A/N: Hey guys! Maddie here! Our group presents you with Chapter 8, (well mostly me and Friend of Fawful worked on it *COUGH COUGH SNEEZE*) Sorry for the short wait

(FoF: Short? LAST UPDATE: FEBRUARY 28TH *COUGH COUGH SNEEZE*) Thanks to all of our reviewers, we can't tell you how much you guys mean to us!

...Anyways, Chapter 9 will be here as soon as possible:3. Enjoy the Fourth Wheel, especially all of you Bella-dislikers...she's in trouble noww, oooooooohhhhhhhh...

Making her way into the cafe, Emma strided with somewhat strange confidence

as she lifted her head, spotting the back view of Rikki's head. The confidence was growing in her heart as she made her way across the floor, imagining the future events that lay ahead. Surely, Rikki and Cleo would believe that it was Will the idiot who willingly kissed her with

Bella staring straight ahead. And when I tell them those exact words Bella spat to me, no way

can they forgive her! A smile formed widely across Emma's face, but quickly fell as she noticed a third face as she approached the table.

Bella lifted her unusually pale face to Emma's, her eyes dull and red-rimmed, yet with

somewhat of a glint as if Emma brightened up the atmosphere in the cafe. Or maybe, most

likely, the glint came from Bella's imagination of Emma being defeated by her ridiculous lies. She swirled the remainder of her strawberry smoothie that she ordered two minutes ago, before chugging the rest of it.

Emma pursed her lip, before quietly murmuring,

"Why is she here?"

Rikki's eyes trailed to the table, while Cleo crossed her arms and bit her bottom lip.

"We need to talk. Immediately."

Emma let out a sigh before awkwardly sliding into a seat next to Bella. She uncomfortably leaned back in her seat, as there was a moment of silence between the four

mermaids. In the past few moments, while Emma was confronting Bella about Will, it was strange that she didn't notice until now how truly sick Bella was. A part of her wanted

to break the silence with a snarky voice and say how Bella needed to dive into a bucket

of ice. It was true, though. Emma could feel the heat radiating from Bella's skin; her forehead

probably felt like the freakin' sun. Has this dumb friend-stealer learned about medicine?

Rikki cleared her throat, "Okay, can one of you start talking so we all stop staring at each other?"

Cleo shot her a look while Bella coughed softly,

"I think Emma should start."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Oh, where to begin? How about when you practically

screamed at me for doing absolutely nothing wrong?"

Bella's jaw dropped, as Cleo and Rikki listened in silence. "Well- I think you should apologize, after what you told me back at that bench!"

"What did I say besides proving my point?"

"That you have a crush on Will?" Rikki muttered under her breath. Emma's eyes widened, while Bella raised an eyebrow. Besides her growing sickness today, karma was definitely in her favor.

"A crush on WILL?" Emma shouted, while glaring at Bella. "That is a complete lie!"

Bella was about to snap back a reply before Cleo shouted, "OKAY, you know what? I'll talk while the two of you listen."

Emma watched Bella immediately obey Cleo's command by nodding her head and sliding back in her seat. Emma rolled her eyes, as her eyes slowly trailed to the concerned look on Cleo's face.

"Listen, Bella," Cleo spoke with a soft and yet shaky tone, "Rikki and I- we both know that the fact is that Will is the one who kissed Emma," she paused, looking upon Bella's emotionless face. "Not her."

"Yeah," Rikki snapped, "So is it also true what Emma called us? Is it true she has a crush on Will?" she leaned forward in her seat.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about! I don't like that slimeball! What kind of desperate person do you think I am, to like someone who cheats on their girlfriend? I'm not cheating on Ash!" Emma snapped.

Cleo calmly tried to explain, "Bella told us what happened at the-"

"Whatever Bella told you what happened at the bench is wrong! Completely!"

Bella's eyes twitched, as hatred began to fill her heart. She was ratted out, obviously, but she was still willing to grab some desperate attention. She, hoarsely, let out her voice,

"B-but- I heard it with my own ears, Cleo! Okay, maybe my eyes were messed up a bit while on stage-"

"Messed up a bit?" Rikki snorted, "try a lot."

Bella let out a frustrated sigh, before coughing once more. "Fine. Whatever, Will did kiss Emma, not the other way around," she spoke in a rather robotic tone.

"Good," Cleo forced a smile as she looked upon the two girls who looked like they wanted to attack each other.

"Hold up," Rikki muttered. "Were still not settled yet. Did Emma really call us retards?"

"Excuse me?" Emma spat, appalled, "Did I call you retards? Of course not! What are you; crazy?"

Rikki frowned as she shrugged her shoulders, "maybe, but hey, you two keep telling

us two different things. I don't know who to believe!"

Bella took the awkward moment of silence as her advantage and shouted, "You should believe the one who makes m-m-" the strain of her voice led to another coughing fit, as Rikki stared at her with her eyes widened and her eyebrows furrowed as Emma, once again, rolled her eyes and sighed.

"-more sense," Rikki let out a breath.

Rikki and Cleo both glanced at Emma, as she crossed her arms and cast her eyes

downwards to the floor.

"Well, then," Rikki sighed. "That settles everything!" she shouted sarcastically in a positive tone. "Now, if you excuse me-" Rikki stood up, ready to leave her seat, as Cleo called out,

"Wait! Why don't we..relieve our stresses...by going out for a swim?"

Rikki rolled her eyes, and looked down at Cleo's desperate face, while Bella looked

rather mortified. Emma, however, was trying terribly to hold back her smile. Bella would have to say 'no', otherwise she would get sicker! Biting her lip to hide her grin, she said, "okay, maybe it'll help if we discuss this more in a private place like Mako."

"All right; count me in," Rikki sighed, she might as well go, too. Bella rubbed the back of her neck, she really didn't feel like swimming, but she wasn't about to let Emma have alone time with her friends. The other three girls stared at her, waiting for her answer.

The singer mentally slapped herself as she said, "sure! That sounds like a great idea!" Emma's eyes widened a fraction at the other girl's stupidity, but let it go. If Bella wanted to make a stupid decision, who was she to stop her? The four left the cafe, and after making sure that they were alone, dived into the water.

When they arrived at Mako, the four mermaids remained in the water in an almost awkward way. Goosebumps the size of

"I think we should put this all behind us." Bella announced, sounding fakely sincere. She knew there was no other way out that she would benefit from. At this rate, if she tried to continue the argument, everyone would probably take Emma's side.

"I think that would be best." Emma mumbled. She knew what Bella was doing, and she despised her for it. Cleo let out a breath of relief that no one knew she was holding.

"So, we're all cool, now?" Rikki asked them, receiving nods from Bella and Emma, "Good. So then, what are you going to do about Will?" The question was directed at Bella. The mermaid paled at Rikki's question; how could she make this believable?

"I'll, uh probably have a little chat with him." Bella said, pounding her fist into her hand, suggesting that she wasn't going to let him get away with what he had done.

"You tell him!" Rikki approved, grinning until Cleo elbowed her underwater.

Bella forced a giggle, and Emma fake smiled, since neither one of them wanted their friends to see how much they dreaded each other.

"I love Mako; it's our place." Cleo said in a faraway voice. Emma bit the inside of her cheek; well it used to be! Now it's also Bella's place.

"Yeah, it is!" Bella, of all people, had to practically shout. Emma almost punched Bella in the face after she said this.

"It feels like yesterday we came for the first time." Emma murmured, once again trying to leave Bella out.

"It does, doesn't it?" Rikki replied, sounding sentimental.

"If you could do it all over again, would you change anything?" Cleo asked Emma and Rikki, forgetting of Bella's presence.

"Not a thing." Emma said, except that Bella wouldn't be here.

"Well, I'd give us laser vision." Rikki joked, grinning. Emma and Cleo giggled, seeing this, Bella laughed too, but she felt like she was on the outside.

"Sh-should we go back?" Bella asked, she had goosebumps the size of pimples running down her body. The other three hesitated, it was clear that they wanted to stay there as long as forever.

"Well, we just got here like ten minutes ago." Rikki mumbled, after exchanging glances with her friends. The other two mermaids wore a look of disappointment, matching Rikki's.

"Well, I kind of...wanted to stay for awhile. But, if you want to go back, don't let us hold you up." Cleo spoke up. Bella panicked inside, she couldn't leave Emma alone with Cleo and Rikki!

"N-nah, I was only teasing you!" Bella faked a laugh, ignoring how tired the tone of her voice was.

"Had me fooled!" Rikki chuckled. Cleo stared at Bella with what appeared to be concern, and said,

"Hey, are you okay? You seem a bit...off." Emma almost had to clamp her mouth into her hands to prevent herself from grinning.

"Yeah, I'm still handling my cold, so-"

"Then, don't you think you should go home and rest?" Cleo frowned, "Bella, you didn't have to force yourself here."

"Yeah, you look really pale." Emma added, smirking slightly, yet only Bella seem to notice this.

"No," Bella replied, with a rather rude tone, then quickly added, "you guys don't need to worry about me, I'm fine." She stretched a reassuring smile across her face.

"All right then, just don't freakishly cough all over me," Rikki muttered, in her rather obviously sarcastic tone.

"I think that we should go back now." Cleo interrupted, not wanting Bella to get internally worse, and also trying to prevent a potential argument from erupting.

"But you just sai-" Bella was cut off.

"Well, it'll be late by the time we get back. I don't want my dad to worry." The brunette exchanged glances with the trio as she lamely came up with an excuse to leave.

Rikki simply rolled her eyes, while Emma's eyes were cast towards the ground. Her heart was tugged as she remembered the good old times, back when it was just her, Cleo, and Rikki. There were some days where she proudly watched Bella being treated as the awkward fourth wheel, and yet, although she felt guiltiness towards causing Bella's sickness, a larger part of her heart feared the thought of Bella replacing her more. But was it possible that Emma was becoming the fourth wheel? Emma then decided in the silence between the four that she would increase Bella's sickness.

A/N: No flames, I hate the sound of smoke alarms. DX (Friend of Fawful)