Did all the bad lads slip away to toss themselves off? Perhaps my Mum had been right to warn me off them… she would certainly warn me away from enga...ing in any kind of liaison with a pupil - but I was old enough to make my own decisions now. She wouldn’t approve of the decision I was making. I didn't approve of the decision I was making. Or the excuses I was using to justify it. “Dump that loser boyfriend,” she’d say. “Go and find yourself an proper man.” It wasn’t as easy as that. Life rarely. She never told you about them?’ ‘How old are they?’ Royce asked, very interested now. Gems shrugged. ‘I think they’re about three. Maybe four. Haven’t seen them ever since her Pa took off on his boat with them. I think he was takin’ them back to the sea to give ’em back, you know?’ ‘Give them back?’ Royce felt something cold grip his heart. ‘To the sea?’ ‘Nah. To the Merfolk. It’s cuz they’re like their mama—they’re merfolk, too.’ ‘Do you know who the father is?’ Royce asked. Gems pursed. He was wearing a white v-neck with jeans. His brown hair was kind of spiky looking. Yet, it was so cute!"Hi, did I make you wait? I'm sorry," I apologized."Ah, no I just got here. So where do you wanna go first?" he asked."I think I would want to go to the movies first but if you had another place in mind..." I said, letting my voice trail off."No, I didn't have a place in mind so, what movie do you wanna watch?" he said, running a hand through his hair."I was wanting to watch a random zombie. Our permanent population is just under three thousand. With so few inhabitants, locals tend to know almost everyone.’ ‘That’s the population of the nearest town to our sheep station and when I go to town, most people on the street don’t greet me.’ Dan said slyly, ‘Do you think your dislike of dogs might have something to do with that?’ ‘What? You can’t be serious?’ ‘No and you might be too serious. You have to do things for people to make them like you.’ ‘Well what have you done to earn this.