Trouble at Trident Academy

Debbie Dadey

VISIT THE AUTHOR ONLINE AT

debbiedadey.com

LT’S SHELLY SIREN’S FIRST DAY at Trident Academy, and she’s nervous from the top of her head to the tip of her sparkling mermaid tail. Everyone there is so smart and pretty. Will she stick out like a giant jellyfish or fit in with the rest of the mergirls and merboys?

At first Shelly and her best friend, Echo, have lots of fun eating lunch together, trying to make very grumpy Mr. Fangtooth smile, and joining after-school clubs. But when they have a big argument, another classmate—the trouble-making Pearl—comes between them, and Shelly wonders if she and Echo will ever be able to fix their friendship!

Debbie Dadey is the author and coauthor of one hundred and fifty children’s books, including the series The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. A former teacher and librarian, Debbie now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her wonderful husband and children. They live about two hours from the ocean and love to go there to look for mermaids. If you see any, let her know at www.debbiedadey.com.

Jacket designed by Karin Paprocki

Aladdin

SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

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KIDS.Simonandschuster.com

Also by

Debbie Dadey

MERMAID TALES, BOOK 2 :

BATTLE OF THE BEST FRIENDS

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ALADDIN

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www.Simonandschuster.com

First Aladdin paperback edition May 2012

ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

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The text of this book was set in Belucian Book.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Dadey, Debbie.

Trouble at Trident Academy / by Debbie Dadey ; [illustrations by Tatevik Avakyan]. — 1st Aladdin hardcover ed. p. cm. — (Mermaid tales ; [bk. 1])

Summary: Mermaids Shelly and Echo are excited to begin third grade at the prestigious Trident Academy, but snooty Pearl, jokester Rocky, brilliant Kiki, grumpy Mr. Fangtooth, and an argument over their first project challenge the best friends. Includes facts about marine plants and animals and words to The Mermaid Tales Song.

ISBN 978-1-4424-4978-7 (hc)

[1. Schools—Fiction. 2. Mermaids—Fiction. 3. Best friends—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction.]

I. Avakyan, Tatevik, 1983– ill. II. Title.

PZ7.D128Tro 2012 [Fic]—dc23 2012000130

ISBN 978-1-4424-2980-2 (pbk) ISBN 978-1-4424-2981-9 (eBook)

To my wonderful family:
Eric, Nathan, Becky, and Alex.
I look forward to many
more ocean trips together!

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Fiona Simpson, Karen Nagel, and Bethany Buck for letting me swim with the mermaids!

1 TRIDENT ACADEMY

2 BURPS

3 MRS. KARP

4 THE BET

5 DISASTER

6 MERBRATS

7 HARLEQUIN SHRIMP

8 PEARL

9 A NEAT TRICK

10 BEST MERFRIEND EVER

CLASS REPORTS

THE MERMAID TALES SONG

AUTHOR’S NOTE

GLOSSARY

Trident Academy

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!” ECHO SAID. “IT’S finally happening.”

Shelly took a small sip of her seaweed juice before pushing a lock of red hair from her face. Usually she didn’t care if her hair stuck straight up, but today was special. “We’re so lucky to get an invitation to Trident Academy. I didn’t think it would happen to me.”

Echo and Shelly both lived in Trident City, not far from the famous Trident Academy. They had been friends since they’d played together in the small-fry area of MerPark. The eight-year-old mermaids were celebrating their first day of school with breakfast at the Big Rock Café, a favorite hangout. The place was packed with students proudly wearing their Trident Academy sashes. The two mergirls didn’t see a third mergirl swimming up behind them. Her name was Pearl. Echo and Shelly usually tried to avoid the bossy mergirl from their neighborhood.

“Oh my Neptune!” Pearl snapped when she saw Shelly. “I can’t believe you, of all merpeople, got into Trident.” Usually only very wealthy or extremely smart students were accepted. Pearl was rich. Echo was a quick learner. Shelly was neither, but she knew more about ocean animals than both of them put together.

Echo came to her friend’s defense. “Of course Shelly got into Trident. She is very talented.”

“At what?” Pearl asked. “Digging for crabs?”

Shelly glanced at her dirty fingernails and immediately hid them under her blue tail fin. “At least I know how to hunt crabs. I bet you’d starve to death if you had to do something for yourself.”

Pearl flipped her blond hair, stuck her pointy nose up in the water, and said, “I know how to do plenty of things.”

“Name one,” Shelly said.

“How to be on time for school, for starters,” she said. Pearl spun around and flicked her gold tail, knocking seaweed juice all over Shelly’s new Trident sash!

Splash!

Pearl giggled and swam off toward school.

“Oh no!” Shelly squealed, dabbing green juice off the gold-and-blue sash. “She did that on purpose!”

Echo glared after Pearl before helping her friend wipe the sash. “It’s fine now. You can hardly see it,” Echo said. That wasn’t exactly true—there was definitely a green blob on Shelly’s sash.

“We’d better get going,” Echo said, adjusting the glittering plankton bow in her dark curly hair. “We don’t want to be late on our first day.”

Shelly groaned. She wasn’t quite so excited now. “If Trident Academy is filled with merpeople like Pearl, then I don’t think I’m going to like it.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Echo said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

Burps

WOW,” SHELLY SAID, staring up at the ceiling of the huge clamshell. “This is amazing.” Only a few shells in the ocean had ever grown as large as Trident Academy. The front hall alone could fit a humpback whale, and the ceiling was filled with colorful old carvings that showed the history of the merpeople.

“It’s awesome, but we’d better get to class,” Echo said, grabbing Shelly’s elbow. “Third graders are down this way.” Echo’s older sister went to Trident Academy, so Echo already knew a lot about the school.

Shelly didn’t think she’d ever seen so many merpeople in one place. Hundreds of students swam quickly through the massive shell, looking for their classrooms. Each wore a different-colored sash for their grade, from third to tenth.

“Here’s our room,” Echo said. She shoved aside a seaweed curtain and disappeared inside.

Shelly gulped and followed her friend. She hoped Pearl wouldn’t be in their classroom, but as she entered the class …

“Oh no. Did a stinkfish just swim in?” Pearl snapped as she sat at a rock desk.

“No,” said a merboy with a big head. “But a burpfish did.” He let out a big, long burp right in Pearl’s face.

“That is so disgusting, Rocky,” Pearl said. “Didn’t your parents teach you any manners?”

“I’ll tell you what’s really disgusting,” Rocky said. “That jewelry you’re wearing.”

Pearl shook her head. “My pearls are sooooo beautiful.” She ran her fingers over the long necklace.

“Actually,” a tiny, dark-haired mergirl said, “pearls are sort of disgusting. They’re made when an oyster or mussel secretes nacre around an irritant.”

Pearl sniffed at the tiny mergirl. “So what?”

“Secretes?” another merboy asked. “What’s that?”

“Kind of like spitting,” the mergirl explained.

“I knew that,” Rocky said with a grin. “That means she’s wearing puke around her neck.” Several merboys and mergirls in the class giggled at the joke.

The small mergirl nodded, and Shelly took a closer look at her. She had long black hair that reached all the way to her tail; wide, dark eyes; and the palest of skin. Her mertail was a brilliant purple, unlike any Shelly’d ever seen. Shelly’s own tail was blue, and Echo’s was pink. The mergirl with the purple tail didn’t look even a little bit afraid of Pearl. Anyone who could stand up to Pearl was awesome. Shelly knew she was going to like this mergirl.

“Watch this!” Rocky said. He spit into the water around Pearl. At that moment a tall, thin teacher with green hair and a white tail swam into the room. “Young merboy,” she asked, “what are you doing?”

Rocky grinned. “I’m … I’m … I’m seeing if I can turn her into a giant glob of spit.”

Shelly hid a giggle. She was pretty sure she liked Rocky, too. Maybe Trident Academy wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Mrs. Karp

GOOD MORNING, STUDENTS. Welcome to Trident Academy. My name is Mrs. Karp,” said their teacher. “I will be teaching you reading, storytelling, and science. I trust your parents have started your education and we’ll be able to move along quickly.”

Shelly squirmed in her sponge seat. Her parents had died when she was just a small fry, and she lived with her grandfather in an apartment above the People Museum. She hoped he’d taught her all she needed to know, since Trident Academy expected their students to have been home-schooled for two years.

All merkids were taught at home until third grade. Sometimes her grandfather was a little forgetful, and some days he hadn’t remembered about Shelly’s lessons. And Shelly hadn’t reminded him. She’d much rather explore underwater caves or play with sea turtles than sit still for lessons.

“Mr. Bottom will teach you math, life-saving, and astronomy,” Mrs. Karp continued.

Rocky snickered at the name Mr. Bottom, but Mrs. Karp silenced him with a glare. “Trident Academy is lucky to have other special teachers that you’ll meet later this week. Today we will get to know each other better and start your first project.”

Pearl gasped and raised her hand. “What do we have to do?”

Mrs. Karp smiled at the classroom of twenty mergirls and merboys. “I’m glad you are eager to get right to your studies. Your first assignment at Trident Academy will be a report on krill and shrimp.”

Shelly groaned quietly. There were so many exciting things to learn about, like the dolphins and whales she wanted to swim with. Why did they have to learn about silly little shrimp?

“As you know, many sea creatures, including us, would not live long without krill to eat. Why, even humans are known to eat krill, especially those who live near Kiki’s far-off waters.” Mrs. Karp nodded toward the mergirl who had stood up to Pearl.

Far-off waters? Shelly thought. She was even more curious about Kiki now.

“You will need to collect at least four types of krill or shrimp and complete a seaweed and octopus-ink study on each of them.” Merkids used orange sea pens with their sharpened ends dipped in octopus ink to write on neatly cut pieces of seaweed for their studies.

“How many pieces of seaweed?” asked a large mergirl in the back of the room.

“At least one per krill or shrimp,” answered Mrs. Karp.

Groans came from throughout the class. “The wise merstudent will start right away,” Mrs. Karp told them. “In fact, we will go to the library until lunchtime so you may begin your reports.”

Echo leaned over to Shelly. “Want to work together?” she asked.

Shelly nodded. This was their first project for Trident Academy. She didn’t want to mess it up.

As they floated down the hall toward the school library, Echo pointed to the Trident Academy message board. There were notices posted all over it, inviting students to join different clubs.

Shelly noticed a sign written in big green letters:

SHELL WARS PRACTICE

AFTER SCHOOL TODAY

IN MERPARK

Shelly smiled. Shell Wars! She loved playing Shell Wars. Maybe she could make the school team! The rush of water around her face when she scored a goal was a lot more exciting than learning about krill. In her mind, she was already smacking a shell around.

“I want to be one of those,” Echo said, pointing to a message about the Tail Flippers, a group that cheered for sporting events.

Shelly nodded. “That looks great. But I think I’ll try out for Shell Wars.”

“Me too,” Kiki said from behind them, and Shelly gave her a big smile.

Pearl swam up beside the mergirls. “Shell Wars is disgusting. I’d never try out for anything so rough.”

Shelly and Echo ignored Pearl as they passed a dark gray merman with a huge frown on his face. He looked so sad, Shelly felt like crying. “Who is that?” she whispered.

“I bet that’s Mr. Fangtooth,” Echo whispered back. “My sister told me all about him. He works in the cafeteria.”

“I heard he’s a grouch,” Pearl said, “and he hasn’t smiled in forty years.”

“Maybe he just needs cheering up,” Shelly said, immediately feeling sorry for Mr. Fangtooth. “I bet Echo and I could make him smile.”

“Okay,” Pearl said. “It’s a bet.”

The Bet

IF YOU WERE GRUMPY, WHAT WOULD cheer you up?” Shelly asked Echo as they ate their lunch later that day.

Echo thought about it for a few minutes. “If I found something human,” she admitted.

Shelly sighed. She didn’t understand her friend’s fascination with anything that had to do with humans. Shelly thought killer whales were much more interesting.

Echo swallowed a handful of tiny octopus legs before licking her fingers. “Maybe we could try making funny faces at Mr. Fangtooth. That always makes my dad smile.”