Chapter 2: Triple Threat Part 1
"Cleo! Dad says to get up now if you want a ride to school!"
The obnoxious sound of her sister yelling through the door while knocking on it brought Cleo Setori out of her dream, rudely. She was dreaming that she and her best friends, Rikki Chadwick and Emma Gilbert, were swimming in the ocean. They were mermaids, of course, but the thing about it that was different was the fact that people were standing on the docks watching. Cleo dreams that they would be accepted as mermaids and they wouldn't have to hide their secret anymore.
But she knew it was only a dream. She knew that no one would accept the fact that they were mermaids. They would only want to run tests on them and stick them in tubes to show them around as if they were freaks. That was the entire reason why she and her friends didn't tell her secret to anyone, not even their parents. Well, that was a lie, they told them to Ash, Emma's boyfriend, Zane, Rikki's boyfriend, and Lewis, Cleo's best friend turned boyfriend.
"I'll walk," Cleo called as she got out of bed. She smiled at the fish that were swimming around in her fish tank before feeding them. She then picked up the locket that was sitting on her dresser and fastened it around her neck. She smiled as she lightly touched the necklace.
She, Rikki, and Emma all had the same necklaces because they had found them or it was given to them and they felt like it was important to have all of them. Emma's was given to her by a woman named Louise Chatham who was a mermaid before them along with her two friends Gracie Watsford and Julia Dove. She actually found it in a ship wreck and tried to give it to Louise, but she let Emma keep it. Rikki found hers in a jewelry shop and was going to get it but Miriam got it first. She taunted Rikki with it and tried to get Zane to break up with Rikki but he wouldn't so she threw it into the water. Zane retrieved it and gave it to Rikki. She accepted it and wanted to give it back to Louise but she made Rikki keeping it, saying that it felt right if they were all together.
She quickly changed into her clothes and grabbed her bag before leaving the room. She bounded down the stairs and went into the kitchen where her sister and father were sitting at the table, eating breakfast.
"I swear Cleo, you're getting weirder and weirder every day," Kim commented as she stood up from the table and went to put her dishes in the sink. Cleo rolled her eyes as Kim smirked. A small smile formed on Cleo's face as she looked around to make sure that her father and sister weren't paying attention to her. She lifted her hand as Kim turned on the faucet and slowly closed her fingers as she turned her hand slightly. Kim shrieked as water went shooting out of the faucet and straight at her face. Cleo put down her hand and rushed to the door so they wouldn't see the smile on her face.
She walked quickly down the sidewalk as she headed in the direction to her school. She couldn't wait to see Lewis, even though they do see each other every day. Whenever she sees him she felt like he was the best thing that's happened to her and she was happy to know that he was her best friend before becoming her boyfriend. It made things between them seem even more...real.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the school bell rang. She hadn't realized that she had made it all the way to school. "Oh great," she muttered to herself before she stared running across the lawn to get to her homeroom. She ran down the hall as fast as she could to make it before the second bell rang. Right as she turned the corner she wasn't able to stop herself from crashing right into someone as they made their way down the hall. "Oooh, I'm so sorry," Cleo apologized as she jumped to her feet and helped the other girl to her feet. "I was in a rush to get to class before I'm late." Her eyes rested on the small red stone that hung around the girl's neck that seemed to match the shade of red that was in her hair.
"It's ok," the girl grunted as she bent down to grab her books. "Where's room...115?"
"Right this way, that's where I was heading anyway," Cleo said as the two started down the hall. They crossed the threshold and entered the classroom two seconds before the bell rang. "I'm Cleo Setori," she said as she held out her hand.
The girl stared at it for a good five seconds before shaking her hand, "Riley Jackson," she muttered as she quickly dropped Cleo's hand. The two glanced behind them when they saw a teacher coming down the hall towards them.
"Come on, you can sit with me," she said with a bright smile.
"Greaaaat," Riley muttered sarcastically as she adjusted the backpack that started to slip off her shoulder before she followed Cleo to where her seat was. She dropped her backpack onto the ground before discreetly pulling out her red cell phone. She looked up at the teacher before looking down at her phone and quickly composed a text. She glanced up at the teacher once more before sending it.
'Gosh, this class is so boring!' Riley thought as she rested her cheek on her palm and stared out of the window. She longed to get out of the classroom and to grab her surfboard and just surf. She hasn't been able to go surfing for weeks now and it was starting to take a toll. She drummed her fingers on the table top as she let out an impatient breath as the teacher started droning on about something she really didn't care about. The fact that some of the students kept glancing at her as they whispered really spiked up her tension. She was about to snap when the bell finally rang, signaling it was the end of class. She grabbed her backpack and bolted out of the room, taking a deep breath of the fresh air.
"Riley, wait!" She heard Cleo's voice call out.
"Crap," she muttered to herself. Her midnight blue eyes shone with annoyance as she turned around to see Cleo rushing towards her. "What?" She asked, trying not to snap at her.
"Seeing as you're new here let me show you around," Cleo said once she caught up to Riley. "You can meet my friends too." Riley was getting ready to make a face at Cleo's forwardness but stopped herself in the nick of time.
"Fine," Riley muttered as she let out a breath.
"Great!" Cleo exclaimed with a bright smile before turning to walk up the stairs that led to the second floor classes. Riley clenched her hands into fists and shoved them into her pockets as she followed Cleo. She pointed out every classroom on the way as Riley made a mental map in her mind as she followed her. "Oh, Lewis," she exclaimed happily as she waved a blond boy over. "Lewis, this is Riley. Riley, this is my boyfriend Lewis."
"Hey," he said with a wave before peering at her face. "I think I just passed someone who looked just like you...but she had a purple streak in her hair."
"My sister, Rhuben," Riley said with a nod.
"Yeah, uh, she isn't really nice," Lewis said as he ran a hand through his hair. Riley couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Rhuben wasn't a people person; it was hard getting to know her unless she really trusted you. Heck, even Riley was the same way but not as bad as Rhuben was.
"Nice isn't the first word in Rhuben's vocabulary," Riley said with a shrug.
"She reminds me of Rikki, actually," Lewis said to Cleo as he turned to her.
"No one can be as bad as Rikki," Cleo said with a small smile before the bell rang again. "Oh, there's the bell. I guess I'll see you at lunch. Come out to this lawn and I'll introduce you to everyone else. You can introduce my friends to your sister too."
"And cousin. My cousin's here too," Riley supplied before biting her tongue. 'Why'd I tell her that? Why?'
"Ok, see you then."
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"No," Rhuben declared as she closed her locker. Her navy blue eyes reflected annoyance as she blew the purple strand of hair out of her face.
"She'll come looking for me if we don't go and that's the last thing I want," Riley pointed out as she rolled her eyes. "She's going to ask questions, they always do, but as long as we keep it to one word answers we'll be fine."
"No," Rhuben repeated as she crossed her arms over her chest. She lifted her eyebrows as Crystal came rushing down the hallway. As she neared the twins Rhuben could feel the double takes that some people were taking and it didn't faze her. She was used to it. They looked so much alike they could be triplets, but Crystal was their cousin. Their looks were almost the same but that was the only way they were identical. "What's chasing you?"
"Nothing, but I have something to show you," she said as she put her backpack on the ground and pulled out a rolled up picture. She unrolled it and leaned over so they could see it. The picture was of an island that had a volcano on it. "The history teacher showed it to me. He calls it Mako Island; we saw it this morning on our way in the harbor. He says the volcano has been dormant for centuries. I think we should check it out after school."
"Ok, so how do you propose we get there?" Riley asked her as she raised an eyebrow.
"You can drive a jet ski can't you?" Crystal asked as she rolled up the picture and stuck it into her backpack. "We're going to have to stop at the house though. Oh, and we're going to have to get jobs."
"That's no surprise," Rhuben said with a sigh. "Riles here wants us to meet some girl and her friends."
"Why?" Crystal asked as she picked up her backpack and slung one strap over her shoulder.
"To get the interrogation over with, it's going to happen sooner or later," Riley responded. "Come on." She led the way through the group of students that were in the way and started down the stairs. Rhuben let out a sigh of annoyance before following her. Crystal looked around before following her, too. Once Riley was on the ground she made a beeline for the group of girls that were sitting in the middle of the lawn. Cleo looked up and smiled as they approached.
"Hi Riley, these are my friends Emma and Rikki," Cleo said as she pointed to the girl with straight blond hair and the girl with curly blond hair.
"Hey. Like she said, I'm Riley Jackson. This is my twin Rhuben and our cousin, Crystal Manning," Riley said as she jerked her thumb in their direction. Rhuben nodded slightly while Crystal smiled a little and waved.
"Care to sit? I'd rather not be looking up your noses," Rikki said as she pointed. The trio sat down as a silence fell over the group.
"So where are you from?" Emma asked.
"New York," Crystal responded the same time Riley and Rhuben said, "California."
"Wait, you two have Australian accents, though," Cleo said as she squinted.
"Yeah, well, Rhuben and I were born here while Crystal was born in New York. When we were nine we all moved to California and we moved back here just a day ago," Riley explained with a shrug. "Our parents' jobs made us move quite a bit."
"What do you guys do for fun?" Cleo asked.
"Listen to music, go skating, Riley likes to surf, Rhu wakeboards, and I water ski. Ummm, we hang out with our brothers and we like to explore too," Crystal responded. "We were going to go to Mako Island after school." She winced slightly when Riley elbowed her hard in the ribs. "To take pictures and stuff. Rhu and Riles are into photography and I like sketching."
"Wouldn't...you rather us show you around?" Cleo asked with a somewhat forced smile.
"Yeah, anything else besides Mako," Rikki added. Cleo gave her a hard look which Rikki responded with wide eyes.
"We could take you to the Marine Park and to the Juicenet Café," Emma also suggested. "After school, ok?" The bell rang before the trio could answer. Emma, Cleo, and Rikki jumped to their feet and rushed off.
"That was weird," Crystal muttered as she squinted her crystal blue eyes.
"Too weird," Rhuben added as she also squinted. "They won't leave us alone unless we agree, I know that for sure."
"So Mako Island after that," Riley declared. Her tone of voice let them know that she had made up her mind and they knew that her mind was practically impossible to change once it's been made.
"Well, well, well, you ran away once again, huh? Looks like we found you again, which means you're not that good at running away. You might as well give up now."
Riley clenched her teeth as she, Rhuben, and Crystal whirled around. The place was deserted aside from them and the intruders. Riley's eyes locked on the boy who was smirking. He wore a beat up black leather jacket, despite the heat, a gray t-shirt, black pants, and black shoes. The others wore basically the same thing but their shirts were white and red. The boy on the left had shaggy dark brown hair, the boy in the middle had slightly wavy brown hair, and the boy on the right had black hair with many spikes in it but it still seemed to lie flat. They all had evil smirks on their faces; their unusually long canines seemed to glow in the sunlight.
"Not now Koto," Riley growled.
"Oh no, Riley, I think this is the perfect time," he said with a chuckle. "Reihu, Kotaro," he called before the three charged at the three girls.