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Chapter 10
The flight was a long one; we went to the airport and checked in then we went into our flight but Kayla and Cole were arguing about something and everyone left them with their couple drama and when we went to our seats I could see Kayla was sad. Kayla might be a brat but we were friends since freshman year, we met at our sport unit and we found out we liked the same thing. Troy and Cole came later in after our auditions and after a year she and Cole started to date, everyone knew how Kayla was, she might joke and say bratty stuff she was a good friend, I had once been down when I my favourite surf board was broken and didn’t surf for a week, she ordered an exact replica but with pieces of my old surf board and she’s always had me and Trish’s back, we all had it and seeing her sad made me feel bad. I taped Asher on his shoulder “Can we switch” I asked and he looked confused but nodded, we both stood up and I sat on his sit while he sat on mine. “Hey” I said to Kayla. “Hey ziti” she said and sniffed and I hugged her. “What’s wrong Kay” I asked “It’s nothing zizi” Kayla said “You know you can tell me” I said and she squeezed my hand “it’s my fault I told Cole I didn’t want to go to his parents for their thanks giving dinner since his aunt is going to be there doesn’t like me and she’s such a bitch” Kayla said and I knew she wasn’t lying, Cole’s aunt has a silent problem with Kayla, one time Kayla had an important speech for our team since I was ill and late to Cole’s birthday, his aunt flipped and said she didn’t deserve Cole as he always had time for her, Trish told me all that happened and Cole’s mom defended Kayla but his aunt wasn’t hearing it and asked for Kayla to be kicked out or she would leave, to keep it short no one wanted Kayla out and his aunt left but ever since then she always had it in for Kayla. “Hey, you don’t have to go and Trish and I are going to her parents thanks giving dinner and am sure Cole will understand and if he doesn’t me and Trish will deal with him” I said and Kayla laughed.
“Thanks zizi, you know that man candy has been staring at you for ages now, I’ll leave you two to it” She said smirking and I hit her head playfully. “Is that all you think about now, I’ll ask coach increase training since you got all the time in the world” I said and she put on a sad face. “no zizi, please no, my fragile heart can’t take anymore” She said and we both laughed, after that she brought out her skincare and even though I didn’t want to, we wore skincare masks and cleansed all through the flat while watching a movie and Trish came halfway and wasn’t happy we didn’t invite and I literally had to beg Asher to go sit in Trish’s seat, he agreed which encouraged Kayla’s smirking and childish talk. “He’s got the hots for you sister, you better grab the chance” Kayla said and she and Trish giggled like high school girls and I regretted this, I tried to threaten them but it didn’t help and I just ended up ignoring them. We landed after 5 hours and since we were in first class we were given gift packages making it harder for me to carry my luggage then Asher came over to help me and I could hear Kayla and Trish’s giggles making it even more unbearable and as we left they sang behind me and him; “Zizi and hot stuff sitting on a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G” They both sang it all the way though I was annoyed I was happy Kayla wasn’t sad anymore so I let them thinking they would stop but boy did they not, I told Asher I was going with my coach bus and he said he would go with his driver and he gave me his phone number and that I should text him my address. The girls saw this and screamed after he left and giggled hitting me to spill the tea but I just ignored them cause I didn’t want to lie right now as I would have to keep on carrying it but not saying anything was wrong because before I knew it they involved troy in their song and this was super annoying as they didn’t stop even as we entered the bus, they sang it in there and they did the craziest thing. They recorded their voices and played it on Troys blue-tooth speaker, Coach said nothing which encouraged them. I put on my earphones to listen but they were connected to it and played it on there and I just gave up and waited until we arrived at the sports centre. While they were annoying me it seemed Cole and Kayla talked it out as when we got to the centre they went home together and me, Trish, and troy went home with his car, he dropped us at Trish’s house.
“What do you want you little fish” I said as half his body showed as the other half was in the cabinet. “A snack, this magic wizzy said I could get cake by having a lot of things mixed and your short on that, where’s you floear” He said still rummaging through my cabinet and I think he was trying to say flour. “First of all its flour and second why now at 7 why can’t you wait for me to wake up and third I haven’t baked since high school and the only baking item you’ll find is sugar” I grabbed him with one hand while saying this. “But am hungry” he said and his ears flopped down like that of a dog and almost simultaneously, he’s stomach growled and I don’t know where my anger disappeared to but I knew I wasn’t angry. “Why not have some cookies and milk cause the sore around here open by 8 but am leaving by 10” I said placing him down on the counter and he nodded, then I brought out some cookies and prepared hot chocolate. “Now eat that and go back to sleep or do whatever you want buy please don’t wake me up till 10” I said and sluggishly headed back to my room and fell on my bed and went back to sleep. I woke up after 2 hours of sleep because Calvet wanted to go to the store and technically I told him to wake me up. I groaned as I got of bed and I went into my bathroom, it’s been 2 weeks since have been in and it smelled of roses, it had crystal white tiles, the marbles where gray and it had a shower and a white tub, the faucet tap was a customised one with a golden swan, I washed my face and brushed my teeth then washed my hair and bathed. I changed into a baggy T-shirt and a black jean with white sneakers and went to downstairs to meet Calvet. He rushed to me when he saw me and took out phone to show me something “Look the magic wizzy said we need these” He said nearly shoving my phone to my face. “First of all calm down, I know what we need and magic wizzy is Google also how’d you get my phone” I said “Oh you said I could have it, I came to you when you were sleeping and I was like I needed to borrow your phone and you were like yeah sure and then I asked for the code to open it and you told me 5463286 and then I said thank you and left” He said in an innocent way and he guess he was telling the truth cause I did feel like I was woken
up and this wasn’t the first time it had happened, I Once told Trish about her own surprise birthday once when we were 17 cause I hated being disturbed while sleeping its gotten me really bad at keeping silly secret stuff. “Alright let’s go and after this don’t expect I won’t drop you off at a pet shelter if you wake me up early” I said and he nodded “What’s a pet shelter” Calvet said with a confused look on his face. “Oh you don’t want to know but if you must it’s to adopt an animal and am sure no one would mind having a magic talking flying ancient fish” I said with a smirk. “You monster, you wouldn’t dare” He said but I didn’t let him continue “How about a fish market, you might be able to talk and very beautiful but regardless your still a fish” I said annoyed and he looked horrified. “Could you stop that I said I won’t wake you anymore and I didn’t mean to, am sorry” He said and for the first time he looked cute, he kinda reminds me of Kayla, bratty but soft, you just need to understand them “Apology accepted and don’t worry I’d rather cook you myself” I said and he looked at me with a smile and I think he got the joke. “It is a joke right” he said and I nodded. “Let’s go” I said and locked the door, I got into the car my car and turned on the engine and drove to the store, it was a long drive even though it was just 10 minutes as Calvet kept talking and at a point even the music I was playing couldn’t keep his voice down. “How can I still hear you” I said after parking at the parking lot. “Cause I don’t only talk out loud but also in heads, it’s also one of the powers of the curanjis” he said “So basically I can’t avoid you speaking” I said and he nodded “What about other humans” I asked “I can talk to the people I want to and I can but they’d think they are crazy since they don’t I exist or can see me” He said “Do people know you exist” I asked “Yeah some people who read about mermaids and stuff, we’ve seen some people searching for us and we hide from them with our invisibility and you’re an exception
“So what do you think will cure him” I said peeking over at what he was searching for. “You can’t cure just alleviate it” He said in a sharp tone and I could see he was said, was Asher really hurting like that. “Ok, so what do we need to alleviate it” I asked. “Well it’s a merman potion made from a mixture of herbs and the merman’s own saliva” he said. “Well we have the spit, he’s in there so where do we find the herbs” I said. “It’s not as easy as you think to get his saliva at this period and the herbs are easier to get then his saliva” He said and sighed. So after an hour of researching we found all 12 of the herbs, some of them were easy but for some not quite, on our list was, rosemary, basil, blood flower, peppermint, oat straw, bitter nightshade stem, Chinese lantern pods, saffron, sweet cicely, cinnamon , stevia and tarragon. The problem was that some of them were poisonous but not rare. “Are you sure this herbs are safe for consumption” I said and he nodded. “Not for humans but merman’s one hundred percent” He said. We ordered the blood flower, bitter nightshade and Chinese pods online but I had to buy them as pot plants since no sane person needed to eat it meanwhile we headed to the store to get the rest and the only thing we needed to buy again was the sweet cicely which was also sold in a medieval carnival I went to with Kayla and Trish, I remember the guy literally shoving it in our faces to buy so I drove there and I bought it with a discount the flower shop owner gave me the last time since we bought a rose. Back home was a mess cause Calvet didn’t know how to use the blender and didn’t even put the lid on resulting the half blended greens splatter all over the kitchen wall, I did the blending the next time and I was thankful for the extras I bought, the one thing we needed now was the saliva according to calvet and I went his door and I wanted to knock but the sound of painful groans filled my ears and I was scared to knock at first cause what if he didn’t want me to hear him in pains or he wouldn’t give up his saliva like Calvet said and turn us to little fishes till his senses came back, that one was what mostly happened to mermen who wanted to take the sick ones saliva, I knocked and for some time the groans stop and then heavy footsteps followed and then silence. “Hey, I wanted to ask...” I said but he cut me off”
“Go away” He said but it was muffled in a way maybe because he was fighting the pain. “I’ll but once you give me what I came for, I know you can read my mind and you must have read that” I said and I heard a dark chuckle that sent shivers up my spine and then, it all happened to fast, the door was unlocked and I was pulled in, I was staring face to face with Asher and his eyes looked really dark, not with pain but something else. “So you grew real smart while I was not with you, I heard it, your plea for my saliva, that little Curanji never keeps his mouth shut” He said looking at me. “He just cares about you and doesn’t want to see you in pain” I said as I could feel his eyes all over. “What about you then” He asked his voice a bit menacing. “What?” I said “He cares that am in pain, so why isn’t he here but you, do you care? “I do” I said. “Oh really” He said his gaze still lingering and then he ran his hand down my arm. “What are you doing” I said. “A pity, as scared as the rest, but it will do” He said then without a warning he kissed me, I felt this bubbling feeling in me and although I froze up I still managed to push him away. “Why’d you do that” I asked. “You wanted my saliva didn’t you, what’s wrong now, you don’t want it again” He said with a taunting smile and he didn’t seem like the Asher I know, this was a totally new side of him. “Well put your saliva in the cup” I said and the tiny tubic cup I once forgot I place in his hand but he looked at it and laughed, he’s laugh was dark and scary but also light. “He didn’t tell you why our saliva was so hard to get did he” He said and he took the tube and spat inside and gave me the tube back, he’s eyes never leaving and as I looked inside, instead of a normal sticky liquid, it was solid. “How is this possible” I said shocked and he only had a smirk on his lips and shrugged.
