Shelly waited behind a kelp plant in MerPark to let Echo and Pearl pass. “I have only one page finished for my report,” Echo admitted.

“I haven’t started yet,” Pearl said.

“You haven’t?” Echo asked.

“No, but I’m not worried,” Pearl said. “My dad promised to get me some shrimp. And if I were you, I’d just get your father to bring some home from his store. Reef’s has tons of shrimp and krill.”

“I never thought about that,” Echo said.

“You’d be silly not to ask him for help,” Pearl said. “It’d be so easy.”

Echo nodded. “Maybe. My dad does have lots of neat shrimp, but I don’t know if he would give me any.”

“You could take them when he wasn’t looking,” Pearl said.

“That would be stealing!” Echo said.

“No, it wouldn’t. It’s your store too, isn’t it?” Pearl asked.

Echo frowned. “I guess you are right.”

“Of course I’m right,” Pearl said. “Now let’s get to Trident Academy.”

Shelly watched her best friend swim away with Pearl. When they were out of sight, Shelly floated slowly to school. All she could think about was Pearl teaching Echo how to do terrible things. Somehow Shelly had to find a way to get Echo away from Pearl.

But Pearl sat next to Echo in the library. Pearl sat next to Echo in the lunchroom. Shelly looked to see if Echo wanted to make Mr. Fangtooth laugh, but Echo didn’t even glance Shelly’s way. Shelly swam over to an empty granite table in the corner and sat by herself.

“Hi,” said a small voice. Shelly looked up from her lunch of leftover clam casserole to find Kiki. “May I sit here?” Kiki asked.

“Sure,” Shelly said. “How do you like Trident Academy?”

Kiki shrugged and sat down. “It’s okay, but I miss my parents and brothers.”

“How many brothers do you have?” Shelly asked.

“Seventeen,” Kiki said.

“Seventeen!” Shelly shrieked. “Are you kidding me?”

Kiki laughed. “No, I really do have seventeen brothers and not one sister.”

“I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but I’d like some,” Shelly told her.

“It’s okay, but very noisy. I always thought I wanted to go somewhere quieter, but the dorm rooms at Trident Academy are almost too quiet in the afternoon.”

“Wow, you live in the school dorm?” Shelly asked. “That sounds so cool.”

Kiki shook her head and whispered, “I have Wanda for a roommate. She snores really loudly.”

Shelly laughed, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Echo look at her. Echo frowned and said something to Pearl and the other mergirls at her table. They all looked in Shelly’s direction and burst out laughing. Shelly had a terrible feeling they were laughing at her.

AFTER SCHOOL, SHELLY FLOATED OVER to Shell Wars practice. Kiki was already warming up by gently tossing a shell back and forth with a group of merkids. Kiki waved as Shelly took her place on the field.