"Lewis! What is this? You got a C minus on a biology test?! You've never gone below an A minus the entire time you've been at school! What is going on?!" Kelly McCartney exclaims in shock, unable to believe the paper that she is holding her hands.
"Um... I guess there's a first time for everything?" Lewis responds weakly. Kelly groans, running a hand through her hair in distress.
"And hey, technically C minus is still a pass... technically." Lewis adds, hoping that it'll help soothe the blow. Kelly stares at her son with bemusement, extremely unimpressed.
"Really, Lewis? Just because it's technically a pass makes it okay? You're so much better than this! I thought you were starting to get on track with your school work, Lewis. This is your last year of school; this is where it all counts. You're capable of so much more than barely a pass, especially in science." Kelly continues to say, unable to comprehend why Lewis doesn't seem at all phased or surprised by his test grade.
"I know, Mum... I'm sorry... I've just had a lot on my mind lately..." Lewis attempts to apologise to her.
"I'm really disappointed in you, Lewis." Kelly sighs while shaking her head in defeat. Having nothing else to say about the matter, knowing that Lewis will be mentally beating himself up over this, Kelly then hands back the paper to her youngest son and walks out of the living room, leaving Lewis standing there alone.
Lewis looks down at the test paper in his hand, extremely frustrated with his poor results. However, it is exactly what Lewis was expecting. His mind was all over the place during the test, plus he hadn't studied. Lewis knows that he's lucky that he even managed to scrape by with the C minus. Hopefully Lewis can pick up his grades in the other tests, assignments and end of year exam so that his overall grade for Biology and getting into University aren't totally ruined.
"Ugh. What a way to ruin a Friday night," Lewis grumbles to himself as he sits down on the couch, tossing the stupid test result to his side. He hadn't expected to get his results back so soon; he was trying to take some time and plan out what to say to his mum to ease the blow a little bit. Oh well, it doesn't matter now. To be honest, Lewis thinks his mum didn't react too badly, all things considered. She must know that he has been going through a tough time and is cutting him some slack without investigating the issue too much, which Lewis is immensely grateful for.
"Hey, what was all that about? Why did Mum storm up to her room?" An annoyingly familiar voice catches Lewis' attention. He glances over to the living room door and sees Lenny entering the room, walking over to Lewis. Lenny sits down next down to Lewis with a concerned, but curious look on his face.
"Oh, uh, it's nothing, Lenny. Don't worry about it." Lewis hurriedly tries to brush the issue off, not really wanting to hear Lenny's opinion on his test grade at the moment. Lewis has a feeling that Lenny's reaction would be more severe than their mother's reaction.
"Oh, come on bro, you don't seriously expect me to believe that, do you?" Lenny raises an eyebrow at his youngest brother sceptically.
"Look, it's not a big deal. I can handle it." Lewis tries again, huffing slightly out of annoyance.
"Just tell me what happened, Lewis. You've been keeping too many secrets lately. I'm not leaving until you tell me what happened with Mum." Lenny frowns, refusing to back down so easily this time. He has a right to be concerned about his little brother and making sure that he's not in any trouble.
"Oh my god, fine! I got a C minus on my biology test from Wednesday, okay? It's no big deal, I'll pick my grades up again!" Lewis concedes in annoyance, knowing that Lenny isn't going to drop this issue. Maybe if he tells Lenny about the grades, Lenny won't bug him about the other secrets in Lewis' life right now.
"What?! That's not like you at all... even when you were struggling with school, you always managed to do well in the past." Lenny comments in shock, not knowing how this could be possible. Lewis has never gotten lower than an A minus before. Something has to be seriously wrong, and Lenny needs to find out what that is right now.
"What's changed, Lewis? I know it's not just because you're behind in schoolwork, or struggling with the content. There's something else going on, isn't there? I know we've had this conversation before, but you can tell me anything, Lewis. I'm your brother, and I will always love you and be here for you. Just let me help you, please." Lenny says as he places a hand on Lewis' shoulder. To Lenny's surprise, Lewis quickly pushes Lenny's hand off his shoulder and then stands up and moves away from the couch, glaring down at Lenny.
"There's nothing going on! I'm fine." Lewis hisses, sick and tired of everyone asking him the same questions over and over again.
"That's bullshit and you know it! Why did you run off when we had a similar conversation a few weeks ago? I'm sick of this shit, Lewis! The lying and the secrets have to stop! Maybe you can fool Mum, Zac, Daniel and Jacob about what's going on, but you can't fool me!" Lenny responds aggressively, standing up from the couch also.
"God, do you really not have anything better to do with your time other than annoy me right now? Get a life, Lenny!" Lewis snipes back at his brother, trying very hard to keep his composure, but it is becoming harder and harder to control at this point.
"Ha! Wow. Okay, sorry for being a good brother and trying to look out for you. Didn't realise you didn't want people to actually care about you." Lenny scowls while Lewis rolls his eyes.
"Enough with the games, Lewis. Out with it. Tell me why you've been acting so shady this past month. Don't keep saying it's nothing, because it's obvious from a mile away that it's not nothing." Lenny demands, taking a step closer to Lewis.
"I can't, Lenny! Just drop it! I can't talk about this with you, or anyone else!" Lewis finally responds in a yell, perhaps being a little bit more truthful than he would have liked.
"Why not? What is going on? Why haven't you told Cleo?!" Lenny yells back, a little shocked that Lewis hasn't even told his girlfriend about what has been bothering him lately. That sets off even more alarm bells in Lenny's mind.
"Is it another girl? Are you seeing someone else?" Lenny asks in a quieter tone.
"What? No, of course I'm not! Why would you even suggest that?!" Lewis cries out angrily, harshly shoving Lenny away from him as his older brother tries to move closer to Lewis.
"Well, what else would you not want to tell even your girlfriend about then? What else could it be?!" Lenny retorts, determined not to back down.
"It doesn't matter! It's none of your business!" Lewis growls, hating that Lenny is bringing Cleo into this.
"You're my brother! Of course it's my business!" Lenny yells back in exasperation, not understanding why Lewis refuses to tell him what's going on. It makes Lenny truly believe that Lewis has gotten himself into some serious trouble, and at this point, Lenny is scared for Lewis' safety. What if he has been caught up in illegal activity? What if he is doing drugs? What if something happened to him when he's either out alone, or home alone? Maybe someone broke in? Maybe someone attacked Lewis? Or, perhaps since he has not been fishing this past month, or gone near any water for that matter, maybe there was some sort of incident out on a fishing trip? The possibilities are endless.
"Just leave me alone, Lenny!" Lewis shouts angrily, almost ready to flee the house again, not wanting to deal with this stupid argument any longer.
"Hey! What the hell is going on?!" Jacob calls out from upstairs, and in within a few moments, Jacob, Zac, Daniel and Ms McCartney all join the two feuding brothers in the living room.
"Nothing, it's fine." Lewis sighs while shaking his head a little, starting to calm down again.
"Really? Because it doesn't sound like nothing." Kelly frowns as she gazed around the room at all of her sons.
"Yeah, you two are honestly behaving like children. Lewis, you're 17. Lenny, you're 23. Try and solve your issues in a more civilised manner. You guys used to be able to do that, so what's changed?" Zac pipes up while folding his arms across his chest, glaring pointedly between both Lewis and Lenny.
"I just want to know the reason behind Lewis' bad grades. He's the one getting super defensive about it." Lenny huffs, rolling his eyes a little.
"Wait, Lewis is getting bad grades? What? How? He's the genius of the family..." Jacob asks in shock.
"It was just one bad test, okay? I'll make sure it won't happen again." Lewis sighs in frustration, running a hand over his face.
"Yelling at Lewis isn't going to help, Lenny. I'm sure Lewis is feeling bad enough about his grade. This is just a learning curve for Lewis, and I know he will be able to quickly improve his grades in no time." Kelly says while glancing between Lewis and Lenny, hating to see them fight like this. The two used to be so close... what happened?
"Whatever. Whenever you're ready to talk about what's really going on, we are here for you, Lewis. I'm here for you. I just wish you knew that we all love you and are here to help you through anything." Lenny concedes, knowing that this conversation isn't going anywhere, and the fact that the rest of their family is now here definitely doesn't help. If Lenny is going to find out the truth about what is going on with Lewis, he is pretty sure that he can't do that with the rest of their family.
"I'm going out to meet with some friends. I'll be home later." Lenny announces after a few moments of awkward silence. Without another word, Lenny hurries out of the living room and out the front door, not waiting for anyone to protest.
It is now Saturday morning, and the mermaids have met up with Lewis at the Juicenet cafe in their usual booth. Things are awkward to say the least, no one knowing what to say and can hardly look at each other. Lewis eventually decides to break the silence.
"So... are you guys ready for the full moon tonight? What are you guys doing for it?" Lewis asks the group curiously. Cleo glances up at Lewis sceptically, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"Why does it matter to you all of a sudden, Lewis? You've hardly spoken to any of us in the past few weeks. I get that you're busy catching up with school work, but come on. A little communication would have been nice." Cleo replies harshly, causing Lewis to wince slightly.
"I'm sorry... I just... I knew I wasn't going to do well on that biology test, and I was right. I barely passed. I hate myself for it, this isn't like me at all. I have been really behind in my studies lately, and I have been desperately trying to catch up. But you're right, I should have talked to you guys more. Especially you, Cleo. I'm sorry." Lewis sighs apologetically.
"Oh, come on, I'm sure your version of barely passing is like an A minus." Rikki scoffs and rolls her eyes.
"Actually, I got a C minus, if you must know." Lewis replies a little snappishly, turning to look at Rikki. Everyone stares at Lewis in shock.
"Seriously? You're not joking?" Rikki asks while raising her eyebrows in surprise.
"Why would I joke about this? My family and I got into a huge fight about it last night." Lewis responds half heartedly.
"Oh, Lewis, I didn't know... I'm so sorry... are you okay?" Cleo asks worriedly as she reaches her hand out across the table and holds Lewis' hand in her own.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just have to really step up my game so that my biology grade at the end of the year isn't a total bust. I'll be fine." Lewis gives a small nod in response.
"Why do you think that happened? Did you not study enough?" Emma frowns, wanting to try and get to the bottom of this so she can work with Lewis to get his grades up again. Her and Lewis have always been the most focused on schoolwork, and usually are at the top of all of their classes. Even with all the mermaid business in the past couple of ears, Lewis has managed to keep his grades up, so why are they starting to slip now?
"I don't know, I guess I just wasn't focusing properly." Lewis shrugs nonchalantly, not really knowing what else to tell his friends. Lewis clears his throat before continuing to talk.
"Anyway, as I was saying. What are you guys doing to prepare for the full moon tonight?" Lewis asks, bringing the conversation back on track.
"Well, we are having a sleepover at my house again this month. My parents are away on a business trip and Elliot is staying at a friend's house. Cleo's dad and sister are going to be staying at home tonight, so it makes more sense for the three of us to be at my place." Emma explains before taking a sip of her smoothie.
"Yeah, Kim would definitely expose us to the moonlight, and possibly exposing us as mermaids, and we really don't want that, obviously." Cleo adds, scowling slightly at the thought of her nosy little sister always trying to ruin Cleo's life in one way or another.
"Not that you need to worry about any of this, Lewis. We have it all sorted, just like we did last month." Rikki says while glaring at the geek with a smug look on her face.
"Haha. Well, in that case, I shouldn't be expecting any calls from any of you tonight asking for my help then." Lewis smirks, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms across his chest.
"We weren't going to call you anyway, we have this under control. Just go enjoy fishing tonight or something." Rikki retorts. The smirk on Lewis' face starts to fade as his worry, fear and sadness begins to overtake him again. Lewis will never be able to go fishing again. He would not be able to stop himself from getting splashed. Fishing was the one thing that has always kept Lewis calm and gave him a well needed break from the real world. It was also a favourite past time between him and Lenny. It's just another thing that will continue to drive Lewis and Lenny apart, which really saddens Lewis. He always felt like he could tell Lenny anything... well, before he became a fish boy that is. As for the full moon, Lewis doesn't even want to think about the disasters that will cause in his life from now on.
"Lewis? Are you okay?" Cleo frowns worriedly, noticing Lewis' expression change dramatically. Her boyfriend glances at her and nods a little too rapidly.
"Yeah. I'm totally fine. Just think I'm coming down with a cold, that's all." Lewis says in an attempt to take suspicion off him, and even let's out a fake cough to try and prove his point. The girls continue to just stare at him with concern, disbelief and suspicion. Lewis isn't really surprised that they don't buy his excuse; he wouldn't either.
"I-I've gotta go. Good luck with tonight," Lewis stammers as he quickly stands up and moves his way out of the booth, grabbing his things and hurrying out the cafe without another word.
Later that day, Cleo is pacing around in her bedroom, fiddling with her braid nervously. Once again, Lewis was acting really strangely at the cafe and left in such a hurry. What is he hiding from them? What is he hiding from Cleo? Has Cleo done something wrong and hadn't realised it? What if something happened between the two of them on a previous full moon and it has completely freaked Lewis out? Why is he so afraid of talking to them about it?
Cleo sighs sadly to herself, running a hand over her face in distress. Cleo knows that she can't figure this out by herself. Since Lewis clearly isn't going to talk to her, Cleo needs to find someone else who might know what is going on. Cleo looks down at her watch, gasping when she sees what the time is. The day has seemingly just run away from her. The moon will be up in a couple of hours, so Cleo needs to make her way over to Emma's now, just to be safe. She doesn't want to be caught outside when the full moon rises. Who the hell knows what might happen then. Cleo stops pacing and quickly gathers up her things that she has packed to take to Emma's for the night and hurries out of her room and down the stairs, making her way to the front door. Just before she gets there, however, Kim stops her in her tracks.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Kim asks suspiciously, arms crossed firmly against my chest.
"To Emma's house, for a sleepover. Now get out of my way." Cleo rolls her eyes and shoves her sister to the side, making her way to the front door.
"There aren't going to be any boys at this sleepover, are there, Cleo?" Kim smirks, eyes lighting up at the thought of being able to get Cleo into trouble.
"No, there isn't, Kim! Just stay out of my business, okay? I have to go!" Cleo exclaims in frustration as she opens the front door and begins to exit the house.
"Something weird is going on. You've been acting weird for years now, and no one believes me." Kim scowls suspiciously. Cleo stops in her tracks, turns back around to face Kim and rolls her eyes once again.
"You've been acting weird your whole life, Kim. No wonder no one believes you. Just because I hang out with my friends a lot doesn't make me weird." Cleo retaliates before closing the front door, not wanting Kim to argue back with her. Cleo doesn't have the time nor energy to deal with her extremely annoying younger sister right now. Cleo has to get to Emma's, and she will give Lenny McCartney a call on the way. Cleo hurries down and out of her front yard and begins walking down the street, heading towards Emma's house. As she continues to walk, Cleo pulls her phone out of her pocket and scrolls through her contacts until she finds Lenny's number. The mermaid presses the call button and holds the phone up to her ear, waiting for Lenny to answer.
"Hello, this is Lenny McCartney speaking." A voice on the other end of the phone finally answers.
"Hi Lenny, this is Cleo Sertori, Lewis' girlfriend. I was just calling you to ask how Lewis has been doing lately. He's been acting really weird, and I've hardly seen him nor have I spoken to him much. Is there something I should know?" Cleo responds worriedly. There's silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments, making Cleo's worry grow even more.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Lewis as well. I think he's hiding something from the both of us..." Lenny eventually replies.
"Tell me everything." Cleo demands determinedly, wanting to get to the bottom of all of this once and for all.