When Rikki came home that night, she found her dad sitting at the table. She saw the paper he was holding. How did he find that? She knew she couldn't lie about it any longer to him, so she started talking. "I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you but it never seemed the right time."
"How long do you already know this, anyway?" he asked her disappointed.
"A while" Rikki answered shyly.
"I thought you knew you could tell me anything. I want to be there for you Rikki, help you if you need. But I can only do that if you talk to me when something's wrong. I'm not angry or anything, I'm just a little disappointed because you didn't tell me. And worried, because you had to bag this burden alone. Did you tell anyone about this?"
"No, I didn't want to worry anyone. Particularly not you, you're the most important person in my life. You know me, dad. You know that I didn't mean to harm you with not telling you this."
"I know, sweetie." Terry stood up, walked towards his daughter and hugged her. Rikki hugged him back.
For a long time, they were standing there like that. Until Rikki started to cry and said she went to bed early. Terry could only nod and worry in silence about his little girl who had grown up too fast.
A few weeks passed. The girls laughed a lot with each other, there were swims, they talked and caught up with each other. But there was still that silent tension between Emma and Bella. Even Cleo and Rikki felt that the other two mermaids had issues. But as long that there wasn't a real fight, they weren't really concerned about the situation. They thought it would turn out all right; it would only be a matter of time.
Emma got to know Sophie better and disliked her too. Sophie sold all of her blue stones and made a lot of money. She took off with her money, leaving Will, Zane and her job at the café behind. They were released of her and the problems she'd brought with her. Zane used his part of the profit to pay the café's debt and stayed a keeper of the girls' secret and their friend.
Another thing they had accomplished was the clean-up of the cave at Mako.
One morning, Emma was out of bed early and went for a jog. She found Lewis fishing at his usual spot. "Hi there!" she said, happy to see her friend.
"Hi there to you too." He answered. "Cleo called me last night. She could not stop talking about how happy she is that you're back."
"Do you really think she's happy I'm back? And Rikki too?" Emma asked unsure.
"Why wouldn't they be happy?" Lewis acted surprise.
"Well, they didn't tell me about this Bella or Will. They wear the same necklace as her, instead of our silver necklaces. And they didn't tell me about that comet. And I can think of a lot of other reasons."
Lewis didn't really know what to answer. Emma had a point, it was something he actually never really thought about, none of them ever did. After a short silence he asked: "Don't you think Bella feels the same way like you do?"
"Why would she? She's the one that took my place in our old group." Emma reacted surprised. Why would Lewis even think something like that?
"Maybe she's just as scared as you are. Maybe she fears of loosing Rikki and Cleo. Maybe she's scared that they will pick you now, instead of her?"
Emma hadn't thought of it that way before. Maybe she should go to the girls and have a decent talk about this with them. "Maybe you're right. I've got to admit: I haven't thought of it that way before. I've got to go Lewis. I'll catch you later." And Emma ran off.
Later that day, also Bella was troubling with her emotions. She needed a talk and headed over to Will's place. "Hi, can we talk?" she asked when Will opened the door.
"Sure, come in. What's up?" he kissed her.
"I don't know what to do anymore. I feel lost, ever since Emma was back."
"Why? I think she's nice."
"I know, she seems nice to me too. But what if she tries to take Cleo and Rikki away from me? Or what if after a while Cleo and Rikki like her more, than they like me?" Bella suggested worried.
"First, I don't think Emma would do that, neither would Cleo or Rikki. And have you already tried to talk to Emma about this?"
"No, not really." Bella admitted.
"Sorry Bella, but I have to go. Lewis wanted to see me and I'd meet him in half an hour. I'm really sorry, but maybe you should first to talk about this, with the others girls. I'll see you later?"
"I guess." Bella answered. And when Will left, she felt left alone, again.