Enchanted by a Siren

Chapter 1: The New Girl

Calum has lived in San Diego his whole life, and so did his parents, and his grandparents. Fair to say he was as local as they come. He was a sixteen-year-old tan surfer boy with wildly curly sun-bleached hair. The close proximity to the ocean has always caused his hair to act out, but he didn’t mind it. He loved living the good life so close to the beautiful blue beyond. 

He still felt like he learned something new about the ocean every day. It's vast in its mysteries. He always loved that his deep blue eyes looked like they came straight out of the depths of the sea.

He liked life in San Diego and was part of a close-knit family, the third born of four children, though he never felt forgotten a day in his life. Every day was the same, school, swim team, surf, family time, and on weekends he got to hang out with his friends on the beach and play volleyball or whatever the flavor of the week was. To him it was pure bliss. 

His friend, Ryan, signed himself up for the exchange student program, they had it every year and every year he loses a friend for 6 months while some foreigner takes their place.

They've had French, Australian and British exchange students in the years he had been at the High School. That year’s one was apparently going to be Canadian. The whole school was buzzing with excitement in anticipation of the new girl, but Calum didn’t really join in, if he had his way he would've been catching a wave with Ryan after swim practice.

Calum walked up to his locker, pushing through the busy hallway. He spun the lock skillfully as he had done everyday for three years and opened it to grab his books for Biology and English. He heard a familiar voice pop up next to him. “Hey man, did you see the new girl?” Toby asked. 

Toby was the other friend that Calum surfed with most days. He wasn’t on the swim team with him though, he already missed having Ryan there to race during practice. Toby was a tall, lanky boy and not really built for swimming, honestly, not really built for surfing either, but he didn’t let that hold him back.

“Hey, and no.” Calum replied, rolling his eyes inwardly.

“You should check her out, she looks like some kind of candy cane with blue hair. Hot candy cane though, I could learn to love the blue.” Toby said wistfully. 

“You do you man, but I don’t care how hot she is I’d still trade her in to have Ryan back any day.” Calum retorted.

Toby gave him a look of exasperation. “Oh cheer up. Ryan wanted to go. He said so himself. You know, see the world, broaden his horizons and all that stuff.”

“Yeah, I was there when he said that, Chief.” He replied sarcastically. “Still, I can’t imagine this year without him.”

“It won’t be the whole year, just like the first six months.” Toby said in an attempt to cheer him up.

“Six months too long if you ask me.” Calum scoffed as he pushed past Toby to get to his first class, which they had together.... So, Toby just fell into step next to him and kept babbling about the new girl. Calum wondered when the novel of her will wear off and he can have a normal conversation with his friend again.

They entered their class and took their seats next to each other. Calum took out his Biology book and rummaged through his backpack for some stationary. Biology was his favorite class and even when it wasn’t he had decided it would be. 

He had his heart set on becoming a Marine Biologist, so he made sure to pay attention in his Biology classes. Even though they seldom learned about marine life he knew he had to keep his grades up if he wanted to be accepted into a good Marine Biology program. He sat down and placed his stationary on the table in front of him. 

Suddenly, Toby's eyes lit up with excitement. Calum shook his head at him with a confused grin. Toby gestured for him to lean forward and whispered in his ear. “Dude, don’t look now, but the exchange student is sitting right behind you.”

‘Greaaat.’ Calum thought to himself. Actually, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. The sooner she became just another girl, the sooner Toby would get over his stupid crush. Calum smiled defiantly at Toby, deciding what he was going to do, he pulled himself away from Toby and turned to see the exchange student doodling in her English book.

Toby wasn’t kidding. Her hair was blue, not like dark blue, or a blue tint, or just the edges, it was bright neon blue. Oddly enough it didn’t look damaged the way he would expect from using that much bleach, in fact it looked healthier than most. It was shiny, glossy even and looked like waves of silk cascading over her chest all the way down to her hips. He had to admit, hair like that stood out. 

Her features were soft and her cheeks round, yet her face still seemed slender somehow. She was wearing a jean jacket over a tie dye summer dress that faded into colors of dark blue and aqua green. Her features were small and so were her hands, he observed her as she continued sketching something fish-like. He couldn’t help but wonder how tall she might be, he suspected not very tall, everything about her looked tiny.

Suddenly, she looked up, becoming aware of his eyes perusing her. She smiled faintly, staring at him expectantly. “Hi, I’m Calum, and may I be the first to welcome you to San Diego.” Calum extended his hand to her in greeting.

She took it hesitantly, her kind eyes never faltering. “Hi, Calum. Nice to meet you. I’m Zenobia, but just call me Zen.”

“Zenobia, very unique name.” Calum mused.

“It’s Greek… I think. Not that I’m Greek. I believe there was a Syrian Queen named Zenobia.” She smiled at him.

“Wow, named after a Queen. Well, if the shoe fits you know.” Toby chimed in, not liking being left out of the conversation. “Hi, I’m Toby,” He said, waving nervously. “Or Tobias, actually, which I believe also comes from the Greeks.”

“Really, how fascinating,” Zen smiled mockingly. “And Calum?” She looked at Calum, amused.

“Yes?” He said, shocked by the word vomit coming out of Toby’s mouth.

“Is it also Greek?” She asked as their Biology teacher, Mrs. Piper, cleared her throat to signify the class is starting.

Calum shrugged. “I don’t know.” He said turning to face Mrs. Piper.

The class went on without a hitch despite Toby’s not-so-subtle attempts to steal glances at the new girl over his shoulder. She seemed to find the whole thing rather amusing and he swears that she winked at him at some point. 

Calum couldn’t deny she was interesting, her strange name, her blue hair, but he wondered if she would still be interesting if they were to spend more than five minutes with her, or if she would turn out to be just another teenage girl. 

Thankfully, she wasn’t in their next class, but that didn’t stop Toby from obsessing. Toby had never had a girlfriend or even kissed a girl before. Not for lack of trying though. He wondered if this was why Toby was so hopeful over this new one.

After school Calum made his way to the gym for swim practice. He was a good swimmer and usually managed to beat most of the boys his age, even if it was only by a few seconds. 

He entered the gym and walked to the boy’s locker room to change, greeting his friends as he went. He didn’t much like the speedos and hair caps they were required to wear, but he couldn’t deny they did help him shoot through the water more efficiently. It was getting worse as he was getting older, he felt like he was in need of a larger speedo every six months and the one he had now was already pinching him uncomfortably.

He found his friend, Dan, in the changing rooms, they'd been on the swim team together ever since they started High School, but they weren’t really friends outside of the swim team. They walked together to the pool discussing the upcoming swim competitions they were planning on competing in when Calum’s eyes caught on blue hair. 

She was wearing the same skin-tight uniform swimsuit one piece as all the other girls and she was braiding her blue hair back and twisting it into a knot on her head. She pulled the swimming cap over her bun and secured all the lose hair by shoving them under the cap. When she was done she noticed him staring and waved. “Hey, Calum. Glad to see I at least know someone from the swim team already.”

“Hey, yeah. Well, this is Dan.” He pointed at Dan who gave her a friendly smile. “So, now you know two people.” Calum said putting his towel on a bench and pulling his swim cap over his mop of hair, shoving everything under the cap.

“Welcome back, my aquatic friends.” Said Coach Stevens as she came towards them. She was a tall woman in her late forties who’s skin was worse for wear due to years of chlorine and sun damage. She had a matching red cap and shirt on that read ‘COACH’ in bold. Around her neck was a timer and whistle and she looked like the kind of coach that yelled, but Calum knew it was well-intentioned. He wondered how the new girl would take it. She was a small girl and honestly, didn’t look like much of a swimmer to him.

“I see we have a new addition to our team. Miss. Von Ari, welcome to our school, I’ve heard great things about you. Your previous Coach said you can swim circles around anyone. I’d love to see some of that action today. How about a friendly race before we get started?” Coach Stevens said smiling challengingly at Zen.

Zen smiled right back, meeting her challenge unflinchingly. “I’m a little rusty, but I’m game if everyone else is." She replied.

“You heard her, we have four lanes, so lets get our top swimmers in the water. Kayla is the fastest girl in your year Miss. Von Ari, so lets get her in the lane next to you.” Zen moved to one of the middle lanes and Kayla took her place next to her. 

Calum knew Kayla well, she looked exactly like what you would expect from a beach babe, bottle blond with a ridiculous tan. Kayla was also a surfer, but she didn’t always go to the same spots that Calum liked to frequent.

“Next up, Calum, you’re the fastest boy in the same age group. So, get in line.” Coach Stevens blared. He couldn’t believe she was calling him up, he was faster than most of the senior girls. Did she want to make a laughingstock of the new girl on her first day? Harsh.

“Why don’t we make this interesting? Zander, you can take the remaining lane.” Coach Stevens gestured for an athletic looking senior boy to move to the last open lane. What was she thinking? Calum couldn’t beat Zander on his best day. There were even some whispers of Zander competing in the Olympics one day. He was one of those people that took swimming to a whole new level.

“What do you say Miss. Von Ari? Ready for a little friendly competition?” Coach Stevens looked at Zen, a devilish glint in her eye. 

“Of course, Coach.” Zen replied confidently, no sign of worry to be found on her face.

“This should be fun.” Coach Stevens said under her breath before she hollered. “Alright, positions!”

Everyone lined up in their lanes and bent over into diving positions. “Get ready, set, go!” Coach Stevens blew her whistle with an extended breath and everyone dove into the water. Calum expertly controlled his breathing and tried to see behind him if the new girl was catching up, but all he saw was Kayla propelling through the water. 

He attempted a look at Zander and was pleased to find himself catching up to his feet. As the finish line came closer Calum sneaked a look at the end of the pool between breaths and what he saw there made his heart stop. Zen had already finished and she was observing them with a sly grin.

As he reached the end of the lane he looked at her in astonishment trying to catch his breath. “How?” He exclaimed in disbelief.

“Impressive, new girl.” Zander said to her. “Whatever your secret is please share it with the rest of us mortal beings.”

She only winked at him. “Good genes, I guess.”

“Miss. Von Ari, I can honestly say I have never seen anyone move like that through water. It was like the water was just bouncing off of your skin. I look forward to our time together and I hope you are seriously considering training for the Olympics.” Said the Coach.

“Please, call me Zen, and I don’t know if competing is really my thing. I just do it for fun.” She beamed at the high praise from their Coach.

“Whatever you say.” Coach Stevens said as she shook her head in disbelief. “Okay, enough gawking. Get into your respective lanes and get going!” She exclaimed and followed with a blow from her whistle for emphasis.

For the rest of the practice Calum kept a very close eye on Zen’s movements. The Coach wasn’t kidding when she said the water just bounced off of her. It was like her skin was made of something more fish-like than human. 

It seemed like instead of powering through the water, the water was simply making her part of itself. Her movements were smooth, almost impossibly smooth, like her bones were made of cartilage not calcium. He couldn’t explain what he was seeing, but she definitely didn’t move like any human swimmer he had ever observed before.

After practice Calum went up to her and asked. “How do you move like that?”

“What do you mean?” She answered gazing at him with a questioning look.

“Like… I don’t know… Like a fish or something.” He stuttered, trying to find the words.

“Well, my previous coach had different training methods I suppose.” She shrugged and turned to grab her stuff off of a nearby bench.

“You need to show us those methods if it made you this good.” Calum laughed.

“Sure.” She said nervously and nudged past him to leave. He looked after her as she walked away and shook his head in disbelief. How could such a tiny body be so fast in the water?