I’m too surprised to eat right now. Usually, I would love to eat. We don’t get to eat much, so I take all that I can.
        “Oh, okay. Me and Avery were in our room coloring. Do you want to come see?”
        “Sure,” I reply smiling. Blythe grabs my hand and leads me into their room. There are pages filled with different colors all over the room. How could they have drawn so many, if they finished eating only a couple minutes ago?
        “Have you guys been drawing all day?”
        “No, we just started. Pretty, right?”
        “Yeah, it’s very pretty in here,” I say, glancing around the room at the mess they made. Besides all the drawings, there are toys everywhere. It looks as if their toy box threw up.
        “Do you want a picture?”
        “Sure, I’d love one.”
        “Yay! Okay, sit here and no peeking,” Blythe says, motioning for me to sit on her bed while she draws.
        “I want to dwaw one fo Stacie, too!” I chuckle.
        “You can both draw me a picture!” I say happily. They nod simultaneously. Avery has a huge grin while Blythe frowns. I guess she wanted to be the only one who drew me a picture. “It’s okay, Blythe. I’ll like them both. I want one from my two favorite people in the world.”
        “But I wanted to be the one who drew you a picture. Now, it’s not the same. Avery wasn’t supposed to draw you a picture, too,” Blythe whines frowning.
        “I know, but Avery just wants to be like you. He must look up to you if he wants to copy you. He just wants to be like his big sister,” I say hopefully making her happy.
        “Really? Okay, we can both draw Stacie a picture,” Blythe says turning towards Avery. He smiles.
        “Yay!”
        “Better?” I ask Blythe.
        “Yeah. No peeking,” she warns. I smile and close my eyes. “No, you have to put your hands in front of your eyes too. We don’t want you to peek and see your pictures yet.”
        “Yeah!” Avery says.
        “Okay, okay.” I place my hands in front of my closed eyes. I begin to hear multiple sounds of scribbling.
        I sit waiting for my pictures to be finished for several minutes. I asked a couple times if they were almost done to only get a reply to hold on. After a few times of me asking, I gave up and waited until they said they were done. I don’t know why they’re taking so long. Ten minutes must have gone by already.
        “I give up,” I say sighing.
        I open my eyes to see Blythe and Avery both asleep on the ground with my pictures underneath them. I smile. That explains the constant yawning I kept hearing.
        I pick Avery up and put him in his bed making sure not to forget to kiss him on the top of his head goodnight. I do the same with Blythe, breaking my back a little. I turn off their light and crack their door. They are the sweetest angels while they sleep.
        My mom is in the kitchen doing the dishes. I swim past her and grab my book bag. As I try to escape towards my room, my mom catches me.
        “How was it?” she asks curiously.
        “Fine,” I say sighing, stopping dead in my tracks.
        “What’d you do there?” my mom continues to ask.
        “He drew me a picture.”
        “Oh, cool. Is he a good drawer?”
        “Yeah,” I reply blankly.
        “Can I see the picture?” I sigh unhappily.
        “I guess.” Noticing I don’t have it, I swim into Blythe and Avery’s room to see if I left it in there. But, it’s gone. Did I even leave it in there? Oh no. Please tell me I didn’t leave it at Alex’s house. The only place I’ve been is in Blythe and Avery’s room. If I brought it home, it would be in there. I swim back into the kitchen. “I left it at his house. I’ll have to get it tomorrow.”
        “Oh, okay. Did you eat while you were there?”
        “Yeah.”
        Before my mom can say anything else, I swim into my room. Brittany is laying on her bed talking on her shell. I climb into my bed and begin working on my homework. The sooner I finish it all, the sooner I can forget about it.
~
        Fortunately, I was able to finish all my homework last night. Now, I am headed to Alex’s house to get my picture he drew me. I can’t believe I left it there last night. I love that picture, and I want to remember it always. I should have remembered it as I left. Alex’s house is in sight. There’s only a few feet to swim before I am inside. I can’t wait to see Alex, my wonderful boyfriend.
        “Knock. Knock.” I wait silently at the door, grinning like an idiot. Alex opens it and frowns.
        “Hi. I came back because I forgot my-”
        “Let’s go upstairs,” Alex says cutting me off. He motions for me to swim inside, so I do. Alex’s parents are standing in the kitchen doorway. Their faces don’t look so warming. I shiver as I see their smirks.
        “Why are we going upstairs?” I ask whispering into Alex’s ear.
        “You left it up in my room. Also, I need to talk to you.” I instantly get worried as I hear him say the last part. What could it be about? Nothing good ever happens when someone says they want to talk. I thought things were going so smoothly. We haven’t fought since we became a couple. There hasn’t been any problems I’m aware of.
        “Alex, am I going to like what you have to say?” Alex doesn’t reply. Silence surrounds me. Alex opens his door to his bedroom. I swim in slowly. I sit on the edge of Alex’s bed as I start to become extremely nervous. My heart begins to quicken. Sea horses swim around my stomach in fear.
        “Here,” Alex says, handing me my picture. I take in cautiously. Alex begins pacing back and forth across his room. I watch in anticipation.
        “Alex, what is it you want to tell me? If it is something bad, then can you please just get it over with? I can’t take not knowing any longer.” Alex stares at me. He takes a deep breath sighing as he exhales.
        “Stacie, after you left yesterday, my parents had yelled at me for many things that they believe is wrong.” He sits next to me on the edge of his bed. After a second of sitting there, he quickly gets up uncomfortable. “All of the things they believe is wrong had to do with our relationship.” I immediately frown and stare at my tail. Alex must see this since he kneels down in front of me grabbing my hand in his. “No matter what they said, I still like you. All the things they had to say didn’t change how I feel about you at all. You remember what I told you the night we became a couple? I still mean it one hundred and fifty percent, and that will never change. No one can ever change that.”
        “What did your parents say?” I ask interrupting Alex.
        “What?”
        “What did your parents say about our relationship?” I repeat a little louder.
        “They don’t like the fact you are a good mermaid.”
        “So? Why wouldn’t they like that? There’s only one type of mermaid, and that’s good mermaids!” Alex looks away. “Right? There are only good mermaids?”
        “You know how our project is about the war between the good mermaids and the dark mermaids?” I nod hesitantly. “Well, our history books state the dark mermaids were killed off, but that’s a lie. Most of the dark mermaids were killed during that war, but few survived. They lived in caves for several years avoiding being executed by the good mermaids who believed they were doing the right thing. While they were in hiding, some of the dark mermaids died from sickness, starvation, etc. Only five families made it. Those dark mermaids reentered society as good mermaids. Luckily, no one suspected a thing. To this very day, dark mermaids are still pretending to be good mermaids centuries later until the day they can safely say they are dark mermaids in public without being executed. Now, there are at least a hundred dark mermaid families all originating from those original five families.”
        “Okay. So, what does that have to do with our relationship?” I ask confused.
        “My parents are upset that you’re a good mermaid because my family come from the original five dark mermaid families who weren’t executed. Because we come from those five families, my family takes things having to do with dark mermaid traditions very seriously. There are certain rules we have to follow, such as marrying mermaids of our kind.”
        “That’s why they’re upset? We’re only dating! No one has said anything about marriage!” I scream furious, leaping up from my seat. There’s no way I’ll be able to sit down now. I’m too angry to do so.
        “They don’t care. Dating sometimes leads to marriage, which is why they are so upset. We don’t have to say anything about marriage. All we have to say is we’re dating, and they’ll get angry.”
        “I don’t believe this. So, what are we going to do then?”
        “They… They want me to break up with you,” Alex stammers.
        “They can’t do that! Only you and I can decide if we want to break up! Our parents aren’t the ones in this relationship! We are!” My nails begin digging into my flesh as my hands ball into fists.
        “I know, but I don’t really have a choice. You might not believe this, but I’m actually doing it for you. This will benefit you.”
        “How could you possibly be doing this for me? There’s no benefit to this! All you’re doing is breaking my heart!” I scream obviously upset.
        “If I don’t break up with you, they’ll fire your mom. She works for their company, and they’re not afraid to fire her either.”
        “That’s not fair! My mom needs that job! How will we survive? We don’t have another income in our house,” I say once again sitting down sobbing silently into my hands. Alex sits down next to me and rubs my back.
        “I’m sorry, Stacie. I don’t want to break up with you, but I don’t want your family to be out on the street more.”
        “There’s just no winning with this. If we break up, I lose you. If we don’t, my family is out on the street. Either way, I lose. I can’t believe your parents are doing this to me, to us. It’s not fair. It’s just not fair.” Alex pulls me in embracing me into a hug. His warmth surrounds me soothing me in a way. It feels good to feel his big arms wrapped around me.
        “If there was a way for us to be together AND for your mom to keep her job, I would do it in a heart beat.”
        “I’m going to miss you, Alex. I thought my life was finally complete, but now there’s a gigantic hole again. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with this. So many people have swam out of my life, and now you’re just another person to add to my list.”
        “I’m sorry, Stacie. I truly am, but we’ll still have our project to work on. We’ll still have that time to be together. It’s not like my parents can make me change partners. Mr. Johnson already said there’s no switching.”
        “I guess.” Once I feel like I am calm enough, I wipe away my tears. I look up at Alex, only to be upset all over again. “I’m sorry, Alex. I just can’t stay here any longer. The pain is too much to deal with and looking at you only makes it harder.” I push Alex off of me breaking our hug. I swim out his bedroom door, and head downstairs. I swim past his parents and out the front door. The ocean feeling colder than before I got here.