They say bad things come in threes, and I'll be proving that old adage.
Ignoring when the story came out and the name of the author, which I think is fair given the context of this being entertainment, this was a fair story covering ground many others have tread. This is not limited to science fiction either, the case of an outsider (space alien, monster or fairy creature) wishing for the painfully near but unattainable is a common theme.
Well crafted, but it felt like old fiction (which makes sense, I know). I found the beginning very stilted. While I sympathized with Ishmael's desires, who hasn't wanted the head cheerleader to find them important/heroic/sexy, I felt the story went wrong when Lizabeth did go in the water with him. I don't think it's prudishness, it just that he's, well, to be painfully frank, a dolphin. A dolphin who said he loved her and essentially wanted to wrap his arms around her. It's just so odd, and she's old enough that it should give her pause (If 13-15 is still the age of puberty then she'd be 26-30). Then the story took the preditably human path of Ishmael trying to make he jealous, and then, essentially, pleading with her friends that she take him back. I would have liked to have seen a more dolphin-like approach whatever that may have been.
I planned to be more harsh while the story was concluding, but Mr. Eley's end comment reminded me that the story is a good way to show others that we aren't alone in how much rejection hurts. In that way, the story succeeds very well.
Now realizing the fact that the story was published in 1970, the critism mellows considerably. In that respect, it reminds me of the LOTR books, which I find horrendously boring, plodding and repetitive. But, in that case, it was the first of its kind and spawned such amazing works that, as a historical piece of fiction, it is fasinating.
Keeping in mind that the story was published 37 years ago, most of the stories I've read of a similar vein would very likely find this one as an ancestor if they could trace their literary geneology.
So while it makes an interesting study, it's not a great tale. Too dusty, and, at this point, unoriginal.