Zane won't leave him alone.
Lewis isn't trying to fool anybody by being Zane's friend. He knows the guy is self-centered and greedy, but they've been friends for ages. Lewis knows Zane is a good guy deep down, but with Zane's entire friend group leaving over the course of the past half-year, Lewis is the last one left.
"Look," Lewis says one day. "I get it. You're lonely, but I've got my own life, and I can't be hanging around with you all the time."
Zane doesn't act hurt, he never does. He just laughs, calls Lewis an uptight prick, and wanders off somewhere to do who-knows-what.
It's been days since then, and Zane's been texting him nearly non-stop, which is not good for Lewis' data plan. He hasn't got unlimited texts, so he has to reply every five or so.
"Who's blowing up your phone?" Will asks one day when the two of them, Rikki, and Charlotte are on the beach, Charlotte trying to piece together old stories to give Rikki a bit of background to help her develop her powers, which have already ruined four of David's smoothies.
Lewis shakes his head and shoves his admittedly outdated phone back into his pocket. "Zane."
"That jerk?" Will asks. He realizes a moment too late it might have been a bit insensitive if the look on his face is anything to go by, but Lewis just shrugs.
"Yeah. He thinks we're friends." And it's true that they were friends once upon a time, but things are different now. It's insulting how Zane thinks he can just pick their friendship up out of the dirt, brush it off, and pretend they weren't anything except best friends. "So I'm thinking maybe it's just water that causes the change. Maybe if you've got Vaseline or something on your skin you won't grow a tail?"
Will seems to take this as the 'okay we're done with this topic' Lewis intended it to be, and they go on talking about possible ways to delay the transformation long enough to get out of a social situation. Ten seconds isn't long, and any advantage Lewis can give Will and Rikki will help. He's grateful he's not in their shoes. You can't be a marine biologist and work around water all day if getting even a drop of water on you will reveal you as a scientific impossibility. The scientific community doesn't take magic as an explanation for anything.
"Hey guys?" Rikki calls from a tide pool as she stands up. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go do something." She doesn't bother waiting for anyone to acknowledge her before she turns around and runs into the water.
Between Rikki and Will, Rikki is definitely the one who enjoys her tail the most. It's starting to affect her grades, how much time she spends in the ocean, but Lewis only knows that because she's told him as explanation as to why she needs his help in maths all of a sudden.
That's not to say that Will hates being a merman; on the contrary, he adores it, but it's thrown a wrench in his freediving career, and by extension, in his relationship with his sister. Sophie's practically disowned him, and Will has had to focus a lot harder on school now that being a professional athlete is out of the question.
"Do you guys have any theories yet?" Charlotte asks she sits down next to Lewis on the sand. She's taken all of this, well, swimmingly. She's got a knack for remembering all the little details her aunt has told her, even ones Ms. Chatham herself doesn't remember anymore. She seems content to help Rikki and Will figure things out, but in quiet moments Lewis catches her staring out to sea and he knows she wishes it were her.
"We're thinking maybe an oil-based skin cream might buy a little time. It won't do anything if one of them falls in, but it should work against a small splash or something like that."
Charlotte nods. "It sounds like it might work. I'll have to see what I have laying around."
Will looks like he's going to say something, but whatever it was is lost when Rikki calls up to them from the water. She hasn't been gone all that long, so she must have gone to Mako, which Lewis can see out in the water.
"Can you guys come down here?"
They make their way down towards the waterline, Lewis trying not to trip over anything, Will avoiding the tide pools like the plague, and Charlotte walking through and over everything in her way.
"What's up?" Will asks, and then a second head surfaces next to Rikki.
Lewis isn't sure who it is, but Will apparently does, because as soon as the second girl's face registers, he takes a step back, trips over a rock behind him, and lands on his butt in a tide pool he had been so well avoiding.
"Bella?" he asks just before he's overcome with the familiar blue lights of his transformation.
It turns out that Bella has been giving Rikki mermaid lessons ever since she found out the other girl was a mermaid. It explains Rikki's control.
"How long have you been a mermaid?" Charlotte asks Bella. The five of them are at the Ocean Café, outside where the sound of the water and seagulls and other patrons covers up their conversation. The café's busy, which makes it the perfect place to talk. Not as perfect as somewhere private, but Lewis can appreciate Charlotte's logic in picking this place.
"I was nine," Bella starts. "My family's always moving because of my mom's job, and we were in Ireland. My parents weren't home, so I decided to go exploring. That's when I found the cave."
"So you've been a mermaid for almost ten years?" Will asks.
Bella nods. "It took a while to get used to, and I've almost gotten caught a lot, but I wouldn't change it for the world." Her enthusiasm matches Rikki's and Lewis can see why they're such good friends.
"Hey Lewis!" Zane's walking up the jetty towards them, hand in one pocket and the other raised in greeting.
Lewis quietly groans, saying "I'll be right back," under his breath before plastering the most realistic smile he can mange and going to meet Zane. "Hey buddy. What's up?"
Zane's got some bike race or another Saturday and has tickets. Lewis has no intention of going, but maybe one of his friends will want them. Rikki's never one to pass up free stuff, especially if she can use the opportunity to jeer at Zane. The two of them have had a mutual contempt for each other almost since the day they met. It's usually really funny, but occasionally it gets out of hand. Lewis is never the one to try to step in on that; that would be suicide.
"So, what's up with you and the loser crew?" Zane gestures to Rikki, Will, and Bella behind him. Charlotte probably went to get something to eat or use the bathroom, because she's nowhere to be seen.
"Absolutely none of your business," Lewis says. "Piss off."
Zane raises his hands in mock surprise (he's definitely not surprised). "Whoa man, calm down. It was just a joke." Zane laughs. "You can't seriously be hanging out with them."
"One more chance," Lewis threatens, "Piss off." He's never nearly this confrontational with Zane, and it's giving him this thrill that's hard to shake off. He usually just deals with him until he leaves, but he's so sick and tired of him. Maybe it's that he's actually got people who can back him up on his threats, but he's been feeling a lot more confident recently.
"Oh, Lewis here's grown a pair. I'm just trying to be friendly, man, no need to try and strangle a guy." He's going to strangle Zane if he doesn't shut up and leave him alone.
Zane wasn't always a jerk. When they were kids he was a genuinely nice kid, but some combination of power from his money and being a halfway decent racer blew his ego to the moon sometime in year seven. He thought he was too good for his old friends, and even after his new friends left he still hasn't quite gotten a hold of not being a complete walnut.
"Hey, Lewis, Charlotte wanted me to ask you if you wanted anything from the café," Will interjects before Lewis can get violent. It's a good thing that he did, too, because Lewis is pretty sure Zane will always be able to beat him in a fight. Maybe Will saw it coming, the way Lewis' fist started clenching and how Zane kept goading him on. Either way, it's a good thing he's here.
"I'm good," Lewis says. He's not, but he's not going to punch Zane in the face (without warning).
"I'm Will." Will sticks his hand out for Zane to shake.
"Zane." Zane doesn't hesitate (but Zane isn't one to hesitate). "Nice to meet you, mate." Zane doesn't seem all that concerned that Will's basically sticking his head where it doesn't belong.
Charlotte calls from the door of the café, three smoothies and a scone in her arms, and Lewis forces a smile. "Gotta go man, see you around." He doesn't wait for Zane to reply, but he can hear him and Will exchanging 'nice to meet ya's and 'later's before the other boy catches up with Lewis.
"Well he seems like an arsehole." Will says nonchalantly as the two of them sit back down at their table.
"Understatement of the century." Rikki says. She's sipping on her smoothie and reading a book. Lewis hasn't ever heard of it, but she seems interested (and it's so hard to keep her attention) so it must be good. She laughs. "He's a complete dick. I'm surprised you're still friends with him."
Lewis shrugs. "We used to be mates, and he thinks we still are."
"What happened?" Bella asks.
Lewis really doesn't want to explain. "Shit went down and he became a jerk. His friends leave and them bam, I'm his friend again."
Bella doesn't have anything to say to that, so she just sort of looks at her smoothie. Lewis needs to change the topic.
"So I've been thinking, no one's really explored Mako's reefs."
Bella beams at him, and Charlotte is off to arrange for scuba gear from Evie before Lewis can say anything.
So I'm officially moving update day to Monday (though I'm not sure if I ever announced my friday update schedule here) as it works a lot better with my schedule than Friday did. Anyways, we're slowly chugging along as far as plot goes. It's going pretty slow with this whole changing perspectives one-character-per-chapter thing, but no worries, it's all planned out and everything. We're almost to the big moment where things start going downhill, so bear with me.