Trouble at Trident Academy by Debbie Dadey Page A

for yourself.”
    Pearl flipped her blond hair, stuck her pointy nose up in the water, and said, “I know how to do plenty of things.”
    â€œName one,” Shelly said.
    â€œHow to be on time for school, for starters,” she said. Pearl spun around and flicked her gold tail, knocking seaweed juice all over Shelly’s new Trident sash!

    Splash!
    Pearl giggled and swam off toward school.
    â€œOh no!” Shelly squealed, dabbing green juice off the gold-and-blue sash. “She did that on purpose!”

    Echo glared after Pearl before helping her friend wipe the sash. “It’s fine now. You can hardly see it,” Echo said. That wasn’t exactly true—there was definitely a green blob on Shelly’s sash.
    â€œWe’d better get going,” Echo said, adjusting the glittering plankton bow in her dark curly hair. “We don’t want to be late on our first day.”
    Shelly groaned. She wasn’t quite so excited now. “If Trident Academy is filled with merpeople like Pearl, then I don’t think I’m going to like it.”
    â€œThere’s only one way to find out,” Echo said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

Burps
    W OW,” SHELLY SAID, staring up at the ceiling of the huge clamshell. “This is amazing.” Only a few shells in the ocean had ever grown as large as Trident Academy. The front hall alone could fit a humpback whale, and the ceiling wasfilled with colorful old carvings that showed the history of the merpeople.
    â€œIt’s awesome, but we’d better get to class,” Echo said, grabbing Shelly’s elbow. “Third graders are down this way.” Echo’s older sister went to Trident Academy, so Echo already knew a lot about the school.
    Shelly didn’t think she’d ever seen so many merpeople in one place. Hundreds of students swam quickly through the massive shell, looking for their classrooms. Each wore a different-colored sash for their grade, from third to tenth.
    â€œHere’s our room,” Echo said. She shoved aside a seaweed curtain and disappeared inside.
    Shelly gulped and followed her friend.She hoped Pearl wouldn’t be in their classroom, but as she entered the class …
    â€œOh no. Did a stinkfish just swim in?” Pearl snapped as she sat at a rock desk.
    â€œNo,” said a merboy with a big head. “But a burpfish did.” He let out a big, long burp right in Pearl’s face.
    â€œThat is so disgusting, Rocky,” Pearl said. “Didn’t your parents teach you any manners?”
    â€œI’ll tell you what’s really disgusting,” Rocky said. “That jewelry you’re wearing.”
    Pearl shook her head. “My pearls are sooooo beautiful.” She ran her fingers over the long necklace.
    â€œActually,” a tiny, dark-haired mergirl said, “pearls are sort of disgusting. They’remade when an oyster or mussel secretes nacre around an irritant.”
    Pearl sniffed at the tiny mergirl. “So what?”
    â€œSecretes?” another merboy asked. “What’s that?”
    â€œKind of like spitting,” the mergirl explained.

    â€œI knew that,” Rocky said with a grin. “That means she’s wearing puke around her neck.” Several merboys and mergirls in the class giggled at the joke.
    The small mergirl nodded, and Shelly took a closer look at her. She had long black hair that reached all the way to her tail; wide, dark eyes; and the palest of skin. Her mertail was a brilliant purple, unlike any Shelly’d ever seen. Shelly’s own tail was blue, and Echo’s was pink. The mergirl with the purple tail didn’t look even a little bit afraid of Pearl. Anyone who could stand up to Pearl was awesome. Shelly knew she was going to like this mergirl.
    â€œWatch this!” Rocky said. He spit into the water around Pearl. At that momenta tall, thin teacher with green hair