Author Notes - Chapter title is appropriate since I'm releasing these chapters a little slower than I wish to. Better late than never, I suppose!

CHAPTER SIX - CATCHING UP

Zooli wasn't certain about joining the band yet, but she did know one thing: she had some severe catching up to do. Maybe - just maybe - if she really got to know the Guppies better, she would consider it absolutely worth it to deal with those nasty comments until she could grow a thicker skin and learn to laugh at them.

While she swam by herself to school, she couldn't help but doubt the possibilities. Hearing the other Guppies talking about their previous adventures made her realise just how late she had arrived. It helped her feel more like a fan at an expensive meet-and-greet, and not an actual classmate. If she could remedy that, then maybe…

The moment she arrived at class, after everyone else had…

'HEY ZOOLI!' Deema yelled.

'Ah!'

Zooli jumped back and nearly had a heart attack before even placing her backpack in her cubby. As she put her bag away, she couldn't help noticing that the nametag for her cubby appeared to have a completely different font to the other six: something much more plain and boring. After putting her bag away, she noticed that the other Guppies - and Mr Grouper too - were already waiting for her in the middle of the room.

'Have you thought about your decision yet?' Molly asked. 'Don't feel bad if you haven't figured out what you want to do yet!'

Zooli sighed. 'I-I just wanna forget about the whole band thing for a bit, okay? All I wanna do right now is... just have a chat with you.'

'Why, that's a great idea!' Mr Grouper said. 'I don't think we really had any time to have a good chat, what with all the news. So it's a great idea to really get to know each other! Come take a seat, Zooli, and we'll have you well acquainted.'

Like the day before, Zooli took the free spot right next to Deema, if only because it was the only spot she could take. If she had a choice, she'd sit right next to Oona or Molly, and not the Guppy who - now that she knew her in real life - seemed more like a living ball of chaos than a real person.

'So, uh…' She said, making it up as she went along. 'I'm Zooli, as you know. I like purple, and my favourite animal is the seahorse.'

Gil was the first to speak up. 'Hey, you said you like purple in the video you sent us. That's my favourite colour too!'

'Really?'

'Yep!' He puffed out his chest. 'I'm better known as… the PURPLE THUNDER!'

At this nickname, both Molly and Deema began to chuckle. Gil flashed them both an incredulous look.

'What are ya laughing at?' He asked.

'I remember 'Purple Thunder' too.' Molly replied, giggling. 'He was so fast and brave, that he crashed his car in the middle of the race!'

Deema laughed even louder. 'And then, 'Cool Blue' and 'Red Fury' had to pick up the slack!'

All the class laughed along, and even Gil joined in after a few seconds of blushing. When Zooli heard Mr Grouper and even Bubble Puppy laughing too, she felt even more lost. 'Cool Blue' and 'Red Fury'? What on earth was that about? She awkwardly laughed along, trying her hardest to join in on something she had no hope of understanding.

'Oh, you guys laugh,' Gil said, crossing his arms. 'But who was the one who ziplined over a waterfall to save Bubble Puppy? That's right - ME.'

'Alright, I'll admit,' Goby said. 'That was pretty dang awesome!'

'Though,' Mr Grouper said, rubbing his chin. 'I'm still a little concerned that this summer camp for kids didn't have any safety barriers to stop kids from falling off the waterfall. I know we live underwater, but still...'

Zooli's eyes widened. At first, she assumed that Gil had made something up to save face, but the reactions from the others proved it was real. She could not imagine for a moment that Gil - usually depicted on the website as a lovable coward - would do something so insanely dangerous.

'Hey, we've all done some daring things.' Deema said. 'I, for instance, had the guts to try broccoli.'

Goby chuckled. 'Yeah, but only when you had to.'

'I would've tried it on my own eventually!'

This story left Zooli with even more questions. In what possible scenario would one need to try broccoli? She just kept laughing, hoping that she would get the joke sooner or later.

'Y-Yeah,' She said. 'Sounds like fun.'

'Do you have any stories you want to share, Zooli?' Oona asked.

Zooli gulped. 'Uh, not much really happens down in Big Bubble City. But you know that concert that Molly got to sing in? I-I was actually there for that!'

'You were?' Molly asked. 'Oh, if I knew that I would've tried looking for you! We had to travel sooo far to get to that concert. It must've been good for you, since you already lived in Big Bubble City.'

She shrugged. 'Eh. We kinda got stuck in traffic for a while. Lucky us, we left early because we're used to the traffic in the city. If we didn't, we would've missed the whole thing!'

'We got really lucky too.' Goby said. 'If Princess Demanda hadn't shown up to give us a lift on her pet dragon - Destiny, I think her name was - we would've missed the concert completely too!'

Zooli went speechless again. By this point, she was half-convinced that the others were making this up as they went along, since just about everything that Goby said didn't make much sense.

'Don't give Princess Demanda all the credit.' Deema said. 'Dusty, Sandy, that sports coach guy… geez, we needed a lot of help to get to that concert on time, didn't we?'

'Uh…' Zooli tried to speak. 'W-Who…?'

'They were just returning the favours!' Oona said. 'We really have helped out a lot of people, haven't we?'

And so it continued, much like this, among the Guppies and their teacher for what felt like an eternity. Zooli barely got a word in edgewise, before she got swamped with stories about people she had never heard of before. Who was Charlie? Or Sandy? Or Fernando? Clam? The 'Amazing' Daisy? Sir Mulligan? Arctic Dan? 'Butterscotch' and 'Pudding' must've been animals since they belonged to someone named Farmer Joe, but what kind of animals were they? And who the heck was Mia?!

And the adventures? No less impossible to guess. Why did a random airplane pilot take them on a plane trip, and to where? What was this 'Temple of the Baby Animals', and why did the 'Oyster Bunny' guard it? Why would they care so much if this 'Mr Grumpfish' guy smiled or not?

And it only got worse when the Guppies talked about their families, the information of which never made it onto the website or the albums. Apparently, both Gil and Oona had older brothers? And Oona was raised by two mothers? Not that Zooli was judgemental in the slightest, but everyone - including her - had assumed that she was raised by a mother and father. She wanted to ask what happened to her birth parents, but she did not consider herself close enough to know. Goby's talk about his older sisters didn't help matters at all. And Nonny's dad was super protective over his son… and Nonny had a half-brother he wanted to seek out?!

She really didn't know her classmates at all… and yet, they talked among themselves like it was all knowledge as common as 'the sky is blue' or 'grass is green'.

'Uh, Zooli? Are you alright?'

Zooli, just like before, buried her face in her arms and whimpered to herself. The more stories she heard, the more distant she felt.

I guess that confirms it… there's no way I can fit in with my own classmates. I wish I was back in Big Bubble City. Things seemed so much easier back then…

'Zooli?'

A calm voice reached her, and she looked up to see Nonny right in front of her. She couldn't read anything off that stoic face of his, aside from the eyebrows which were arched down slightly. With such an expression, she could only assume he was worried.

'Are you okay?' He asked. 'You're exhibiting traits of high stress.'

'If something's wrong,' Molly said. 'You can tell us.'

'We're your classmates, remember!' Gil added.

Goby nodded. 'Friends always tell each other what's wrong.'

Goby's innocuous remark was the final straw for Zooli. As all the stress building up over the past day went up and up, she slammed her fists on the floor and hollered with all her might.

'Friends always tell each other what's wrong, huh?! That would be great if I FELT LIKE A FRIEND!'

Her breathing got heavy and harsh, and the other Guppies stared at her in shock. Nonny fell over backwards, and now she could more clearly see fear on his face. Oona, without missing a beat, swam over to him and lifted his hands into hers.

'You… you really don't feel like a friend of ours?' She asked.

'No, I don't!' Zooli yelled, unleashing everything that had been building up. 'I'm sitting here, trying to get to know you, and you've just been rambling on and on about people I've never met and places I've never been to! Who's Butterscotch? What's the deal with that baby animal temple? How am I supposed to understand why Oona's brother Kian did what he did when I didn't know that Oona even had a brother until five minutes ago?!'

The other Guppies went silent. None of them knew quite what to say in this situation, and looked at each other in waiting for someone to step forward. Deema gave a pleading glance towards Mr Grouper, and he tried to say something until Zooli cut him off.

'And then you talk about all these amazing field trips that hardly even sound real!' She cried, flailing her arms about. 'Yeah, let's just go up to the Arctic to place a real pole at the North Pole. After that, maybe we'll follow a pirate map and look for some buried treasure. Treasure that was apparently golden… forks? Spoons? Sporks? Then we'll end the day by performing in an orchestra where our conductor is an ALIEN! All these awesome-sounding trips… that I NEVER got to go on, and - at this rate- NEVER WILL!'

For a moment, she had to breathe. Oona tried (and failed) to jump in.

'Listen, Zooli,' The pigtailed Guppy said. 'We-'

'And on top of that!' Zooli continued, slowly running out of steam. 'I have to deal with horrible comments being aimed at me. You guys can just laugh it off, and I envy that because I can't! You're supposed to be my friends, b-but it doesn't feel like that at all, a-and I have to deal with so many of your fans hating my existence, and… I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!'

With all of her energy used up, she closed her eyes and fell over backwards to the floor. She didn't even have it in her to cry anymore. Now, there was another emotion taking over - guilt, for screaming at her friends so loudly when she knew they were only trying to help. She wanted to keep her eyes closed, so she wouldn't have to look at the others, until she felt a soft hand grabbing her own.

'Is that really how you feel?' Oona asked, her voice indicating she was tearing up.

Zooli, even from where she lay, could see everyone looking at her. She didn't have the energy to respond, and so just closed her eyes and hoped that sleep would take her away.

'I see the problem here.' Mr Grouper said. 'You kids aren't used to having a new student. So, you're treating her the same way you treat each other.'

'Isn't that a good thing?' Deema asked. 'Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing?'

He shook his head. 'For the most part, you should. But she doesn't know you, or many of the great things you've done. But you guys talk about it like all of you would know what you're talking about. It wasn't a problem before, but Zooli can't relate to a thing you're saying.'

All at once, the Guppies were inflicted with the same feeling Zooli had: guilt.

'Wow.' Molly said. 'That sounds… bad when you word it like that. We really weren't thinking about Zooli's perspective, were we?'

'How could we?!' Deema cried, in her usual dramatic over-the-top fashion. 'We IGNORED our poor new friend and now she feels more lost than EVER!'

Zooli groaned as she sat back up. 'It's not that serious, you know.' She paused. 'Do none of you think she's thinking a little too hard about this?'

Goby shrugged. 'It's…'

This time, he really thought about the words he was about to say. After all, there was no way for Zooli to know just how Deema acted based on nothing but the website.

'Deema's behaviour can seem really weird to people who don't know her that well.' He said. 'And you only know her through the website, which really doesn't show off how odd she can get. Everyone who meets her in-person for the first time finds her a bit… out there.'

'It took me weeks to get used to her.' Nonny said.

Deema cleared her throat. 'I'm right here, you know!'

Zooli sighed. 'Yes, that's kind of my problem…'

The others stopped talking to her, but not completely. They chatted among themselves quietly, with only one goal in mind - how to make Zooli feel more like she belonged. They spoke over each other, so Zooli could hardly understand a word they were saying. Not that it would matter anyway…

What can they possibly say to make up for months and months of absence?

So, she ignored them and rested her head in her hands.

So I guess that's it then. I won't catch up, and I don't think I'll really feel like I'm part of this…

'What was it like in Big Bubble City?'

The soft-spoken question brought her back to reality, and she saw Nonny looking her in the eye (well, close to the eye, anyway). He had a small smile on his face that nonetheless warmed Zooli's heart just a little, and the others went quiet.

'What?' Zooli asked.

'I said,' Nonny replied. 'What was it like in Big Bubble City? We've been talking about ourselves a lot, so I thought you should get to say something about yourself.'

There was something about a smiling Nonny that made it near impossible not to smile yourself, even if you really didn't want to. Zooli's mouth slowly turned upwards into a smile, even if her mood hadn't gotten much better.

'Well… it's really different to how it is here.' She replied. 'Instead of trees, you've got a lotta buildings that cover the sun. There's people everywhere you look, and you hear car horns so often that it begins to sound like music.'

Deema giggled. 'Bubble City, Bubble City, oh what a town!'

Zooli laughed along too. 'Skyscrapers are up, and the subways are down!'

Molly gasped. 'I understand it now! We were going about it all wrong. Zooli won't feel like she belongs if we just talk about things she knows nothing about. That just makes her feel worse. We should let her talk about her own experiences, and let her show how much of a fan she really is! … Wow, that sounds kinda obvious when I say it out loud.'

'Keep talking, Zooli!' Gil said, enthusiastically. 'We've only been to Big Bubble City a couple of times, and we never got to have the full experience. Let us all about your time in Big Bubble City!'

Zooli smiled, and this time it was because her mood did lift - though Nonny's adorable little smile certainly did help. She didn't quite feel like she was part of the team just yet, but she could sense that thick glass wall beginning to shatter. It was only a small crack, but it was something.

'I would not recommend eating the hotdogs from the stands.' She said. 'They were never really that clean. For city-slickers like me, the extra grime adds to the flavour, but it may be a bit much for more country folk such as yourselves.'

'Ew…' Nonny murmured.

'The pretzels are pretty good though! Just as long as they don't get snatched by a pigeon.'

'Hey,' Molly said. 'I've got a photo of Gil getting spooked by a pigeon. Do you wanna see it?'

'It's pretty funny!' Gil said. 'As much as I wish she deleted it when I told her too…'

That small crack was certainly growing.

Maybe… I will stay after all…

Author Notes - Seeing as this story is supposed to take place after 'The New Guppy!' but before the other Season Five episodes, Zooli has to end up joining the band. It's a forgone conclusion at this point. I just have to make the journey interesting.