Mer broke the surface of the water and was surprised to not see the tent that was usually there. He looked around to see if maybe Oscar had set up somewhere else. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked around the beach to see if he could find Oscar on the shore. He was surprised to see three people on the far end of the beach. Mer swam over to see what was going on and resurfaced just as one of the people pushed someone down. Mer narrowed his eyes, seeing the person who got pushed was Oscar. He had never seen these two other humans but he knew what a shove was and the dynamics seemed hostile. He swam a little closer to hear what was going on.

*****************************

"I can't believe you read this gay shit..." Trent says, looking through the merfolk encyclopedia. "You actually find this entertaining?"

"Give the book back." Oscar growled from the ground. "It's not mine."

"Did your boyfriend give it to you?"

"No, it's from the library. Like, it's their property. How do you not know how a library works? Don't you live here?"

Trent side-eyed him. "You believe in this crap, don't you? You actually believe in the fairytales that the drunk guys at the bar started and made this place popular? I didn't know you were gay and stupid."

"I'm not either of them. Just because I wanted to know about merfolk doesn't mean I'm gay and what's so wrong around liking fantasy stuff? Stop talking like you actually understand how to speak."

Jeffrey had to chuckle at that but Trent seemed to take the insult personally. No one knew that he actually didn't have much of an education and so Oscar throwing back at him how stupid he may have sounded really pissed him off. He threw the book into the sand and then grabbed Oscar by the collar. He started dragging him to the water.

"You want to prove that mermaids are real? Come on, show me. If they're so real, then if I throw you into the water, will one come to save you?"

"Well, I can swim-"

Trent punched Oscar in the stomach, causing the wind to be knocked out of him, and then he walked him into the water. He threw him in and crossed his arms. Jeffrey frowned from the shore.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

"If he believes in mermaids so much, have one of them rescue him."

"Trent, you know they aren't real. Are you trying to murder him?"

"Pipe down, he'll be fine."

A few minutes went by and Oscar never resurfaced. Trent started to get a little nervous. Another few minutes went by and he started walking more into the ocean.

"Oscar? Yo, stop screwing around! I didn't hit you that hard!"

Jeffrey started to panic and step backwards.

"I'm- I'm going to get Mr. Isaiah-"

"Don't! Why would you do that? We'll get in trouble!"

"Oscar could be dead! I'm not getting pulled into something like that. My dad can't afford a lawyer or anything else that comes with it."

"Just... just give me a moment..." Trent said, running his fingers through his red hair.

He scanned the water for a moment when he thought he saw something floating there. He squinted his eyes to try and see better when he felt something brush past his leg. He gasped, starting to look around. Jeffrey watched in a panic, his blue eyes seeming to widen bigger and bigger. First Oscar is nowhere to be found and now Trent might be getting attacked by something? Oh god... not two people dying...

Trent tried to keep his cool, knowing that sharks only attack people if you provoke them. He wasn't academically smart, but he was smart about the water. He felt something wrap around his ankle and he froze in fear. He was pulled under the water in a flash.

**************************

Jeffrey yelled at seeing Trent get pulled underwater and started walking the up and down the beach, panicking. He didn't know who he should call! Isaiah, his dad, the police, the coast guard... Ghostbusters?! Just as he turned again, he saw someone walking up to him, drying out their shirt.

"Oscar?!" he screamed in both delight and confusion.

Oscar looked up as Jeffrey ran to him and was surprised to get a hug from the bully-accomplice.

"Um... hello?"

"Oh my god, I thought you drowned! You didn't come up after Trent punched you and so I thought..."

"I almost did!" Oscar yelled angrily. "If it hadn't been for Mer then I would have friggin died!"

"Mer?"

"The merman." Oscar growled, walking past him. "Where's that stupid Trent?"

"Um... he... when you didn't come up, he went to see if you maybe hit your head or something... But then he got pulled underwater."

Oscar looked over the ocean to scan the water when he suddenly spied something splash out of the water waaaay off in the distance.

"Is that him?" he asked, pointing at the splashing figure.

Jeffrey squinted. "I can't tell... TRENT! TRENT, IS THAT YOU?!" he screamed.

"Help me!" they could faintly hear over the waves.

"How'd he get way out there?" Oscar asked.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bright blue and green fin dive under the waves. Jeffrey saw it too and started panicking again, grabbing onto Oscar's shirt.

"What the hell was that? Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I saw it..."

They looked at where Trent was and noticed he had stopped splashing. He was still treading water, but he wasn't acting hysterical anymore.

"Are you okay?!" Jeffrey yelled.

"There's something in the water! I think it's the thing that pulled me under the first time!" he yelled back.

Oscar made a face. Mer, please don't kill him. I can't have murder on my hands... Something bright blue emerged right behind Trent, causing Jeffrey to yank on Oscar's shirt even more. Oscar finally wrangled his hands off of him.

"Will you pull on your own shirt? You're a sucky bully."

"Trent's the only other kid around my age around here. I don't have a lot of choices in friends." He growled.

"Wouldn't it be better to be alone?"

"I'm not like you, Mr. California."

"I don't live in California, for the fourth time today."

"What's that thing doing?" Jeffrey squealed, pointing at Trent.

Oscar looked over and could see Trent staring at the figure. It was hard to tell what was happening but he didn't see any threatening actions at the moment. That is, until they both went under the water. Oscar took his shirt off and threw it at Jeffrey.

"If you like pulling on it so much, here. I'm going to see what is going on."

He dived into the water and started swimming out towards the two.

************************

Mer was irate. This was the angriest he had ever been in a long time. Those humans were horrible! How dare they hurt his friend? Not only that, when Mer went down to save Oscar, he found him not breathing. This was the second time this week that Mer thought his friend was a goner. He grabbed Oscar up under his armpits and got him back to shore as quickly as possible. Once he got him on land, Mer frantically tried to figure out what to do. He smacked him and pushed on him hard to wake up. The pushing seemed to be hard enough to get Oscar to breathe again and he coughed hard, throwing up the water he had inhaled after his diaphragm relaxed from the spasm it incurred from the punch.

Mer was just thankful he was alive and pulled himself up on the shore to help Oscar sit up. Oscar coughed for a few more minutes and then sat back, breathing hard.

"I thought... I was going... to die..." he said, breathing heavily.

Mer pointed at himself. Oscar smiled.

"I didn't know you were around."

Mer thumbed at the humans down the beach with a questionable look.

"Remember when I told you that my dad thought I was making friends but they were making fun of me?" Mer nodded. "That's them. Dad said I had to just hang out with them this one time because of that dude's dad. Jeff seems okay but Trent's a douchebag. He's the one who punched me and threw me in the water."

Mer lifted his lip in disgust, his eyes doing something odd that Oscar had never seen before.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It happens."

Mer didn't seem to be listening and he made his way back to the water and jumped in. He swam as close to the ocean floor as possible to keep his scales from being reflected in the water and he could hear the other two humans yelling about Oscar. One of them waded in the water and Mer went out a bit so he could see who it was. It was the big one... the Trent. He dived back down and made sure to swim as close as possible, at the last second, flicking the fan of his tail so that it brushed by the Trent's leg. As expected, he freaked out. Then Mer came back again, this time allowing his tail to skim against the Trent. For the finishing touch, he grabbed the Trent by the ankle and pulled him underwater.

As soon as the Trent's whole body was underwater, Mer took off. He swam as fast as he could towards deeper water and then let him go, swimming away to watch. Bewildered, the Trent seemed to know how to swim (much to Mer's chagrin) and rose to the surface of the water. With enough water between the surface and the deep, Mer watched him from below, calculating his next plan. He was just so angry... As he watched him flail, an actual shark started swimming over to see what the commotion was about, but it was baby shark, so Mer scared it away. Seeing the shark, though, Mer's eyes flashed and he swam a little bit away and broke the surface of the water. He then dived back in and went under the Trent, grabbing both of his ankles to get him to stay still. It worked and then Mer surfaced behind him.

**************************

Trent was trembling when he thought he sensed something behind him, he turned, finding a strikingly beautiful boy with long blue hair next to him. He was about to say something when the boy's eyes seemed to shimmer and Trent found himself almost paralyzed, but not particularly afraid. He could suddenly hear something humming, as if someone was humming a song, and he felt extremely relaxed. He wasn't afraid at all. Then it was wet again, but everything was so lovely and beautiful and the boy was extraordinarily gorgeous. Now that he could see so clearly, he witnessed the beautiful blue and green scales that made up Mer's tail. It was like a dream and a drug trip at the same time and Trent was okay with that. The merman had been holding him tightly by the arms but as time went on, the merman's grip was getting looser and looser. It should have panicked Trent, but he was too entranced with the merman's beauty to care. Eventually, the only think keeping Trent from being lost as sea was the merman's long, scaly fingers just barely holding his face under the chin.

And then, they slid away.

Trent felt like he had just witnessed a spiritual experience as the waves pulled him away from the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on when this fucking rock slammed into him and he passed out.

***************************

Oscar pulled Trent out of the water and started doing compressions on his chest. He didn't know how to do CPR properly, but he knew he needed to do something. Trent had been under the water for way too long. He hated that he had to do it, but he held Trent's nose and forced air into his lungs. Jeffrey was panicking, as usual, so Oscar knew he'd get no help. He finally slammed his fists into Trent's chest and he gasped, coughing up water.

Oscar sighed in relief and turned to the water, glaring at Mer. Mer as glaring at him too. Although they didn't know much sign language yet, they knew enough basics.

We. Talk. Later. Go. Oscar signed to him.

Mer looked like he hissed but he slinked away as Oscar turned his attention back to Trent. Coming back to his senses, Trent suddenly jumped, seeming surprised to be back on land.

"How did I get back here?"

"I saved you from drowning." Oscar growled.

Trent seemed confused. "I wasn't drowning. I was looking for you! We thought that you drowned."

"I did. Then you got pulled underwater and I had to go and get you."

"That's not what happened. I was looking for you and then a wave came and I hit my head or something. I was having this really trippy dream about a mermaid."

"That actually happened, you moron! He was trying to drown you! If I hadn't come and grabbed you, you would have been out there floating along for shark chum."

Trent was really confused and Oscar sighed.

"Look, Mer tried to drown you because you hurt me. I suggest not telling anyone about all this and calling Jeff's dad to take you home. You should get some rest."

Trent was still dazed, but Jeffrey was done for the day. He really just wanted to go home and reflect on his little life for a moment.

"A nice sleep will help you get some clarity, I think." Jeffrey said, helping Trent stand up. He turned to Oscar. "We won't come here anymore, especially if your pet mermaid is going to drown people. I'm going to tell my dad something else."

"I don't think he'd believe you if you tried to tell him the truth."

"Well, I'm not getting in trouble. Tell your mermaid to chill out."

"Tell your boss not to bully me near water."

"He's not my boss."

"Sure seems like it. You do whatever he says no matter what, right? My dad said people who do that are called ass-kissers and annoy everyone. Why don't you find better friends?"

"Because all my friends leave for the summer; he's all I have."

"Dude, he's horrible! I mean, I'll be here every summer. I'm not that much fun but I'm better than him. All he's gonna do is get you in the trouble you don't want to be in."

Jeffrey just rolled his eyes as he led Trent up the beach, who was still very delirious from everything and hadn't paid them any attention.

Oscar watched them leave and then turned back to the ocean, finding Mer staring at him with just his eyes above the surface.

"You have some explaining to do." Oscar said.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

science time 1: did you know that most sharks don't mess with humans unless they are really far out and happen to be above the shark? sharks actually hunt under their prey, so they only see shadows when they look up. that's why surfers get attacked a lot, because to the shark they look like seals. there are a few that attack unprovoked but most of them are afraid of people and swim away unless they mistake you for food

science time 2: when you 'get the wind knocked out of you' it actually has to do with your diaphragm spasming from the impact, making you exhale heavily and cause you to have no breathe for a few seconds.