Icarus was about ready to fall asleep, this class was so boring she'd been just sitting and waiting for it to end. First week back at school and she was ready for it to be over.

Not only did she hate school because she was bad at it, but she didn't have many friends there. And worst of all, there was a mandatory school uniform that was NOT cute at all. She did her best to make it cute, with a hello kitty backpack, fun hair style and smiggle pencil case, but the navy skort and polo shirt were so boring.

She fiddled with the charms on her flip phone, watching the clock tick and eagerly waiting for the bell to go off.

The first assignment of the year for this class was to complete a work pack on geometry, something she found boring as hell. She knew she'd regret it if she didn't do it in class and had to spend her weekends doing math. So she bit the bullet and did it during class so she could have the weekend free. But now she was bored because she'd finished it early.

Glancing up at the teacher to make sure she wasn't paying attention, she opened her flip phone and decided to text her her bestie.

Message to: Aries.
Hey I'm gonna go shopping at the boardwalk after school. Wanna come?

She looked up at the clock again, 30 minutes until class ended. Soon after she sent the text, she got a reply and almost had a heart attack when her text tone went off at full volume. Luckily no one was paying attention.

Message from: Aries.
Sure. I need more human clothes anyway, all my traditional Izroulian clothes don't really blend in. I'll wait by the front of your school.

So it was a plan, they'd go shopping. The mention of traditional Izroulian clothes made her interest peak as well, what did they look like? Aries did mention a while ago that mermaid did indeed wear shell tops for celebrations, so maybe they fit that aesthetic?

After a gruelling 30 minutes, the bell finally went and she was out of that classroom in seconds. Out the front of the school by the sign reading Sunswell senior high school, Aries leaned against the gate with a bag on their shoulder and Sea Shepard tank top on, promoting the ocean conservation organisation.

"Hey, let's get food first I'm starving" Icarus suggested, approaching the siren.

"Good, I'm hungry too. There's churros on the boardwalk isn't there?" Aries replied.

"Yes, and they're the best ones you'll ever have. Let's go"

The boardwalk was known for being a little bit expensive with their shops, but having the best quality clothes on the coast. There were multiple clothing shops, a surf shack known for its reef safe board wax, a diving gear shop, a fishing shop, multiple cafes and restaurants and Icarus' favourite the souvenir shop.

The shop titled 'pointbreak goodies' was one of those shops aimed at tourists looking for something to bring back from Australia. But there was just something so nostalgic and cute about those 'someone who loves me very much went to Australia and got me this shirt' graphic tees she loves. Not to mention they had the cutest beach towels and stuffed animals of Australian sea creatures.

The boardwalk was always busy too, kids coming from after school to hang out and water sport clubs getting lunch at one of the cafes. All the way at the very end of the boardwalk, past the shops the jetty diverted down two paths. One toward the shore where kids would jump off the jetty and swim over to the pontoon to play, and one long path that headed into the marina where all the boats were docked.

The two merfolk got themselves a snack of churros and slushies, before going down the row of shops looking for cute stuff to buy. Since being in the human realm, Aries found themselves gravitating toward surf fashion. Roxy tops, rip curl board shorts, wave zone hats and, Havianas thongs (or flip flops for the Americans). As well as that old school childhood summer aesthetic of heart sunglasses, button ups tied at the front and high waisted shorts.

So the surf shack was easily their favourite shop yet.

"Ooh! This is so cute! Wait... hey Aries?" Icarus began, holding a pink and yellow hibiscus bikini set.

"Yeah?" Aries replied, flipping through the rack of cropped shirts.

Icarus stepped closer to keep her voice down, a mermaid question on her mind.

"You know how when I transform I automatically have a bikini top? Can I change that top? Like if I swap it will it be the same one I have on next time I transform?" She asked.

"Yeah, as long as it's in contact with your skin when you transform, that top will become part of the enchantment" Aries replied.

Icarus liked this top better than her current one. It matched her tail better. The top she had now was just the one she'd worn when she fell into the pool, she hadn't thought about it matching her tail because she didn't even know she'd get one.

"Oh good. This one matches the pink way better, I need to get it. And out of curiosity, does that work on anyone? Or just people with female presenting chests?" She asked.

"It can work with anyone. A man can wear a top if they want and make it part of the transformation enchantment" Aries replied, deciding on a shirt from the rack they wanted.

When Aries was still in hiding back in izroulia, it was hard to find someone to do top surgery without it being on record. If it was on record then the queen and her henchmen would know a siren was still alive in the realm. But thanks to the bond seapeople had regardless of their species, they managed to find a Naiad who could perform the survey in secret for them, they were forever grateful to that Naiad for sticking their neck out for a young siren.

"You think I should get the pink on yellow, or yellow on pink?" Icarus asked.

Aries looked at the two options against Icarus' tanned skin and decided pink on yellow was most flattering. Not to mention it'd match her tail better. Icarus really didn't need ANOTHER bikini set, but it was too cute to pass up. After paying for their clothes, they went over to the next shop which was a standard convenience store. Icarus wanted the newest issue if popteen magazine, and Aries was immediately drawn in by the massive rack of phone charms.

"Dude I can never pass that rack, I have a whole box of phone charms it's getting ridiculous" Icarus snickered, seeing Aries scanning each one deciding one to get.

"Your phone is like a lethal weapon with the amount of phone charms on it" Aries joked.

Icarus looked down at her phone in her hand and the 15 phone charms hanging off it, Aries wasn't wrong. A whack from all those charms would probably hurt.

"At least no creeps will dare come near me knowing I'll whack them with my many hello kitties" Icarus snickered.

Aries picked up an usahana charm from the rack, and couldn't say no to getting it. It was only $2 anyway.

Finally having gone through all the shops, the two went down to the beach and sat on one of the sand dunes looking out over the ocean. Aries fiddled with the phone charm, putting it on their phone. While Icarus flipped through her magazine looking for the latest fashion must haves.

"How's school now you're back?" Aries asked.

"Ugh, I'm already ready for it to be over. You're lucky you don't have to go. What do you do all day anyway if you don't have school?" Icarus replied.

"Magic stuff. Swimming, looking for clues to where the pod is, watching the spirit pool for any anomalies. That kind of stuff, also looking for houses"

"Houses?"

"If I'm gonna be here for an extended period of time, I kinda need a house. I can't camp at the spirit pool forever"

That was true, when it rained a siren kind of needed cover. Being out in the open at the spirit pool was probably not a good idea.

"How do you have the money for that?" Icarus asked.

"Magic. It's illegal to use prosperity spells in izroulia for obvious reasons. But I'm not in izroulia right now aren't it? I can be as rich as I want here" Aries replied.

"You can magic up money? So you don't have to work?"

"Here, yes. But in izroulia no, for legal reasons. I think I'll get something small near the beach, I don't need anything fancy if it's just me"

Now Icarus wanted her hands on that spell so she could buy all the shoes she wanted. Although her mum would probably be suspicious if she suddenly had designer shoes even through she had no job. So maybe she'd hold off on that...

"Speaking of magic, I think I'm decent at powers now. I haven't accidentally sprayed myself with water while trying to brush my teeth by accidentally making the pipes fill up for a whole week now" Icarus said.

"See? Told you it gets easier. Haven't had any close calls at school?" Aries asked.

"Nope. I'm careful. Water bottle is sealed tight, I don't sit anywhere near the water fountains or sprinklers and when we do beach volleyball the net isn't close enough to the water for the ball to get wet anyway"

"Good, not many hiding places in a school I assume"

"Not really, can't hide in the bathroom because there's always some girl crying over her ass of a boyfriend with her buddies in there. Can't get into the storage rooms because they're locked and there's no hidden hallway or anything. If I get wet at school my best bet is to book it for the jetty just outside the property and jump in"

That sounded stressful, but at least she had a plan. Her school was right next to the beach so there was an escape route if needed, but it would raise some eyebrows if someone saw her jump into the ocean during schools hours fully clothed.

"I don't have any homework this weekend so we can do some pod hunting. I'm curious now, I wanna know where they are after hearing the full story" Icarus said.

"Sounds like a plan, I've checked the main beaches and found nothing. We gotta go past the marina next" Aries replied.

"We can dodge boats if we swim deep enough, doesn't sound to risky"

For having only been a few weeks since Icarus transformed, she was already acting as if she'd been a mermaid her whole life. She was getting good at her magic, she remembered every detail Aries told her and was eager to find the missing pod already. Aries was lucky to have Icarus of all people become a mermaid, she was taking everything like a champ. First week back at school and no drama or close calls, already managing to balance school and magic. She was truly a mermaid at heart with how well she was adjusting.

Maybe she was always meant to be a mermaid. And the two were always meant to meet. The three fates worked in mysterious ways, and Aries couldn't help but feel the whole situation was something akin to fate.