The next school day, Jodie stops by Principal Swanby's office and says, "In light of what happened at the meet, I won't be swimming on the team any more." "Are you sure, Jodie?" Principal Swanby asks. "Yes, ma'am," Jodie responds. "Very well. I'll inform Miss Kramer of your decision," the principal says.

"Fortunately, we brought towels and changes of clothes," Sara laughs as the three mermaids climb out of the tank. "You're doing okay," Jodie." "Thank you," Jodie says as her mother passes out towels from Sara's tote bag. "You're welcome," Sara says.

"I don't belly dance, but I do dance. That is where I first met Doreen. I swear she gave me Tofu Syndrome for three months. Oh...you might not know about Tofu Syndrome. It is basically being so much in love with someone that you can't tell your left from your right." "And yes, my mom heard about how Tim opened up via dance via the Health Worker's Network and decided to push me to dance class. Just not belly dancing. And I guess that works cause I met Doreen there and eventually became a Mouseketeer. Except for that one year when I was gender locked thanks to Incubus. Stupid reality manipulator." "And no Jodie's mom, asking an reality manipulator like Incubus or Coyote will not work to fix Jodie. One, Jodie is not broken. Two, they might cure her mermaid but change her to something else like a werewolf or living zombie or living giant plastic fashion doll. They will justify it as 'she's not a mermaid anymore', and have themselves a chuckle. Now Coyote is not as bad as Incubus. He can even be helpful at times. But don't rely on him not having a sense of humor. Third, there manipulations are always temporary. Four, they are always in it for the humor. There like gods. In fact Coyote is a Native American god. Or at least that is what he says. They do what they want and mostly you and I can't really do anything about what they do."

"True," Nancy says. "That has happened to a number of non-athletic guys. Heck, Tim Clark, Cheryl's boyfriend, has been teased because he belly dances, looks like a girl, and, since second grade, has taken female roles on stage." "He belly dances?" Jodie asks. "Yeah," Nancy replies. "He always performs as a female. He's good, too." "And what does his mother and Cheryl say about that?" Jodie's mother snapped. "His mother, a nurse at an urgent care center, got him interested in it at the same time Cheryl's mother, a nurse at the same urgent care center, got her interested in it," Nancy responded.

"Yeah. That also. But I don't think squeakers is so bad compared to being beaten up in grade school for not being so athletic than other boys."

"We're also called "Squeakers" by the privileged cliques because mice squeak," Nancy says. "Those same people refer to Sharon as "Pocahontas" because she's a Native American of the Cheyenne Nation."

"I could tell you horror stories about being bullied in grade school and a little bit in junior high school. It went down, of course. But they do call me Stage Mouse cause of being a Mouseketeer. Also Dance Mouse, Weeb Mouse, and a few more. I just remind myself that I could probably incinerate them all in my other body, and that I wouldn't do that because that would go against everything Lady Heart stands for."

"Are there any other mermaids I can ask for advice?" Jodie asks. "Cora Peterson," Sara suggested. "She's on the crew of the RV Pacifica, that's University of California San Angelo Oceanic Institute's research ship. She's a diver, an occasional pilot of one of their work/rescue boats, and is the main pilot of the DSV Sea Bat, their updated Johnson Sea Link-class deep submergence vehicle." Nancy adds, "I talked to her yesterday. She and a crew are prepping the Sea Bat for an ocean voyage." She pauses, then says, "Either way, expect to be teased by the "popular" girls, and, maybe, the cheerleaders and jocks. After all, what happened to you is the talk of the school." "Do they tease you?" Jodie asks. "Yeah," Nancy laughs. "They call me "Ariel". If it gets too bad, I just point out that I can easily outswim them."

"Look, she might be able to compete in the International Metaolympics, if your willing to be open about her abilities. The only other paths for her is doing underwater research, underwater exploration, being a superhero, or being a supervillain. Unless she wants a job far away from water. Anyways, it is Jodie's choice for what she wants to be, not yours."

As the three mermaids continue swimming, Jodie's mother asks, "Is there any way to remove that gene?" "No," Nancy replies. "There has to be," Jodie's mother wails. "She's destined for Olympic gold."

"Me, too," Jodie says.

"You said it. I hope they are merely figments of a Main horror author." (H. P. Lovecraft, not Steven King, othe Steven probably have written stuff which could mesh with the Cthulu Mythos.)

"Yuck," Jodie says.

"Well, it could be worse. You could of been transformed into a Lovecraft Deep One. Sure, there forms are humanoid, but you litterly slowly lose your looks and waddle around on dry land and worship Cthulu."

"What are you going to do about the school swimming team?" Sara asks. "I'll tell them, because of my temporary transformation into a mermaid, that I can't swim with the team anymore," Jodie says. "It wouldn't be fair. Then, I'll talk to Miss Kramer about taking mermaid swimming classes." "You'll need a monofin and fabric tail," Sara says. "You don't want them to see your real one." "Good point," Jodie says.

"That's good," Jodie says before asking, "Nancy, how am I doing?" "Not bad," Nancy replies. "It just takes practice."

"Well, I can't do that. Still, it is nice to know of a few people who can." After a pause, Rob continues. "Breathe underwater that is. I can swim."

"I don't like it," Jodie's mother says. She reaches into her purse and pulls out one of Jodie's team swimsuits. "Put this on." "Use the bathroom," Sara says as she joins Nancy and transforms. Jodie changes, comes out and enters the tank. Her gills activate when she gets some water in her mouth and Nancy and Sara help her learn the butterfly kick. As she learns, she transforms into a mermaid.

"How?" Jodie asks. "Like this," Nancy says, jumping in. As she does, she transforms into her mermaid form. "You can do it, too," Sara says. "What if she has trouble breathing underwater?" Jodie's mother asks. "She has gills," Sara replies. "They'll activate the second water enters her mouth and remove the oxygen disolved in the water. Carbon dioxide in the blood will be filtered out and expelled with the water." "I don't understand," Jodie's mother says. "According to Mrs. Adams, they act like my lungs," Jodie says.

"Okay, Jodie," Nancy says. "Let's get wet. There's a 20-foot deep tank that has four times the surface area of an Olympic-size swimming pool in the basement that's filled with the same kind of water municipal swimming pools are filled with." "I didn't bring my swimming suit," Jodie responds. "You don't need one," Nancy says. "Just change into your mermaid form." "How?" Jodie asks. "Concentration," Sara responds.

"That's neat Jodie. There is no risk for drowning, as opposed to Jason, who drowns all the time."

"I will," Doreen says. Meanwhile, Nancy is being examined and her gills are found to be near her ears. An examination of Jodie shows that she has them, too.

"Ok. Will speak with you later. Be careful out there."

"No," Doreen replies. "Your mother's going to drive me to the studio. I'm going to pick my fan mail up and she's going to pick up yours."

"Ok. Anything you need to know honey?"