*Nicole Paige*

I positioned my ear buds in my ears as I washed the dishes in my house, with elbow-high waterproof gloves of course, getting pumped up for tonight.

I wish I knew then, what I know now

Wouldn't dive in, Wouldn't bow down

Gravity hurts, you made it so sweet

Till I woke up on, on the concrete!

Fallen from Cloud 9

Crashing from the high

I'm letting go tonight…

Tonight was a very important night for me. Tonight was the night where I will get my sweet, sweet revenge on Krissy.

The only downside to tonight was that it was a full moon, which hopefully wouldn't interrupt our revenge-ence. Wait, is that even a word?

After finishing the dishes and carefully taking off my gloves, I plucked the ear buds from my ears and set my iPod touch on my little table next to my bedside. Then I jumped on my bed to start my homework.

I first picked up my Algebra assignment, took one look at it, and set it aside. Then I picked up my Geography assignment, took one look at it, and set it aside. Then I picked up my Chemistry assignment, took one look at it and threw it across the room. Oh how much I hate Science!

Since all the "easy" (if you could call anything in school easy) homework was already finished from Study Hall today, I decided to just go downstairs and watch some TV.

I plopped on the couch with my cell phone and flipped channels as if I was possessed, not finding anything worth watching. With a sigh, I stood up and looked around the house.

"I'm so BORED!"I shrieked to the empty (as usual) house, my voice echoing off its green walls. I sat back down and sprawled myself across the couch, fanning myself, trying to cool myself down.

Luckily, my savior called right then. I snatched the phone from inside the couch cushion, where it had fallen into, in less than a millisecond and answered the phone. "Thank you!" I shouted before even asking who this was.

"Um, you're welcome," said Lainey, judging by the shrieks of her little sister in the background, on the other end. "Hey, I was just wondering if you were busy at the moment?"

"Yes!" I shouted to myself, happy that I finally wouldn't be bored. "I mean, no! No, I'm not busy, but YES, I'd love to do something."

"Good," sighed Lainey. "Because Blake's tutoring, I'm done with my homework, and this place is a wreck with Destiny back from her sleepover. You know how she gets when she's tired and cranky."

I rolled my eyes at that. "How about Bella? Is she doing anything?"

"Umm…" she sounded nervous, and I raised my eyebrows in suspicion. Although, of course, she couldn't really see me raise my eyebrows. "Well… I'm not sure." It was obvious she was lying, but I figured whatever reason she had for doing it must be a good one. "Anywho," she started again, quick to change the subject. "Do you mind if I come over right about now?"

"Sure!" I grinned. Finally! Something to do!

"Great!" She responded. "See you soon, bye!"

"Bye!" I said before hanging up and doing a little dance.

Minutes later, in came Lainey without even knocking on the door, since she's just cool like that.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked her.

"Oh, I have a few ideas," grinned Lainey, and I suddenly knew where this was heading. I groaned. I should've known the real reason she had wanted to come over.

"Lainey, no!"

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!"

"I'm sorry but I just don't do dresses and heels! Especially not heels, I'm not sure if I've worn them once in my life."

Her eyes popped out of her head. She looked more surprised than when she had found out she was a mermaid with powers. Typical Lainey for you. "You mean… you've never…" She stammered in disbelief. I rolled my eyes. "Ever… worn heels?" The end of her sentence came out in sort of a squeaking sound.

"Never have, and definitely never will…" I didn't even get to finish before Lainey was dragging me out of there by my hair. And I mean literally.

"Ouch, Lainey! What are you doing?!" I asked her as she shut my house's door behind me.

"I'm going to take you to the mall RIGHT NOW and get you a decent outfit for tonight," She said in a tone used my general sergeants. "I'm buying, and there will be no buts about it!" I honestly was a little scared of her, which didn't happen very often, so I decided the best I could do for my situation now was to convince her to get me something as "me" as possible.

But as we stood outside of the store Lainey was planning to go shopping in, I reconsidered. There was nothing even close to "me" in there!

Lainey shrieked with excitement. "This is going to be so much fun!" She giggled.

"Yes, because frilly red dresses and pink floral headbands are so fun," I said, dripping with sarcasm. But Lainey took it as a literal thing and replied with "I know!" and dragged me in there without my consent. Don't I have such amazing friends?

What I really wanted to wear to Kristen McKinley's boat party tonight was way simpler than Lainey's idea of proper attire. I was willing to go in the only skirt I own, which was dark red, and the only frilly thing I owned, a simple white tank top with a bit of frill at the top. I was going to add maybe some sparkly earrings, but high heels and party dresses were way off from what I wanted to wear. I looked through racks of dresses, my hopes of wearing something "okay" to the party tonight declining with every sparkly, minidress that I came across. I looked at the door and wondered how quickly I could make my exit and escape this horror, but reconsidered when I realized then Lainey would probably pick something even worse than what I see here in front of me and force me to wear it.

So, I held strong and went to the next rack, looking through rows upon rows of sequined, frilly, and floral dresses, all things in which I despised. I was seriously considering trying to leave again before Lainey stuffed at least 5 dresses into my arms.

"Go try those on," commanded Lainey. I sighed.

"Yes sir!" I marched over to the dressing room and, after grabbing one of those cards that say how many items of clothing you have, in my case 5, went into a changing stall. After shutting the door, I took a look at the clothing stacked in a pile and took a deep breath.

The first dress was a pretty color and I could see how people could like it, and I would like it, if it was on someone else on the cover of a magazine. The ruffles were funny around my waist and the fabric was incredibly uncomfortable. So definitely not this one.

The second dress was a light grey and was straight all the way down, and went down to my ankles. One look at it in the mirror and I wrinkled my nose. Not only were the sparkly designs made of white sequins on the top half way too girly, but the length made the entire dress just… weird.

The third dress actually looked sort of okay on the hangar, but on closer inspection once on my body, I realized, although it was red, which wasn't a bad color, and was a good length, there were pink sequins along the bottom hem. I frowned as I took in the flowery designs right above my knees. Did Lainey really think I would wear this?

The fourth and fifth went pretty much the same, either the length was weird, the designs were weird, or it was just plain weird. With a sigh I returned the dresses to their hangars, a task that was harder than it looks, and put them on a hook outside of the stall door where a clerk would pick them up. I walked back to Lainey in defeat.

"Any of them work?" she asked as she was already starting a new pile for me to try on.

"Lainey, how about you pick things with a little less sparkles, a little less sequins, and a little less… well, everything you would wear." She frowned and tapped her chin with a finger as she took in the rows of dresses ahead of her. Then her face lit up. "I think I found the perfect one," she said in excitement as she handed me a dress and directed me towards the changing stalls again.

Once inside, I took a look at this dress. It was red, a good length, probably a bit shorter than my knees, had no sign of sequins or sparkles, and, upon turning it around to take a look at the back, there was a criss-cross pattern that connected the back. It looked like a pain in the butt to get on, but I had to admit it wasn't looking too bad.

After finally managing to get it on, I inspected myself in the mirror. Not bad. It was an off-the-shoulder dress, which definitely got my vote, and got tighter around my chest, a bit beneath my breasts. As I turned around in the mirror, I could tell, this was the one.

I happily put the dress back on the hangar and returned to Lainey as she paid for it, keeping her end of the bargain. I was overcome with joy at the fact the little shopping spree was over and done with.

The first thing Lainey said though as we exited the store was, "Onto the accessories!", and my hopes to leave this place finally were dashed.

As I glumly walked towards the accessory store a few stores away, Lainey was practitcally bouncing up and down. When we entered the store, it luckily didn't take as long as it did in the other store to find what I needed.

We found a pair of black lacey tights to accompany my dress, and some hoop earrings that Lainey convinced me to get. I was actually the one who walked up to the Hair section and wanted to get the black headband with red stripes on it, so we got that as well. Again I was glad our shopping trip was done, but of course forgot one critical thing: The Heels.

I gulped as I took a look at the death contraptions placed on display in front of me five minutes later. If I thought I was nervous before…

While I was writing my will inside my head, Lainey was bouncing up and down, looking as happy as a kid stuck in Disney Land. I would never understand her.

The first pair of shoes we found were black and at least six inches tall. My face paled at the sight of them.

"Do I really have to wear these?!" I begged Lainey.

"Nicole, you're the shortest out of all of us," Thank you for bringing that up… "So heels are a must for you." I sighed. There really was no way to change her mind.

I reluctantly tried on the death trap, with Lainey's help of course, and tried to stand up. My feet immediately gave in as I toppled over. Lainey was trying to be helpful by giving me pointers and helping me to straighten myself and balance, but I knew on the inside she was laughing her head off. She wasn't very good at hiding it.

"No," I said. "Just… no. I am not wearing these."

"O-kay," she said, scanning the store. Her eyes lit up as she found something and dashed across the store to grab it.

I sat down, took off the shoes, if you could even call these things shoes, and rubbed my ankles, which were getting quite a work out today. Before I could even get the courage to stand up again, Lainey was back with at least seven more pairs of heels, all ranging from at least four to six inches. I groaned. This was going to be a longer day than I imagined.

~Nicole~

45 minutes later, Lainey and I were sitting in chairs in the food court, me, the definition of exhaustion, Lainey, the definition of a little kid with too much sugar in their system . She was holding a few bags herself, since she had gone for a quick shopping trip in a few of her favorite stores while I was trying on shoes, and I had three bags, with the dress, the accessories, and a pair of bright red heels that were only three inches tall, the shortest Lainey would allow. I had to admit they were pretty nice, but it took a heck of a battle to get them. Lainey insisted on at least four inches, but I fought for these.

"So, what did you get?" I asked, exhausted, as I took in the various shops to buy food around me- ranging from Chinese to pizza to sandwich places to a mini Dairy Queen.

"Well," said Lainey as she took out her bags (my god, she had more than me!) and started taking things out as she talked about how amazing they were.

"I got a few accessories at that accessory store we stopped at, like this feather necklace," Lainey has been obsessed with feathers lately. Seriously she has like 5 pairs of feathered earrings. I don't get the trend, honestly. "And then this silver charm bracelet, a few of these rings…" I sort of droned out the rest. I asked her about what she got expecting a simple overview, not a full-out show and tell.

"Don't you think?" asked Lainey as she poked my shoulder.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't you think this will go well with my dress tonight?"

I cocked my head as I took in the little bracelet made of white thread with small pink shells attached to it. I had to admit it did go well with her outfit she was going to wear tonight, which was a short, tight, strapless light cream colored dress that ended a few inches above her knees with a small and short light pink sweater. She was paring it with some cream colored heels, diamond studs, a cream colored head wrap she was going to use as a headband, and skin colored tights. I had this implanted in my memory forever, since Lainey went over it with Bella and me over a billion times. The bracelet would go well with it.

"Yeah, I think so," I commented.

"Me too," She nodded in agreement as she put the first few small accessory bags down and grabbed some of the larger bags. "These," she patted the bags, "Are essential for my new look."

"You're getting a new look?" I asked her as I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes," she said in a very serious tone. "I'm just getting so sick of my daily look, and I think it's time for a change in my life."

"So popping a tail every time you touch water isn't a big enough change for you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Haha, so hilarious. I was thinking more along the lines of… this." She held out a few ripped out pages of a catalog magazine thingie from some place called… Delia's? I looked over the tribal prints and lacey over shirts and shrugged as I gave it back to her. "Okay."

She rolled her eyes again. "I don't even know why I came shopping with you of all people."

"Krissy's party?"

"Right." She sighed. "I should have brought Bella with us too though so we could keep this interesting."

"If she even wanted to do something with us," I mumbled.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Come on, you can't tell me you haven't noticed!"

"Noticed what?"

"How… I don't know… distant Bella's been from us lately. I feel like we've gone from being the three musketeers to being the two BFFS with that one awkward friend who won't hang out with us." I gave her a knowing look`. Lainey just fiddled with a bent straw that was discarded on the table top.

"Lainey," I said. "I can't be the only one weirded out by this!"

She dropped the straw and put her hands up in exasperation. "Nicole, maybe sometimes some people just don't want other people to know things!"

"So you're saying Bella has a secret?" I asked.

"No! I mean, I never really said that. Okay well I said something like that but not that that. And besides, what would she have to hide? Not that I'm saying she has something to hide… " She looked up to see my raised eyebrows.

"Lainey you are such a bad liar," I snorted as I shook my head. She turned away and hid her face as I picked up my things. Then she grabbed her things, stood up, and walked away.

"Awkward," I mumbled to myself as I followed her.

~Nicole~

Music blared from speakers in Lainey's room as we prepared for the party. Giggles and shrieks ricocheted off the walls as we got into our outfits for the night. I admit it, it looked as if we were dressing for prom, but we took this party more seriously than we probably would prom itself. Okay no, I would take that more seriously, because I would actually enjoy shopping for prom things (as surprising as it sounds).

"I can't believe Lainey convinced you to get that dress!" said Bella with raised eyebrows as she examined herself in the mirror. She was wearing a mid-length straight light purple dress with matching clips for her hair, which was in a gorgeous bun. And the purple complemented her eyes amazingly (Lainey's words, not mine).

"Me neither," I mumbled.

Lainey turned around from the mirror where she stood in between Bella and me and rolled her eyes. "Don't doubt my powers." We all giggled as we walked away from the mirror, which made me giggle even more, since this all seemed like some teen movie to me. Too bad I didn't know it was going to turn into a seriously screwed up teen movie.

~Nicole~

"Alright," said Lainey as we walked quickly towards the giant boat that hadn't yet sailed away, but was surely about to, which was why we were trying to get there quickly. "Remember the plan?"

"What plan?" I asked.

"Oh… right." She said as she sighed. "Damn I knew we were forgetting something."

"It's okay," said Bella. "We'll wing it."

"Right," I said sarcastically as we walked onto the stairs that had been set up near the boat. "Because that always works." The song Sugar by Flo Rida booming from the boat covered up my sigh.

Once we reached the top and stepped over the side, we took a look around us.

"Woah," we said together at the first sight of the place. When we had come to investigate this place before when there weren't decorations or lights or stands or anything, we thought maybe with advanced knowledge of the place we could not waste time trying to find our way around. But I, and I'm sure Bella and Lainey, realized that with all of these strobe lights and banners and decorations, we would still be lost no matter how many times we would have checked the place out.

"Well," I said. "Still think we can 'wing it'?" Bella smacked my shoulder lightly.

"Well we'll have to try," said Lainey. She turned around. "Has anyone seen Blake? He was supposed to meet us here…"

"Hey!" we heard a shout from across the boat (a miracle really, since it was so loud).

"Speak of the devil," I whispered as he walked up to us. Lainey smacked me and I stuck out my tongue. Bella rolled her eyes.

"You guys were supposed to get here 7 minutes ago!" said Blake in exasperation.

"Wow, seven minutes!" said Bella as she made a shocked expression. "I'm so sorry it took us seven minutes longer to get here!" I gave Bella a suspicious look. Something was different about her. I'm usually the one to deliver the sarcasm in this group.

Blake must not have noticed the sarcasm, or otherwise ignored it, because he still looked worried and aggravated because he looked over his shoulder and looked back at us with panic written all over his face.

"Blake… are you okay?" asked Lainey as she placed her hand on his arm. For some unknown reason, he flinched away and Lainey looked pretty confused. Although I think she connected the dots when Blake looked over his shoulder at…

Krissy.

Lainey lowered her hand and stared at her. Krissy sent a little finger wave to her before calling out Blake's name.

"What are you doing?!" I demanded as he started to walk over there.

"I need to…"

"What?" asked Lainey. "What would you possibly have to go talk to her about?"

"Well I am her tutor…"

"Seriously Blake, how many times are you going to use that excuse?" asked Bella with narrowed eyes.

Blake just sighed and walked towards her. I saw Lainey's eyes trail him as he stood next to Krissy, and she slid her hand in his back pocket.

Lainey turned towards Bella. "Do you really think it's an excuse?" she asked quietly.

"Of course!" she said with rolled eyes. "We're at a party, why would Krissy want to talk to him about algebra and chemistry? Besides, do you notice how often he tutors her? Not even a five year old would need that much tutoring time to learn this stuff!"

"I never thought of that…" She trailed off.

"Alright," I said. "Let's not jump to conclusions. Blake may have some reason he's doing what he's doing that he just can't tell us yet. After all, we never told him the biggest secret of our life."

"Nicole, I seriously doubt Blake turns into a mermaid when he touches water and that's the reason he hangs out with her all the time."

"Besides," said Lainey as she took one more look at him. "I'm really hoping that his biggest secret has nothing to do with Kristen." She walked away and Bella and I exchanged knowing glances before following.

~Nicole~

"Hey!" I hissed at Blake. "I thought this was a revenge mission, not a chance to flirt!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked nervously, which I knew wasn't a good sign.

"Come ON!" I rolled my eyes. "For the last two hours you've been hanging around this bitch, while we're stuck thinking of ways to get revenge on her!"

"Well if it's your revenge then you won't need my help! So just stop bugging me about it!"

I just stared at him, not believing what he just said. "Wow," I spat at him. "I see you've had quite a change of heart." I started to walk away before I shot at him, "Jerk!" Even though her deserved a lot more for abandoning us like this. I marched back towards Bella and Lainey who were waiting at the bar for me.

"Well?" asked Lainey, a nervous wreck. "Why isn't he coming over to help us?"

After having to do the painful job of retelling how he basically told us it wasn't his problem, Lainey's face paled.

"Are-are you certain you didn't just hear him wrong?" she asked. "It is pretty loud in here…"

"Lainey, I'm telling you the truth."

She sat on one of the chairs by the minibar and stuffed her face into her hands on the table. After waiting at least five minutes she sat up and grabbed a shot glass from in front of someone else, since they were too busy to notice, and gulped it down.

"Lainey!" I said in shock as I grabbed her hand before she could grab another drink. "Getting drunk won't help!"

She rolled her eyes and with her other hand tapped the waiter on the shoulder. "I'd like anything with a lot of…" I put my other hand over her mouth. "Never mind," I said sweetly to him. He shrugged and walked over to another customer. I glared at her.

"What do you think you're doing?!" snapped Bella.

Lainey stared into her cup for a while before singing quietly, "I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away, fire away…" She exhaled with half shut eyes.

"What?" I asked her. I grabbed that shot glass and smelled it, immediately pulling away. Bella smelled it too and dropped it, it was so strong. Then she turned to Lainey.

"Oh Lainey…"

"Ricochet! You take your aim…" She made a little gun with her hand and "shot" Blake. Now it was my turn to stuff my face in my hands. Bella did the same.

But when we looked up, Lainey was gulping down a tall glass of… something. Bella immediately took it away and grabbed her arm.

"What are we going to do with her?" she asked in defeat.

"I don't know," I said honestly.

Bella let go of her arm and leaned against the counter. "Well," she said. "I remember that there were some rooms where… Oh no." Bella was staring at Lainey in horror.

"What is it now?" I looked at her and groaned. Lainey had a familiar looking haze over her eyes.

"She saw the moon," I sighed.

"How?" asked Bella.

"Probably when she got that drink." I considered slamming my head against the table but that would hurt so I didn't.

"Lainey…" I turned to talk to her but she was gone. "What the…" I looked around. "Where is she?"

"I spy with my little eye…" Bella pointed towards Blake, who was finally without Krissy by his side for only the third time this evening. Now he was standing next to Lainey.

"Crap!" I shouted as I ran over to her.

"…so if that's what you think, then SCREW YOU!" shouted Lainey at Blake. "We're OVER!" Suddenly the boat started to rock a bit, surely because of Lainey.

"Lainey, stop!" said Bella.

"Blake, you are such a [EXPLICIT CONTENT]!"

"Woahhhh." I said. Bella whistled. I had never heard Lainey say those kind of things. And she was still saying them. At first I wasn't sure why Blake was defending himself, especially since he looked so heartbroken, but then he cast a hateful glance at Kristen, who gave him a thumbs up.

Okay I'm officially confused.

Then I heard a very loud smack as Lainey slapped Blake across the cheek. And even though that was something to worry about, the next sound was simply terrifying. A splash. Lainey had jumped over the edge.

"Shit!" I screamed as Bella and I ran to the edge of the boat, where Lainey was nowhere to be seen. I cast my own hateful glance at Blake.

"Are you just going to stand there?" I shrieked.

"There's nothing to do now!" he said. "She's already jumped over the edge."

"Wow," snorted Bella. "So now you don't even care about our secret anymore." Bella and I held hands as we looked around, making sure no one was looking and stood on the edge of the boat. I took a look at Blake.

"The only thing you can do now is come to meet us at Mako Island." Then we jumped in.

As we sped away towards Mako a million thoughts ran through my head. How only hours ago I was obsessing over how wretched the attire would be for tonight, but now we're off to save our heartbroken, moonstruck best friend… heartbroken by Blake of all people. I mean, he was the nicest guy I thought I had ever met! Now… I'm not so sure.

After a while, Bella and I popped up for air. We had looked in the moon pool, and realizing we must have gone ahead of her somehow, we went to look around in the ocean more.

"Where is she?" I asked.

Then we both heard bloodcurdling screams from inside the moon pool. We quickly dove back under.

(A/N: Hola my little fishes! Sorry it's been taking such a long time to get this up! There's been school shopping and my mermaid show on youtube and lalala… well it's up now! Also guys, thanks so much for all of the reviews! It means so much to me! :-D Hey, this time, instead of giving a little hint about what the next chapter will be like, I'm going to give a little sneak peek! Read… if you dare! ;))

(Chapter 27 in Lainey's POV)

Walls were spinning around me. I wasn't even sure where I was. All I could see was a fuzzy haze. All I could hear was a faint hum. And all I could feel was utter pain. Heartbreaking pain.

I let out a scream, which came out muffled in my brain. MAKE IT STOP! I said louder in my thoughts than I ever could say aloud. Tears poured out my eyes, dripping down my numb, lifeless face. To anyone watching me I probably had a normal looking straight face. But on the inside I was thrashing around, screaming, trying to resist the urge to go back to the boat and use my power to rip it to pieces, Blake along with it. If I had Bella's power right now, everyone alive would be… not alive. The world would be a ball of fire.

I felt like I was trapped in a box, and I desperately wanted to get out. The alcohol must make everything not right to me, it even made my thoughts fuzzy. If I could, I would kill myself right now. That's how messed up I am.

I let out a sob as my whole body quivered. I tried breaking out of the box, but nothing would work. No matter how loud I screamed, I could only hear a soft hum. I felt trapped, and all of my feelings have been let out of the box except for the pain of Blake's traitorous actions, which seemed to be magnified at least 1000 times. I didn't think I could handle it.

Kill me now, kill me now, kill me nowwwwww!

I let out one more bloodcurdling scream with more power than any of the others, but it still was soft and quiet. So I cried until everything went black.