Pretty in Pearls: A Forgive My Fins Novella (HarperTeen Impulse) by Tera Lynn Childs

princess.
    “You will capture everyone’s attention,” Mom says.
    She floats down to fuss with the hem. Never fully happy with a dress, she’s always fixing this or tweaking that until the moment it swims out the door.
    “I’m not looking for attention,” I reply. “I just want to have a good time.”
    Mom looks up, a skeptical smile in place. “If you say so.”
    I smile back at her. It’s been the two of us for so long that sometimes we feel more like sisters than mother and daughter. I talk to her about almost everything, but some things—like a certain confusing merboy—I keep to myself.
    “Why are boys so complicated?” I ask. “Why can’t they just, I don’t know, be normal?”
    Mom laughs as she floats back up from my hem. “If love weren’t complicated,” she says, “then what would be the fun?”
    “I can think of a thousand things,” I grumble.
    “Are we talking about a specific merboy?” she asks. “I thought you were going to the dance with Lily.”
    “Maybe,” I say, answering her first question as I grab my clutch from the table by the front door. “And I am going with Lily.”
    Mom swims forward and plays with the carefully pinned curls in my hair. She gets this dreamy look on her face that I always assume means she’s thinking of Dad. He’s been gone for years and she still misses him.
    It’s a testament to their love that she has never sought to sever their bond. In her mind they are still married.
    “It will work out,” she finally says, swimming back to admire my whole image. “These things always do.”
    The front door opens and Lily swims in, her royal escorts waiting outside. She’s wearing the dress Mom made her, a bubbly froth of iridescent lime-green-and-gold tulle over silk. She looks like a beautiful Caulerpa bouquet.
    Quince wanted to be back in time to be her date to the festival, but she got a note this afternoon that he wouldn’t make it. I’m bummed for her, but that’s good news for me. At least I won’t have to go alone.
    “Are we going to knock ’em dead or what, Mrs. Wentletrap?” Lily says as she floats to my side.
    Mom smiles and shakes her head, her eyes sparkling even more than before.
    “Without a doubt.” She presses her hands to her chest. “Someone needs to invent a sea camera so I can take a picture of this moment.”
    Lily throws me a sideways smile. “Well, it just so happens . . .”
    She reaches into her tiny purse and pulls out a bright yellow plastic camera, one of those ones designed for underwater photography. We don’t have the technology to develop film in the mer world, or the electricity to process digital pictures. Some things just don’t translate into underwater life.
    Lily hands her camera to Mom and then floats back to my side.
    “I’ll have the pictures printed next time I visit Aunt Rachel.” She wraps an arm around my shoulder and hugs me tight. “I’ll get a set printed on waterproof paper.”
    Mom beams. I hug Lily back and we pose for the camera.
    “I’m sorry Quince couldn’t make it,” I whisper between shots.
    “Me too,” she replies with a wistful smile as she takes my hand. “But you’re a pretty decent consolation date.”
    I grin and squeeze her hand.
    By the time we swim off for the dance, Mom must have taken fifty pictures.
    I just hope my good luck decides to hang out for a while so tonight is memorable in a good way.
    The Sea Harvest Dance is the biggest underwater social event of the year, despite the terrible trio’s attempts to make their birthday bashes even more spectacular. King Whelk turns the entire palace grounds over to the royal party planners for the event. Bioluminescent fairy lights dot every surface and every corner with a rainbow of glow, making it look like nightfall in a magical kingdom—which it kind of is. Reggae dance music floats all around. Dozens of tables are spread out with the finest delicacies our kingdom—and the entire mer world—has to offer.
    It all