Hey guys! Look, I updated on time! Yay! I'm also back in the USA, so things should be back on schedule. This story is almost at the end of it's course! Thanks for sticking with it for this long! Please review! Enjoy! I do not own H2O: Just Add Water.
Today, Cleo and I were both working at the marine park, when Emma and Rikki, and Lauren met up with us. Emma was going on about how she thought she was predictable. "Do you guys think I'm predictable?" she asked.
"Let me answer your question with a question," Rikki said as we sat down at a nearby table. "Do you count how many times you chew each mouthful?"
Emma shook her head. "That's not being predictable, that's just good health sense."
"And my role in this conversation ends now," Rikki stated.
"You know what I think?" Cleo asked. "I think our lives have gotten so nutty lately it's nice to have a normal person we can rely on."
"I'm predictable," Emma concluded.
"That's not what I meant," Cleo rolled her eyes.
"The sun and Emma," Rikki said quoting Byron. "I know what this is about."
"This has got nothing to do with Byron. You two just confirmed it for me. I'm sick of bring dependable Emma. I need a change. I'm gonna color my hair!"
"That's a bit drastic don't you think?" I asked with a laugh.
Suddenly, Miss Chatham appeared. "Girls, Will," she said. "I am so glad I bumped into you."
"Miss Chatham," Cleo said. "Hi."
"How are you Miss Chatham?" Emma asked with a smile.
"In all honesty Emma, I'm very concerned," she answered with a frown. "I just wanted to tell you that you must stick together, no matter what. You must be there for one another. Promise me."
"We always stick together Miss Chatham, you know that," Lauren reminded.
"Miss Chatham, I don't know what you're worrying about, but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing I wouldn't do for these guys," Emma added.
"Absolutely," Cleo agreed. "The five of us are like best friends! No secrets, right?"
"Right," we all said at the same time.
"I'm glad," Miss Chatham said. For some reason, she looked directly at Rikki as she said that.
I checked my wristwatch. It was time to get back to work. "Hey, Cleo," I said. "We gotta get back to working before Mrs. Geddes has our heads."
"You're right," Cleo nodded. "See you guys later." Cleo and I then left and went back to our jobs.
Rikki's POV
'No secrets' we said. Well, no one knew that I had a pretty big one. I was starting to like Zane. I know, you're probably thinking that such a thing wasn't possible, but I like Zane and I don't know why. If anyone found out about this now, I would be in serious trouble. Especially Will. He and Zane have had it out for each other since they first met. Will is like a giant teddy bear, but I bet if he heard about this, he would flip out.
I left the guys a little while ago and started to take a walk on the beach. Well guess who decided to meet up with me? You guessed it! Zane. "Rikki," he said as he caught up to me. "Okay, so when?" he asked.
"When what?" I replied.
"When are we going to go out?" he smiled. Ha, it's funny cause I knew that was coming.
"The two of us? Forget it," I shook my head.
"You're kidding," Zane laughed. "We can't disappoint everyone like that!"
"Disappoint who?"
"Your friends. How are they ever going to tell you that I'm no good for you if you won't go out with me? And what about my mates? They're just waiting for the chance to hassle me about hanging with the freaky weird chick. C'mon, a lot of people have a lot riding on this," he grinned.
"Wow," I said with a shocked expression. "You have friends?"
"Rikki?" Zane tried to argue.
"Zane, we can't," I shut him down. "Forget it."
"You might be saying no today, but the other day when we kissed, your lips, they were saying yes," he smirked.
"Zane, the list of reasons why we should never ever go out is endless. On top of it is the fat that up until a few days ago, the thought of you made me want to hurl."
"And now?" he asked.
"I... I find you less repulsive," I concluded.
"Progress," Zane smiled. Suddenly, I saw Miss Chatham in the distance in the distance staring at Zane and I. Jeez; she sure did know how to appear out of nowhere. "What's up?" Zane asked.
"Miss Chatham," I said.
"What's she looking at?"
"Us," I confirmed.
"Is she hassling you?" Zane asked protectively.
"No, she's harmless," I said.
"You sure?"
"I'm sure."
"She's weird," Zane said. "There's something about her-"
"I'm sure," I cut Zane off.
"So about my offer?" Zane continued.
"Let me think about it," I said.
"Really? Zane asked hopefully.
"No," I shook my head. I then walked away leaving Zane in a confused state.
Will's POV
Currently, I was off work and the girls and I were at Emma's house, excluding Rikki. She's been gone a lot lately. I wonder what she's up to. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Emma asked as we all were in the bathroom about to dye her hair.
"It's easy," Cleo said. "I've done this a thousand times," she reassured.
"Really?" Emma asked.
"No, but I've seen it been done before," Cleo corrected herself. "Let's go."
"Let's wait for Rikki," Emma said. "You know how she is, always feeling like the odd one out."
"You're backing out, aren't you?" Cleo asked. "Because it sounds like you're wavering here."
"I'm not backing out," Emma said quickly. "Let's do this." As Cleo got out the shampoo or whatever it was that was going to dye Emma's hair, part of it shot in my direction, splattering all over me.
"Watch where you aim that stuff!" I said with an annoyed look as my tail formed and I fell to the ground.
"Oops, sorry!" Cleo said with a hand over her mouth. "I forgot water was involved!"
"Umm, Will?" Emma asked. "Has your tail always looked like that?" I then looked down at my tail and saw that almost half of it turned into a blackish color.
"Uh, no," I shrugged.
"Do you think this may have to do with that coral you cut yourself on?" Lauren asked curiously.
"Maybe," I answered.
"You cut yourself on coral?" Rikki asked as she walked into the room.
"It'll probably just go away after a while," I waved off.
"I hope so," Rikki sighed. "And you guys should probably lock the door, especially looking like that," she motioned to Emma and I. It was then that I steam dried myself and stood back up.
"Do you wanna keep going?" Cleo asked Emma.
"Of course, I'm not stopping now," Emma replied.
Rikki grabbed the box that the shampoo came in. "Wow, are you really going this red?" she asked. "Scarlet Fever?"
"What?" Emma asked. "I thought you said it was Indian Sunrise!" she said towards Cleo.
"Don't worry," Cleo reassured. "It'll look great."
As we were waiting for Emma's hair to finish up, a certain dizziness came over me and my ears started ringing. I could faintly hear the girls asking if I was okay, but the ringing was still there. I ran out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Lauren followed me. "Will, are you okay?" I managed to hear her say. The ringing was beginning to be too much. I shut my eyes tightly.
Lauren asked if I was okay again, and that's when I lost it. "Shut up!" I shouted as my eyes shot open, glaring directly into Lauren's green ones. For a split second, her eyes showed horror, but then they were full of sadness and worry. I didn't even mean to say what I said. It just happened. That's when the world around me was back to normal again. "Lauren, I'm so sorry," I said. "I honestly couldn't control what I said. What I told her was the absolute truth. I really couldn't control what I had said. It was as if something else took over and controlled me.
"I believe you Will," Lauren said slowly. "Because when you stared at me, your eyes turned yellow."
"What?" I asked in disbelief. My eyes were dark brown. How could they be yellow?
"It's what I saw," Lauren confirmed. "I think the coral is really affecting you. The black tail, the yellow eyes, we really need to find out a way to fix this."
"I'll ask Lewis about it later. He's done a lot of research. Maybe he knows what's wrong with me, and how to cure it."
"Good idea," Lauren said.
"We should head back upstairs," I said. "And don't tell the girls about this. I don't need them worrying about me too."
"Okay," Lauren agreed.
When Lauren and I got back up to the bathroom, the sight before us was quite a shock. Emma's hair was red. Not like a light red, but a deep red. "What happened here?" I asked.
"Cleo ruined my hair!" Emma accused.
"It was supposed to dry lighter," Cleo argued. She then checked her watch. "Will, it's time for us to head back to the marine park."
"Okay," I nodded. "See you guys later. As Cleo and I made our way downstairs, Rikki followed, asking Cleo questions about Emma's hair. As Cleo opened the door, Zane appeared in front of us.
"Hi Zane! Bye Zane!" Cleo said quickly as she walked out of the house. Jeez, just seeing Zane's face made my skin crawl.
I gave him a cold stare, and then followed after Cleo. When we entered the marine park, Mrs. Geddes assigned Cleo and I to clean out the storage room. As we were cleaning, Cleo spoke. "Is everything okay Will?" she asked. "I heard you scream earlier.
"Everything's fine," I shrugged. "Nothing's wrong."
"Okay..." Cleo said unsurely. After a while, we heard some commotion coming from outside, so we decided to investigate.
"Stop playing games," we saw Zane say to Miss Chatham. "You know something about the creature, you've seen it too!" Zane yelled.
"I know a lot of things, but you don't," I heard Miss Chatham say. "You're young and stupid." That's when Cleo and I decided to intervene.
"Zane, leave her alone," Cleo said. "You're scaring her!"
"I'm just asking her questions," Zane said innocently.
"Why don't you just leave her alone?" I said.
"Will's right," Cleo agreed. "Either that, or you can help me feed the sharks. You'd be the entree," Cleo smirked.
"I like how you're thinking Cleo," I said to her.
Zane hesitated. "Fine," he said. "If you don't want to talk to me, then I'll just have to have another look at your boat," Zane turned around and left.
"Are you okay?" Cleo asked Miss Chatham.
She nodded. "But he's going to my boat," she added.
"But there's nothing on the boat, is there?" Cleo asked. "He'd be wasting his time, right?" Miss Chatham didn't answer. "Right?" Cleo repeated.
Miss Chatham then explained that there was a picture on the Lorelei. A picture of her, Julia, and Gracie with tails. After hearing this new information, Cleo and I high tailed it back to Emma's house. Once there, we went up to Emma's room. Lewis was there too. "We've got bad news," I said. "Zane's going back to the Lorelei. And there's a photo there that he really shouldn't see."
"There's a photo?" Emma asked.
Cleo nodded. "There's a photo," she confirmed.
"Wouldn't the sea water-" Rikki began, but was cut off by Cleo.
"It's in an old metal chest."
"So it doesn't mean he's gonna be able to open it," Rikki said.
"Do we really wanna take that chance?" Emma asked.
"What's the photo of?" Lewis spoke up.
"Three girls," Cleo said. "Miss Chatham and her friends."
"So it proves she had friends," Rikki shrugged.
"With tails," Cleo added. "It's the same as the one in Miss Chatham's locket, only bigger."
"Oh no, this is bad," Emma stated.
"Way to go, Captain Obvious," I said snidely. This earned me a glare from Emma and Cleo. "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean it." I was usually never rude to the girls, and I mean never. I could only think that it was because of the coral. It makes me say things that I wouldn't normally say, and I can't control it.
"Look, I have stuff to do," Rikki said as she stood up from Emma's bed. "Bye and good luck." Rikki then left without another word.
"What was that all about?" Lewis asked with a frown.
"Look, we don't have time to worry about it at the moment," Emma said. "Cleo and Will have to get back to work, and we need to find Zane now.
"Actually, I finished work for today," I said. "So I can go with you guys."
Emma nodded, then her, Lewis, and I went to the docks. Lauren went back home because her mom needed her. Lewis had a plan to sabotage Zane's zodiac so it would give us time to grab the picture from the Lorelei. Emma and I stood by it trying not to act suspicious. "Done!" Lewis called to us.
"Excellent," Emma said. "What did you do?"
"Know anything about motors?" Lewis asked.
"No," Emma replied.
"Well, then think of it as magic," Lewis said alternatively. "This is only going to delay Zane for a while, so you guys should get going."
Emma and I nodded and dove off the dock. As soon as Emma turned into a mermaid, her read hair reappeared. Guess it only shows when she's in mermaid form. We both raced off to the Lorelei, which took us a little while, because we didn't remember its exact location. But after a while, we finally found it.
Once we were inside, we shuffled through things to find the metal chest. Emma finally found it. She unhooked the latch, and shifted through its contents before she finally found a group of pictures. As she went through them, she eventually found the photo of Miss Chatham and the others in mermaid form. We both smiled at their faces. All three of them seemed to truly be happy. We then exited the Lorelei and sped back to shore.
Once we dried off, Emma told me that she was going back to her house, and that we all will meet at the JuiceNet later. When Emma left, I suddenly felt something. I could actually feel my eyes shifting colors, with them shifting to yellow for only a split second. I really needed to find out what to do about this before it really becomes a problem. After an hour or so, I finally met up with the girls and Lewis outside of the JuiceNet, with Emma having a smile plastered on her face.
"Byron just complimented Emma on her hair!" Cleo informed me.
"That's actually really funny," I smirked.
"Shut up," Emma said with a smile.
We then walked into the JuiceNet, only to see a huge crowd around Zane. "I am telling you these were more than just shapes or shadows," Zane said. "I saw them as clear as day... a mermaid and a merman.
"Oh shit," I whispered. Zane had seen Emma and me coming out of the Lorelei. Luckily, it seemed he didn't know it was us.
"The mermaid had a mass of red hair followed by a long tail," Zane continued. "The merman's tail was a blackish blue, and his hair was short. Nate?" Zane looked to Nate for support.
"What?" You're asking me?" Nate asked.
"Look, I'm going back out there," Zane said. "This is real. There are merpeople out there, and I'm gonna prove it. Who's coming with me?"
"A mermaid?" Emma asked. "Have you gone completely insane?"
"Well, he saw something out there, cause when he came out of the water he was like a scared little boy," Nate laughed.
"Nate, do me a favor and don't help," Zane whispered over to him.
"So, what exactly did this mermaid look like?" Emma asked feigning curiosity.
"She had red hair," Zane answered.
"Was she cute?" Miriam asked.
"I didn't see her face, or the merman's face," Zane said. "I don't know, but I told you there was something about that old woman," Zane said.
"Miss Chatham has gray hair Zane," Emma said. "She's not your mermaid.
"Yeah, okay maybe not, but she's somehow connected," Zane corrected.
"And what about you Nate? What did you see?"
"Nothing, I was on the surface by then," he answered.
"Zane, I think the oxygen got cut off to your brain," Emma said as a final statement. We then made our way over to our usual booth and sat down. "He saw us," Emma said.
"How?" Lewis asked seriously.
"Out of Miss Chatham's boat," Emma confirmed. "We were careless."
"We're idiots," I said flatly.
"No, don't beat yourselves up about it," Lewis said. "I mean, look around. No one's gonna believe him."
"He's not gonna let it go either though," Cleo reminded.
"As long as you don't go in the water, he can't find you," Lewis advised.
"Wait, where's Rikki?" Cleo asked. I then realized that Rikki was nowhere to be seen.
"What's up with her lately?" Lewis asked.
Rikki's POV
I ran outside after Zane. I had to put a stop to his mermaid hunt. "Zane!" I called after him. "Zane wait!" I called again.
"What? Do you wanna humiliate me some more?" he yelled.
"No audience, no point," I said.
"Oh, that's very big of you," Zane said sarcastically.
"I wanna go out with you," I blurted out. Zane slowly turned around. "But the mermaid and merman talk stops," I added. "Look, I like you. Don't ask me why, cause I have no idea, but I do," I admitted.
"No mermaids?" Zane asked.
"That's the deal, take it or leave it."
"Okay," Zane smiled. "No mermaids."
I smiled and we began to walk together. Rikki Chadwick is going out with Zane Bennett. It's so weird saying that in my head because I thought it wasn't possible, but apparently it is. My mind then drifted back to the guys. How were they going to react to this? There was a simple answer.
Just don't tell them.
Ah, Zikki! It's coming! What's going on with Will? Will it play a role when Denman comes back? Hoped you all liked the chapter! The next chapter should be up by Monday! Thanks for reading!
MysticalMerman