Disclaimer: I do not own The Little Mermaid

"You don't want to go to Grandfather's today?"

Ariel faced her daughter with an incredulous look on her face. Every other day since Melody had discovered her heritage, she had been clambering to go under the sea and see her cousins. She had even slept over at the palace a couple of times. But now she was moping on her bed.

"Why don't you want to go?" Ariel asked. "What's wrong? You've been so quiet since we had dinner at Grandfather's the other night."

Melody paused before answering. Ariel had just gifted her with new knowledge about the other night's disaster: the triplets had (so far) kept their identical mouths shut about catching her and Alex kissing! Even though it was obviously over for the two of them, Melody was still grateful that the grown-ups didn't know. Nevertheless, she was in no mood to see Caspian, Boreal, or Marino.

"I'm just...tired today, Mom," Melody finally answered.

"Don't you want to see Alicia and Aquamarina?" Ariel prodded. "I know they look forward to your visits."

Melody was about to tell her mother again that she didn't want to go, but then she thought about Aqua and Alicia. Her cousins had thus far been extremely loyal and caring. Losing Alex to her new triplet nemeses was a blow, but Melody had a feeling that she and her cousins would stick together no matter what.

Melody got off of her bed. "Well, I do want to go see Alicia and Aqua."

"I thought you were too tired." Ariel watched her daughter run for the door.

"Oh, uh...well, I am. But I'm still getting used to this whole amazing 'being part-mermaid' thing." She giggled in spite of herself.

Ariel smiled and followed her daughter out towards the sea.

Melody parted ways from her parents at the undersea palace and waved over her shoulder. She bypassed Harold, Grandfather, Sebastian, Flounder, and Aunt Andrina with barely a hello as she made a beeline for Aqua and Alicia. They were waiting for her in one of the palace bedrooms with open arms. Literally. Melody returned the hug gratefully.

"How are you?" Aquamarina asked sympathetically. "We have been so worried."

"We need to get revenge on Marino, Caspian, and Boreal!" Alicia declared angrily, stamping her fin on the floor.

"Let's focus on the most important thing first," Aquamarina suggested. "We need to get Alex back for Melody!"

Melody began crying all over again. "But how? It's impossible! You saw him last night. He wouldn't even look at me!"

Aquamarina and Alicia exchanged sympathetic looks. There was no denying it: things looked bleak for Melody and Alex.

"I have an idea, if you want to hear it," Alicia offered sweetly after Melody had dried her tears.

"What?" Melody asked eagerly. She would do anything to win back Alex!

"We go out today," Alicia began dramatically, "and you flirt with someone new!"

Aqua and Melody stared back at her in horror.

"Hear me out!" Alicia demanded. "Look, whatever the triplets said-or did-to Alex, he is obviously not going to talk to you on his own. So this will show him that you are a hot commodity, and that he shouldn't just sit on his tail all day. He needs to win you back! Then he will see you around town talking to other boys, and he'll make a move."

"That is good," Aquamarina agreed. "What do you think, Mel?"

Hey guys! Meet Mel-Mel!

Melody shook the memory of her first meeting with Alex from her brain. "What did you say?"

Alicia repeated herself.

It took a solid half hour to convince Melody to at least try Alicia's plan. She still clearly wasn't sold, but her cousins managed to drag her out of the palace.

"What if we see the triplets?" Melody asked warily as they reached the park. "Won't they just put the fear of Neptune into every boy in Atlantica if they see me with anyone else?"

"They can try!" Aquamarina cracked her knuckles. "But they're in the kingdom of Pacifica for the day, so we shouldn't run into them.

Melody's shoulders slumped. She had been hoping that would be her ticket out of Alicia's plan. No such luck.

Almost immediately, the trio ran into James, one of the boys Melody had met her first day as a mermaid.

"Hi, Melody." James smiled at her. "It's good to see you again."

James had longer (for a boy) brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. He was nice too. But he wasn't Alex. Melody opened her mouth to say hello and stammered out a few syllables.

"Twirl your hair!" Aquamarina coached in her ear. "Smile at him!"

Melody smiled. Sort of.

"Are you okay?" James asked. He smiled again. "Do you want to get a sand cone with me?."

"No!" Melody yelped, making the poor merboy take a step back. "I mean...no, thank you. I'm sorry. I can't. I can't do this." She quickly swam away.

"Sorry!" Aquamarina yelled to the stunned James over her shoulder as she and Alicia chased after Melody.

"What happened back there?" Alicia asked.

"You know what happened." Melody buried her face in her hands. "I can't do it. I can't talk to another boy."

Melody expected Alicia to argue. But she didn't. She and Aquamarina both put an arm around their cousin.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Aquamarina exclaimed. "It's a little risky though."

Alicia wiggled excitedly. Melody usually was a risk-taker herself, but she was only mildly intrigued.

"Let's go to Alex's house," Aqua began. "We'll wait until his parents and octopus friend are busy. Melody, you'll hide. Then we'll sneak Alex out of the house. When we're safely away from their house, you'll appear and surprise him, and we'll make him explain himself."

"I don't know." Melody hesitated. "He didn't want to talk to me yesterday, remember?"

"There were too many people around," Aquamarina explained. "He was nervous. But this will just be you guys."

It would be great to see Alex again…

"Okay!" Melody tightened her ponytail. "Let's go!"

Alex didn't live far from the park. They were at his house in no time.

"Now what?" Melody whispered. They were hiding behind a row of sea fans along the property.

"We find out if he's home," Aqua declared bravely.

Melody's jaw dropped as her cousin marched to Alex's front door and knocked. Aqua scampered back to the sea fans and grasped her cousins' hands for support.

No one came to the door.

"Knock again," Alicia urged.

"No way!" Aquamarina argued. "That was scarier than a fisherman's hook. You try it!"

"Guys," Melody cut them off, "I don't think anybody's home."

The yard and house did seem awfully quiet. It was mid-afternoon; maybe they were out. The mergirls waited for another beat, but still no one appeared at the door.

"Okay." Aqua nodded. "We wait for them to come home then."

Alicia and Melody agreed. But a half hour later, their collective enthusiasm for the plan had waned. It wasn't very comfortable behind the sea fans along Alex's house, and the trio was starting to get restless. They decided to head home.

The girls stopped for a sand cone break before they reached their grandpa's palace again. Alicia and Aqua tried to get Melody's mind off the two failed plots, but she was clearly upset. Suddenly, she felt someone tug her long, dark ponytail.

"Hey!" she snapped at her cousins. "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" Alicia asked, exchanging a baffled glance with Aqua.

"Someone pulled my hair," Melody explained.

The girls looked around. There were tons of kids around. It could have been anybody. Alicia wanted to stick around and find the ponytail-puller, but Melody was eager to get back to Grandfather's.

When they returned, Aquamarina spotted a piece of papyrus stuck in the seaweed surrounding the castle. She unfolded it carefully. Then her face lit up.

"Melody! It's for you! It's a secret note for you!"

"What?" Melody cried in shock. She snatched the paper away from Aqua.

Melody,

You are the prettiest girl in the seven seas.

"Oh, wow!" Alicia squealed. "Who is it from? No one signed it?"

Melody turned the paper around in her hand. "Nope. That's all it says."

"You have a secret admirer!" Aqua shrieked. She and Alicia jumped up and down. "Aren't you excited?"

Melody shrugged. "It's cool, I guess. I was just hoping we could have figured out what to do about Alex…"

"We will," Aquamarina assured her cousin. She slung an arm around Melody's shoulders. "In the meantime, we have a very important job to do."

"We do?" Melody asked.

"Yup." Alicia led the way inside. "Handwriting analysis. Let's find your secret admirer!"