We walked along in silence, our fingers still linked, watching the waves brushing the sand, listening to the jangle of the pebbles as they were swept out again.
At the end of the pier, Aaron turned to face me. He smiled.
"What a perfect night," I said. A sliver of moon shone down on the water, one little star standing guard above it.
Aaron was staring at me. "I agree," he said. "It is." He cleared his throat and swallowed hard. "But there"s one thing that would make it even more perfect," he said, so softly I barely heard him.
"What"s that?" I asked, holding my breath while I waited for his reply.
Then he leaned even closer, so I could feel his breath against my skin as he replied. "This." And then he put a hand to my cheek, stroked a hair away from my face - and kissed me.
"Hey, lovebirds!" It was Mandy. Aaron laughed and pulled away. He kept holding my hand, though. I never wanted him to let go of it again.
Someone was in the water below us, too. I looked down. "It"s me!" Shona called up, splashing us with her tail. "Come on, get in!"
"What about Mandy?" I asked.
Mandy pulled off her jacket and clambered to the edge of the pier. "I can swim, can"t I?" she said. And then she dived in, just like that.
Farther down the beach, Mom and Dad had left the crowds behind as well. Dad was swimming at the edge of the water, Mom was walking in the shallows beside him, her long skirt wet and clinging to her legs. Millie was behind her, her gown hitched up around her knees, shoes over her shoulder, talking to Aaron"s mom as they walked. Nan and Granddad were walking along beside Mom. They wouldn"t miss us for an hour or so.
Aaron looked at me and grinned. "Why not?" he said. Then he dived in and splashed up at me with his hands. A moment later, he dipped under the water, and his tail flashed in the moon"s broken reflection.
I jumped in to join them. I waited a moment as my legs melted softly away, turning into my tail. For the first time, it didn"t feel like I was changing from one thing into something else. It felt more like the two parts of me were fusing together: two halves of the same whole.
Aaron was beside me. "Race you to the lighthouse," he said, his eyes shining as brightly as the North Star.
Then he flicked his tail, dived under, and was gone.
"Race on, loser," said Mandy. Then she ducked down and chased after Aaron as best she could. Shona swam alongside her, gently flicking her tail to keep pace with Mandy. I dived under the water, gave a quick flick of my tail, and joined the race.
As I swam and splashed and played and laughed in the water with my friends, and we chased and raced each other to the lighthouse at the end of the bay, I only had one thought in my mind.
It didn"t matter who got there first. All that mattered was that we were heading there together.
Liz Kessler is the author of the books in the best-selling Emily Windsnap series as well as the Philippa Fisher books. She lives in Cornwall, England.
end.