A/N: Hi everyone! This is the next chapter. Please read & review! Reviews are like delicious food, we hunger for them!
Bella set the bags of food and candles on the warm sand of Mako's moon pool, she was ready for Emma to not come along. She wasn't about to let some other girl take her spot in the group. After all, Bella was a mermaid, something that only she, Cleo and Rikki shared. Or so she thought. I'm so glad that Zane hired those rangers to clean up Mako. She sat next to the pool and texted Rikki and Cleo to come, and to invite Emma. She smirked at her phone, pleased with herself for coming up with such a devious plot. She would steal Rikki and Cleo back, away from the worthless mortal whom she was superior to. The blonde giggled evilly as Cleo texted back: Sure will do. Cu in a min. Then Rikki texted back: K, told Emma, cu in a few.
Suddenly, Cleo swam through the cave.
"Hi, Bella." She said, overly-peppy.
"Hello." Bella responded, as she said this, Rikki swam through as well.
"Did you tell Emma?" Bella asked her, as soon as she surfaced.
"Yep, I told her, I also beat her!" Rikki exclaimed. Bella's eyes widened, did Rikki seriously hit her old friend? Well, she deserves it for trying to take over my spot as their friend. As she was thinking, she saw an orange colored shimmer in the crystal clear water. Maybe it''s just my imagination. She was quickly proved wrong when a head popped out of the water. It belonged to Emma.
"Hi guys!" That said girl greeted, a slight edge to her voice. No one seemed to notice except for Bella, however.
"What? Since when were you a mermaid?" Bella screamed at Emma, glaring into her eyes.
"Oh, I transformed at the same time as Rikki and Cleo!" She replied, sweetly. She was clearly trying to make Bella feel left out from the group.
"How many other secret mermaid friends do you guys have?" Bella accused Rikki.
"Will you chill, Bella? Emma is the only other mermaid we know!" Rikki answered, slightly ticked off.
"Well, there was-" Cleo started, then stopped when Rikki glared.
"Who?" Bella questioned, half-angry, half-curious.
"This girl named Charlotte, it was a disaster though, and we de-mermaided her, okay. We don't like to talk about it." Rikki snapped. Bella felt her cheeks get hot, she wondered if Rikki was heating them up, but when she looked at her hand she realized it was underwater, so she doubted it.
"So, let's start this party!" Cleo attempted to change the heated subject. Emma grinned, secretly she was so happy that Rikki was angry with Bella. It wouldn't be long until it would just be the three of them again; Cleo, Rikki, and Emma. Only them.
"All right! I brought some chips, pretzels, and candles that maybe Rikki could light." Bella told them, regaining her confidence. Rikki nodded, and clenched her fist, causing each wick to catch on fire. Cleo clapped her hands, and Rikki did a little bow in the water. The original three mermaids pulled themselves out of the water, and the mermaid evaporated the water off of them, revealing six legs rather than three tails. Just like old times. Emma thought, smiling at their past memories. The trio rose to their feet, walking over to the snacks, and each took a handful. They were crunching on the salty food in an awkward silence when Rikki turned on some fast paced music on the phone that Zane has given her for her last birthday.
The other three girls bobbed up and down to the beat of the music. Cleo began to dance crazily around the moon pool. Everyone stopped moving, and stared at her, giggling. Cleo stopped, embarrassed, then laughed along with them. To her it felt like all tension was relieved, but it really wasn't.
"So Emma, what's your power?" Bella asked feigning kindness.
"I can freeze anything, and I can make it snow. If Rikki, Cleo and I all use our weather powers, we can make a huge hurricane." Emma replied, again leaving Bella out purposely. The singer frowned, also noticing the similarities in their powers.
"That's nice. I can turn things to jelly or rock." She announced. Emma nodded already knowing of her special power.
"I have an idea," Cleo began. "Let's play around with our powers!" The others murmured in agreement; it was actually a pretty good idea.
"You go first, Cleo!" Emma said to her friend.
"Okay." Cleo made a ball of water by turning her hand.
"That's it? Come on Cleo!" Rikki groaned. Cleo frowned, and made it into a fish.
"Look, it's Hector!" Cleo giggled, Rikki rolled her eyes, closed her fist, and made 'Hector' evaporate. "Aw, Rikki why'd you do that?"
"I thought we were using our powers!" Bella chuckled, and Cleo glared at her.
"I know, how about we have a little competition!" Bella suggested, looking straight at Emma.
"That would be fun." Emma murmured.
"Ready, set, go!" Rikki yelled, and made steam float around by her, making her invisible to the other girls. Emma froze Bella's damp shoe bottoms to the sand, forcing her to take them off. Bella glared at her, and made an explosion of jelly from the water of the moon pool, which got all over Emma. Cleo blew wind on everyone, and they all struggled to not fall in the moon pool. Emma froze the whole pool, and skated to avoid the wind. Rikki heated up the moon pool, so to make Emma fall in, but Emma had already gotten to where she had wanted. Cleo made a water dolphin, and made it swim toward them. It chased Bella, and before she could even think of turning it into jelly, she got wet, fell backwards, and her legs turned to a tail.
"Bella's out!" Rikki cheered.
"What?" Bella asked, outraged.
"You got wet. When you turn into a mermaid, you're out!" Rikki exclaimed.
"You didn't say that before! How was I supposed to know?" She screeched.
"Oh my gosh, calm down! It's just a game," Cleo chimed in. "Well, maybe we should go back now. I think if we stay here we'll do nothing but argue. Plus it's late."
"Want to race?" Emma asked all of them.
"You're on, Em!" Rikki replied, excited. The three dived in, and Bella crawled in, and they began to race. Bella, still angry about the game, turned the water around Emma to a thick jelly. Emma froze it so hard that it shattered, however, and froze the water in front of an unsuspecting Bella. That said mermaid crashed into the ice, and fumed. She didn't try anything else, though, she didn't want to become an icy-pop. Rikki ended up winning their 'friendly' competition, since she was a better swimmer than Cleo, and didn't get delayed.
"Better luck next time, Emma!" Rikki shouted, triumphantly. Emma decided to not tell her friends about what had really happened, so she bit her tongue and just nodded. She would get Bella for making her come in third, and she knew just how to do it.
A/N: Please don't flame, but constructive criticism is welcome!