Okay, this is the 4th official chapter of RtaNB! This is also the story where the dog comes in, and let me tell you, this is one smart dog. So smart, that he plays a role in Charlotte's ''transformation'' if you know what I mean!

P.S. I looked to see when season 2 aired and it was from 2008-2009. So, the year is 2009-2010.

Well, they did go to the mall, but it was on short notice. The principal called Phil in, telling him to come in since there was a transportation issue with the football team.

"Well, looks like I can't take you to the beach, how about a mall near your place," he suggested. Charlotte thought for a moment. They didn't have enough time to go to the beach. So, why not?

"Know any good malls nearby ?" she asked.

"I suggest the Town Center Mall. It's a few minutes from your place and has a ton of clothing stores and restaurants. Do you have any cash on you?"

She nodded. As much as she knew she didn't want to admit it, she had worked tons of odd jobs and being a good negotiator that she was, sort of, she made $3-400 and that was on her debit card.

"Yeah, I have enough. Don't wait for me, I'll get my mom to pick me up or I'll come up with something," she said. Then, he dropped her off at the front of the center. As she got off the bus, he said "Good luck and if the slightest thing goes wrong, call 911." Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Yes, dad."

Phil snorted as he started the engine and drove off.

Charlotte's POV

When I entered the mall, I honestly that the size didn't matter. The Cinema movie theater was the first place I wanted to go, but I decided against it. I might have come here to avoid my disastrous day at school, but I needed to get some other things. But as I walked past jewelry booths, toy stores, and small clothing departments ( Note to self, go to various boutiques for prom dresses, I thought), I was just starting to underestimate the size until I found a Walmart! I mean, in a mall, a store as big as Walmart usually had its building. But, now I can see why the mall is so big. It houses one of the most popular stores in the country. Suddenly, I remembered that the refrigerator at home was empty. I smirked. This could be fun.

"That will be $150.27, plus $37 for tax," the woman at the cash register said. I brought out my credit card and paid for it. The woman smiled.

" Have a nice day," she said as I walked out of Walmart with a basket full of groceries. I had to admit, I did the best when it came to grocery shopping. When your single parent is a chief, you always have to be one step ahead of them. And by that, I mean, I had gotten half the stuff that was on my mom's grocery list:

1. Vegetables

2 onions

2 pineapples

6 potatoes

6 bags of broccoli florets

8 bell peppers

2. Fruit

1 box of strawberries

5 apples

10 lemons and limes (5 each)

3 bananas

3 oranges

3. Meat

1 lb. of ground beef

steak

bacon

4. Dairy

2 gallons of Milk

1 carton of eggs

butter

flour

sugar

5 spices ( varies)

cheese ( mixed)

5. Beverages

Coca Cola

Lemonade

1 pack of water

This only made up half the basket and I needed to go shopping. So, I decided to go to what seemed to be a new store and they just happened to have a few boxes lying around. The manager gladly let me use the boxes to pack the groceries in and even told me to leave the boxes inside the store until I had to only thing that surprised me was that no one seems to question my age, but then again, I'm almost 18. So, I almost look like an adult. Later, I decided to look around some more. Walmart wasn't the only big store here. There was an L.A. Fitness, Abercrombie & Finch, Filene's Basement, and other stores. I looked at a pamphlet and read the mall's history. It turns out that when 2013 comes it marks the 100th anniversary. And since then, it's expanded.

Grrrr...

I looked down at my stomach.

I must've not eaten enough lunch at school, I thought. I sighed to myself and went outside.

3rd POV

The moment Charlotte stepped outside, the sun was blinding and burning. She had also forgotten how hot California could get during the day. So, she took off her plaid shirt and wrapped it around her waist, exposing her t-shirt and her now de-redden skin. She started to walk along the sidewalk, partly people-watching as she saw others taking and enjoying others company, partly rushing to find the food court. Then, she saw a big sign that said "FOOD PAVILION" on top of a big opening in between two buildings. She went to have a look and her mouth widened.

The food court was outside.

Grrrr...

Her stomach growled again and she complied. As she walked into the pavilion, she noticed the different types of food stands there. There was Taco Bell, KFC, McDonald, Wendy's, and a lot more. Though, she was more than delighted when she found her favorite restaurant, Veggieland.She loved that restaurant. It was her mom's boss's idea to promote healthy food to kids. It sort of works like McDonald's with the toys, but instead of promoting fast food, it was healthy food, the menu was courtesy of her mom. Though the age level was supposed to be from 12 months to 10 years old, everyone liked it so much that even teens and adults came, even Charlotte. Though the restaurant was a small food stand like the others, it did not disappoint.

As she walked up to the stand, she reached for her wallet and it fell to the ground, with the contents spilling out, credit cards and everything.

Darn! she as she got down. As she was picking it up, somebody stooped down and started to help her.

When they were done, she wasn't looking at the person until she heard the person ask "Are you alright?"

She looked up, she saw a tan guy with black hair and bluish-purple eyes, probably a birth defect. He looked like a surfer since he was wearing baggy shorts and a tight, navy blue t-shirt. Charlotte nodded.

''Yeah. Thanks for helping me.''

The guy held out his hand. "No sweat, no problem. I'm Jason."

She shook his hand. ''Charlotte.''

She gave him a small smile. She didn't want to be rude, but she just wanted to get her food and leave. She wasn't interested in anyone, but by the smile, Jason was giving her, he was interested in her.

''Well, as much as I would love to chat, I sort of hungry.'' She was trying to give him a hint to leave her alone, but he thought the opposite. Instead, he got out his wallet.

''How about I pay for your lunch and we could sit with my buddies .''

It wasn't a suggestion, but almost an order. She sighed.

This was bad.

Charlotte's POV

After he paid for my deluxe veggie burger, apple fries, carrots and a side of the water - I'm not a vegan but I just so happen to love veggie burgers- Jason grabbed my tray and led me to his friends. Most of them were older guys, probably in their twenties.

''Hey guys, look who's dining with us?'' he said as we sat down.

"Charlotte, this is Jonas," he pointed to a tall Latino,

''Devin," he pointed to a tall black guy,

''Marick," he pointed to a blond who also had an athletic built,

''and my little brother, Jose,'' he referred to a younger-looking version of him. It wasn't until then that I realized that Jason was a little older than the rest. I started to slowly eat my food and kept my head down.

They had started talking like I wasn't there until I heard a gruff voice asked ''So, what school are you attending?''

I looked up to see that it was Devin who asked.

''I just started going to Valencia High today,'' I said. Suddenly, they all stopped talking and looked at me.

''So, your 18?'' Jose asked.

I shook my head and said ''I'm still 17,'' I said. I didn't notice Jason's hand on my pants until I felt his hand ride up a little too close to my pant's zipper. I instantly got up from my seat. The guys now stared at me, their once calm eyes were now hungry, like a pack of wolves that had found their next meal.

Me.

So, I did the most logical thing to do...

I bolted.

3rd POV

As Charlotte sprinted out of the pavilion and ran onto the unusually empty sidewalks, she listened for footprints if they were running after her. She wanted to get back into the mall, not only to make sure Phil was there to pick her up, but to make sure she got witnesses. She was about to look back to check when...

WOOF!

She looked and saw a dog in front of her. It was a pit bull terrier, the ones that are used to guard junkyards. It had a coat of brownish-gold all over and white fur that followed from the bottom of its head to the belly. The ears were up, though one side looked chipped off. And then she noticed the metal chain around its neck. Charlotte started to step back.

If a pit bull terrier had a chain around its neck, it must be bad, right?

But the dog didn't look interested in her, despite the angry look it had. She looked behind her and she swore her heart stopped, again. The guys from the pavilion were running towards her, and they did not look happy.

''Get back here you little slut! We aren't done yet!'' Jason yelled as his friends spat out curses. She looked at the dog again.

The dog still had that angry look on its face, it was looking at her like it was saying ''What are you waiting for? RUN!'' And she did that.

WOOF!

WOOF!

Grrrr...

''AAAAHHHHH!''

Charlotte turned around and could not believe the site.

The dog was biting Jason's baby maker. Jason looked like he was gonna pass out in pain and his friends were running away like little cowards.

And most of all, Charlotte didn't know if she should be screaming for help or laughing her ass off.

By the time the dog let go, Josh was running along to his friends, clutching his crouch tightly. She was about to walk away when the dog came running towards her. But instead of looking fierce, it looked really happy, with his mouth open and his tongue sticking out on the side.

You could always tell that when a dog was panting, it was also grinning like a fool. Unaware of what she was doing, she knelt as the dog came up to her and started licking her face.

''Hey, hey,'' she said as the dog stopped licking her and looked at her, ''I don't know why you're so happy. After all, you practically stopped that guy from having kids!''

The dog started to pout. Charlotte didn't know why she was talking to a dog, to begin with, especially after it just committed a violent act a moment ago, but began to smile and ruffled him around his good ear.

''But, he and his friends would have done something very bad to me if you hadn't interfered. So, I forgive you.'' Then, the dog smiled, or she thinks it did and licked her again.

''So, what are you?'' she muttered as she looked in between his legs. Then, she saw a penis.

Yep, the dog was a boy. Then, she came up with an idea.

''So, I'll make a compromise. If you can protect me from people like those guys, you can come live with me, only under some ground rules. How does that sound?"

After all, this dog saved her life. How else could she repay him, despite being an animal?

WOOF! WOOF!

Charlotte took that as a yes. Then, she took a look at his eyes. His eyes were brown, but not like his coat. They were caramel brown. Suddenly, she had a good name idea on what to name him.

"Also, I need to give you a name, not too violent and not too cuddly. Would you like the name, Thomas? Your eyes remind me of a candy bar named Thomas... and that's the best name I can come up with."

WOOF! WOOF!

She took that as a yes. Charlotte held out her hand and the dog, Thomas, put his paw on it and made her move her hand up and down as if to be shaking her hand.

"Thomas, this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

WOOF! WOOF!

So, the two started to walk back to the entrance of the mall. And as Charlotte walked in, she didn't have to turn around. Because she knew that her new, trusty sidekick would still be there, waiting for her.

Well people, that is the end of my official chapter 4th, 5 if you count my introduction chapter. So, Charlotte brings Thomas into her life and, in my next stories, the companion who will help her through anything, even when she's a mermaid. I would normally put this in a separate chapter, but I'm going to ask: Are you guys avoiding reading my story because you guys hate Charlotte and she's not being mean to the girls or befriending them?

Because I feel that that isn't a good enough reason to not read. I feel that even if you are ready to give her a second chance, you can still at least try to understand that the guilt she had after season 2 was really and, despite being a fictional character, the person who played her showed something that the producer never showed: If Charlotte had a way to redeem herself and be REAL friends with the trio, which is all she ever really wanted but she didn't get it because she wasn't jealous or power-hungry, it was because...

A. Cleo might have been nice, but all she wanted was the guy that SHE let go!

B. Maybe if Rikki had even tried to be friends with her, or be nice in general, Charlotte wouldn't have thought of using her powers against her like payback.

C. Emma was probably the only one who was ever truly nice to her. She wanted to be friends with her and help her control her powers, and if the other 2 had any sense, she could have had Max make a moon necklace for Charlotte and they ALL could have been friends.

D. Lewis, as much as you guys can disagree, also took part in how she went bad. If he had actually moved on and saw her, meaning not forgetting about her, for who she was, the thing might've not happened and, even if they were just friends, life could have been easier for all 5 of them.

E. They all, despite what you think, should have told Charlotte EVERYTHING the moment Cleo stole her diary, despite returning it, and Charlotte retaliating by stealing the video that showed that Gracie was a mermaid. In the situation, everyone should have learned that HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY! This all started with dishonesty and, as you saw season 2, look at what had happened!

So, as much as it will bother you, stop hating on her because it wasn't her fault from the start. It was Lewis and the Trio's fault because, as reasons listed, they had hurt her feelings and what became of Charlotte was a result.

This is the reason she fits my motto: The Bullies Are The Bullied and The Bullied are The Bullies. The supposed ''good guys'' turned her into the ''bad guy'' and she is now the most hated ex-mermaid in the show, BECAUSE OF THEM!

Now, I'm done with my rant but I'll let you know that I will CONTINUE to write her story and, I WILL give her the happy ending she truly deserves.

READ AND REVIEW!