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Trevor shrugged. “Well, mermaid or not, Shea’s pretty cool, so anyone who’s friends with her must be cool, too.”

I felt a smile spreading across my lips.

“And by the way, I never believed a word Cora said,” he intimated with a smile.

“Alright,” Lenore said. “I guess we can give this stray a chance.”

“You can start by calling her by her real name,” Kendall said.

“Oh, right,” she said with a fake smile. “Arya, right?”

I nodded, fighting the temptation to verbally snap at her for the insult.

“Why did your parents give you a Mer name?” Helena asked.

“What?” I was totally stumped.

“Your name. It’s a Mer name. Mermaids don’t use the old language much anymore, especially not for names. When we surfaced, we started using colloquial names to blend in with the humans. I just think it’s weird that you have a Mer name.” Helena looked slightly irritated as she explained, like I was stupid for not knowing any of this.

I always knew that my name was weird, but even after coming to this school, I never imagined it was from another language, much less the language of my people. I didn’t even know theyhadtheir own language, although it made sense that they would now that I thought about it.

“Sorry, but what does it mean in…Mer?” I didn’t want to seem as ignorant as they already thought I was, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn this suddenly vital fact.

“Treasure,” Helena answered, rolling her eyes, and Lenore giggled. “Honestly, with a pretentious name like that, can you blame any of us for hating you just a little bit?”

I knew that this was Helena’s attempt at a joke, but I couldn’t laugh with them. For all the ways my mom had kept the shifter world from me, she had blessed me with the most precious thing of all—a Mer name. And not just any Mer name, but one that really meant something.

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let the mermaid girls see me cry.

“Would you all excuse me for a minute?” I was able to say with a stable voice before turning around and rushing to the backyard.

My vision was blurry as I stepped onto the back porch, but I could see that anyone who was outside was preoccupied—apparently, this was the make-out section of the party. At least none of them would witness my struggle not to fall apart. I didn’t want to be known as the emo chick who cried at parties.

“Arya?” Kendall’s shadow fell over me from the open kitchen door. “Are you alright? Don’t mind Lenore and Helena. They can be bitchy sometimes.”

“No, it’s not that.” I shook my head and looked up in an attempt to pull the tears back in.

Kendall came around to face me, his brows pinched.

“Then what is it?” His entire focus was trained on me like he genuinely cared.

“You wouldn’t understand,” I said, my breathing tripping over itself.

“Try me.” He put a hand softly on my shoulder.

I inhaled deeply to try to stabilize my breathing.

“I didn’t know anything about mermaids before I came to this school a few days ago. My mom had hidden it from me my whole life. The night Caesar brought me here, he rescued me just after vampires killed her. So now I’m learning all these amazing and terrifying things about myself, and I can’t even ask her about any of it. And to know that she named me a Mer word… I don’t know anything about who she really was, and now she’s gone, and I’ll never get to hear her side and…”

I tried so hard to keep the tears at bay, to lock my emotions deep inside, but they spilled over the mental dam I had built and forced their way out the only way they knew how. Miniature rivers poured down my face, and all I could feel in that moment was the crippling regret surrounding my mother.

Kendall’s other hand landed on my other shoulder, his thumbs gently kneading into both of them. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea. You’re right, I don’t understand. I don’t understand why a mermaid would keep their child from finding their tail. It seems almost cruel.”

I cried even harder, my shoulders rocking under Kendall’s hands.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to imply—I just meant—I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but I’ll do everything in my power to make this transition easier for you. I promise. I’ll tutor you myself every day if that’s what it takes.”

I nodded, unable to actually say thanks just yet.