Author Notes - We're nearing the end of this one! Just this one chapter and an epilogue of sorts, and we're done!

CHAPTER SEVEN - A BIG DECISION

'… and it took about five hours until the subway could get moving again! You couldn't believe the amount of times I wanted to eat my own seat. After that, I never hopped onto another train again.'

No one could've told you how much time had passed since they started talking. The Guppies and their teacher had gotten so deep into the conversation that time had gone by in a flash. One minute? One hour? One day, even? They couldn't tell.

'Can't say I blame you.' Gil said, chuckling. 'But you won't have to worry about that here. Ol' Reliable is as reliable as her name would tell you!'

'Well, except for the whistle.' Goby commented. 'I still remember that Bubble Puppy had to chase after it after it fell off the train.'

'At least she wasn't stuck for five hours.' Molly said. 'I can't even begin to imagine what that would be like.'

'Hm… I dunno.' Deema said. 'I think that twenty hour flight to Australia was close enough. That flight just seemed to draaaag.'

'It wouldn't have been so bad,' Nonny remarked. 'If you listened to me and didn't hold your, uh… you-know-what for an hour.'

'Look, I was certain it would just go all over whoever was under us!'

Zooli giggled, cringing just a little from this particular story. Her new friends had made sure that she was the centre of every conversation, while still joining in occasionally so she could learn more about them. After all, that was the entire point of this little discussion in the first place. While she still didn't think her misadventures came close to those of the others, it surprised her how many of her experiences were new to them. Yet, they were able to relate to each other just by telling their own stories.

'You know, Deema,' Zooli said. 'From what I've been told about, you seem kinda… weird? Can I say that?'

'Weird?' Deema echoed. 'I'm not weird!'

Molly giggled. 'Uh huh. Right. That's why you felt the need to 'say goodbye' to that letter we sent.'

'Okay, so maybe I'm a liiittle weird. But is that a bad thing?'

Zooli shook her head. 'Not at all! Some kids at school called me weird cos I talked to animals all the time. I usually didn't mind it so much, but sometimes… it did kinda hurt.'

Oona gave her a soft smile. 'You don't have to worry about that here with us. We're all a little weird!'

'And that's the way it should be.' Mr Grouper said. 'Why would you be 'normal' when no one can even agree on what 'normal' is?'

Just through these conversations alone, Zooli had learnt more about her new friends than perhaps she realised. Turned out that 'Mia' was actually Molly's baby sister! Molly just didn't talk about her much on the website since she didn't want to give her little sister any unnecessary attention, at least until she was old enough for it. Nonny kept an inhaler in his backpack, to help him deal with a fair amount of allergies - one of which helped him find that dinosaur fossil. Oona's mothers were technically her aunts, and she didn't go into great detail about it (understandably so), but she saw them as her mothers anyway. And that was just the beginning...

Butterscotch and Pudding were a mother-daughter pair of cows down on the farm, and Zooli was promised a chance to see them one day. If they found the time, they'd also introduce her to Fernando the frog and Charlie the spider, and maybe even Beep the duckling! Next time they went down to the beach together, they'd meet up again with Sandy and her sisters. Maybe Sir Mulligan would play a game of mini-golf with her. Or perhaps, they could go to Buddy the dolphin's second birthday when it came around. Or even meet the royal family, including Princess Demanda and her pet dragon Destiny!

'Uh… that's all I've got right now.' Zooli said, scratching the back of her neck. 'That was a lot though, and I'm sure I've got a few more. I'm just a little piddled out when it comes to stories at the moment...'

'That's alright!' Mr Grouper said. 'I think we've learnt a lot about you. And I'm sure you've learnt a lot about us too.'

'I'm not sure what you guys did, but after that… I feel more like a friend.'

She could see every single Guppy perk up immediately when she said that, and it made her happy too.

'Wait, really?' Oona asked. 'Oh, that's so sweet!'

Without a warning, Oona gave Zooli a big warm friendly hug. Zooli almost pushed her away, but it was so nice and warm that she couldn't fight it even if she wanted to. She wanted to return it, but Oona had wrapped up her arms around her a little too tightly.

'Ooh, you've got yourself an Oona hug!' Gil said. 'Now you know you're a Bubble Guppy.'

'A-Are you sure?' Zooli asked. 'I kinda feel like I belong a little bit now, but… I wouldn't say I feel like a Bubble Guppy.'

'Well, maybe we should confirm that.' Molly said. 'I'm Molly!'

With only two words said, the other members of the band knew exactly what they were doing.

'I'm Gil!'

'I'm Goby!'

'I'm DEEMA!'

'Oona!'

'Nonny.'

And, almost as if she had been in this band since the beginning…

'Zooli!'

'Arf arf!'

'BUBBLE PUPPY!'

That line was meant to be just for Molly and Gil, but Zooli jumped right in and said it anyway. And she couldn't just stop it there.

'Bub-bub-bubble Gup-gup-guppies!' She sang. 'Bubble-bubble-bubble, Guppy-guppy-gup-'

Only then did she realise that the others weren't singing, and she cut herself off with an embarrassed giggle. Well, at least she coped with attention a bit better than some of her peers did.

'Uh… whoops.' She said. 'I kinda got… carried away there. I thought we were doing the whole theme…'

'That's okay!' Molly said. 'We should've expected you to keep going. It's easy for us to forget that not every Guppy we meet is going to be on the same wavelength.'

'Oh, that'll get better with time, I guess. Though, I doubt I'll ever be on the same wavelength as Deema.'

'HEY!' Deema yelled, prompting her friends to laugh.

'I think there's only one thing left to ask.' Nonny said. 'Have you decided if you want to join the band or not, or do you just want to be a classmate?'

Zooli was caught with her mouth wide open, wanting to continue her story but being caught off-guard by Nonny's question.

'Uh…'

The others leaned towards her, waiting in silence for her answer.

'Um… er… you see…'

'COME ON!' Deema cried. 'Don't leave us waiting!'

'DEEMA!' Everyone else yelled.

'Sorry!'

At least Deema's penchant for (perhaps inappropriately-timed) jokes helped ease the tension and stop Zooli's oncoming heart attack. The new student took a deep breath, in and out, to calm her nerves so she could answer this question properly.

'When I first arrived in this class,' She said. 'I was sooo excited to join the band! But then, I began to feel like I didn't quite belong. I heard you guys going on and on about events I didn't go to or people I've never met. And then… t-those nasty comments. Seeing what your fans were saying about me hurt, and it hurt a lot. I didn't think I could put up with that, and since I didn't feel like I was really part of the band, I… didn't want to go through with the decision.'

Every Guppy frowned, with some of them slumping over. Even Nonny looked a little sad, even though his expression had barely changed. As heartbreaking as that sight was, it gave Zooli hope that she was already beginning to understand how he expressed his emotions.

'I told myself,' Zooli continued. 'That if I ever felt like I really did belong that I would say 'yes'. I knew that if I had some good friends by my side, it wouldn't matter what people were saying about me. It would still hurt, but I would have six wonderful friends to help me deal with it, until I'm so used to it that I can laugh at the mean comments instead of feeling sad.'

'Did we succeed?' Oona asked. 'Did we do a good job at making you feel like a friend?'

Zooli sighed. She wasn't remaining silent to 'build up to it' or 'leave them in suspense' or anything like that, but because she herself was making it all up as she went along. However, just as everyone else was giving up hope that she would want to join the band - and accepting the fact that she'd want to stay out of it - she smiled.

'You did!' She declared. 'You really did!'

And, with that, everyone else perked up.

'I didn't feel like I was really a friend of yours at first, but you've proven that you'll do whatever you can to make sure I'm happy. That sounds like good friends to me! And so, I've decided… I will join the band and be the seventh Bubble Guppy, no matter what those mean comments say about it!'

Even as she loudly declared her decision, she wasn't entirely certain about her own choice. What if the harsh comments did prove too much? What if something else happened that made her feel excluded? Heck, what if the fifth album wasn't nearly as well-received as the fourth one? All those fears were relieved when the others responded.

'YAAAY!'

'Yeah!'

'Woo-hoo!'

'Bring it in, Zooli!'

Oona gave Zooli another hug, one so tight it nearly cut off her circulation. Before she could object, every other Guppy joined in and put her in the centre of a massive and loving group hug.

Well, I can't say I feel excluded now. … Geez, this is tight.

'O-Okay,' She said, as loudly as she could. 'I get it. You guys can back away now.'

Not ones to deny a friend's request, the other Guppies backed away and allowed her to breathe. Zooli could feel her heart warming as she saw how happy she managed to make everyone, just by accepting their offer.

'I don't want to give those mean comments what they want!' She said. 'If I want to stay, then I'm staying. They'll be hard to deal with, and I know that. If I tell them that I'm staying, they'll probably just get even angrier at me. And I know it'll take a while until I can laugh at them.'

'So, why are you staying?' Oona asked.

'Because I know that, no matter what, I'll have six wonderful friends, an amazing teacher, and an adorable little puppy that will help me get through anything!'

'Awww!' Deema cooed. 'That's… s-so s-sweet…!' And that was all she could say before she began to weep happy tears.

Zooli giggled. 'Well, I think it sounds a little cheesy, but it's the truth! And it isn't like I'm stuck with this choice or anything. If I decide that I really can't handle the comments, then I can always quit. But, with friends like you, I don't think that'll be a problem.'

And then… cheering. Lots and lots of cheering. Even Nonny joined in on it, albeit much more quietly than the others. Zooli couldn't help blushing, for this was already much more attention that she was used to.

And there's gonna be a lot more of it if I stay in this band. Oh boy… I'm sure I'll get used to it.

'Well, if that's the case,' Mr Grouper said. 'Then I think I know what we can do!'

'What?' Zooli asked.

'When you said in your video that you love animals that live alongside us in the ocean, it gave me a good idea for a song…'

'A SONG?!'

Green screen? Check. Microphones? Check. Real musical instruments? Double check. There was no doubt about it - it was time to make the next song. The song was already written, and everyone already knew the lines. With the instrumentals completed (Zooli noted that Oona really went crazy on those drums, so much so she was asked to tone it down), it was time to record. For the sake of good acoustics, the recording happened inside of a special room found in the teacher's lounge, which looked much like a professional recording booth. It surprised Zooli, but perhaps it shouldn't have.

Mr Grouper stood on the other side of the glass, starting to play the instrumentals. Compared to most of their other songs, it was much calmer. The clicking sounds at the beginning brought to mind crabs snapping their pincers, which was indeed what Goby had in mind when he wrote that into the instrumental. Zooli's heart was beginning to race, even though they had already rehearsed it several times. No one would hear her voice very well, since she was only singing alongside the others. Most of the other Guppies - except for Nonny - each had a solo line, but she had told them that she wasn't ready for any solos yet.

Just sing along when the others do. That's all you need to do. You can do that, I'm sure.

And then, Gil started singing.

'Every creature that you can name, swimming around in the deep blue sea. From the tiniest seahorse, to the biggest whale, they're all special to me.'

And then, somewhat to Zooli's surprise, Oona sang the next line all on her own. It seemed odd, since she almost never got solo lines, aside from the 'Puppy and the Ring' promotion from the third album. But Molly had told her that they would make a bit more of an effort to include everyone this time, and Oona especially wanted a couple more solo lines this season.

In fact, she said she was ready to sing an entire verse on her own! As long as it was about helping out people, of course.

'Jellyfish, like electric lights, such colours make you go…'

And there was the cue for everyone, including Zooli, to join in all at once.

'WOOOO!'

Zooli breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Well, if she could manage that, then everything else would be easy.

'Sharks flashing their pearly whites,' Goby sang. 'Smiling back, good day to you too!'

The new Guppy always found Goby's singing voice to be absolutely amazing, but he rarely seemed to ever use it in a solo. A bit of a shame, but he could do whatever he wanted. Molly teamed up with Gil and Goby to sing the bridge, and thus came the chorus sung primarily by Gil. Zooli had to actively resist the squealing, since this entire song was inspired by something she said.

I inspired this song. I inspired this entire song. THIS SONG ONLY EXISTS BECAUSE OF ME!

'So…'

'SHOUT OUT!' Everyone else chanted at once, clapping together.

'To my ocean animals.'

Zooli had but one regret: she should have taken the solo line.

Author Notes - In case it isn't clear, the song at the end here is 'Ocean Animals', the first song from Season Five. You can imagine how insane it was for me to hear a new Bubble Guppies song for the first time in three years. I was actually a little worried if the songs would still be good after a three year hiatus, but this song put all those fears to rest.