When Coral Dreams

“Tonight is the night,” Coral Ballenato promised herself as she studied her reflection in the mirror.

Her black curls rippled around her face in the gentle current that drifted through the window of her best friend’s bathroom. The squid ink liner that made her dark brown eyes look even bigger than usual and the peachy stain she’d applied to her lips and cheeks—almost the same shade as her tailfin—made her feel prettier. Older. More confident.

And if she was finally going to make the first move with Zak Marlin, she needed to feel more confident. Way, way, way more confident.

“For the love of cod,” Zanzia complained from beyond the bathroom door, “what is taking you so long?”

“Almost done,” Coral called out.

One last check to make sure she hadn’t overdone the makeup. It was one thing to give herself a little confidence-boosting makeover. It was another to make it so obvious that Zanzia noticed. The last thing Coral wanted was her best friend knowing how she felt about Zak.

Coral was just swiping off the excess color from her lips when she heard the front door open.

“I’m home,” Zak called out, his voice resonating through the house.

She couldn’t help the smile.

“Too bad,” Zanzia shouted back, pretending to be annoyed when Coral knew good and well that she adored her big brother.

The first time Coral met Zak was when Zanzia invited her over to work on their Thalassinian Royal Family project in Year Seven history. Two years older than his sister, Zak was cute and charming and Coral fell for him instantly.

After three years she still hadn’t managed to say anything more impressive than hello. But that was all going to change tonight. She was sixteen now—well, she would be on her birthday next month—and she was ready to take her crush to the next level. She’d been sitting at zero for so long that even an actual sentence would be a step up, but she was going all out. Before the night was over she would ask Zak out.

And hopefully she wouldn’t faint when she did.

“Coral!” Zanzia jiggled the door handle. “Come on, I’m starving. Mom made calamari loaf.”

“I’m coming,” Coral said, yanking the door open.

“Finally.” Zanzia grabbed her by the wrist before Coral could swim through. “Let’s go.”

For a mergirl about as big around as an electric eel, Zanzia had a never-ending appetite. Coral came over for family dinner every Friday night and had seen her best friend put away an alarming amount of food. With her nerves always making her stomach swim circles, Coral could barely manage to eat half as much.

Zanzia dragged Coral downstairs to the kitchen so they could help set the table. Like she did every week, Coral started to set out five place settings.

“Here,” Zanzia said, adding an extra set of dishes and seasticks to the stack.

Coral frowned. “I already have five.”

“I know,” Zanzia said with a wave. “Zak is bringing a friendover.”

Coral shrugged. She was just setting down the sixth set of seasticks when Zak swam into the dining room.

She got so distracted that she floated into the edge of the table.

No matter how many times she saw him he always took her breath away. With his exotically golden skin and his dark gold hair, he looked like a piece of pirate treasure. His kelp-green eyes sparkled with mischief and his mouth stretched into a broader-than-usual smile, making a single dimple appear in his left cheek.

But as always, it was his tailfin that made him so very breath-stealing.

Where Zanzia’s was pale lavender, her brother’s tailfin was the deepest violet. Rich, luscious purple that made Coral want to trace her fingertips along the scales.

Tonight he looked even cuter than usual, with his golden curls tamed by some kind of gel and his standard tee traded in for a dress shirt.

She wanted to melt just being in the same room with him.

“Hey Zanzie,” he said with a smile, knowing she hated the nickname. “Came back for more, Coral?”

Coral managed a smile. “Yes.”

Always.

Zanzia swirled a plate toward her brother’s head. He caught it easily and threw it back at her with a flourish. She stuck her tongue out at him as she set the plate on the table.

“Sea slug,” Zanzia tossed over her shoulder as she swam back to the kitchen.

For a moment, Coral and Zak were alone in the dining room. This was her chance. Her opportunity to tell him, to ask him, to say… something. To ask him to the seaball game at school next week. That was her plan. No big deal, no strings attached. Just a simple date. Just ask.

But what came out was, “Um….”

Then, before she could even think of more words to add to that stellar start, there was a knock at the front door. Zak’s eyes widened and he spun away, the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face.

Warning bells gonged in her mind. Puzzle pieces fell into place.

The extra seat at the table for Zak’s friend.

His carefully groomed hair and dress shirt.

His huger than huge smile.

Coral watched with a sense of dread as Zak returned to the dining room with a beautiful mergirl at his side. She was obviously older than Coral, probably seventeen or eighteen, like Zak. Her long, flowing blond hair—so pale it was almost white—swirled around her like a net. The light from the overhead fixture glinted off the sequins on her ivory tank dress, making her look like a true angelfish.

“Coral, this is Angeliera.”

Of course she was.

He shrugged his shoulder in a funny way, and Coral’s gaze drifted down along his arm… to where he and the angelfish were holding hands.

“My girlfriend.”

Coral’s breath caught in her throat. She drifted into the table again, wrapped her hands around the back of a chair to hold steady.

A fin-flick later, Zanzia swam into the room, followed soon after by Mr. and Mrs. Marlin. As the family oohed and cooed over Zak’s girlfriend, Coral kept herself from crying.

This wasn’t the end of the world. The angelfish was his girlfriend. They weren’t bonded for life or anything—yet.

Eventually it would end, and when that day came Coral would be ready. When Zak and the angelfish broke up, Coral would take the chance she’d been ready to take tonight.

And by then she would be the Coral she had always dreamed of being.