"You won't lose me," I replied, playfully punching him in the arm.

"Come on," he said, setting his chewing gum on the railing and then flicking it into the waves. "Let's play a couple games of Alien Attack at my house."

"No thanks," I said, as we began walking back to the beach. "I don't feel like vaporizing green creatures."

"Don't feel like zapping aliens?" Chainsaw said, stopping in his tracks. "Damn! I've already lost you!"

- Beach and Tide!

"Perfect timing!" Wave said, jumping off Bubbles and tying her leash to coral.

"I have to take my potion," I whispered adamantly. "I can't stay!"

"Sure you can," Beach said, grabbing my hand and helping me off.

"It's party time, urchin baby," Beach said, bumping into me and accidentally knocking my purse into the sea.

"My purse!" I screamed, darting after my precious potion as it floated away. Beach beat me to it and started for the door.

"I need that!" I hollered.

"Why? Are you paying? I like a woman who's in charge!" And he disappeared into the restaurant.

I followed after him through a massive hole in the hull which had caused the ship to sink. The interior was decorated with red vinyl chairs and silver metal tables, and strings of glow fish and fluorescent lights draped the ceiling. Waitresses wore white sailor hats and navy ties.

"Beach's birthday party is tomorrow," Wave said, grabbing my arm and plopping me down beside him.

I grabbed my purse back.

"You'll be there?" Beach asked, nudging me.

"Of course she will," Wave answered, cuddling next to Tide.

"My mom needs me at home," I announced.

The waitress brought an appetizer of candied mussels and asked for our drink orders.

"Frog juice," Wave said. "Since when do you listen

"We're having company," I said.

"Make that two frog juices!" Wave ordered.

I gazed out the porthole at Bubbles, reluctantly leashed to the pole. Like her, I couldn't break free.

Wave tied her backpack to her chair so it wouldn't float away, but I desperately clung to my purse. She was cuddling with Tide; Beach was almost sitting on my lap. I wondered where Earthdude was. I wear your silver heart close to my own. Was he wearing it right now? I stared at my watch.

"It's been lovely, but I have tons of homework," I said, rising.

"Bored already?" Beach asked. "Let's bop!"

He grabbed my arm, dropped a half-eaten mussel back in the shell basket and pulled me to the dance floor at the stern of the ship. Music was piped in through sponge speakers that hung from the ship's walls. A wave machine gently undulated to the rhythm of the dance floor water, making couples rock into each other. Twirling lasers flashed red sharks, yellow sea horses, and purple hearts. Couples jammed above and below us, working off the worries of a bad-hair day. My purse dangled helplessly as Beach spun me around.

"You're a great dancer!" Beach smiled, as a couple suddenly did a wild corkscrew spin over our heads, almost crashing into us. "I bet that's not all you're

Beach kissing me? He was tasty, but something was missing in his kiss. Love?

And that wasn't all that was missing. I pushed him away and reached for my abalone purse. But it wasn't on my shoulder!

"My purse! My purse! It's gone!" I shouted.

"It's okay. I'm paying!"

Suddenly the water felt as thick as mud. I was moving in slow motion as I pushed through the sea of dancers. I swam toward the ceiling, dove back to the floor. I shouted to the DJ, but he just shook his head. I scoured every table on the way back to Wave and Tide.

"Wave, I lost my purse!" I panicked.

"Aren't the Mud Rakers totally glacial?" she said, bopping her head and sipping her imported frog juice.

"My purse! It has my new purchase!" I shouted to her.

"We'll get you another," she said, almost relieved.

"Someone might mistake my medicine for a Shark Attack and wake up with two legs!" I said, glaring at her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

Wave, Tide, Beach, and I went off in separate directions: Beach back to the dance floor, Wave to the

Deflated, I swam back to our table. My search party wasn't anywhere in sight. Had I lost them, too?

"Is this it?" Tide called, hanging at the hostess counter, holding my abalone treasure.

I swam over to him, relieved. But it felt lighter. I quickly opened it. It was empty!

My heart sank. Even Wave looked frazzled when she returned from her search.

"Oh, no!" she shouted, pointing to a preteen merscout sitting at a table with his troops, about to open the cork from my bottle. He leaned his head back, ready to gulp the potion down his throat.

"You're too young for this!" I said, grabbing it out of his hand.

"I didn't know! Don't tell our troop leader! Okay?" he begged.

I held the bottle tightly to my chest and made my getaway through the ship's hole.

"Wait for me!" Wave said, climbing onto Bubbles.

"So I'll see you tomorrow night at my party?" Beach called.

"She wouldn't miss it for the world," Wave answered as we sped away.

- an abandoned cave not far from my home. I had fixed it up with sea lettuce curtains, portraits of Earthees I had found at an open-water market, and hot-pink clay chairs. Shelves were adorned with rusty Earthee coins, a bright orange Earthee diving fin, a black high-heeled shoe, a Beatles' Abbey Road compact disc, Panasonic batteries, and a carving of my parents at their wedding, dressed in white, kissing beneath a water lily patch. I used my hideout to listen to music, read teen mags, or fantasize about an Earthee life when I wanted to be alone. Only Wave knew of its existence.

"Here goes!" I said, eyeing the potion.

"Why don't you just hang it on the wall with your other treasures," Wave suggested.

"I don't have a choice," I said, trying to pry the cork off.

Wave urgently stopped my hand. "What happens if Madame Pearl is wrong? What happens if you grow two heads instead of two legs?"

"Then I'll be that much smarter!"

"You don't know what that stuff can do. You could grow two fins!" she said, pulling it back.

"Then I'll join the sea circus," I said, pulling it toward me.

"You could die!" she exclaimed. "Lilly, you could die!"

I had never really thought of that. I guess it was my nature. Act now, think later. Talk back to my parents - think about it in my room. Cut class - reflect in my hideout. Save an Earthee now - consider the consequences later. Maybe this was one time I should think before I acted.

"I won't let you die!" Wave said, jerking the bottle toward her. But suddenly the old glass bottle broke - the jagged bottom remained clenched in my hand while Wave held the broken neck. Its obnoxious contents oozed into the sea. We were both shocked, as the brown liquid slowly floated before our eyes.

There was only one thing to do. I swam after the potion and swallowed as much as I could before it diluted completely. It tasted as disgusting as it looked and it took all my effort to keep it down.

"No!" Wave shrieked, yanking me away from the potion as I struggled to cup more into my mouth.

"Let go!" I cried.

I continued swallowing the potion until I could see or smell no more.

As I wiped gooey droplets from my mouth, I fell into a coughing fit.

"Are you okay?" she cried. "I'll call a doctor!"

"No - " I said, through coughs. "I'm all right."

The sludge left a muddy tingling sensation in my

I stared up at the clock. Seconds became minutes. I finally sat down. The tension was too great and I pulled out MerMusic magazine and flipped through the pages. I scrubbed my teeth in the bathroom. I straightened my battery collection. Wave sat on a wooden Earthee chair chewing her nails.

"Look, I'm still a mermaid!" I exclaimed an hour later. "Satisfied?"

"I knew that old woman was a crackpot!" Wave sighed, hugging me. "How could we be friends if you didn't live in the water anymore?"

"I gave away my crystal collection! I could have bought front row tickets to the Psychedelic Sponges concert."

"Or a backstage pass and autographed picture," she teased.

"I'm going back tomorrow to demand a refund."

"Think of it as a lesson," she tried to comfort. "Mermaids belong in the ocean."

"And charlatans belong in the Underworld. Oh . . . I don't feel so well," I moaned, as we rode Bubbles back to my house.

Sports Illustrated swimsuit poster, then tore it from my wall. Who needed a supermodel to pine over? That was kid stuff! After all, magazine girls required hours of professional makeup and pea-sized dinners. I had something real, even if it had only lasted a moment, a magical kiss from a dream girl I'd probably never see again. I switched off my desk lamp and lay on my bed, wondering if she'd ever find the ad, ever show up at the football field, if I'd ever see her again. I reflected on her pink lips, her sparkling smile, and caressed the necklace in my hand, wishing it were her.

I lay awake wondering about Earth life. We knew that Earthees had legs, and we had fins. Similar, but different. But how different could they be, really, on the inside?

- and not a rancid-tasting potion that cost a crystal fortune. But maybe it was best it hadn't worked. Maybe Earth was too dangerous, as Waverly and everybody else believed.

I closed my eyes, waiting for sleep, thankful that Madame Pearl was an impostor after all, and wondered how I was going to tell my mother I'd lost great-grandfather's silver necklace.

A.M. I stood by the south goalpost. This was one event I didn't want to be late for. Not that my life was any big deal. Since my mom left my father and me when I was a kid, our house ceased being a home. I found peace only when riding the waves. I changed my hair color with my changing moods - to lift me out of a funk or cover up the fact I was in one.

But today I sported blue spikes for a different reason, this time in celebration - in honor of the sea where we met. Because this morning was different. I awoke with a swelling of my being, that went beyond my usual swellings! It was a swelling of emotion, a connection to life I'd never felt before. I noticed theStar Wars, or a year's subscription to Wipeout.

But most of all, I felt a connection to her, even though I didn't know her name, and had never heard her voice. Was I obsessed or possessed? If Chainsaw caught wind of my innermost thoughts and feelings, he'd punch me out for sure. I wanted to give her flowers, buy her candy, serenade her underneath a balcony, write her poetry, carve her initials in a tree. It isn't every day that someone breathes life into you. And her breath seemed purer than any I'd ever known.

Eight-fifteen. I mashed my sweaty palms against my jeans. Eight thirty-two. I unraveled a stick of Wrigley's. Eight forty-five. I kicked an empty Coke can. Nine o'clock. I leaned pessimistically against the goalpost.

The bell rang, beckoning me to arrive on time for U.S. history. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and looked at the desolate field. Maybe my personal lifeguard was a late sleeper. Maybe my ad should have read 3:30 P.M. Maybe I was just a complete idiot.

I waited until nine-fifteen, then I waited until nine-thirty. Gym class began running its way around the track. I sauntered up to the fifty-yard line and, dejected, made my way inside the building, late for first bell.

- this must just be a dream.

And then I remembered Madame Pearl. I sat up and got the shock of my life, for dangling from the

"Madame Pearl!" I screamed in an Earthee voice. "Madame!"

I wigged out - wildly wiggling two skinny legs and ten tiny toes! I'd sold my crystal sea horse collection for these legs, but the reality was terrifying. I was cold, naked, and alone. Why hadn't Madame Pearl told me I'd need Earthee clothes? Suddenly the sun seemed to pulsate, the sky started to spin back and forth and day turned to night.

"This isn't a nude beach!" a woman's voice called.

"Madame Pearl?" I whispered, opening my eyes and gasping in crisp air.

"Put your clothes on!" yelled a wrinkled Earthlady wearing a bright purple hat.

Flustered and confused, I spied a yellow beach towel lying a few inches from me. I grabbed it, and wrapped it around my body. Not satisfied, Earthlady pointed to a pile of clothes lying next to a backpack.