Chapter 6: The Immature Chronicles of Rikki and Zane

As the school year continued, Rikki adjusted to her schedule as she always did. She would spend the afternoons with Cleo and Emma discussing their mermaid lives and most evenings training with Zane, if not at the race track. Zane was right, the city tournament was coming up soon and they needed to get ready. He seemed to have a busier life than her so Rikki wasn't surprised when he'd occasionally not show up to the track.

Rikki had been sitting alone as she liked at the JuiceNet when Lewis had approached her to talk about Cleo. How was Rikki supposed to know what was going through Cleo's mind? It didn't matter if she did anyway, she couldn't tell Lewis Cleo wasn't going to Miriam's stupid party because she was a fish. Regardless, Rikki had wanted to be left alone and Lewis was continuing to ignore her. She was starting to get mad when the cola he had just ordered started bubbling. Rikki looked between the liquid and her own hand wondering if she had finally found her power. Cleo could manipulate water and Emma could freeze it, she supposed her being able to heat it up only made sense. She went to the beach later on to test it again. She found a small puddle of water and watched it evaporate completely at the squeeze of her hand.

Rikki had called Emma to show her her new power when they ran into Lewis who told them Cleo was going to Miriam's pool party. They somehow convinced Lewis to go to the party to check on Cleo while Emma and Rikki dried off and ran to Miriam's as fast as they could.

"Wait," Emma had stopped Rikki once they reached Miriam's house.

"What is it?" Rikki asked.

"What if nothing is happening?" Emma asked. "What if she's managing it?"

"What, are we just supposed to wait around until something does happen?" Rikki asked.

"Rikki," Emma said, grabbing Rikki's wrist to keep her from moving any further. "You know Cleo's having a hard time with this whole... mermaid thing. If nothing's going wrong, there shouldn't be a reason to pull her away, right?"

Rikki glanced between Emma and her hand that covered her wrist, thinking about what Emma had to say.

"Think about motocross." Emma said. "You wouldn't want me to pull you away from a race just because they had bottles of water, right? These parties and events are Cleo's motocross."

"Fine." Rikki sighed, knowing Emma had a point. "We'll just keep an eye out, I suppose."

The two girls hid behind a iron rod gate, hoping they weren't too suspicious. The first person Rikki noticed at the party wasn't Cleo but rather Zane. She reckoned she shouldn't be shocked, this did seem like his scene. He was leaning against a pillar talking to Nate when Cleo walked in wearing a large coat and a scarf. Rikki wanted to laugh. What the hell was she thinking?

Rikki was surprised when Zane and his friends started ganging up on Cleo. Rikki hoped she wasn't seen as a bully but she supposed Cleo was an easy target. She was innocent, naïve and had no backbone. Rikki wondered where Lewis was, why he wasn't stopping this? Zane had Cleo by her shoulders and Nate had her by her feet, swinging her back and forth like a hammock.

Rikki and Emma were about to enter the party, taking whatever force necessary to stop Zane and Nate from throwing Cleo in the pool until they finally heard Lewis. The genius boy had told Zane and Nate to let her go, so they did. Right into the pool. Luckily for Cleo, they went inside before her transformation could take place.

Rikki felt her blood boiling from the pool party all the way to the race track that night. The girls and Lewis, who was now in on the mermaid secret, had asked her if she was all right multiple times and she had shrugged them off. She would be fine but she didn't want to hang around someone as immature as Zane anymore.

Rikki went to the race track that evening and rode a few laps before she saw Zane arrive at his stall. She rolled her eyes and hoped he'd simply leave her alone. He came down to the same track she was on, probably thinking she'd stop at the finish line. She only revved her engine more and flew past him. She supposed she couldn't do this forever, she'd run out of petrol soon. She finally stopped off the track and was about to grab a water from a nearby pail when she realized what a mistake that would be and he approached her.

"Hey, what's up?" Zane asked her. She was pleased to see he was out of breath.

"Just getting some water before I get a few more laps in." Rikki told him.

"Okay, don't you want to train together?" Zane asked.

"Not really, no." Rikki replied as she moved past him to get on her bike.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Zane asked. "I thought you were going to train me for the city tournament?"

"Hold on," Rikki started. "Me, train you? As in, I'm not competing myself?"

"Well, yeah." Zane simply said as if she had asked if two plus two equaled four.

Rikki scoffed. "You didn't think I'd want to enter the tournament?"

"I don't know." Zane said. "I just thought you're new in town and you haven't taken Nate up on a challenge in a while and you're a..."

Zane was getting heated, she could tell. She knew what he was going to say next, too. She didn't know he would sink that low.

"I'm a what?" Rikki asked. Zane sighed and shook his head. He was about to open his mouth but she cut him off. "No, go ahead and say it. It's because I'm a girl, right? You of all people should know that doesn't matter."

"It doesn't." Zane told her. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Forget it." Rikki said. "I wouldn't want to train with you anyway, not after the way you treated my friend."

"What are you talking about?" Zane asked.

"Cleo told me you threw her in Miriam's pool today." Rikki shoot back.

"It was just a prank!" Zane tried to defend. "She was fine, she was wearing a big coat and a scarf, it was just perfect timing."

"Whatever." Rikki shook her head and walked past Zane. "I don't have time to hang around with someone as immature as you."

"Immature?" Zane shouted after her, following her down to her bike. "You think I'm immature? Have you taken a look in the mirror lately?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rikki asked as she mounted her bike. She was going to take off and just forget about him until he made his accusation.

"How immature is it to just hurl accusations at someone and simply run off?" Zane asked. "And-and just the insults you give people at school, I've seen it. You couldn't go to Miriam's party because you were flossing your teeth? How hard is a simple 'no'? Don't go acting like you're any better than me."

Rikki hadn't considered that. She had seen other people do things like that at her old schools. Then again, those people throwing out insults like candy were the popular crowd she swore she wanted nothing to do with and the people receiving them were geeks and nerds who had puckered up the courage to ask a question. She reckoned those jerk preps deserved a taste of their own medicine. She never thought it made her as bad as them.

"Well, then..." Rikki started, looking anywhere but Zane. "I guess we have different prerogatives."

Zane scoffed at her. He looked like he wanted to go on a huge rant but he settled for "Yeah, I guess so. See you later."

Zane tossed her another water he picked up for her. Rikki supposed that was nice but dropped the bottle as soon as she felt the heavy condensation sink through her gloves and she ran as fast as she could inside the shop. She had just closed the bathroom door when the transformation happened.

The bathroom was small so she was slumped against the wall. Rikki wondered if she'd ever break her arm or dislocate her shoulder coming in here to avoid growing a tail in front of everyone. Thankfully, she had an incredibly useful power when it came to drying off. She could be out on the track again in no time.

Rikki thought about her eventful day. It hadn't at all gone like she had planned. She had hoped for a relaxing day, maybe she'd go for a swim and end the day on the track with Zane. That had all gone out the window as soon as Lewis sat down with her at the JuiceNet. The girls and Lewis knew that Cleo wouldn't be able to go to anymore pool parties, not as long as they were mermaids. Emma had told them she had quit the swim team as well. It was a damn shame both girls had to give up on things they had enjoyed only because they could now grow a tail. Rikki had counted herself lucky for once. The only thing she was passionate about was motocross and she didn't think there were as many water hazards there as there were in a pool. Still, she had sprinted off to the bathroom to hide her mermaid identity a handful of times since she had become a mermaid. She wondered if anyone would start to think about how suspicious that was. She wondered if she could continue with motocross with the life she was now forced to live. She felt tears in her eyes at the mere thought of having to give it all up.

Rikki didn't want to race anymore. She was upset with Zane for pointing out her flaws and she was worried her mermaid life was actually going to take away something important from her. If she was sad or conflicted, she'd usually ride her bike but she found not for the first time since she had moved to Gold Coast, riding her bike was the last thing she wanted to do. She ran down to where she had left her bike and rode it up to it's stall and changed out of her suit.

As Rikki was walking away from the track, she felt a pair of eyes on her. She looked down to see Zane quickly put his helmet back on and ride off. Rikki shook her head and walked back to her trailer. She always tried to reinvent herself when she moved to new places but she didn't think she would ever be so drastic as to quitting motocross and becoming a mermaid.