Author's Notes:
Hello. I have returned. And I bring more merfolk adventures in my wake! This one is a bit of a lark, and the chapters will be more episodic than plot-based. That's not to say there won't be a solid conclusion; merely that I have no plan for said conclusion at present, so this is likely to have an H2O: Season 1 feel to it as the problems confronted will be relatively minor in comparison to say... capture and experimentation like The Dark Side of the Moon entailed. Well, minor is a relative term, I guess. Cleo might not agree with that assessment...
Special mention and a heaping of thanks are in order for h2o42, zikki 3, and winchestersgirl1967. Each one of you pleaded with me to write for H2O again, and I honestly thought nothing more could possibly be done with the characters that hadn't already been attempted and proven a terrible idea. But one fateful morning, as my Best Friend Beta Mistress and I tended to a room full of babies that didn't belong to us, she began to brainstorm ideas. Amazingly, we came up with yet another scenario that seemed fun to explore. So here it is, ladies! The fruit of your continual encouragement and Kitty Pimm's briliance.
And yes. The title is a nod to the song of teenage sorrow and angst sung by Kate Alexa whenever Cleo felt tragic on the show.
i.
Zane was bored. It wasn't as if Biology couldn't be interesting if he was looking for a challenge. The fact was he wasn't. Lewis on the other hand was enthralled with the assignment Mrs. Macintosh carried on about while Zane was only interested in the choice of partners; namely, those of the female variety.
He'd had his eye on the blonde in the back since she'd rolled her eyes at the teacher's introduction. She looked… spunky. Mrs. Macintosh was setting pairs; up until now they had an almost set structure of class division, breaking away from the consistency only when someone was out sick, or a new dating relationship was formed and the two lovebirds insisted on being partners.
Unfortunately for Mrs. Macintosh, two students were absent from class that day; the little brown one who shadowed Lewis, and Byron, who dropped out to surf full time. That would have evened the numbers, except the new girl's presence meant someone would be taking it solo, or one team was going to have an extra. Macintosh was shoddy at remembering to take absentees into account. She wouldn't remember Lewis's shadow would be back after the weekend.
Zane was inwardly outraged when he realised she was pairing Rikki with Lewis! What a waste! The scientifically-minded Lewis wouldn't even appreciate extended interactions with the pretty girl. He was so intent on scribbling notes at the moment that he barely acknowledged when the teacher put their names together. Zane sent a menacing glare his way. Not that he noticed… but if he had, Zane would have mouthed a number of death threats in his direction.
Mrs. Macintosh halted; a rare occurrence for her. She seemed only now to realise how a new addition unbalanced the scales. "Zane…" she hesitated, "You'll join Lewis and Rikki. I hardly think your assistance will give any unfair advantage." Another time, Zane might have been affronted, but he was more concerned with the excuse he'd just been given to turn about in his seat and flash a grin Rikki's way.
She huffed through her nose, crossing her arms in annoyance. Ah, well. There was plenty of time for her to warm up to him.
At the end of the day, Zane was more than eager to join his team.
Not so with Lewis. "Just follow my lead and try not to screw anything up," he said, once they finally met up at the JuiceNet.
"Please," Zane scoffed. "I'm not in this for your nerdy science stuff or to sabotage your chance at getting chummy with a microscope. I just need to know when the cute chick is due to appear."
Lewis gave a longsuffering sigh. "I should have known. I don't think she's going to show. She's already twenty minutes late."
"I don't like to arrive on time," a female voice cut in as its owner slid into the nearest available seat. "Weeds out the ones who aren't willing to wait for me. I do things on my time. Now someone please explain to me why the three of us are being seen together in a public place. It's damaging my reputation."
Zane was about to ask what sort of reputation she was talking about, but he was foiled again by Lewis's persistence. "We need to plan," he started.
"Plan?" Rikki countered. "What for? You write the paper, we get the credit. Teamwork at its finest."
Zane's face lit up. "Exactly what I was thinking."
"No way," he protested, "This is worth a huge portion of our grades and I'm not doing it alone. As superb as I am with raw data…" he was interrupted by ungracious coughing from Zane, "I'm going to need help on the research part.
"Now, between the two of you," he went on, quickly losing the little interest he held, "I may have been given the worst partners of all time…"
It was Rikki's turn to interject with a, "Rude!"
"…but I think I have an idea that could get us full marks."
Their attention was all but spent, but the next thing he said woke them up considerably. "Zane, I need to borrow your boat."
"What!? No, I don't think so. No one mans the zodiac but me."
"That's precisely why I need you man it for me. We're going to Mako Island to collect water samples."
"Water?" Rikki said dubiously. "Your brilliant plan is to write about water?"
"No, not just water. The types of minerals and properties in different pools around the island and how it affects the wildlife and plants there."
"Uh huh." She didn't sound convinced.
Zane was still confused about his own role. "So we get to the island, poke around a bit, you collect your samples, and we go home?"
"Not exactly. I'll need more time than that. We should bring camping gear. To collect enough samples under the right conditions, I'll need more than a few hours. We should spend a night or two to really explore."
Zane's interest was immediately reaffirmed as he raised his eyebrows in thought. A weekend away on a mysterious island; long nights at camp with only Rikki for company as Lewis collected water to his heart's content. Sounded perfect to him. "When do we leave?" he brightened.
Rikki was not so impressed. "You expect me to camp out on an island with two blokes for the sake of a school paper?"
"You'd have your own tent," Lewis offered weakly.
"Yeah, except I haven't got a tent, and even if I had this is a stupid idea!"
Zane had to try anything to get her on board. She didn't seem the type to fall prey to emotional pleading or manipulative compliments. He'd have to go a different approach. "What's wrong, Chadwick?" he baited. "Scared of a little island? It's because of the sharks, isn't it?"
"I'm not scared of sharks," she fired back, "More like dying of boredom or possible insect attacks."
"It's alright," he nodded in sympathy, "We're all scared of something. No worries. Lewis and I can go. I'll fill you in later if we find anything worth using."
"I see what you're doing," she said. "You want to take all the credit and leave me out of the group. That's not gonna happen, Zane Bennett." She glared at him long and hard as he stared her down unflinchingly.
"Bring your extra tent and gear," she said at last. "We leave first thing tomorrow after school."
