But then Kiki said, “It’s so pretty.”

Another girl named Morgan added, “And so shiny.”

Shelly relaxed. Everyone liked Echo’s cloth. Everything was going to be fine. But then Echo’s tail banged on the teacher’s marble desk. Boing! The pot made a horrible noise.

“Echo has a musical tail!” a boy named Adam yelled. The class laughed, and Echo’s face turned bright red. For a terrible moment Shelly thought that Echo would rush away, but thankfully Mrs. Karp silenced the class.

The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful until lunchtime. All the mergirls in the class swarmed around Echo. “Where did you get that? What’s it called?” one asked.

Echo smiled and patiently answered all their questions, but she ate lunch with just Shelly. “Whew, I’m glad they didn’t see the pot,” Echo whispered.

In fact, Echo made it through the rest of the day without any problems.

AFTER SCHOOL ON THE WAY TO MERPARK, Shelly told Echo, “If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll help you swim home after Shell Wars practice.”

“Thanks,” Echo said. “If I can’t try out for Tail Flippers, at least I can cheer you on.”

Shelly felt bad. It didn’t seem fair for her to try out for Shell Wars if Echo couldn’t be a Tail Flipper. Maybe she should sit with Echo instead of practicing. Shelly started to tell her friend that she’d changed her mind about trying out, but then she had an idea. If her plan worked, it would solve everything.

Harlequin Shrimp

DID YOU SEE THAT?” SHELLY asked Echo. The two mergirls were swimming over to Shelly’s home after Shell Wars practice. Actually, Shelly swam slowly and pulled Echo along.

“I think that’s a harlequin shrimp,” Echo said, pointing to a blue-and-white-spotted creature. “It’s just like the picture in the dictionary. Quick, catch it for our report!”

Shelly did hurry, but she wasn’t fast enough. Rocky came out of nowhere and snatched up the shrimp, along with the starfish it was eating.

“Hey, that was ours!” Shelly complained.

Rocky laughed and swam off with the bright blue-and-white shrimp. “Not anymore.”

Shelly wanted to chase him, but she swam back to where Echo waited.

“Did you get it?” Echo asked.

“No,” Shelly answered. “Rocky did.”

“I used to think he was cute, but not now,” Echo said.

Shelly giggled. “Who? The harlequin shrimp or Rocky?” she teased.

Echo laughed. “Rocky, silly.”

“You thought Rocky was cute?” Shelly asked.

“A little bit,” Echo said with a shrug.

“Let’s go,” Shelly said. “But keep your eyes open for sea cucumbers. Mrs. Karp told me that emperor shrimp live on them. The more shrimp we collect, the better grade we’ll get.”

The friends looked for specimens. They saw a hammerhead shark’s shadow and huge vent tube worms, but no shrimp or krill.

“Look over there,” Echo said.

“Is it an emperor shrimp?” Shelly asked.