NEW CHAPTER..not really. For those who re-read my chapters frequently, you might've noticed that chapter 11 was out of order. If not, then skip over this message! I apologize for that, so here you go!

Now that Charlotte's a mermaid again, you'll get a special guest star appearance from a certain person in Australia. Hint: Who's the most reliable person when it comes to mermaids?

P.S. WE FINALLY WON AGAINST SOPA! OVER 100,000

ENJOY!

3rd POV

You would think that after a year, a year of being an average normal person, Charlotte would forget the most simplest of things and lose most of her memories of past events, like birthdays or report cards.

But no! She just had to have her memories regained when she gets a tail! Revived, rejuvenated, back from the dead, and to make it worse, she quickly remembered one good thing she needed to do:

Get out of the water!

Since she fell, her dorsal fin was still in the shower getting hot water running over it. Charlotte tried to crawl and squirm away, but it was no use. She was stuck.

WOOF! WOOF!

She heard a dog's feet patter on the floor and turned to the door that separated the girls' locker room from the hallways of the gym to see a figure of Thomas using his paws to successfully open the door.

"Thomas!

Charlotte half expected him to try to take a bite out of it. But instead, he came up to her face and began to rub his collar against her cheek. She didn't know how, but Charlotte had a feeling that he wanted her to grab it.

So she did and, to be honest, she had no idea how strong Thomas truly was!

He managed to pull her to the farthest corner of the room and behind a wall, making her invisible to anyone who came in. Then, he went to grab her towel from the bench where her clothes sat and brought it back to her, which Charlotte gratefully accepted.

Then, something popped into her head.

"Thomas," Charlotte asked hesitantly as she looked at the dog, "how did you get inside the building?"

But before she could slap herself for asking a stupid question, she heard the door open and a small "Hello?"

Charlotte's heart stopped. She knew exactly who it was.

Alaine.

"Charlotte, I know you're in here. I let your dog in and I can see your clothes on the floor. Listen, if you're scared to face me...I don't blame you."

Charlotte had no idea what she was talking about. But she was about to get her answer.

"I know you were in the stall when me and my mom were...'talking'. I saw you walk in there earlier and it was too late to warn her. I guess I wasn't the easiest person when we met. No, I was easy, but I left you hanging after I said all that stuff about being a senior and found out you're one. And I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry."

Though it sounded like Alaine meant it, but she couldn't be too sure.

"I know you also heard about the dog thing and, if you're hearing is really good...well the point is that I'm really really sorry about how I treated you and I really would like to be friends with you, but it doesn't makes sense befriending someone who's going to college next year," Alaine concluded.

Charlotte chuckled, only to quickly cover her mouth and look down at her tail

She heard Alaine's footsteps start to walk towards her and quickly yelled "STOP!"

Alaine stopped walking, letting Charlotte silently sigh in relief and smoothed out her voice.

"Alaine, I honestly don't know what to say. One part of me can't help but want to smack you for being so dense...but the other part of me can forgive you," Charlotte said from behind the wall that separated the girl from the mermaid.

"Well, why don't you come out then? It's not like I haven't seen a girl naked before," Alaine said as she slowly started to walk towards the wall again.

Charlotte was done for. She knew it. Alaine was going to see her tail, freak out, and the next thing she knows, she's going to end up on a research table!

Charlotte closed her eyes and started to mentally count down the steps coming towards her.

1...

2...

3...

WOOF! WOOF!

Charlotte heard Thomas growl and Aline's screaming. She opened her eyes and saw that her faithful dog wasn't beside her. She didn't know how, but she managed to twist her upper body so she could see what was happening on the other side of the wall while her tail was up against the wall.

And did she owe Thomas her dinner for what she saw.

Thomas had jumped up on top of her, knocking her down in the process and started licking her. Alaine, however, was screaming her lungs off.

"Get him off! Get him off! GET HIM OFF!" Alaine screamed

Charlotte did some quick thinking and exclaimed "Thomas! Rule 1# and Rule 5#! Get off her and leave! She's not a threat! Alaine, go outside. I'll meet you at the gates in a few minutes!"

Thomas quickly got off of her and ran out the room. Alaine got up, postured herself, and gave her a silent "Thank You" before leaving the bathroom.

Hearing the sound of the door click, signaling the door closing, Charlotte turned around to lean against the wall and sighed with relief. That was too close, she thought.

That night...

Charlotte was up late that night, 12:00 p.m. to be specific, on her computer looking for the phone number to Paradise Cove.

After she dried herself up, doing a double-check when her tail disappeared, put on her clothes and went outside with Thomas and met up with Alaine. Sh apologized for Thomas's behavior and was extremely thankful that she was forgiven, though it would take awhile before warming up to her. After that, Charlotte called her mom to pick her up while Alaine's ride came and got her.

When Annette got to the school, she was scowled her for being there so late and the drive home was quiet with limited small talk. By the time they arrived home, Charlotte decided to take a long bath.

Or, in other words, she spent a good 3 hours looking at her tail. The dorsal fin was scarlet red and the tail part was a deep, sparkling, magical blue. It was exactly like the way she saw it back at Paradise Cove, only proving that she wasn't imagining anything.

How could I have a tail? she thought to herself, I haven't been anywhere near a moon pool nor found one at all!

And that was saying something was wrong. Right before she walked away from Lewis that fateful day, she told him- now she promised- that she would never go near a moon pool for the rest of her life. Meaning: Till the day she died. And even if she found one, she would do her best to keep it hidden, but never jump in it, especially on a full moon.

Now look what happened?! She somehow broke her promise and now she's a mermaid again. AGAIN! And she did NOT want it!

So, while she was searching for the number on her computer, she racked through her brain trying to figure out anything that would reverse the transformation. Suddenly, she remembered the "showdown" between her and the other mermaids. Since it was the night she lost her powers her powers, she could easily remember the planetary alignment.

Every 50 years, all the planets align with the moon. Any mermaid that was in a moon pool during this time would lose their powers forever. Though the old her would have jumped for joy and did a happy dance, celebrating the return of her tail and powers permanently, the new Charlotte was just getting back into the "normal life" routine, despite having a year of it, and didn't need them anymore.

Bingo!" she exclaimed when she found the phone number.

As she grabbed her phone and started to dial the number, she stopped. Could she really trust them? After all, they were acting strange, like they were keeping something from her. Though she didn't push on it and told Laguna what she saw. For all she knew, they all probably thought she was crazy!

Suddenly, she started to scroll down her contact list and found a number that she should've deleted a long time ago.

A really long time ago.

She clicked on the number and the person on the other side answered.

"Hello?"

"Lewis, it's Charlotte. I have a situation on my hands and would you rather hear this on the phone or video chat?"