Cora Conner smiled at her reflection in the mirror as she finished applying the forbidden lipstick. She felt like the most beautiful fish in the sea. Exiting the bathroom door she picked up her backpack and headed for the door without a backward glance. “See ya mom”, she called as the door slammed shut. Marina Conner sighed as she watched her daughter swim to join her friends waiting at the bus stop. Things sure had changed since her day when everyone swam to school. She had to admit though that having bigger schools, that covered a larger area of the sea bottom, meant that Cora and her friends could take advantage of things she’d never imagined. Marina sighed thinking that children were much more difficult to manage today as well. Only last week Cora had thrown a tantrum because she had refused to allow her to use lipstick. Marina had been adamant, she could start using make-up when she started junior high in the Fall but not before.

Meanwhile, Cora was basking in the envy of her friends who all wished they had the courage to defy their mothers as she had done. The fact that her mother didn’t know she was wearing lipstick, was a little matter that Cora had neglected to mention. At recess she felt really cool and refused to join her friends in what she considered ’little girl-fish games‘. When she saw some of the older boy-fish looking with interest in her direction, she felt strangely excited but a little uncertain at the same time. Was she really ready for this? Suddenly she didn’t feel quite so grown-up anymore and wondered if maybe her mother had not been right after all. As they sat together on the bus that afternoon, she confided to her best friend Hidey that she wasn’t going to wear lipstick tomorrow. Hidey smiled, “maybe we can play jump rope in the park behind my house on Saturday, I’m not ready to grow up yet either”.