Whitney sat in class for the sixth day that week. They had to convince everyone to pretend to do Friday over, but with Sam’s charm, even the secretary now thought it was Friday. Heck, Whitney was sure that by the time Sam got done with everyone, the whole state would think it was Friday. Once they left, they would expect something happened, but at least she was going to get her good-bye in.
Whitney waved hi to her friends as she left her locker and headed to the cafeteria. As expected, Jade sat at their table.
“Hey now, who’s the one being all sad?” Whitney teased.
Jade looked up, and for a second, Whitney thought there might have been tears in her eyes. Jade smiled, but it was a forced one.
“What’s wrong?” Whitney asked with her best fake concern. She already knew what was wrong. They carried Jade, Jax, and Rommy to the boat they came to the island on and put them back on the shore with one of the mer bodies as Jax suggested.
“We’re leaving,” Jade blurted out.
Now Whitney didn’t need to fake it. She was sad. It was hard keeping her siren side hidden, but in the two weeks she had known Jade, she felt that Jade was a forever type of friend.
“Really?” Whitney asked as Jax joined them.
“Yeah, our house is all packed, and Mom is already making arrangements to go to her next job.”
“Boo,” Whitney told him. “I was hoping you guys would at least stick around long enough to meet my friends once they stop being idiots.”
Jade smiled now, and it was a real smile. She stood up and walked across the lunchroom.
“You, you, you, and you …” She pointed at each of Whitney’s siren friends. “Why the heck are you guys being idiots and staying away from your friend? If you guys were any friends at all, you’d realize being popular isn’t worth it.”
With that, Jade marched back over to Whitney while the stunned lunchroom slowly began to clap. Whitney smiled as she watched the faces around her. She was pretty sure most of them hadn’t heard Jade speak once in the past two weeks.
“Hopefully they’ll get their heads out of their butts by next week and come back around,” Jade added with a triumphant smile. Whitney rose, slid over to the other side of the table next to Jade, and gave her a hug.
“There’s Mom,” Jax said as he stood and pointed to the hallway leading back to the front doors of the school.
“When you said leaving, you meant right now?” Whitney asked. She hadn’t been expecting that.
“Yeah, Mom’s prompt on these things. Sorry, we have to go. Make sure to call me all the time and tell me about your hot boyfriend. I have to live vicariously through you since I have no time for boys.” Jade and Whitney hugged before Jade bent down and grabbed her bag.
Jax stood behind his sister and smiled at Whitney.
“Thanks for everything. If you ever need any help, make sure to call,” he added cryptically before walking away with his sister. She had a feeling Jax knew more than he was letting on, but she let it go. She already knew he was a good guy.
Whitney watched sadly as her two new friends left. She would never have guessed that Jade was going to be such a great friend. Having her leave was harder than she expected, but now she wouldn’t have to worry all the time about hiding her mer side. She would be lonely, but at least safe.
‘I wish that was true,’ Sam said, peeking into her mind again. She glanced up and saw him leaning outside the doors, close enough to watch her but not intrude.
‘Yeah, I know I’ll get my friends back after our next lesson,’ she replied.
‘No, I was talking about the safe part. I’m pretty sure my father took last night as a declaration of war, and we are smack dab in the middle of it.’