Read Online Fish Out of Water by Natalie Whipple - Free Book Online

myself down so I won’t risk bursting into tears.
    Dylan would revel in that.
    We may have reached a silent truce in the last week, but the image of him sneering at me steels my face. I won’t be weak in front of him. Not ever.
    “I think you forgot something,” Dylan says when I get to work.
    I grab the blue apron from one of the shelves in the Aquatics island. It’ll have to do for today. I just hope Clark doesn’t ask any questions. “I forgot a lot of things, actually. Did you clean the tanks yet?”
    “Of course not.”
    I pinch the bridge of my nose. We’ve gotten to the point that he’ll do stuff when I ask him to, but if I don’t mention it he pretends it magically doesn’t need to be done. “Good. I need to scrub.”
    His eyebrows go up. “Did something happen to you?”
    “Why would you care?” I grab the cleaning supplies. “Go check the shelves to see if there’s anything we need to restock.”
    “Okay…”
    His expression might be concern, but I’m already too upset to be impressed by his small show of compassion. I grab the big magnetic scrubber, attach it to the glass, and get to work. Try to forget the words she said. Think of anything else. Everything else. She’s just a crazy old lady who doesn’t know what she’s saying.
    Which is actually more frustrating, because I can’t cuss her out for being such an awful person. She probably wouldn’t even remember if I did.
    “Ugh!” I struggle to get the magnetic scrubber off the glass. They are super strong and get slippery in the water. “Stupid thing!”
    “Mika?”
    I look up to see Clark staring at me like I’ve sprouted horns. I stand straight and wipe the water off my hands. “Yes?”
    He looks over my outfit disapprovingly. “Did that tank do something to hurt your feelings?”
    “Sorry.” I stare at my feet, realizing how crazy I must look.
    “Dylan said there was something wrong with you, but I didn’t expect him to be right.”
    I snap my head up, eyes wide. He tattled on me? After all the times these last two weeks I restrained myself? I’ll kill him for this, freaking hypocrite. “I just…it’s…family stuff.”
    “What happened?” His voice is so kind when he says it, but I can’t bring myself to explain.
    “It’s personal,” I choke out. He would never understand, and I can’t bring myself to say the insult.
    He nods. “Well, I’m sorry for whatever it is, but I hope this doesn’t happen again. You have to wear the uniform, Mika. It’s not like you to ignore rules, so I’ll assume this is a one-time thing.”
    “Definitely.”
    “I need to feed the kittens, but if you feel like talking at some point feel free to holler at me. I know family stuff can be hard—we’ve had our fair share lately, with you know who.”
    “Like what?” I ask before I can stop myself. Despite my best efforts, I’m still curious as to how Dylan ended up here. He is kind of ruining my life, so I feel like I deserve to know.
    He purses his lips. “My brother and I don’t exactly get along—very different world views, you could say. He’s always been overly ambitious, nearly cutthroat in how he approaches life—he thinks I’m a lazy slob.”
    Clark is a bit odd, but “lazy slob” is definitely the wrong descriptor. “But you own a business, and you work really hard to keep it running.”
    “Why thank you, Mika.” He smiles wide, like he’s relieved to have validation. “I feel the same way, but my brother doesn’t think much of one pet store when he owns…well, it’s a lot more than one store. He’s never even come to visit this ‘dirty flea hole’, so.”
    I raise an eyebrow, curious. If Dylan grew up with such a stuck-up sounding father, no wonder he’s so condescending. “What does he do?”
    Clark waves it off. “It doesn’t matter, but suffice it to say I never liked how much they neglected Dylan, and yet also expected him to do everything they told him to. They sent him off to boarding school