Surface

Chapter 31 - Enough

The cake was a sea blue decorated with black swirls that I imagined tasted like dark chocolate. Her name was spelled out in a beautiful scripted font and the picture of her below it was my favorite. She was smirking, holding up the Christmas presents she had picked out for her brother when he was still around. The gift of giving had been her favorite gift. As I stood alongside her parents, I recalled all the things she had given me.

"Thank you for fighting for her. You've given us closure and though it doesn't bring her back, it's enough to give us a tiny bit of peace." Mrs.Barely gave me a Victoria like smile and left to greet the other guests.

The weather was beautiful, the kind of day where Tori would be found in her backyard with a magazine. Though today she would probably be at a restaurant, eating her weight in linguine to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. I'm sure I would have been there with her.

I surveyed the room, feeling an odd sense of tranquility. There were - of course - tons of people who gave me strange glances as I walked around the gathering. Maybe they weren't completely convinced of my innocence and maybe they were right for that. I wasn't completely innocent. A few stares here and there would keep me in check. No more mean girling for me.

"I would kiss you hello but this seems like an inappropriate place to do that -with Tori watching from the cake and all."

Pete was standing behind me, his face only slightly bruised from his fight with Zac weeks before. His eyes held me in a warm embrace, lacking the accusation it did the night of Homecoming.

"After all that's happened I think she'd say go on and kiss the girl!"

He planted a kiss on my cheek, causing me to blush not from shame but from the newness of our relationship.

"Still a little hoarse?"

Hannah's attack on my throat had done more than just bruise my neck. My vocal cords had suffered from her clever distraction as well. For days I could hardly say a thing but that didn't stop me from getting the complete story to the police.

"I might sound like this forever you know. Like an old smoker."

"Nah, it's more like a spunky jazz singer." He nudged my shoulder with a sweet smile. "Either way, the new voice suits the new you."

"And what is this new me like?"

I was delighted at the chance to watch his eyes rapidly blink, his mouth opening and closing - as if every time he thought he found an answer he thought better of it. It was my payback for him entertaining the idea I was a murderer.

"She's assertive, tougher than nails, and sure of herself. No longer a fish out of water but -"

"A mermaid under the sea?" I mused.

He laughed and tucked a red lock behind my ear. "The most beautiful of all the mermaids."

"Sha la la la la la, my oh my!" Helen exclaimed appearing in front of the both of us. "I'm gonna need to find myself a boyfriend because between you two and Norah's badged babe - I can't catch a break!"

"I still can't believe she took him back."

Theo had come around after the investigation closed. He apologized with the grand gesture of having the whole police station serenade her with a cover of "I Want It That Way". It wasn't the ridiculous and cheesy act that had won her back but his heartfelt speech afterwards. He explained that though he was initially placed in her life on a mission, he had truly developed feelings for her and wanted to give them a real try. He also argued my innocence when the detectives pinned the murder on me. He was able to find flaws in their reasoning that made things easier for me once I was rescued from the cave.

Besides, I couldn't criticize Norah's decision too much. Pete and the girls had betrayed me pretty badly when they turned their backs on me at homecoming. I think we both understood that forgiveness was the only way we were going to be happy after all of this.

Theo and Norah strolled towards us, arms around each other as smitten as ever.

"Helen's just bitter they haven't cut the cake yet."

"Yes! That's it! Cake shall be my new boyfriend," Helen professed. "Cake doesn't talk back and tastes scrumptious."

"So does Theo," Norah said, immediately ducking from Helen's playful punch.

"Gross!"

"Ew!"

"Get a room!"

We shared a few laughs and memories about Victoria. It was odd to find that there were plenty of things I hadn't known about her. Like the very flavor of cake they were serving at this gathering was the only flavor cake she ever had for her birthday and that at one point she was determined to enlist in the military with her brother.

Shelby may have tried to destroy the image of Victoria I had in my head but she didn't. In her last days, she was broken and unwell - much like I was on the day I decided to try and take my own life. I didn't want people to look at me as that girl anymore so I wouldn't ever look back at Victoria like that.

"Is Zac coming?" Pete inquired as we made our way up the hill later that night.

"Yeah, how's he healing?" Helen asked. Part of me was suspicious that in the midst of wishing the both of us together she developed an interest of her own.

"He's back on his feet. He should be waiting for us at the top actually."

The girls, Theo, Pete and I were on our way to the top of that faithful cliff, the one where it all started and where it would all end.

Zac was at the top as promised. His eyes shined like stars alongside the moon against the backdrop of the night sky. His figure outlined by the ocean beneath him no longer set off butterflies in my stomach but made me smile. Before this all began, I swore he was my Prince Charming but now I found comfort in our simple friendship.

"I collected the conch shells! Wasn't an easy task." He held them up triumphantly, passing them out to us as we lined up near the edge.

I stepped up, the wind whipping past me in a cool sweep.

"Everyone whisper something to Victoria into the conch and then launch them into the ocean!"

"She'd probably find this very cheesy," Norah commented, holding the shell to her lips.

"Good thing she loves us enough to tolerate it." Helen was the first to cast her shell off to sea with a big toothy grin on her face. It was the kind of free smile I had yet to see from her.

Then went Norah, her eyes glistening in the light of the night. "Happy birthday you emo queen!" she added as it plummeted off the edge.

Zac was graceful with his throw, his expression solemn and sincere. Pete threw the shell like a football, true to his nature.

I made sure to step away from the group, assuring that the wind wouldn't snatch up my words and spread them along the group.

A smile crept onto my lips as I whispered one last secret to my best friend. Just another thing that would stay between the two of us. I knew I could trust her. What was that old saying? Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead?

I recalled a brief moment from my attempt to escape the underwater cavern after Shelby was killed by Hannah. Swimming out to call for help, I had left the wicked girl behind. She hadn't seen what gave me the ability to maneuver through the wild waves and get us help. It would have shocked her the way it had shocked me if she saw. I overcame the currents with a fierce strength I had once thought was impossible without my ties to Hannah.

As the shell disappeared into the sea, my confession echoed in my head.

I may not have been a mermaid, but I was enough.

THE END.

Author's Note - Hey guys! Thank you for finishing up this story! I hope you enjoyed it.