"Wake up!" A mermaid with a blue dress slams her hand on the desk.

Zen shoots up and falls off of his coral seat, "S-sorry!"

The teacher straightens up and swims back to the front of the class from the back row. Zen gets up and sinks back into his seat. He pulls his white hair back into a small ponytail and reties it with a small strand of string. He looks over at the desk next to him and gives the merman with short blond hair and dark blue eyes an annoyed look. 

"Can I help you?" He smiles while watching the teacher write on the board.

"You couldn't warn me that she was coming?" Zen whispers. 

"I didn't want to wake you," He looks at him and smirks, "You looked so peaceful."

Zen rolls his eyes as he looks back at the teacher and then looks around at the full class of mermaids and mermen. He looked back at Tyler then over him, the opening in the walls was their window to see outside. He stared out at the dark blue ocean with beams of light shining down on the golden sand. He got lost in his mind and didn't hear a single thing around him. It was as if he entered another world where he was the only living thing for miles.

"Zennn?" Tyler waves hand in front of his face and Zen falls back into reality, "Lets go. Class is over."

Zen looks around at the empty class and grabs his bag, he hangs it on his shoulder and the two swim out of the room and into the hall. Their were mer people swimming up and down the hall and everyone gazed at least once at Zen and his tail. Zen keeps his head down as he swims and Tyler looks down at him. 

"I hate living like this." Zen mutters.

"You are the center of  attention around here." Tyler shrugs his shoulders, "We should make you something to cover your tail." 

Zen's tail was a dark silver with two giant light blue spots, and everyone looked at him funny because mer tails are usually resembling a species of ocean animal. He was the only one with a tail that no one knew the fish to. Tyler's tail was silver with a white belly part, it resembled a great white shark. 

The people start to whisper making Zen swims faster and not look where he was going until he slams into someones back and all the chatter stops. Zen grunts and looks up at the person he hit.

"Don't sit in the middle of the hallway, dumba-" He's cut off as a fist collides with the side of his face.

"I dare you to finish that sentence." The guy growls.

His tail was black and white like an orca, his hair was a black to white ombre, and his eyes were pitch black. 

"I would have if you wouldn't have punched me in the face!" Zen growls and punches the guy in the gut. 

"You little." He grunts and raises his fists again.

Tyler holds the guy back and another merman comes out of the classroom behind them. He looks at the three and waists no time to hold Zen back before moving in front of him.

"One day without a fight! Is that too much to ask for?" He groans, "I could hear you two from inside the classroom."

He had long brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, light brown eyes that were starring into Zen's, and a big frilly golden tail like a gold fish.

"Why do you always think I'm the one who start the fights, Pratt?" Zen says. 

"Should I assume that you didn't say anything?" Pratt raises an eyebrow.

Zen hesitates then looks away with a pouty lip. 

"That's what I thought." Pratt says and turns around to Tyler. 

"I'm sorry about Zen, Adin." Tyler looks down at the ground as he says to the white and black tailed guy.

"Control your freak friend more before my patience runs out with him. Don't even bother coming home tonight." Adin growls and swims away. 

Tyler watches him go and lets out a small sigh.

"I'm sorry, Tyler." Zen puts his hand on Tyler's shoulder, "You can stay at my house tonight."

"Yeah, thanks. My brother is just being stubborn today." Tyler says. 

"When isn't he? Oh! Can I come over for a while too? Pablo got in trouble during class and I was going to hang out with him but the teachers sent him home early." Pratt explains.

"Sure, I don't mind." Zen shrugs . 

The three swim down the hall and out of the school building. The whole kingdom was buzzing with activity and people. All the houses were built out of grey rocks and had colorful coral growing on and around them.

In front of the houses were tables covered in food or had clothes laid out on them. Pratt sprints to the closet table and reaches into his messenger bag. He pulls out three small golden coins and hands it the old lady behind the table, she picks up a small bag and hands it to Pratt.

"Thanks, Ms. Carina." Pratt smiles.

The old lady nods with a bright wrinkled smile. Pratt swims back to Tyler and Zen.

"You guys want some?" Pratt asks. 

"You are the only person in this whole kingdom that likes sweet seaweed." Zen stares at the bag in disgust.

"You guys just don't have a good taste in food." Pratt opens the bag and eats a small square of seaweed. 

"Whatever let's just hurry and get home." Tyler rolls his eyes

They swim through the village until they come up to a long coral covered house with small patches of sea grass growing in front of it.

"I don't know if my father is home yet but my mother and brother should be." Zen says as he opens the purple coral covered door. 

Zen swims in first and looks around the empty house, "Yeah, no one is home yet."

Pratt sprints to the kitchen and opens a cabinet, "No adults means lots of beer!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Zen throws his bag at him, "What if my mom walks in on us?"

"That's why we are going to drink this in your room." Pratt opens his bag and shoves three bottles into it.

"We shouldn't do this.... At least not right now." Tyler says. 

"Are both of you out of your mind? We agreed never to drink in my house. We can drink tomorrow somewhere else." Zen picks up his bag, "I'm never getting drunk in my room again with you guys."

"So you regret what happened the last time?" Pratt smirks.

"Enough," Tyler mutters, "Just drop the question."

Zen tenses up his shoulders and looks back at Tyler. He tightens his grip on his bag and swims down to his room. He puts his bag down next to his wide wooden bed. It was a bed that you would find in a pirate ship and so was the giant dresser with a built in mirror that was across from it. Zen fixes his sheets and turns around only to bump into Tyler's chest.

"Do I only run into members of your family?" Zen growls and looks up at Tyler. 

"Pratt left. He also put the beer back." Tyler swims past Zen and puts his bag down next to his rocky night stand.

"Do you regret what happened?" Zen rubs his arm nervously.

Tyler doesn't respond and just stares at his bag.

Zen sighs, "Forget it. I don't know why I asked."

"We can pretend what happened between us never happened, and honestly that's how I want it. I have a girlfriend now and I really do love her. We can't be together and you know it. Maybe in a different life that will change but for right now we can only be friends." Tyler says.

Tyler swims out of the room and Zen watches him go. He sighs and swims to his bag. He reaches for it but his vision becomes blurry and his head gets a sharp pain shot through it. He screams in agony and sinks to the ground.

"TYLER!" He screams as the pain spreads through his whole body.

Tyler sprints back into the room and helps Zen onto the bed.

"T-the stuffs in my bag!" Zen grits through his teeth. 

Tyler opens Zen's bag and pulls out a syringe with light green liquid in it. He pulls the cap off the needle and sticks the needle in Zen's neck. As the liquid goes into Zen's neck, his breathing starts to slow down and his body clams then falls limp. He falls asleep and Tyler takes out the needle. He looks down at Zen and rubs his forehead. 

"This is your sixth one this week. When will it end?"