MARILYN: THE PASSION AND THE PARADOX by LOIS BANNER

I've started reading Marilyn: The Passion and The Paradox by Lois Banner and I'm loving it so far. A child of the movies - Marilyn's mother worked at the studios - Marilyn Monroe's life reads like one very eventful and memorable film.
   I have so much that I 'intend' to read and it's quite difficult when I write as well to read all the novels and biographies and autobiographies I'd like to, but I'm so glad I started this.
   For ages I've enjoyed biographies and particularly ones about movie stars. I am only a few chapters into Banner's work and so far I'm finding it (initially academic) but also a brilliant, page-turning read. Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox is the most detailed account of Marilyn Monroe's life that I have ever read.
   I studied Marilyn's life in detail as a teenager for a play I was writing and performing in and I didn't think there was anything much that hadn't already been written about her or anything public that I didn't know. Some people may find the early accounts in this remarkable (and at first, quite literary work) a case of "too much information" - there are details about her most personal issues - but I have found in this (so far) a remarkable portrait of a remarkable woman, star, icon: part love letter, all real and very telling about the studio system that Marilyn had to navigate to survive.
   So many people out there (including me) are Marilyn fans and we are never going to forget one of the most enduring and iconic movie stars ever as long as writers keep writing about her. Marilyn never wanted to be "a joke" and I think this biography relays anything but. Without making her subject sound too serious or too glib, Banner finds a real person in the telling of Marilyn's story.
   When fantastic writers keep writing great accounts of her (admittedly rich life - rich in drama, comedy, tragedy, detail and beauty), we'll keep reading.
    I'm putting up these photos to remind you all how beautiful she was, how much she wanted to "improve herself" (even though she was already and always perfect in the eyes of her fans and those who knew and loved her) and just what a kind and sweet person she seemed to be.
    Marilyn's inner beauty shines through in this biography - that she was kind to others, gave her friends money when they needed it, that she always sought love and to improve her mind, that she was insecure yet unstoppable even when every metaphorical door slammed in her face. Marilyn worked so hard to become a star (she is quoted as saying, "I knew just how third rate I was") - yet she seemed to grasp the happiness she found (when she found it) with both hands.
    These photos remind me how much reading about her life has meant to me and I hope if you haven't read about Marilyn before that you start to now!

THE MAGIC MERMAID #One (Storm) by Summer Day

The Magic Mermaid by Summer Day

As Storm Sunshine opened her locker, hair dripping wet, she noticed Jack Hunter from the corner of her eye. He’d arrived early and was going to the gym to practice shooting hoops. He was talking to his girlfriend Sara Bright. They were hunched in a corner discussing whatever. Everyone talked about them. Not only was Sara good looking and brilliant, but, in a school of unusually mismatched couples, Jack was too. Plus, he was the star of the basketball team and an awesome swimmer.

   Storm was the new girl. She always seemed to be the new girl. Storm wished she’d made more of an effort to make friends but she was always the last person to class, hair soaking, a pool of water staining the small of her back from her shoulder length hair. The tiny gills at the base of her neck were only on display underwater. They left a mark during the day but this was always covered with a thin but fashionable scarf, just in case anyone noticed.

    Queen Bee, Lavinia Snow, once taunted Storm. Lavinia asked her underlings, “Don’t you just love the smell of chlorine?” as if she didn’t.

    Storm could have played her bluff and agreed with her, since she didn’t find the smell of chlorine offensive; but Storm had been swimming in salt water so she knew Lavinia was lying. The school pool, the one she’d soon be forced to submerge herself in, was too heavily chlorinated, it was true. If she wanted to fit in and be ready for class, she’d have to go swimming there instead of the ocean pool nearer home. It was the only time she really became herself - in water. Storm lived for those moments; and to see Jack Hunter’s face again.   

    Storm checked her schedule. Her foster mom had been pretty nice about making sure she had all the right things, even packed her lunch with those tuna sushi rolls Storm craved; but Storm missed her real family more every day. She missed their beautiful home made out of forgotten treasure; its winding mote and secret tunnels, the natural wave pool with its lace like fence, decorated with shells and illuminated at night in fluorescence. The view of the ocean was as incomparable as her true family’s laughter. The night stars and the sound of her sister’s conversation warmed her on chilly evenings.

    It was true, the world she came from had only one season – wet – but still, they felt the changes from above. Storm ached from being kept apart from her siblings, but she’d made her choice and she was determined to stand by it. The great change had all happened only days ago.

THE MAGIC MERMAID #Two (Sail) by Summer Day

    That night, and every night for a week, Storm dreamed of the boy in the sailing boat, the boy she’d rescued from the ocean. It took all of those days for Storm to decide to do something pro-active about her longing. She had to meet him again. Jack. Jack Hunter. It was a lovely name; a name that played on her lips and offered an ocean of possibilities.

   The next morning, Storm decided to find him.

   For years, Cynthia had lived in a sea cave not far from Storm’s ocean home. Cynthia had been cast out. Some said she lured a human to her cave once and he was never seen again. This was against the law. She was no longer a mermaid but Cynthia practiced a powerful magic that no mermaid or human could ever conjure. All said, if you wanted something impossible, Cynthia was the only one to provide it.

   The next morning, the noise of the busy underwater world woke Storm. She was covered in pink lilies on her water bed, listening to the ocean rumble. Storm pulled on her lily shawl after a stretch and swam to Cynthia’s hide out in the rock caves near the cliff.

   Some said, Cynthia was at least a hundred years old, but she did not look a day over twenty.

    “Come in Storm, I have been expecting you. I had a hunch you would be coming today.”

   Cynthia told fortunes using magic shells. Storm’s mermaid friends once told her that Cynthia’s readings helped them decide who to date and who not to date. They were careful never to ask her for anything wicked or mean as those requests could turn against them. Cynthia herself placed no limits on the magic her mermaid clients requested.

    “Ah, the lovely Storm,” Cynthia intoned in her deep and spooky voice. “What is it you want from me today?”

    Storm hesitated. She knew her sisters would be horrified if they knew what she was about to do – and all for the love of a boy she’d never even spoken to. She knew it was crazy but she wanted it so bad… all her life she’d wanted to…

   “… Walk on land, to become human. Is it possible to do this? Some say it is.” The sea sorcerer hesitated, and then spoke.

   “Of course, child.  All things or at least, many things are possible with my help. The only thing I ask in return is…”

    In that moment, the woman’s eyes gleamed. Using her witchy fingers, she picked a particularly beguiling gem off Storm’s tail. The skin of the mermaid’s tail had grown around the gems for sixteen years and it pinched as the gems lifted. Storm’s shells shone brightly fluorescent under Cynthia’s gaze.

   “I ask only for all of your beautiful gems and shells in return.”

   “But my gems were given to me by my grandmother and her grandmother before her…”

   “Ah, well, off you go dear. You must not want what you say you want very badly at all. Perhaps it is for the best. The cost in being human is enormous – more than you could ever imagine.”

    Storm began to swim away. Then, hesitating, she measured the weight of her Jewels against the weight of her love for Jack. She needed to see him, had to see him again. She longed to walk side by side with him. Storm could never do that as a mermaid. She would always be gifted, sure. She knew her ability to swim fast and save people was unsurpassed, but those abilities didn’t make her human.

    “Wait, please.”

     Cynthia knew it, she had her then.

    “Before I do this, make you human, you have to know it comes at a great cost. We never know how bad it is going to be but, at first, when you try to walk you are barely going to be able to stand. To walk even an inch will cause you enormous, burn like pain at best. This should wear off after a few days…”

    “A few days?”

   “Or never.”

   “Never?”

   “It’s your choice. And remember, the only way back to your family under the sea once you’ve made your decision… Oh, there isn’t a way. So, what’s it to be, lovey? I haven’t got all day.”

   Storm hesitated, sea urchins played with her golden curls while she decided what to do. Meanwhile, Cynthia had started to pick at Storm’s perfect, shimmering jewels, as if they were scabs on skin.

   “I’ll take the chance.”

   “Thought you might say that. They all do. Teenage girls and their notion of love! Don’t you ever wonder if the boys would give it all up for you?”

   Storm hadn’t, she had only wondered what her sisters would say but there was nothing to be done. She’d leave them a note; it was the only way to leave without tears.    

    “You’ll need this, and this.” In waterproof marker (of course) the woman handed Jewel a map, instructions and the name of a couple and a school. This is the name of the family you’ll stay with. This is the name of the school you’ll attend: Sloan Select. They’re okay with girls like you.”

    “You mean ex-mermaids?”

    “Not exactly. Listen girlfriend, you need to wise up. This transformation is not easy. It takes some pretty powerful magic to make you over. This school, Sloan Select High, it’s for outcasts and weirdos - the extremely gifted and the very talented; a place kids go once the mainstream has rejected them.”  The woman chuckled as she placed her hands into Storm’s and chanted some words. Already, Storm realized, she would wake human but be labeled a reject. Still, she had no choice. These were the limitations placed on her transformation and there was nothing else to do; Storm wanted to be with Jack again.  

   “Bon chance,” Cynthia said. Storm looked surprised.

   “I’ve had years to study here. I speak at least six languages.”  

    The sea sorcerer waved Storm away and told her to swim to the surface. Once there, Storm would fall asleep on the beach from exhaustion and when she woke the next morning, she would be human and helpless, until she could learn to swim using her legs and become strong again.

THE MAGIC MERMAID #three (Swimming) by Summer Day

The next day, Storm was born anew, just as the woman in the cave told her she would be. The ache started in the joints of her legs and to stand was not only difficult but excruciating. Storm whimpered and cried out in agony. Thankfully, the pain subsided after a few hours. The girl studied her feet, toes and limbs; she crawled onto the face of a rock and leaned onto another with the great effort it took to stand. Finally, Storm stood on her own two feet for the first time. She took the package wrapped around her waist and pulled out a folded waterproof coat which she wrapped around her. Inside was a plastic credit card, some money (also sealed in plastic) and the names of her foster family.

   By now, Storm had been standing for a few minutes. As she tried to walk for the first time, she screamed in agony. Falling to the ground she wondered if she’d ever be able to get up again. As she fainted, she could not believe she had made such a stupid mistake. In her mind, she envisaged a place of comfort, warm and dry.

   When she woke, she was in her new home with her foster mom’s face hovering over her. It was a kind face but almost instantly, Storm missed her family.  She thought about her sisters and their disappointed faces as they read her note. They would want to meet, or at least see, the boy - the reason she’d run away from home.

    As Storm lay recovering in bed and her wounded, reddened joints healed themselves with each breath she took, she realized, with her human transformation came an incredible power. The power to journey in moments what would have once taken hours. When she had healed sufficiently to walk without too much agony she merged from her bed to the bench in seconds.

    By her first day of school, she was feeling, almost human. But she craved water. Not just to drink but to swim in. It was very lucky Sloan Select High had the best swim team in the state and that Jack Hunter was the captain of the team. There was only one problem. If Storm stayed in the water too long, like a human in a bath whose skin might turn prune-like, her legs resumed their mermaid status and Storm’s tail returned, although with no ability to breathe underwater, she would never be a real mermaid again.

    But Storm was not worried. Love had changed her, made her even more optimistic, if that was possible. Unfortunately for her, Storm’s love was, so far, very one-sided.

   In the earliest mornings, she crept out of her bed, merged to school in double quick time, pulled on her swimsuit and dived into the pool.

   It wasn’t as nice as the ocean, but Storm was getting used to chlorine. After ten seconds or so, Storm could feel her body tightening and her fish tail growing in all its silky, fluorescent glory. Although she couldn’t breathe underwater through her gills, the scar remained. Storm missed her gems and shells; being human was like being born anew.

   The minute she was out of water, her gills and tail dissolved. She climbed out of the water using her long, delicate but muscular legs. The thrill of walking was different. The pain had subsided but Storm didn’t feel steady, yet. She told herself Jack was worth the transition without ever really asking the important questions.

    How would she feel if he didn’t love her back?

    Storm was enjoying herself, swimming like a fish in the pool in the hours before classes started, that first week, never daring to stay long. Though the school was full of ‘exceptional teens’, Storm knew none as freakish, in reality, as her. There was talk that Jack was a shape shifter and his (rumored girlfriend) Sara, was a merger and weather changer and that mean girl Lavinina Snow was a powerful conjurer. In any case, she hadn’t befriended anyone yet, so how would she know for sure? She knew the school rules prohibited use of these powers outside controlled classroom environments. Extraordinary powers could only be used during lessons like ‘Chemical Romance’, ‘Merging’, and ‘Invisibility’.

   Storm liked to swim underwater. She liked to feel the rhythm and the pressure around her. It reminded her of home. She knew she had to pull herself together, that after her transition – which seemed to be taking more than a few days – she’d feel close to normal.

THE MAGIC MERMAID #four (School)

   She was surprised that second early morning when an explosion of human-like proportions went off in the deep end of the pool. Storm was thinking about her sisters and how she’d meet Jack properly during the ‘merging’ class they shared after French Literature. It would be the first time she’d speak to him as a real girl. Storm didn’t anticipate they’d meet even sooner. After Storm had finished her laps, Jack dived into the far end of the school pool, barely making a splash.  

    Instantly, Storm climbed out of the wet. She couldn’t risk letting her love see her swim underwater. She’d been enjoying swimming in circles, she’d even become used to the chlorine and began spreading her glamorous tale out under the fluorescent lights just before Jack had dived in. He too, needed to practice. That was the truth. He needed to be faster and stronger in his human form if he and Sara were ever to beat Lavinia at her own game.

    Lavinia and the powerful Minchin sisters at a neighboring school had grown in stature. They’d already had a close call at homecoming. Lavinia’s conjuring had improved; it was almost as good as Sara’s. Lavinia still hid her banned cell phone and checked it whenever she needed answers to secret questions. Jack and Sara needed to build a small army to challenge Lavinia’s power.  

    Meanwhile, Storm needed to resume human form before Jack noticed her tail. She dripped at the edge of the pool as her legs reformed the instant the lower half of her body was exposed to the air. But the change exhausted her. Her face went pink, then slightly blue – she could feel the coldness running in her veins and exhaustion in her transforming muscles. The undetectable changes made her gasp for breath.

    “Are you okay?”

    Jack looked into her face.

    “Hey, don’t I…?”  Her eyes looked familiar. But it couldn’t be.

     Storm shrugged him off quickly. He couldn’t see her like this – hair wet and breathless, tail whirling underneath. This was how she’d first looked to him and he was sure to remember. She wanted him to see her as a real girl; he’d never be able to love her as a scaly, shiny creature of the sea. 

     Storm pulled herself up through the water, her tail transforming as she emerged into air, never giving Jack even a glimpse of her scales. He smiled at her. Storm hurried to the changing rooms without so much as a “hi.”

     It had been a strange introduction.

     When new students arrived, their talents weren’t announced. It was up to the student to ‘share’ when they were ready, according to the guidance officer, Mrs Styles – a ‘fashion victim’ according to Lavinia. Her mean girl trainees would take notes on their tablets and report back to Lavinia that afternoon, but Lavinia didn’t really need their help. Via her smart phone, which told her everything, she considered herself streets ahead of almost everyone else in school – except perhaps Jack and Sara. She’d pretended she wanted a truce with them – but it had all gone pear shaped in the school gym after homecoming. Now they were openly hostile. After her suspension, Sara just acted like nothing had happened. Around them, she even pretended she’d given up her wicked conjuring on school grounds.

    Sara and Jack didn’t trust Lavinia after she’d tried to kill Sara – or at least keep her in a deep sleep for a hundred years. The plan had backfired but over lunch, Lavinia was not deterred. Her new followers - Rapunzel Jones and Reddie Hood -  were ever eager to listen to all her news.

    Lavinia realized followers were better than friends. Already, she was wary of the new girl, Storm. Lavinia, too, had followed her to the swimming pool. Lavinia had spied on Storm and seen her luscious mermaid tale. Storm was too weird even for Lavinia.  

    Over lunch, she told Reddie and Rapunzel to “be careful of the freak show.”

    “Which one?” Reddie asked, eager to please. Her home life wasn’t too great either.

   “The new one – she’s amphibious.”

   “Wow,” Rapunzel said, trying to hide her awe. They’d never had an amphibious student at Sloan Select. She’d heard about them at Venice Beach High, though. Amphibious humans had been nearly wiped out by all the vampires. Mermaid blood, which was blue, was a sweet elixir to bloodsuckers.    

     

     Arriving part way through the semester put Storm at a disadvantage and Jack was determined to speak with the new girl during lunch. He didn’t want her to sit alone. Besides, Sara had a vision. In this vision, they were all friends.

     Jack had been serious about Sara – or seriously in love with her – since the first time (in Sara’s trailer one night) they’d changed a rock to water and back again. They’d also grown up together in the children’s home where they were discovered in in East LA. They trusted each other implicitly; though Jack wanted to take things further, Sara always held back and kept him at a safe distance. Jack knew Sara wasn’t ready to trust anyone just yet – especially a guy who could shape shift from human to cougar and back again.

     Still, they needed another friend to add to their group since Lavinia had been building an army against them. Lavinia and her new friends, Reddie Hill and Rupunzel Jones sat eating lunch together and plotting the Sloan Select Tournament of Skill – something Lavinia said would, “separate the sheep from the wolves.” Lavinia liked Jack more than a lot. It was a constant source of irritation to her that he and Sara were continuously together.

    The Tournament of Skill was scheduled to begin in one month and all the students attending the ‘gifted and talented schools’ (eight schools in total, including Venice Beach High) – were due to take part. Venice Beach High hosted many covens of vampire teens (including the Minchin sisters) and they were not known for playing fair. Lavinia had been networking for weeks now.

    Meanwhile, Jack and Sara were sure they needed to get a larger team together. Sara had even dreamt they needed a third person. Jack had tried to explain his mermaid vision to Sara but she joked that he was delusional prior to her dream. Now she was sure the third member was coming. Even though he was a shape-shifter and Sara had her own incredible powers to merge and change objects and people, they both knew the existence of mermaids was only speculated about in children’s stories. Still, Sara knew she and Storm would be friends; maybe even besties.

   That night, as Storm lay in bed listening to the ocean in her mind as she tried to sleep, she remembered the stabilizer pills her foster mom had recommended.      “These will prevent you from changing. When you’re in water, you’ll stay human. But remember, you’ll have to teach yourself to swim again. ” Storm got out of her bunk and took a pill. She knew that once she’d started the process of stabilization, it would be impossible to turn back. In order to have the boy she loved, her change had to be complete. Jack Hunter was worth it. Storm knew, deep inside, he was her dream.

   Real life had taken over that first week on land. School, homework, swim practice and a glimpse of him every morning filled her days.

   Storm only had one foster brother – he was nine and slept next door to her. Her foster parents were nice – they were used to dealing with “specific needs” students, as they put it. Storm’s specific need was water and no matter how many pills she took, she knew she’d never stop craving it. That Thursday night, Storm drank an entire glass of H2O with her pill then pulled out the classic novel, Les Miserables, assigned for French homework. 

    Les Miserables was a huge story that her French teacher told her was maybe too huge for a sixteen year old to read. It wasn’t required reading but Storm liked to read about Marius, the young revolutionary. Storm wasn’t a fan of Cosette – the girl who’d won his heart without doing anything to deserve it, except existing. It had occurred to Storm, as she read under the covers, using her torch (her foster mom had warned  her to get more rest) that she was in danger of becoming the Eponine in her own story. Eponine was the girl who loved Marius from afar but who, in the end, always looked on from the sidelines. Eponine was the girl who never knew she was worthy of being loved, the girl who was cast aside.

THE MAGIC MERMAID #five (Saved) by Summer Day

    The next morning, Storm grabbed her swim tote and an orange and walked to school early. The former mermaid was getting stronger. She could run and better yet, she could merge. Ten minutes took ten seconds.

    The water had been changed from mostly chlorine to a mix of salt. This reminded Storm of home, she liked it. She swam badly at first as she held onto the edge and tried to float. She wasn’t used to kicking her legs, but after about ten laps, was swimming like a champion. She was almost ready to tell Jack when he dived into the pool again, at the deep end.

     “Hey,” he said, as he bobbed up.

     “Hi,” Storm replied shyly. Why hadn’t she been given some manual explaining how to talk to human or human-ish boys?

     “Don’t I know you? I mean, from outside school?”

     It was now or never.

     “I… I saw you, at the beach.”

     A wave of recognition spread over the boy’s face. “Now I remember. You saved me,” he smiled.

     Storm looked at her hands and feet, not webbed, not tailed but not really human. How could she ever tell him?

      “Thank you.”

      “That’s okay,” Storm said. “I’d do it again if I had to.”

      “That’s… that’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

       Storm smiled. She felt shy all of a sudden. She knew to let the boy make the first move. All the other mermaids always did that. Humans couldn’t be so different. If you made the first move, the girl always spent the rest of the relationship catching up, didn’t she? Boys were hunter gatherers or just hunters, weren’t they?

       Jack swam forward.

       Storm moved back.

       “It’s okay, everyone here is weird. What’s your secret? I can change shape,” as if to explain, Jack changed into a cougar as he swam, then back into a teenage boy again.

     Storm shivered.

    “That was… amazing. And scary.”

     “Sorry, I don’t normally do that in front of people. It’s not allowed in school.”

     “I heard you were a merger.”

     “I do merge quickly, Sara does too. She’s my, well, she’s sort of my girlfriend but she likes to keep cool about that stuff. We both have this important tournament to prepare for; us against Lavinia and the winners against the Vamps at Venice Beach High. The teachers don’t know about it but all the students do. Sara is a conjurer, she also merges and changes the elements, sun to storms, that sort of thing – a lot of kids around here envy the weather changing part for some reason. It’s pretty powerful.”

   Storm knew her weirdness went far deeper – to tell someone her human form was just a vision, that she was really a creature of the sea? That was sure to create obstacles. It was okay for a guy to be different, faster, stronger but being a mermaid? That was girly and weak, sure to create barriers.

   But Jack wasn’t interested in obstacles. He was interested in joining forces.

   He splashed her.

   Storm smiled and splashed him back.

   “I… I swim fast,” Storm said. Then she hesitated, “or, I used to. It may take me a while to... get my groove back.”
   “That all?”

   “Kind of. I used to be a mermaid… Now, I’m not sure what my gifts are.”

    Incredibly, Storm realized Jack might not love her now that she was so normal. Besides, Sara already had his love bottled away for a rainy day. Storm realized she was reading his mind – could read another’s mind. The girl who hid in the shadows, Lavinia, had just run out of the room.

   “Lavinia was here. She hates you or she likes you, I’m not sure.”

   “Lavinia? She hates everyone. Wow. That’s some gift. I couldn’t sense her, didn’t even notice her.”

    Storm realized she had powers anew. When Lavinia was near her or at least in the room, she could read her thoughts.

     “Want me to show you something? Check this out,” Jack said. He disappeared under the water and the water turned into a rainbow of color and light, then mist, as he swam up to the surface, close to her. He’d transformed the elements.

    “Sara taught me,” he said. “I bet she could teach you.”

    Storm wanted to be near him, his perfect chest and dimpled smile. Just as she was about to swim closer, the other girl arrived. 

THE MAGIC MERMAID #six (Sara) by Summer Day

    Sara wore a blue, school regulation swimsuit. She was beautiful, at least as pretty as Storm but not awkward or shy. She dived, swan-like into the pool and swam a perfect freestyle towards them.

    “Hi,” Sara said. She smiled at Storm and welcomed her again to Sloan Select.

    It was hard to dislike Sara since she was so nice, but to Storm, the other girl was just another obstacle – not insurmountable – but it was a pity she wasn’t a mean girl like Lavinia Snow. Then she wouldn’t feel so bad about…

    In that moment when her new friends – or the two people who had tried to befriend her at her new school – waded over to her, Storm stopped breathing. It was as if her lungs wouldn’t work – she needed her gills to breathe and her tail to swim.

    “Quick,” Jack said.

    He scooped her up and together, he and Sara placed her on the side of the pool, they draped a towel over her and gave her CPR until she was breathing normally.

     Storm coughed and spluttered when she woke.

    “What happened?”

    “You just passed out…”

    “It must be the pills I took.”

    “Hey Storm, this place is really strict about drugs…” Sara said.

    “No, they’re… prescription. They’re for my…. I’m not normal.”

    “She’s a… she was…”

     “… a mermaid. I know. I read your mind. You are the third. We’ve been waiting for you. You complement our powers and together we can win the Tournament of Skill and so much more. Welcome to the club,” Sara said. Jack nodded.

     “I’m… I’m not a mermaid anymore.”

     “Oh, so that’s why you swim so perfectly,” Sara said, in awe, “Never mind, you must have been gifted some other power during transition.”

     Storm studied Jack’s concerned face. He didn’t have feelings for her. Not in that way. Storm could read his mind.

     “I… I just want to go home.”

     Storm suddenly realized Jack was in love with Sara, might always be in love with Sara. He was only interested in Storm because she could help them win the tournament. Storm was now ninety-nine percent relegated to the role of friend - perhaps forever. What had she done? How could she have been so… foolish?

     “You stay here,” Sara said. “I’ll go get help. Jack, stay with her.”

     Jack placed a rolled up towel under Storm’s head. As he did so, he noticed Storm’s sun bleached blonde hair and pale blue eyes closely. Her skin was slightly freckled and tanned from the sun. Storm was beautiful.

      “You saved me,” he said. “We’ll save you.”

      “I came here to be with you,” Storm whispered. There was no use hiding it anymore. Jack looked stunned. He didn’t know what to say so he said nothing. Storm rolled over, coughed and sat up. “I’m just not used to being in the water without my tail.”

    Storm started to cry. She wanted to go home. Jack didn’t know what to do so he put his arm around her.

     Wow. That’s really weird.  He acted as if he hadn’t heard her declaration – or as good as one. Maybe she needed to be clearer.

   Jack, although he was the hottest boy at Sloane Select by far, never really imagined too many girls thought the same because Sara had always kept him at a distance. Now, here was a new girl – a special girl – damaged, like all the students, in her own brilliant way, admitting that she’d come to the school just to be with him.

   He didn’t want the responsibility of that. He’d loved Sara since the first time he’d seen her. He was loyal to his first love. This one would never work.

   Yet Storm looked into his eyes with her pale blue ones, searching and sweet. Storm held him close and kissed him on his hands; she slipped her fingers through his hair and kissed his neck before he realized what she was doing. Then he used all his power to silently, softly, push her away.  

THE MAGIC MERMAID #seven (Sun)

   Storm was miserable. She needed to be on the beach, in the ocean, under the sun. Her love for jack seemed illusory. He’d laughed off the moment they shared beside the pool, joking that although he thought she was ‘beautiful’ he was in love with Sara but that Storm was the kind of friend he’d always dreamt about – brave and strong and wild.

    Storm wished she’d been more of a shrinking violet; a storm chaser (literally), a weather changer, an amphibious life saver – anything other than her now almost-helplessly human self. What was the point if you couldn’t have the boy you wanted? Storm left school early and took the bus to Venice Beach boardwalk, too tired to use her power and merge. She longed to return to the utopian world of her sisters and family who lived under the sea. So far, the human world was very disappointing. 

   That night, after dinner with her foster family, Storm pretended to go to sleep and stuffed her pillows under the covers before returning to the ocean. Regenerated, Storm merged all the way to the boardwalk overlooking the sea. Jack had been worried about her leaving school early and Sara had suggested he go over to her place to see if she was okay. “It’s important Jack. She needs friends and we need her.”  

    Unbeknownst to Storm that night, Jack had followed her. Sara had to babysit her foster brothers and Jack had explained to Sara that he thought Storm wasn’t transitioning to the human world easily.

     Sara agreed. “It takes time to adjust.”

    Growing up in the foster system gave Jack and Sara empathy for other teens in similar circumstances. They looked like the perfect couple but they hadn’t had the perfect upbringing. Together, they’d discovered their individual weirdness. Together, they’d been alone at the children’s home. Sara always pretended the last thing she needed was a boyfriend but then clung to him in the dark, loving him when no one else was around. Jack convinced himself that one day soon, Sara would be okay with sharing the fact that they were a couple to anyone who was interested. Sara seemed to think being openly together made them some sort of security risk. If Lavinia’s posse or the Minchin sisters knew, they’d be more of a target to tear apart.

    It was one messed up world they inhabited – shape shifters, weather changers, and vampires. There weren’t any vampires at Sloan Select but Venice Beach High was a whole other story.

   Storm had merged to Santa Monica Pier. The Minchin girls could smell her blue blood close by. They were the three evil sisters who gathered at a Santa Monica café most evenings now that they’d turned sixteen. They were bored at home in their palatial mansion. They couldn’t even attempt to draw the blood of their step-sister, Julissa. Besides Julissa had a boyfriend now that she spent every waking moment (and probably unwaking ones), with. Vanity sniggered at the thought. Charity thought Julissa was welcome to her new man – he was just some no-good vampire prince from the provinces.

    Instead, the sisters were over their recent designer fashion phase. Now they wore black from head to toe. They never did their homework – they’d been doing it for more than two centuries and they were so over school. Instead, they hung out at Santa Monica Pier between the hours of midnight and two in the morning. They merged there in seconds to hunt, dance and play music. Occasionally, a lost or stray teenager wandered along the boardwalk; an after dinner snack.

   The Minchin sisters usually only partially drained their victims – they didn’t want any real trouble – they just drank enough to sate or amuse themselves. They liked to listen to their fave bands beside the waves. The girls dreamed of driving all the way to Vegas to see The Killers play. Vanity liked the lead singer even though he was married. She knew it was bad but she liked guys who were at least thirty – after all, she was nearly two hundred (although she only looked sixteen).

    That night there was a fresh scent in the air, floral and sweet. They could smell Storm’s blood – newly humanoid – from a mile away. To find the fragile, perfect creature running all the way to the ocean, her thin shirt barely covering the pulsing veins in her wrists – what a prize, what a treat.

    They even had a new friend with them, Hansel Worthington. He wasn’t a vamp and his little sister was too ‘scaredy cat’ to come out with them. But Hansel was very strong and brave. He liked the fact that Gretel slept while he snuck out of their dwelling. When his sister was with him it was a lot harder to protect her.

   Hansel wasn’t scared of anything – or so he said. He wasn’t a vampire, but then, he was special and his blood did not appeal. He was just some guy the mean sisters hung out with and tried to flirt with.

     They knew they should have gone to practice that afternoon – their team was getting ready for the Tournament of Skills but for decades the vamps had literally slaughtered the kids at Sloan Select – they were all about magic and not very keen to draw blood – so it was all kind of a joke to the kids of Venice Beach High.

  “Hey girly girl,” Vanity, Charity and Patience looked up as Storm walked by. Vanity was the one who spoke first.

   “What’s your name?” Patience asked with a smile to cover her sister’s taunt. It was never very good to let your potential victim know your full intentions straight off the bat. Hansel was hunched on a bench, listening to music with his new headphones on and so far, too cool to notice the newbie.

   Storm turned around briefly. She was listening for the sounds of her sisters in the water.

    “Are you talking to me?”

    “Sure,” Charity said. “We’re always up for making new friends.”

    “Do you go to school around here?” Patience asked.

    “Uh… no, I go to Sloan Select.”

     Vanity made a hissing sound with her teeth. The girl’s blood was getting a bit hot. If it were up to her they would have drained her by now rather than waste precious time trying to make friends. Vanity Minchin was over making friends. Her whole life, since she was sixteen years old and turned (two hundred years ago), other teenaged girls had been jealous of her good looks and charm. Friendship was overrated – except with her sisters, of course. But she quite liked this new kid, Hansel. He was tough enough. And there was no weirdness between them, even though he was hot, because his blood didn’t appeal.

    Hansel nodded to the girl. He’d never seen such a fragile yet strong looking beauty. Her wild blonde curls and piercing blue eyes touched his heart as it had not been touched before. He’d spent most of his life with his twin sister fighting his evil foster mom’s plans for them – and now they were runaways, just like this girl.

    He knew the look.

    She was either running to something or from someone. He felt a little uncomfortable. He knew his new friends weren’t the most likeable girls in school but at least they were real – and tough enough to hang with. Besides, they were much more mature than his sister, Gretel, who was the only person he trusted on earth now that their family life was so messed up.