A/N This story came in second and I liked the idea a lot so I decided to upload it. For those of you who want to know, iHave a Twin is up as well. Enjoy :D

Chapter 1: Adopted?!

Cleo's P.O.V.

I am at the Juicenet, I just got my favorite smoothie and I can't help but think about Lewis. I'm all alone, Rikki is hanging out with Zane today and Emma is at home helping her mom clean out the attic. Lewis is on vacation with his family, every year they travel to some different part of the world for a few weeks. Once he gets back he's always depressed for a few days like he didn't see all he wanted to in that particular country or like he didn't find the perfect souvenir or something. When I ask him about it, he never gives me a direct answer and after many attempts I just give up. Thank goodness it only lasts a few days, in no time he's back to the cute geeky science-guy that I fell in love with.

For a while I just sat with my thoughts on all the good times I've had with Lewis, from when we first met in Kindergarten to when he first figured out our mermaid secret to seeing him board the plane with his parents and brothers after giving him a hug and a kiss goodbye. I couldn't stop thinking about him, that is, until I noticed a hand being waved right in front of my face.

"Hello, earth to Cleo," Rikki said sitting across from me with a smoothie of her own and waving her hand in my face taking me away from my thoughts of the past and back to the present.

"I thought you were hanging with Zane today," I said casually.

"I was going to, but at the last moment his dad told him he had to come to some meeting with him to act like his perfect child," Rikki replied, "Speaking of, where is Emma today?"

"She had to help her mom clean out the attic today," I replied.

"Wow, Emma has to clean something? Her house and family are so perfect I wouldn't even suspect a dirty cluttered attic," Rikki said just a bit sarcastically.

"Even clean people have to clean up once in a while, it's how they stay clean," I replied.

"Do you know when Lewis is coming back?" Rikki asked changing the subject, though I really didn't mind getting to talk about Lewis.

"This Saturday, I can't believe he was gone 3 whole weeks!" I said.

"I know, best 3 weeks of my life! Nobody looking for samples or rambling on about scientific stuff nobody cares about," Rikki said.

"Rikki!" I mock yell thinking of all he's done for us.

"Just kidding! Even I sort of miss all his geekiness being around sometimes," She admitted. I knew it! After that I really didn't know what to say so it was quiet for a few minutes.

"You wanna go for a swim?" I eventually asked.

"Sure, got nothing better to do," She replied and we both paid for our smoothies and left to go swimming.

Emma's P.O.V.

I am up in the attic with my mom; it is the dirtiest part of this house. Nobody has been up here in years, except to get holiday decorations. Practically everything up here is covered in a thick layer of dust! But it is kind of fun to see what you can find, almost like treasure hunting for things that resemble great memories. In one box I even found a photo from my very first swim competition!

I came upon one box that was filled with photo albums. The one on the top was filled with baby pictures of Elliot, I flipped through a couple pages. He was the funniest, cutest looking baby, it made me wonder what I looked like when I was a baby. I searched around the box until I found an album titled "Our First Years With Emma," but it wasn't filled with baby pictures, it was filled with pictures of me at about 3 years old! I frantically looked around the box, they would have taken pictures of their first born . . . unless I wasn't their first. I found nothing,

"Mom, why aren't there any baby pictures of me?" I asked.

"It's kind of a long story . . ." she replied.

"Was I adopted?" I asked.

"Well," she replied, "yeah."

"How old was I?" I asked.

"We are not exactly sure," Lisa said slowly, "we guessed around 3."

"What do you mean you guessed? They keep record of those kind of things!" I practically screamed, but not too loud so that I didn't alarm Elliot who was downstairs just playing video games.

"Again, it's kind of a long story," she said.

"Well I've got time," I said angrily, how could she have kept this secret from me for so long?

"Well it all started one day on Mako Island," She began, "your father had taken me there for a romantic picnic alone on the beach . . . "

*Flashback*

(Third Person and Lisa is voicing it to Emma as she remembers)

Lisa and Neil had just finished setting up the picnic, though they didn't plan on doing much eating. The new married couple had just gotten back from their honeymoon, and they were glad for the peaceful quiet, that is until they begin to hear a soft cry not far away. They were mid-kiss when they started to hear it, and were actually a bit perturbed,

"What do you think it could be? Some kind of animal?" Lisa asked.

"Not any kind I know of, it sounds like a child," Neil replied.

"It couldn't hurt to check," Lisa said though she didn't move a muscle, "can you see what it is?"

"Sure," Neil replied and got up heading towards the bush were the sound seemed to be coming from. There he found something totally unexpected, a small girl with long hair blonde hair, in the cutest little dress, crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked the girl softly, "where are your parents?"

Instead of answering the girl just cocked her head slightly in a way to show that she didn't understand what he was saying. From that he knew that she wasn't able to speak or understand English. He was also able to see her tear-streaked face, and a small gash on the side of her head covered in dried blood, he figured she may have hit it falling down some rocks, and maybe she lost her memory. The question is what she was doing on the island in the first place, but that wasn't something he could ask her. Instead of saying anything about the bump, knowing she wouldn't understand anyway, he hugged her in a way to reassure her that she was safe with him, and she tightly hugged him back, quickly warming up to the first seemingly trustworthy adult she has seen in a while. With that he picked her up and carried her over to his wife, Lisa.

"Oh my goodness is she okay? What is your name sweetie?" Lisa said talking to her husband with the first question and the girl with the second.

"She doesn't understand English, and I think she has amnesia," Neil said to Lisa, "she has a small gash on the side of her head that is probably from falling on some rocks or something."

Neil then set the girl down on the blanket and gave her one of the sandwiches they had made to eat, he figured she would be hungry though he didn't know how long she had been out here.

"Your dress is so beautiful," Lisa said to the girl, even though she now knew that the girl wouldn't understand, "look Neil, I think those are real diamonds!"

"That can't be," Nail said, "what would such a young girl be doing on an island wearing diamonds?"

"Just take a look for yourself," Lisa said, and sure enough embodied into the fabric of the dress were pure diamonds, even visible through the thin layer of dirt that covered the dress.

"Then she must be like royalty or from a really rich family," Nail said, "we better report this to the police, her parents are probably worried sick looking for her."

However, when she finished eating the sandwich she noticed the shore. She got up and ran to it screaming "Dai aquie dai aquie prende de caisa!"*. Alarmed by the suddenness of her actions, they hesitated to act. The girl ran to the water, going in only up to her ankles screaming "Maima! Maima! Dove es tu?"** She looked around, out at sea, and then abruptly sat down in the water and cried. The language was not one they recognized nor understood, but they knew enough about expression to know that she was looking for her mom. After a considerable amount of time, Neil went up to the girl and gently picked her up into his arms, and carried her back to their boat.

They drove the boat back to mainland and went straight to the hospital. They had her checked for any injuries, none seemed significant, but the doctor confirmed that the girl did have amnesia. Then they brought her to the police station. No one there knew the language either; it wasn't a language ever documented. However, Neil had some friends who were officers there, so they were able to watch over her while they sent out a report about the missing girl to all different countries, including a picture but no other information since she couldn't speak English. She did talk sometimes now and again, but they still couldn't understand what she was trying to say

After months of no response from anyone claiming the missing child, the officers decided it was time to put her into foster care. However, the Gilberts had gotten so attached to the little girl that they decided to adopt her before they could take her from them. They named the little girl Emma, it was Lisa's favorite name, and it seemed to suite the girl.

Within a year Emma began to speak and understand English, and the Gilberts decided to enroll her into school. However, the summer before school started they feared if she would be able to react well with children. Neil invited his boss Harrison Bennett to bring his son, who was assumingly the same age as Emma, to interact with her. They didn't get along too well because they both had entirely different interests, she liked to play with her Barbie dolls while he played with his toy cars and race tracks. So they decided to sign her up for a type of summer camp at a nearby school. Emma personally chose swimming, and she loved the class and she was the best swimmer there, like a fish out of water. By the time she got to school, she was pretty much ready. It helped that on the first day a little girl by the name of Cleo walked up to introduce herself to Emma and they both went off to join the morning circle together. They both became great friends and have been so since. After a few years the Gilbert's decided to have a child of their own, meaning with their own DNA, and Elliot was born.

*End of Flashback*

(Back to Emma's P.O.V.)

I didn't know what to say. What could I say? My parents, or at least the people who I thought were my parents, have lied to me for thirteen years! I couldn't think clearly, I had to get out of here! Out of the place I once thought was my home.

I ran down the attic stairs, down the other stairs to the first floor and out the door, heading to the canal. All the way I could hear my mom screaming my name, but I didn't care to look back. Once in the water I headed straight for the moon pool. When I got there though, before I went in, I noticed that Cleo and Rikki were already there. There was no way I could face them now, I was a total wreck! So, instead I went to the beach of Mako Island, on the side that faced the mainland.

For a while I just sat there, staring out at the ocean, thinking about my life and what I should do now with the information I had just received. Should I just keep on going and pretend like nothing ever happened? No, that's not the answer, that's never the answer. I have to do something, but what? I have hardly enough information to try to find my real parents, and even if I do, there was probably a reason they left me alone on an island. Was there really anything I could do? Then I got a little restless and decided to explore the part of Mako I was on, it seemed to be the place where my parents probably had their picnic. I just kind of walked along the outside of the forest when something in a bush caught my eye. When I went to pick it up I found that it was a crown, silver and diamond plated, and pretty small. It must have been mine, but that means that I wasn't just some rich girl; I was a princess!

*"My water, my water, take me home"

**"Mama! Mama! Where are you?"

***The language is not a real language, just a language that I made up, using a little Italian because that is the only language I know other than English ;)

A/N Hope you enjoyed! Please review! :D