(Tsunami's POV)

After school, I found my little brother Turtle already waiting on the steps, but he was talking to a tall boy with sandy-blond hair and black eyes that I didn't recognize. That was new. As far as I knew, Turtle had never really had many friends in middle school. Good for him. I saw my mom's sleek black limo start to pull into the parking lot. My mom was a super-famous author, and she was pretty rich. I didn't particularly care about that, though. Money can't buy a lot of things, and it's not the most important thing in life. Besides, I didn't need that much stuff anyways, though I had about twenty pearl adornments at home that Coral had given me. Anklets, bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings, you name it. Coral had some sort of obsession over pearls or something.

In the summer, I had finally gotten Coral to agree to parking and waiting for me to come to her, instead of having her pull up right in  front of the school and calling for me. It was humiliating. Of course, that meant I had to get Turtle and Anemone to come. Turtle, fine, but Anemone had always been stubborn. I walked over to Turtle, who was still talking to his friend, and poked his shoulder. "Time to go, little brother," I told him when he looked up at me.

"All right. By the way, Tsunami, this is Qibli. We met in English class," Turtle introduced the sandy-haired boy. Qibli gave me a charming smile that I was sure would make most girls trip over their own feet whenever he did it. "Hey," he said, and I echoed him. The two boys said bye and all that stuff before Turtle and I walked away while I scanned the courtyard for Anemone. I spotted her light pink-and-blue hair soon enough, and she was standing with her nose in the air, acting like everyone here was so below her social standards. The only person near her was a boy with gray-blue hair who seemed to be shadowing her, and he was scowling at the world.

"Anemone! Time to go!" I called to her, not bothering to walk over unless she was being difficult. The slightly bratty girl groaned and walked in my direction, but instead of stopping at me, she walked right past me. I shook my head, not bothering to say anything. If she went to the car, it didn't really matter. Anemone claimed the front, as usual, so I was stuck in the back with Turtle and Auklet, who Coral always brought with her because she was too paranoid to leave her at home alone. Even though Auklet was eight, Coral homeschooled us all until our first year of middle school. She was waaaaayyy to paranoid to do anything else.

As we drove home, I pulled out my phone to text my friends to see if they wanted to meet at the Outclaw Café later. When I opened my messages, I saw a new one from a number I didn't recognize. It read:

Unknown: Hi

Unknown: Is this Tsunami?

Weird. I decided to ask who they were first, because even though I could see my name, I should just appear as unknown to whoever this was. I texted back:

Tsunami: Who are you?

I got an almost instantaneous response.

Unknown: Riptide

I almost squealed. How did Riptide Wave, my crush, of all people, get my number?! I quickly entered his name, so that Riptide would show up instead of Unknown.

Tsunami: HOW DID YOU GET MY NUMBER?!

Riptide: Glory gave it to me

Glory. Of course. I should've expected she'd do this. Ooooo, maybe I could steal her phone and find out Deathbringer's number and send all these texts to him posing as her...

Riptide: Before you go kill her or whatever I'm sure you're planning to do, just know that I asked her for it, she didn't just give it to me

Tsunami: Why didn't you just ask me?

Riptide: Uhh.. I don't know?

Tsunami: Hmmm... I don't believe you, but fineeee

Riptide: Well, I figured it'd be good to have each other's numbers so that we can stay in touch and all. Still up for swimming after school on Friday?

Tsunami: Uh, yeah! I'm always ready to beat people!

Riptide: If you say so. I gotta go, sorry. See you tomorrow!

Tsunami:  See you then.

I exited the chat, turning my phone off just as we pulled into our driveway. We didn't have a mansion like Glory did, but we still had a three-floor house, plus an attic that we never used. Well, I used it sometimes when I needed a break, but mostly I locked myself in my room whenever Anemone got too annoying, or Coral was being unreasonable about something. Which was most of the time. Anemone had always been her favorite child, but ever since last summer, around three months after I had turned fifteen, when my dad, Gill, was teaching me how to drive and we ended up in an accident that killed him. The other car had hit us head-on and the driver had apologized over and over, saying that he had lost control or something.

As soon as Coral unlocked the car doors, I snatched my black backpack that had a picture of a blue wave on the front, bolting into the house, unlocking it with my own house key that I convinced Coral to give me. I immediately ran upstairs to my room, where it was calm and peaceful and ocean-themed. I zipped open my bag, grabbing my earplugs, inserting them into my ears, connecting them to my phone and turning on my favorite song, House of Memories by Panic! At the Disco. As I listened to my 'Favorites' playlist, I unpacked my backpack to get started on homework. H.O.M.E.W.O.R.K. Half of My Energy Wasted on Random Knowledge. After I had mostly finished, I headed downstairs, putting my earplugs away.

I saw Coral making something for dinner. From what I could see, I suspected some kind of fish. All she ever really made, or bought, was seafood. Fish, sushi, more fish, all that stuff. I mean, sushi is my favorite food, but the seafood can get a little excessive. Imagine having fish for almost every dinner. Gets boring after a while. I sat down at the dinner table, because Coral hardly ever let us eat on the couch, fearing that we would get food all over it. My phone beeped, and I snatched it, going straight to texts. Riptide? I thought, but got disappointed when I saw that it was just Sunny asking in our group chat if we wanted to go to the Outclaw Café tomorrow. Oops. I realized that I had forgotten to ask about today. Oh, well. I texted back with a yes, before turning off my phone and waiting for dinner. Sunny's mom, Thorn, ran the Outclaw Café, which was hands-down the best cafe in Pyrrhia.

After eating, I headed up to my room, and my phone gave another beep, so I flopped on my bed to check it. A smile spread across my face as I read it.

Riptide: Hi, Tsunami. You there?

Tsunami: I'm here

Riptide: Good. Or, actually, as of right now, probably not the best thing in the world

My face dropped. What would he mean by that?

Riptide: Because Deathbringer is here and he knows I'm texting you, and he looks like he's about to steal my phone any second now. So if you suddenly start getting some weird texts, that's why

Tsunami: Ohhhhh, got it

I remembered that Riptide and Deathbringer were best friends, and that it was right up Deathbringer's alley to take Riptide's phone and start texting stuff to everyone. Sounded a little like Glory, too, though Glory was more limited to embarrassing stuff to certain people. I had a few circumstances in mind.

Riptide: Sometimes I wonder why I ever told him my password

Tsunami: I do the same for Glory. She would've found out on her own somehow, though. Easier to just tell her. At least I know hers

Riptide: Deathbringer told me his because of this agreement we had, then he changed his password the next day

Tsunami: Sounds enough like him

Riptide:  Yeah, it does

Tsunami: I'm shocked he hasn't taken your phone yet

Riptide: Me too

Riptide: You two are boring. Why isn't there anything INTERESTING in your messages???

Tsunami: I'm just gonna assume that's Deathbringer

Riptide: Yeah, that was him. I'd better go before he grabs it again

Tsunami: Bye

With that, the conversation ended. I shut my phone off, finished my homework, and went to bed. I was always tired after the first day of school. Swimming practice started the Monday of next week, and I couldn't wait. Swimming was my thing, art was Glory's, reading was Starflight's, baking was Sunny's, and Clay liked food. I drifted off to sleep, thinking about a blue-eyed boy with sky blue hair.

And there you are! Sorry it took a few weeks, I was kinda busy. Hope you enjoyed! Decided to give you a taste of Tsunami's POV this time.

Glorybringer1163