101 Ways To Ruin a Mermaid's Life
Story 43: Emma
Emma's Back (Emma's POV)
I stepped out of the car and took one long breath of fresh Australian air. I was finally home after months of traveling the world and seeing every kind of place you could imagine. If this were some sort of movie I would be standing here thinking about how to find my friends and having everything go back to the way it was a year ago. If I was stupid, I would think that was possible. But I am not. I know life did not just stop when I left and that nothing was going to be exactly as I left it, but I was hoping to just jump right into it.
I got my first view of how my home had changed just walking up to the old Juice Net Café. I knew that it had gone under when I left. What I didn't know is that Zane had bought it and created a café named after Rikki.
I also was surprised, when I walked in, to hear live music playing, and not just any live music, but Nate's old band. I had heard Nate's band before I left, made up of a lot of his guy friends and his brother, I believe. They were terrible back then. Now they were actually great, and I'm guessing that was due to the fact that his new lead singer was female, and could actually sing, unlike Nate.
Zane did not notice me when I walked in, so I sat down at the bar and looked at his menu while listening to the band.
When the song ended, the band dispersed off stage, and Zane took the girl's arm and pulled her aside, to talk privately. Zane was close to this girl? Ok, so it wasn't that odd, she was a part of Nate's band. But I watched them, and it looked like he was talking to her in a more serious manner, a way Lewis use to talk to Cleo, Rikki, and me. She even look to be pushing him off. There was something up with her.
"Do you want to order?" I heard in front of me. I turned my head to find a short haired, red head in all black stand behind the counter with a pencil and notepad. She looked to where I was looking and smiled, "Yeah, don't think about. I've tried, he is never going to get over his last girlfriend."
"What?" I asked, confused by her comment.
"Zane, you're staring at him," She pointed out using her pencil to point to Zane. "He is still into his ex even if she dumped him."
"Dumped him?" I questioned, not completely caught up on my friends relationship statuses, obviously. But I shook it off quick enough to realize what she was saying. "No, ew, no, I know who he is and all about his girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend as you say. I was just wondering who he was talking to. I thought I also knew all of Zane's friends."
The red head looked back to where the girl was walking away from Zane and to another boy, a buff blond boy to be exact. She laughed and said, "That's Bella, my brother's girlfriend." She pointed to where the girl, Bella was kissing the blond. "He's Will, and I am Sophie." The girl stuck her hand out over the counter for me to shake. I did.
"Emma Gilbert," Zane said from behind me before I could introduce myself to Sophie. "I see you have met Sophie." He looked to the red head with a smile. "Won't be getting to close to her. Rikki wouldn't like that."
I turned to him as Sophie wondered away to take other orders. I smiled and gave Zane a big hug, even though we would never normally do that ever. Zane did not push it, but embraced it, since we hadn't seen each other for a year.
"How was… the world?" He asked me after putting me down.
"Big," I answered with a laugh. "I see you have made new friends." I said pointing to where Bella and Will were sitting on a nice white couch.
"Ah, Sophie telling you about Bella and Will?" Zane asked with a smile as he looked in their direction. Then his expression changed and he looked back to me intensively. "You haven't heard anything about Bella or Will have you?"
"Never heard their names in my life," I answered, a little confused and creped out. "Why?"
Zane shook his head, as if trying to get rid of an idea. "No reason." I just stared at him for a second, before he waved and went to his office. Then, when I looked back to where Bella and Will had been, they were gone.
With no sign of Cleo or Rikki, and the confusion of Bella and Will, I decided to take a swim out to Mako. If all the on land places had changed, I knew one place would never change. Or so I thought, for when I swam into the moon pool, I couldn't recognize the place. It looked like a bomb had gone off in here.
It turned out that the moon pool was the only place that was a little messed up and different. The beach and forest looked the same as the last time I had braved it to wonder around up there. The air was a little cooler than on the main land, and the whole place had a salty smell. I walked around a bit before finding my way to the beach.
On the beach, I saw something I knew I shouldn't have, a bout. It looked a lot like Lewis's, but I could tell right away it wasn't Lewis's.
"Come on," a male voice sounded from somewhere in the jungle, and it was getting close. Quickly I hide before hearing the same voice say, "Just try. I mean, if both Zane and Lewis agree, it can't hurt."
Zane and Lewis? Who were these people, and how did they know Zane and Lewis.
"I guess you are right," a female voice said. "How bad can it be if Lewis agrees with Zane."
Just then, the two came into view. It was Bella and Will, from the café. They were here on Mako, talking about Zane and Lewis. I was shocked, and a bit confused. This could only mean one thing. Bella was a mermaid too. She had to be, since Will had just left her on the island alone and she was walking back through the forest.
At that point I didn't care how much they must have changed, I knew one thing would stay the same. We had to keep this mermaid thing between the three of us. We couldn't let an outsider take over, and get Zane and Lewis to lie to us. This was our place, not there's. I had to tell Rikki and Cleo about this.
"You think what?" Cleo asked when I told her. She was laughing, like she didn't believe me.
"It's true, I saw her," I said softly so that her new step-mother wouldn't hear us from downstairs. "You have to believe me."
"Em, I'm not sure what you saw, but I don't think it is what you think," Cleo said with more laughter. "Really, you must meet Bella. I'm sure you will love her."
"You don't believe me," I stated, as I watched Cleo's face just drop.
Just then Rikki walked into Cleo's room. "Emma, when did you get back?" She squealed as she wrapped me into a tight hug, which was not a usual Rikki thing to do.
"This morning," I answered with a smile, "And I have already seen a lot of how the place has changed. Including that girl, Bella with her boyfriend on Mako."
"Oh you saw her," Rikki asked taken back.
"Yeah, and she thinks Bella is trying to steal Mako," Cleo said, which also got a laugh from Rikki. Then she looked to me.
"You're serious?" She asked in a tougher tone. She looked up at the ceiling and then back to me, "Em, Bella is not dangerous."
"I thought you two were my friends," I shouted, "I thought you would believe anything I said, no matter how farfetched."
"No… Em it's not that…" Cleo started but she couldn't finish.
"What Cleo?" I asked staring right at her. She bit her lip. I looked to Rikki. She was looking at the floor. Shaking my head at them, I slid past and walked out of Cleo's room, leaving all ideas of my old friendship behind.
