A tingle washes over my legs, a phantom fin, my body knowing it’s not meant to be up here. I want to feel my tail come out and the water move across my scales and my hair billow around my face. But this time, I don’t want to be there alone. I want Sean to be there too; I want him to know what it’s like to actually live in the water, to be one with it like me. I know he’d appreciate it. I can just tell by his smile, by the ease in his movements. I know he’d love having a tail and having the extra nerve endings in thousands of scales that feel every single iota of movement in the ocean. They would come alive when he wrapped his tail around my own and—

HOOOOOOONK!

Kavya jumps to her feet. “He won! He did it!” She takes out her phone and records everyone cheering Sean, me screaming loudest of all.

“That’s a personal record for our lane-three swimmer, Sean Nessan of Shoreline High,” the loudspeaker booms across the pool. I jump up and wave my cheesy sign frantically. Is it possible for a human to actually scream their lungs out? If it is, it’s definitely going to happen to me because this elation that’s going through my body is totally carrying me along in its current. I don’t think I could stop screaming for Sean even if I wanted to.

Sean climbs out of the pool, water dripping down his body. Unlike some of the other guys on the team, Sean doesn’t shave his chest, and I can’t stop myself from staring at the wayward patterns in his hair. I want to run my hands through it. I want to hug him and pull him close and celebrate his victory together.

In the back of my mind, I know this is part of the plan, but I’m honestly not thinking about that right now. Before I even know what’s happening, I’m stomping down the bleachers, that metallic clang clang clang vibrating around me with every step. I’m on the ground in no time, dashing toward Sean as he takes a towel from his coach and drapes it over his shoulders.

I’ve experienced my body working on its own before, my tail knowing just which ways to turn, which muscles to tense so that I don’t get swept up in a current or a wave. But there’s something exhilarating and also kind of freaky about the fact that my legs can walk on their own, that my hands can reach out, that I can see the blue-and-white nail design Kavya painted on my hands before they make fists around either end of the towel and tug Sean close.

And then, before I really take a second to think about it, I’ve pulled Sean’s lips to mine.