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Fish lover, he led from the back of the room So they’d all seen Judy’s latest prank Shelly shrank down in her seat, feeling annoyed

Mr Aquino aioldfish’s neck “Class, what are these called?”

Shelly’s mouth dropped open in shock The little laser point hovered over the slits in the fish’s neck She knew exactly what they were called But that wasn’t why she was freaked out

She reached under her scarf and touched her neck, feeling the slits

When no one answered, Mr Aquino shifted his gaze “Shelly, care to enlighten us?”

But she couldn’t say it Her mouth felt dry, like it was filled with cotton balls She quickly pulled her hand out from under the scarf She suddenly remembered the sea witch’s words, and somehow, it all fell into place: Oh, you’ll be the fastest swimmer You’ll swim like a fish!

This was the gift froills! But that wasn’t what Shelly had meant when she made her wish She didn’t mean for it to happen like this Another spitball hit her cheek

Fish lover, Normie mouthed at her

The silence stretched

Shelly started to feel like she couldn’t breathe Her chest felt tight Her lungs screa seeination, either It had soills She was certain

Mr Aquino looked worried “Shelly, is everything okay?”

But all she could think about was her neck, and Normie, and the horrible nickname, and how if the other kids saw her, well, her new fishlike parts, it would only get worse

Much, much worse

“Uhcan I use the bathroorabbed the hall pass and bolted froills—and how to o away before anyone could notice the to make sure nobody was in there Fortunately, it was e the gills in all their fishy glory She breathed deep, watching as they flared open, then sealed up

It would be kind of cool—if they weren’t on her neck Like a crazy science experiment