Welcome To Your Life

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The rain which had been pouring down relentlessly throughout the weekend had proved to be a blessing in disguise. Its presence had forced Lyla and Rita to put their plans on hold, much to the blonde's relief. An informative trip to some private art college in Melbourne (even though Lyla was not even close to being an art enthusiast, she just occasionally doodled stuff into a sketchbook-it helped her relax, cope with her current situation) was the least of the young mermaid's worries. But Rita had been so excited about this 'grand opportunity', 'once in a life time chance', etc, that she had made it almost impossible to shoot down the offer without being stuck by an immense sense of guilt. Therefore the younger woman had no choice but to conjure up a smile and agree with fake enthusiasm.

With a deep sigh Lyla placed her glass of juice back on the desk, still untouched. Grapefruits were not among her favorites. Scanning the room in attempt to stumble across something to ease down the boredom, her blue eyes eventually set on Poseidon. Needless to say the cat was completely unaware of the other's presence, his attention fully diverted towards a ball of yarn which it kept on striking with razor sharp claws, trying to rip it into as many threads as possible. As she watched the furry creature chase around its prey the blonde went through the list of things she would much rather be doing if the dark clouds ever decided to dissipate.

Her time would have been better spent gathering shells at the beach for Rita's upcoming birthday present, maybe Sirena could arrange them into a nice bracelet, or necklace, or…But Lyla's enthusiasm quickly dialed down as the cruel reality slithered in through the cracks of her imagination. Sirena was no longer a part of her life.

Aquata had come for the other blonde a few months before announcing she had been allowed to return to their home pod. The proposition was initially met with reluctance, but, advised by both her friends as well as aunt Rita, Sirena eventually gave in and accepted the offer - even though it broke her heart to leave her best friends behind. The next day she was out of their lives before they were even awake. Lyla could only hope she was happy. It could not have been easy leaving so much behind, especially David. The boy was still too distraught to even meet Lyla's gaze whenever they ran into each other despite the significant amount of time which had passed since Sirena's departure.

She sighed. And Nixie...Everyone knew Lyla and the dark haired mermaid were not the best of friends, always fighting out wars over the smallest of things and agreeing only to disagree. But during their time together on land they had begun to accept and care for one another, for a few days even managing to get along without the help of their peacekeeping friend. How quickly that period had passed…And now Lyla found herself wishing the irritating younger mermaid was still around, even if to remind her through some bad joke how lame she was being now, sitting upside down in an armchair eating fizzy worms and feeling sorry for herself.

A couple weeks after Sirena's departure the pair lost the Moon Pool to Zac and Cam. There was no way of beating the trident's power, even with their Moon Rings combined. So, a distraught Nixie had decided it was time for her to leave as well. It took a few lies and tricks but the dark haired girl managed to gain acceptance into a foreign pod of mermaids. Living as a land dweller just wasn't Nixie's thing and she had been quite vocal about it, rebelling against Rita's rules on numerous occasions and refusing to leave the pool in the grotto. Lyla was heartbroken yet happy Nixie had found a place to call home. It was all that mattered in the end.

Once again Lyla one again was the odd one out, not only in high school, where she had absolutely no friends, but also in life.

Stuck so deep among the dark clouds thundering inside of her head, the blonde failed to notice the rays of sun slipping in through the curtains. Her eyes wouldn't open to acknowledge them, but she was fine with it. After all everything in her life had been a series of unfortunate events ever since Zac discovered that she, Sirena and Nxie had tails. What the big deal was, she couldn't understand. It's not like she hadn't tried to explain to him a million times before how badly she felt and how she wished she could have told him everything. She just couldn't! It wasn't just her secret to share, it belonged to her entire species. And Cam and Evie were not making things better. They were always keeping the merman away from her, constantly reminding him how she could not be trusted. Thank the stars she managed to threaten Cam into ceasing his attempts to expose her. She wouldn't really drown him, he just needed to think she would.

Something harsh, like sandpaper, and wet touched Lyla's nose causing her to lose her balance and slide out of the armchair, landing flat on her back with a loud thud and a crack. In a few seconds a large golden tail took the place of her legs and began flapping frenetically, struggling for balance. She'd almost forgotten one can't stand up on a tail. Only then did Lyla open her eyes, squinting them slightly to avoid the ray of sun hitting her directly in the face. Something fluffy rubbed against her shoulder as it casually made its way around the magazines the mermaid had knocked down as she fell.

"Thank you Poseidon, that was very nice of you!" Lyla's sarcasm had no effect whatsoever on the large animal. Just as obnoxious and daft as Cam, she though.

In return the four legged cloud jumped over her body with grace, occupying the vacant seat in the armchair before flashing the young mermaid a spiteful glare. He was clearly happy with his victory. Great! Even the stupid cat was having a better day, Lyla though as she finally managed to straighten up, holding a hand over her tail. Tiny trails of steam danced off the scales and quickly dissipated into the breeze entering through the cracked window as a smile appeared on the blonde's features for the first time that day. Being banished on land wasn't all bad, with the help of Rita she's discovered some new, very useful abilities, she would not have been allowed to use around the pod. Why? Lyla had no idea.

Her tail dried up just as aunt Rita entered the study, a bright smile on her face. The pop and the numb pain which followed the transformation took her by surprise forcing the mermaid to rub her knees for a few seconds and wriggle her toes to make sure she had each and every one of them. It had been so long since she had used her tail...

"Are you alright dear?" Aunt Rita asked, rushing to help the blonde get back on her feet. Honestly her back was a little sore having hit the ground pretty hard, but instead of outing it Lyla only smiled, nodding as she stood up.

Calling the older mermaid 'aunt Rita' now came naturally to Lyla, not just because the older woman was officially her legal guardian, but because she did act quite motherly ever since the blonde mermaid was left all alone. Having gone through the same experience, Rita knew how Lyla felt. They never talked about it, mostly because the blonde would step out of the room whenever it came up, but that didn't mean they didn't have a silent understanding.

"Good then." The woman smiled warmly deciding to go along with Lyla's lie. "So, are you ready yet?"

"Ready? For what?" Lyla asked, a confused look painted on her features as her aunt began to dig around the drawers of her desk for God knows what. Without pausing her actions, Rita nodded, mumbling an 'uhuh' in response.

"If we leave in ten minutes we can still make our appointment with Miss Fryers from Heather Mills Academy. She's in town until later tonight. I've reminded you all week," Her aunt stopped, having found what she was looking for (a set of car keys which looked almost new), and turned to face her niece, eyebrows raised questioningly and a pinch of disappointment audible in her tone. "You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"I was hoping it would just rain through it…" There was no point in beating around the bush with Rita, she always knew when the young mermaid was lying. Probably because she was quite terrible at it. It was truly a miracle how she'd managed to keep her secret for so long. Letting out a sigh, Lyla resignedly headed for the hallway which let to her bedroom.

"Guess i'll go throw my stuff in a bag right now. Meet you downstairs in five?"

"By the car!" Rita insisted on accentuating the final word, making sure her niece understood her clearly before Lyla disappeared through the door, flapping her arm in a gesture of half understanding, half dismissal.

Car…The whole time she had lived under the same roof with the woman she had only seen her drive once: when she had an emergency at school and it had rained cats and dogs that day. However Rita had insisted it was necessary Lyla got a driver's license. She already had an ID (Rita having come up with some amazing stories to fool the authorities with) and a phone, went to school like every other land kid, had a part time job (Rita didn't want her moping around the grotto all day after school)…Basic land dweller stuff. And today she was checking out a college, the next step in any normal teenager's life.

"Welcome to your life, there's no turning back…" The blonde quietly muttered the lyrics to a song as she walked up the stairs, hoping the rain would start one again.