Rikki could hardly sit still the next day during class. She kept checking her watch, glancing anxiously at the clock as the minutes seemed to drag by. She still had to get through three more hours until the final bell, and then she'd be headed to the airport to pick up Lewis and Cleo.
The lunch bell rang, sending Rikki to her feet in a flash as she flew from the room. She walked past the cafeteria and outside, holding her phone tightly against her ear.
"Zane." She spoke quickly as he answered. "Is everything on schedule."
"Yes, just like it was the last time you called." Zane said tiredly. "They're plane is scheduled to arrive at 5:30 or so."
"Great, no delays or anything?" Rikki asked anxiously.
"Rikki." Zane said calmly. "Relax. They'll be here before you know it, ok?"
"Ok." Rikki was too excited, she couldn't contain her impatience. "Thanks, text me if anything comes up."
"Of course I will." Zane promised as he hung up the phone.
Rikki checked for any new text messages before walking back into the school. She caught a flash of Nick turning the corner in front of her. "Nick!" She called, jogging after him.
Nick pretended not to hear her, disappearing around the corner of the hallway.
Rikki paused, her hands on her hips. This wasn't the first time today he'd avoided her. Twice now she'd caught him ducking away from her, but why?
Rikki was stationed at Nick's locker, waiting for him to arrive there after the next class period. They had Hadley's class next, and she knew he always stopped by here to drop his books off.
Sure enough, it was only a few more moments before she spotted his familiar brown hair headed her way. He seemed to see her waiting for him, because he immediately changed direction, ducking right into Hadley's classroom.
Rikki marched in after him, dropping into the desk beside him. "What's up with you, Nick Donovan?" She spoke in a no-nonsense tone. "Why are you avoiding me?"
Nick's face flushed a deep scarlet as he looked at her. "What makes you think I'm avoiding you?" He said uneasily.
"Oh come on, you've been acting funny ever since..." Rikki's eyes narrowed. "Ever since the full moon." She finished. She still had the feeling that he hadn't told her all that had happened that night. It was as if she were struggling to remember a dream that was just at the edge of her memory.
Nick didn't say a word, but the way he slumped down in the desk chair told Rikki plenty.
"Spit it out." She said quickly, checking the time. They still had six or seven minutes until class would begin. "You've got to tell me, Nick."
"I already told you everything." His eyes didn't quite meet hers. "You showed up at my house, acted all kinds of crazy, then I put you to bed."
"What kind of crazy are we talking?" Rikki wanted to know exactly what had happened.
Now Nick's blush turned almost crimson, standing out against his tanned cheeks. "Well, you were... affectionate."
"Oh..." Suddenly Rikki wished she hadn't asked. "Did we... Did I, kiss you?"
Nick nodded wordlessly, his eyes glued to the table in front of him.
"Nick, I'm so sorry." Rikki felt beyond embarrassed. "It was the moon, it made me act all kinds of weird."
Nick looked as if he wanted to say something more, but he couldn't quite find the nerve. "Don't worry about it." He said finally.
"You're coming over tonight, right?" Rikki was glad to change the subject. "Some of my friends from Australia will be here."
"Really?" Nick seemed interested, though he also seemed relieved to be talking about something else. "Sure, I'll come by. Did Mags make it back alright?"
"Yes..." Rikki said slowly. "How did you know she was gone?"
"Oh, that was me." Nick said sheepishly. "My mom told me about the keynote speaker bailing, I told her she should hire Mags to replace her." He shrugged. "I figured you'd want the house to yourself for the moon."
"Thanks." Rikki meant it. A lot of problems had been avoided by having Mags out of the picture that night. She glanced at Nick out of the corner of her eyes, wishing more than anything that she could remember what had happened on the night of the full moon. She wished she could reach for his hand, give him a quick kiss before class started. But, no. She shook her head, chiding herself. She was lucky he wasn't offended by her behaviour. He didn't have feelings for her like that, and she would just have to accept it.
Rikki didn't know it, but Nick was watching her hand, just inches away from his on the desk, and wishing he could take it in his.
Denman didn't appear in Hadley's class that day, and eventually the final bell rang. Rikki waited impatiently as Hadley packed up his things, checking her phone as she fidgeted.
"They're still on time." She announced, turning to Nick. "Want a ride to my place?"
"Sure." Nick seemed back to normal, though not quite as sullen as usual.
"Great." Rikki held the door open as the two men walked through it. "We'll get to my place, pick up Zane, and be at the airport by five."
And that's exactly what they did. Rikki couldn't stop smiling, wondering if she'd ever been this happy in her life as she looked around at her friends. It wasn't just Lewis who had made the flight. Cleo, Bella, and Will were chattering excitedly on the ride back to town. They were slightly cramped into Rikki's vehicle, but no one was complaining.
Hadley had volunteered to drive, much to Rikki's appreciation. Nick sat in the front passenger seat, casting the occasional glance back at the Australians, who had been talking nonstop during the drive.
"Rikki?" It took Hadley a couple attempts, but he managed to get the attention of the rest of the car. "Hey, are we going to your place? Does Mags know your friends are here?"
"Oh... right." Rikki realized she'd never told Mags about her friends' visit.
"I'll just head to my house for now." Hadley said as he turned the steering wheel. "You can get things figured out a little later."
Rikki thanked him, though she silently wondered if he was still planning on outing her secret to her Aunt.
Cleo and Bella had a million questions for Rikki about life in America as they all piled into Hadley's home.
"What's school like?" Bella asked.
"Are American guys, like, really cute?" Cleo gossiped.
"Well, obviously..." Bella giggled as she nudged Cleo's shoulder and flashed her eyes up towards Nick, who was sitting awkwardly in front of the TV.
Cleo lowered her voice. "Yeah, when are you going to tell us about your friends? What's their story?"
"Oh..." Rikki leaned in, checking to make sure Hadley was deep in conversation with Lewis and Will before speaking. "Well, that one, Hadley, is one of my teachers."
"He's your teacher?" Bella hissed, immediately earning an elbow to the ribs from Rikki.
"Shhh!" Rikki fussed at her friend. "Yes, he's my teacher."
"Wait..." Cleo's brow was knitted tightly. "Hadley... Cruz? The one who invited Denman?"
Bella gasped, immediately shooting Hadley a furious look.
"Oh, stop it." Rikki shook her head. "Yes, he'd the one who invited her here, but he didn't know anything about the history between Denman and us, ok?"
"I don't trust him." Bella frowned as she examined the back of Hadley's head.
"Two seconds ago you were gushing about how cute he was!" Cleo couldn't suppress a giggle.
"Yeah... well..." Bella ran out of steam as she turned back to her girlfriends. "What about that pair of brown eyes?" She nodded towards Nick. "What's his story?"
"Well, that's Nick." Rikki felt an inexplicable sadness as she looked at him. "He's been a big help." She said simply, not wanting to go into too much detail about Nick's past.
"And they both know about you?" Cleo raised her eyebrows.
"About all of us?" Bella added.
"Yes." Rikki nodded. "Hadley caught me, Nick kind of did too."
"Well you couldn't have picked two cuter guys..." Cleo said slyly. "So, which one are you interested in, I mean, now that you and Zane are broken up-"
"Are you girls done gabbing?" Lewis clapped Cleo on the shoulder, giving the other girls a look that plainly said that he was ready to get to business. "Where is this necklace we're all talking about?"
"Oh, right." Rikki quickly pulled the necklace from around her neck and handed it over to Lewis.
"Where did you find it?" Lewis immediately pulled a small magnifying glass from his jeans pocket and hunched over the blue stone.
"I have no idea." Rikki shrugged. "It was around my neck when I woke up on the morning after the full moon."
"You had it on when you bumped into us along the pier." Zane offered. "It glowed brighter when you told us to stay put."
"You had it on when you saw me too." Nick spoke up for the first time since they'd arrived.
Every eye in the room flew to land on Nick.
"Rikki saw you that night?" Hadley asked pointedly.
Zane's arms crossed over his chest. "When were you with him?" He directed the question at Rikki.
Rikki felt like a spotlight had just been directed right at her face. "Let's just talk about the necklace, k?" She said firmly, not wanting to discuss waking up at Nick's house. She ignored Cleo and Bella's raised eyebrows as she looked at Lewis. "What do you think?"
"Well the stone is remarkably similar to the blue stone you girls found at Mako Island." Lewis noted. "But it definitely has some differences. You really don't remember where you found it? Another moon pool or something?"
"No, no idea." Rikki shook her head. "I have no idea where it came from."
"Another moon pool is pretty unlikely though." Nick suggested. "There aren't any caves along the florida coast, the shoreline is too shallow."
"Well... without knowing where it came from..." Lewis turned the gem over in his hands. "It's pretty hard to test it." He examined the metal setting. "But maybe I can research the necklace instead of just the stone."
"You think so?" Rikki avoided Zane's pointed gaze as she leaned over next to Lewis.
"It's the best shot we've got." Lewis pulled out his phone and snapped a careful picture of the blue stoned necklace. "I'll upload it online, see if anyone's come across it before."
"Sounds like a plan." Bella nodded, reaching to pull Will closer to her. She yawned sleepily, trying not to let anyone see.
Rikki sat at attention, realizing she'd forgotten to let Mags know about the visitors. "Hey, let me call Mags." She said as she pulled her phone from her pocket. "I'm sure we have room for everyone, she's got, like, two guest rooms."
"Someone can stay with me." Zane spoke up. "I've got a hotel room just up the beach."
"Yeah, I have plenty of room as well." Hadley added.
"Well, that's a good thing." Rikki said, hanging up the phone. "Because Mags kind of spazzed when I told her just how many friends were in town." Rikki frowned suddenly. "Speaking of which... how are you guys in town?"
"Well, Zane paid for the plane tickets." Cleo started.
"And we all have student visas." Bella finished. "We applied for them the day after you left."
"Fair enough." Rikki nodded. "So who's going where?"
"I can stay with Zane, if that's alright." Lewis spoke up first.
"And, if it's ok, Will and I can stay at Hadley's." Bella volunteered.
"That's absolutely fine by me." Hadley said with a friendly grin.
"And Cleo can stay with me." Rikki spoke. "Mags will let one person crash, she blanched at the others."
"You know..." Nick shoved his hands into his pockets, raising his eyes hesitantly to Zane's. "If you're not comfortable in that hotel room, I'm sure my mother would be glad to have some guests in the house for once. You and Lewis could stay with me."
Rikki's mouth dropped open at the generous offer. She hoped Zane would take him up on it.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Lewis said enthusiastically, standing beside Nick.
"I think I'll stay where I am, thanks." Zane said bitterly, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"Ok then." Rikki clapped her hands enthusiastically, hoping to keep the mood bright. "So Cleo will stay with me, Bella and Will will stay with Hadley, and Lewis will stay with Nick." She nodded happily. "But... what about school tomorrow? Surely you're not all going?"
"Do you want our grades to suffer?" Will asked with false concern.
"Seriously, though." Cleo added in. "We do have to attend, our grades will transfer when we go back home."
"Ok then." Rikki raised her hands in surrender. "We'll all be at school tomorrow. I hope you like unnecessary attention, you'll be getting a lot of it."
As the group departed Rikki tried to keep her thoughts from drifting to Nick... She kept having flashes of memory, like pictures that appeared behind her eyes, telling no story she could follow.
In a flash of memory, she and Nick were entwined on the bed, wrapped so tightly around one another you could barely tell where one ended and the other began.
Rikki shook her head hard, clearing it. It was all a dream, it had to be.
Right?