A/N: This one and the next one are probably going to be my favorite chapters to write. Oh, and thanks to all my lovely reviewers *waves a gloved hand out the sunroof of the limo I'm riding in* "Thanks to you all! I will thank you all at the awards!"

Um…I was bored. Awkward moment. Um…let's get on to reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own H2O.

Emma's Party

Saturday

Here I was, back again at Saturday. It didn't seem that just a week ago my life started to change a lot. And it all started with that stupid dream, and it all ended with that stupid baby-sitting job.

Those were the worst seven days in my life. Never before had I experienced something more dreadful then losing friendship.

No, scratch that. There was one thing worse, but I didn't really want to think about it.

I decided I was done. Done with this all. I was done with this stupid fight. Completely done. And I was also done with this idiotic secret.

I decided to change all of this, and I needed to take it one step at a time.

I went into my cramped and dirty bathroom and threw on Cleo's black shoes and shimmied into her dress (the same ensemble that I wore on my date with Shane.) The only different thing is that I didn't put on her choker, but my necklace instead (the one I wore on my baby-sitting job.) I put it on with no hesitation or resistance, which was strange for a magical necklace that scared away a robber that I might have been resistant with.

I looked down at my necklace. Tears formed in the edges of my eyes when I looked at it. I quickly wiped them away, and grabbed Emma's birthday present, which I worked hard on.

I threw on a jacket and stuffed the things in the pocket. I defiantly wouldn't want a jacket in the midst of the incredibly hot weather outside, but I needed the pockets.

I rushed out into the hallway, realizing if I didn't get a move on I'd be late to the party. Lately I had been late to a lot of things, so this didn't frazzle me.

I skidded down the hall and was caught in Shane's arms. He kissed my forehead, but I was in no mood to be romantic. I was late.

I wiggled, trying to free myself. "In a hurry?" asked Shane.

"Yeah," I said breathlessly. Without thinking, I also said, "Meeting some friends to swim."

"Ah ha!" Shane said. "So the girl does swim."

"Not now," I grunted. "I don't swim. I was kidding." I bounced out of his arms and stormed off.

I ran to the ocean, and without hesitation, jumped in. Once my tail had formed, I patted my sides. Sure enough, the jacket with the present was gone. I really hadn't tried it before, but I guess it disappeared like my clothes.

I swam past the coral reefs and brilliant colored fish. I didn't have time to marvel though, since I was running a little behind schedule.

I flicked my long bronze tail and jet speed swam all the way to Mako. It didn't take much effort, being a mermaid and all.

I stopped at the entrance of the moon pool. I squeezed my eyes shut, and then opened them. I swam into the moon pool.

"Happy birthday, Emma," I saw Ash say, hugging his girlfriend tight.

"Please, Ash, it's her birthday, not the end of the world and you won't see her again," said Rikki, crossing her arms. Emma rolled her eyes at Rikki.

Cleo clung to the edge of the moon pool in mermaid form. She hoisted herself out and into the sand. She looked pointedly Rikki. She cleared her throat. "Um, a little help, please Rikki," Cleo said. Rikki ran over to her and clenched her fist.

That gave me enough time to look around (it was pretty hard to look around while trying to blend in.) The place was decorated in streamers of Emma's favorite color. A table was set up in the background with red punch, chips and dip, a cake, and a small laptop I recognized as Zane's playing Emma's favorite songs.

I made a quick decision, and put my hand up from above the water. I twisted it, and water rose from the moon pool. I concentrated hard, and made the ball of water separate into four smaller ones. Everyone watched as those balls shaped in letters.

"Cleo? Are you doing that?" asked Emma. Cleo, now in human form, slowly shook her head.

I brought my head up above the water higher, so they could see it. Zane raised his eyebrows, and Lewis hopped up and down like a girl. "She's back!" he mouthed to Ash, who nodded.

My grin spread across my face. "Freeze them, Emma!" I cried.

A dazed Emma stepped forward out of Ash's grip and froze the letters. I made sure to keep them up with my power and not have them fall on my head and into the moon pool.

I set the letters down on the table. All together, they spelled, "EMMA." They sparkled in the sunlight streaming in from the Mako volcano top.

"There," I said with a smile, hoisting myself up onto the sandy ground of the moon pool. "Ice sculpture. Enjoy them while they last—they'll melt soon enough."

Emma ran over to me and hugged me. "It's so good to have you back!" she cried.

I laughed, and pried her off of me. "You've got about two seconds," I said.

She looked at me quizzically. Then she fell to the floor as a mermaid.

"What the heck?" she said, looking at her tail. I motioned to my wet body.

"Ohhh," she said, caught up. Rikki lumbered over to us, muttering random things. She balled her fist over each of our tails, and they disappeared.

After getting up and regaining my balance, I was showered with hugs. After the hug fest, they demanded for explanations as to why I had come.

"Wait a sec," I said, shrugging of my jacket. I was getting pretty hot under it. I dug in one of its pockets and took out my gifts. I flung my jacket on the ground.

I handed Emma a CD. I said, "It's a CD with a lot of pictures and videos of us," I said with a smile. "Who knew with my power I could put things on CDs?"

She hugged me. "Thank you!" she squealed.

"There's more. It's kind of a present for all of us." I presented my wrist, which bore a silver chain bracelet with a charm dangling off it. "Avery" was printed on the charm.

I took out three more bracelets and handed them to the corresponding girl.

"It was pretty easy to find the name "Emma," but "Rikki" was probably the hardest." I shot a glance at Emma and Rikki.

"Okay," drawled Cleo. "Now can you tell us why you decided to come here?" She stopped. "Not to be rude or anything."

"And did you stop a robber with your necklace?" asked Lewis, popping in the conversation.

I grabbed my necklace. "Have they been spreading that?" I asked. "I was afraid that would happen!"

"I overheard a little girl talking about it to her mother," admitted Lewis.

"Amber," I growled. "Honestly, that girl is sweet and adorable, but can be extremely annoying." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but what was that?" asked Cleo.

Silence. Dead silence. That was what echoed throughout the moon pool.

"I'm sorry," I said, tears streaming down my face. "I messed up big time. I didn't tell you guys anything. That was a mistake, considering you guys are the best friends anyone can have," I said, even though it was very off topic than what she had asked.

"No, we were jerks," said Rikki. "Always wanting to know everything, being downright annoying, blah, blah, blah."

I hugged each and every one of them again, and sat myself down on the edge of the moon pool.

"Well, this seems like a girl talk, so we're going to go," said Lewis, tugging the boys. Ash kissed Emma's head, whispering "Happy birthday," Zane kissed Rikki, and Lewis kissed Cleo. I felt a little stab of jealousy as I watched the happy couples, really hoping that Shane could be here.

"Okay," I said, breathing out and in for a long time after the boys were gone. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. I tried to slow my racing hear.

"So," I said, once the girls were settled at the edge of the moon pool with me (Rikki brought a cup of punch.) "Where do I start?"

"The beginning," Rikki said, mouth full of punch.

"Uh…" I nervously laughed. "First, you need to know that my real name isn't Avery."

As I watched Rikki spit her punch across the moon pool, and saw Emma and Cleo's horrified looks, I realized that I needed to explain a lot. And I meant a lot.

A/N: Oooh, a cliffhanger! Mostly throughout this story I haven't done a lot of these, so why not at the climax? (Insert evil laughter here, followed by roll of thunder and crash of lightning.) Reviews=gold!