THE FRIDAY Teresa Weissman saw a mermaid for the first time should've been a regular day.

Rikki knew she should've been more careful, but she'd gotten cocky, and it could've put all the girls in jeopardy.

If Reece was any other person, the girls would've been somewhere in a museum or an aquarium, but she wasn't, and they could thank their stars for that.

On that particular Friday, Lochlan Weissman had given Reece a day off from homeschooling, giving the girl more time to work on her projects.

Her brother had been out with friends when she decided to take her grandfather's old boat for a spin, taking a camera and binoculars with her, something she was not allowed to do under any circumstances.

Reece was like a prisoner in her house. It was too dangerous for her to be in the outside world because it risked her getting exposed, and the water was ten times worse.

If her grandfather ever found out what she did, she would probably be locked in her room until she was 40.

But he wouldn't... yet.

The water was beautiful that time of day. The sun caught the waves just right, allowing Reece to stop for a moment to admire them.

And admire them she did. For almost 20 minutes, she sat in the boat, looking at the waves.

That was when she saw it. A very familiar looking orange tail she'd seen only when she herself would get wet and once on her grandmother before she passed away. The tail of a mermaid.

Reece had never moved so quickly in her life, following the unsuspecting mermaid on the boat.

The boat was far enough from the girl that she didn't see anything, but Reece could. She'd made sure to bring the binoculars for the dolphins. Never in her life did she think she'd go mermaid watching.

The Weissman girl was close enough to see the mermaid's tail, and when she came up for air, her terrified face when she realized someone was watching her.

As quickly as she could, Reece snapped a few pictures on her grandfather's camera before the mermaid girl could swim away, and thankfully, the pictures gave her everything she needed.

Rikki had messed up big time, and the other girls would not be happy when they found out.

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"Granddad!" Reece Weissman's pink converse made the floorboards of their wooden house creak as she rushed into her grandfather's 'office', walking around extra carefully so she did not break any glass items.

After her grandmother's death, her grandfather stopped selling the glass creations she'd made, almost going bankrupt before Reece discovered she had the same ability.

Now, her grandmother's glass creations were incredibly sentimental, and she dared not go near them in fear of causing one to break.

"Reecie, where have you been?" Her grandfather asked as she put one of her shoes behind the other one, her hands in her back pockets.

When he looked up, he was immediately suspicious of the girl. She only stood that way when she did something wrong.

"Reece, what have you done?" The girl looked down, unable to look her grandfather in the eye. "I... I went out on the boat, but it was only for a bit, and you'll never believe what I saw-"

The girl was quickly cut off by her grandfather, who stood up, throwing his hands in the air.

"Do you know how dangerous that is, Reece?! You could've been seen! You could've transformed!"

"I know that, Granddad, but you don't understand. I saw something you won't believe!" She revealed the camera she'd been holding behind her back, allowing her grandfather to take it from her.

"Look through the photos." Her grandfather switched the camera on, clicking through the old photos before finally reaching the latest ones, revealing what Reece wanted to show him.

"Did Corey take these for you? Is that what you wanted to tell me?" Reece rolled her eyes as she grabbed the camera from her grandfather, going to the photo that had the girl's face.

"Don't you see, Granddad? That's not me. It's another mermaid!" The last time Lochlan Weissman's eyes widened so big was when his wife revealed her secret to him.

"That... that can't be..." He managed to stutter out before going back to his chair to sit down.

"It can, Granddad. There's proof right here." Reece pointed toward the camera, showing the mermaid once again.

A knock at the door quickly made the girl turn around, handing the camera back to her grandfather as she made her way back to the door, the floorboards creaking under her feet again.

When she opened the door, her brother's smiling face beemed back at her, causing her to roll her eyes.

"You've been out with a girl, haven't you?" The girl questioned, an annoyed expression on her face.

"Now what makes you think that?" Corey questioned in return. "You're smiling like an idiot."

Corey pushed past Reece into the small house. "What I do is none of your business."

"What you do is my business. I never get to go out and you get to do anything you want."

Corey made his way to the kitchen, picking up a glass of water as he entered the living room once again, sipping the liquid slowly.

"You know I can technically use this as a weapon on you at any time? I can turn you into a fish at will." Reece rolled her eyes once again.

"You know I can technically turn your blood into glass if I wanted to?" Footsteps caught their attention as their grandfather made his way to the living room, an angry look on his face.

"That's enough from both of you." Both siblings remained quiet, glancing at each other as their grandfather stared at them, the camera Reece gave him only a moment before in his hands.

Reece could see what he was doing before he could hide it, and she knew she could do nothing to stop him. He was deleting the photos.

"I know what your thinking, Reecie, but get it out of your head. It's not worth it." With the final click of a button, all the photos had disappeared, leaving Reece with no hope left.

She thought that it meant more people like her. She thought that she could finally have a friend who would understand her better than her grandfather or her brother could.

She thought that it meant being able to finally leave her house, to go to school like Corey did, but all that hope vanished the second her grandfather pushed that button.

But nonetheless, she listened. She got the thought out of her head before it could corrupt her more.

As her grandfather left, leaving the camera on the counter, the girl made her way to the couch, sitting down with a sigh.

She felt the couch sag beside her as Corey sat down, a strangely empathetic look on his face. "What was that all about?" He asked, setting the water glass down on the coffee table.

"I went out on the boat today and saw another mermaid." The boy's eyes widened.

"What? That's amazing. Why do you look so upset?"

"Granddad deleted the photos I had of her. He doesn't want me to make a friend and it shows. He treats me like one of Grandmum's glass dolphins. He's too afraid I might break that he won't let me do anything."

When Reece looked beside her, she realized that Corey had stopped listening to her, instead holding the camera in his hand, clicking through the photos.

"You're not gonna find anything. It's all gone." Corey shook his head, clicking a few more buttons before a single picture of the mermaid came up, making Reece's eyes widen.

"How did you do that?" She questioned, amazed by the fact that her brother could do what he did.

"A magician never reveals his secrets. Is this her?" Reece nodded as he inspected the photo carefully.

"Hold on, I think I've seen her before." Corey squinted, looking closer at the girl's face.

If a lightbulb actually appeared when a person had a revelation, Reece was sure she would be seeing one above Corey's head at that moment.

"I have seen her before. Rikki Chadwick. She goes to school with me. Seriously, she's a fish freak just like my sister?"

Reece slapped Corey's arm hard in protest, causing him to flinch away from her. "Just when I was beginning to think you were cool again." Reece spoke disapprovingly.

"Sorry, I meant to say beautiful fish freak."

"Can you help me talk to her or not?" Corey thought for a moment before putting the camera down.

"Yeah, I know where she lives." He spoke softer than normal, so his grandfather didn't hear him.

"And how do you plan on getting me there?" Corey looked at her with a blank expression on his face.

"You've proven that you can drive a boat today. You'll be able to get us both there. I'll just have to show you the way."

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The next morning, Rikki woke up with the world's biggest headache. She'd gotten into a heated argument with Emma the night before, ending when she eventually decided to go home.

She didn't know what she could do. Cleo suggested that they attempt to solve the issue together, but Emma took a different approach.

She reasoned that getting exposed was Rikki's fault, and that she should be the one to come up with a solution.

Naturally, it led to an argument.

She'd been up most of the night, trying to decide what to do about the whole situation, only landing on two options.

She could try to track the girl down, but she didn't recognize her, and she didn't know where she could find her.

The second, and least plausible solution was to move far away where she wouldn't be found, but that seemed stupid.

A knock at the door caught her attention as she put her pillow over her head, attempting to drown out the noise, but failing when the person at the door knocked harder.

Rikki groaned, getting up from her bed and making her way to the door, rubbing her eyes as she walked, still in her pajamas.

When she opened it, however, it was as if someone had knocked the wind out of her. The girl at the door was not someone she recognized instantly, but as she stared at her, it became more clear who the girl was.

The girl from the boat was standing on her doorstep. The girl that had the picture of her was standing on her doorstep and she had no idea what to do.

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a/n- First chapter finally done! This took me so long to write but I'm honestly kind of proud of it! I hope you are all enjoying this as much as I am.

Please don't be a ghost reader! I'm having such a horrible time, and I really appreciate the votes and the comments!

Much Love, Danni <3