Approaching Dustin, Tyna slowed down, suddenly unsure about what her next step should be. She only knew she had to do something, anything. Part of her wanted to give the other mermaid a comforting hug, but she knew Dustin avoided such things even at the best of times. He had always been more the typical tough boy than Ty, which probably made this transition all the more traumatic. Oh, Dustin, she thought. I’m sorry. This is all my fault.
“This is all your fault, Ty,” Dustin muttered without turning around.
“My fault?” Tyna blurted out. “How!?” Sure, she had just been thinking the same thing, but it just sounded different coming from Dustin.
“You’ve been nothing but trouble ever since Mom and Dad took you in.”
All of Tyna’s previous sympathy vanished in a moment. “What! I didn’t do anything! It was always YOU who was always picking on ME!”
“Someone had to toughen you up!” Dustin finally turned to give her a sneer. “You were always acting like you were so special, like your life was so hard.” She put on a mocking tone all too familiar to the other mermaid. “‘Oh, my TV isn’t big enough. Oh, I have to do chores like everyone else. Oh, I’ll only get a cupcake and one present on my birthday.’”
“Hey, that’s not fair!” Tyna growled. “You got to have a party!”
Her foster sister rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you heard of sweet sixteen? I’m sure next year, Mom and Dad would’ve given you the same. Though I don’t know who you’d invite, since you never made friends at school.”
“Well, it didn’t help that you kept publicly humiliating me!”
Dustin shrugged. “All you had to do was stick up for yourself. Hit back, yell, anything. Heck, I would’ve backed off if you stomped your foot! But you just ran away like a wimp and daydreamed for the rest of the day. I swear, it’s like you enjoyed being a weird loner. And don’t even get me started about your little mermaid collection!”
“Huh? You knew?”
“Of course I knew!” Dustin scoffed. “We let you into our house. You think I’m not going to let myself into your room now and then? Anyway, when I found all that girly junk, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I mean, how can you like that stuff and call yourself a man?”
Tyna put her hands on her hips and lifted an eyebrow.
The other mermaid paused, the gears slowly turning in her head. At last, she deflated a little. “Well, how was I supposed to know you were actually a girl?”
“You couldn’t know,” Tyna admitted, dropping her gaze. “None of us could.”
“Just so you know, if you were a girl to begin with, I…would’ve done things different.”
“That doesn’t really help.”
“Yeah, I know, but that’s how it is. What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry.” Dustin absently poked her finger at a tiny shrimp that had come to investigate her tail, causing the creature to dart away. “I guess this is my punishment then. I’m stuck as a fish-girl forever. I wouldn’t even be surprised if you just go on without me and leave me alone. Actually, I think I’d prefer that.”
This caught Tyna off-guard. “Why would I do that?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Dustin countered. “We’re not even actual family. And I’m tough. I’m sure I can make it on my own in a world full of prissy mermaids. Besides, I’m not sure I want to stick around with…her.”
“What’s wrong with my mom?”
“Nothing if you’re her kid, but what’s she gonna do with me? Make me your slave? I’m not supposed to be here. You’re the princess of this place, and I’m, well, not. You’ve got no reason to keep me around.”
Tyna tried to wrap her mind around this decision. Frankly, it hadn’t occurred to her to separate from Dustin, but now that the option had been presented, she found herself in a dilemma. If her sister wanted to leave, would it be the right thing to stop her? What should she do?