A/N: Hey, everyone! Thank you all for the reviews! I think this story is the most popular one out of my others (review wise.) Once again, thanks! Sorry it took me so long to update this story, but it's because I had ended Secrets of the Deep and I am currently working on the new mystery I'm hoping to publish soon. I can't wait to show it to you guys! This chapter is my first to have two POVs in it. So it starts out in Rikki's POV, then moves on to Cleo's. I will inform you when it moves into Cleo's POV. Enjoy reading!

Story 6: What if it was Zane instead of Lewis who saw Cleo as a mermaid in "Pool Party?"

(Suggestion by Marril96)

Rikki POV/ Cleo POV

-Rikki POV-

I bent down lower into the rocks as Emma continually tried to coax Lewis into doing something that he really didn't want to do—and it looked like he was winning.

"Please, Lewis!" Emma said, her voice cracking with desperation. My heart raced as I thought about what would possibly happen if Cleo got splashed at the pool party she was at now. What was that girl thinking? "This is incredibly important! Cleo might be in trouble." Emma's tone had gone from pleading to serious now. "We will not ask for anything else of you, ever. I mean it."

"Sorry guys," Lewis said, shrugging. "I'm here to fish. The only real danger Cleo could be in is if her bikini doesn't fit."

I narrowed my eyes at Lewis. "Lewis, this is no joking matter!" I lowered myself more into the rocks, realizing that I had pushed myself up a little bit more during Emma's little rant. I tighten my fingers around the gray rock, my knuckles going white from the worry that Cleo will soon get exposed.

"Sorry," Lewis repeated. Funny, there seemed to be no trace of apology in his voice. "I have much better things to do. I really don't think Merrium will care if I don't show up to her pool party. Cleo probably won't, either."

I held back the tears that were just aching to flow. This was just great. A week into being a mermaid and we get exposed? Maybe we didn't deserve being mermaids. Maybe we didn't deserve these wonderful long tails, and magical powers. We didn't deserve any of it.

I watched Lewis walk away, as if he were walking away from everything. With one last burst of confidence, I shouted, "Wait!"

He turned around, obviously anxious to get to his fishing and away from us. "Please," I whispered. The waves rolled up onto the shore, making a wet, splashing sound, and silencing everything around them. "Please," I said louder so that he could hear me better.

He seemed to think about it for a minute, tossing ideas and thoughts around in his head as if deliberating whether or not he was our friend. When he'd finally come to a decision, he whipped out his cell phone and started to scroll through his short list of contacts.

I did a silent cheer of victory, and glanced over at Emma. Her face was written with hope and enthusiasm. I turned back to Lewis, who was already holding up his metallic phone to his ear, listening to the rings of the phone.

I shivered, instantly cold from the waiting. Or was it the water? I took one hand off the rock and slid it down to the surface of the water behind the rock so that Lewis couldn't see it. I slowly balled my fist little by little to heat up the water, but not trying to burn us. Emma watched me, obviously not caring that I was turning the patch of ocean into a hot tub. I guess she was cold too, and it wasn't just my imagination.

I turned my attention back to Lewis, who was sighing outwardly. After he bit his lip and gave out a final sigh, he shut his blue phone with annoyance.

We didn't have to ask him what had happened. He hadn't said a word into the phone, so that could only mean one thing.

He shrugged, a look coming across his face. I recognized that look. It was hurt; hurt that Cleo hadn't answered her phone when he called. I just had to smile just a tiny bit—it was easy to detect instant feelings and connections between those two.

"Sorry," he said for the third time. I just ground my teeth, so angry that that was all he would do. If he cared for this girl, why didn't he go and get her?

Lewis turned away and walked in the opposite direction. He held his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun as he looked around for another fishing spot. Well, boo-hoo to him. If he wouldn't help us out, we weren't moving.

"What are we going to do?" Emma said, turning around so that her back rested on the rock. She leaned her head on it, and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath out.

I turned around also, and mimicked her. I let the warmth on my face take me away to a different place, somewhere where all our troubles and problems were resolved, and nothing else existed.

Emma and I both opened our eyes, and once again I felt the familiar shiver pass through my spine. I glared down at the mocking waters; didn't I just heat them up? I held out my hand and balled it tightly into a fist, not caring how hot it got. Emma grabbed my arm, shaking it, trying to get me to stop. Her efforts did nothing, so she just let her hand fall and drop into the water, where it rocketed back up again.

"Ow!" she cried in pain, and I got enough sense to stop heating up the water. I observed her burnt hand—it was red hot, as if it was shoved into a fire and thrust back out.

"I'm so sorry," I said, looking at her hand. I bit my lip, now realizing how my tail burned in the water. I hadn't realized how blistering hot it had gotten—maybe I was immune to it, because it was my power?

"It's okay," she said, giving me a little smile. It only made me feel worse. How could she be so calm and nice under a situation like this? Right now I was feeling pressured, worried, and anxious.

"I know what we have to do," I said, and pushed myself up onto the rough surface of the boulder. Looking left and right to make sure no one was watching, I hoisted my tail up after me. I then carefully balled my hand over my golden tail. Steam rolled off the tail, and I earned my legs back. Looking both ways again (you could never be too careful) I motioned for Emma to hop on. "Let's go Emma," I said, carefully drying her, not wanting to burn her to a crisp. It was hard to control my power. "We need to rescue Cleo."

-Cleo POV-

"Hey," I heard a low voice from behind me. I momentarily forgot that I was dying of heat inside of my clothes and spun around to see Zane leaning against the house wall, trying to look like the bad boy he's tricked everyone into thinking he was. In reality, he was just a snotty rich kid who got everything he wanted. His stupid illusion tricked everyone. Except me.

"What do you want, Zane?" I asked, annoyed. I wanted to spend my time at the party doing things I'd enjoy, not things that would make me throw up; like talk to Zane.

"I never got to repay you for the motorcycle incident," Zane said, and he stealthily started walking towards me. I only then realized that a few of Zane's friends were walking towards me behind Zane. I began to worry, because his friends looked pretty strong and serious.

"You know that wasn't my fault," I insisted, rapidly looking back and forth between him and his four friends behind him. "I swear."

"Come on Cleo, it's a pool party. Join the fun." His wicked eyes shot to the pool, and I gulped. "You're destined to make a big splash."

"Please Zane, I have a cold. I can't get wet," I pleaded, taking a few tiny steps towards the lurking waters behind me. "It actually could kill me."

Zane and his buddies just laughed while I tried to put as much distance between them and me as I could without getting too close to the pool.

"I'm serious!" I shouted. "If I die, you'll be known as the jerk that killed me." I pulled my coat tighter, ignoring the burning sensation on my body that came from the sun and the layers I was wearing.

"Cleo, you won't die from a little water. You're going in." His tone was firm and he wasn't going to give up until I went in.

I decided to try to beg one last time. "Please, Zane, you don't understand—" I was cut off, and the wind whipped my ears, and my screams were mixed in with Zane's dark laughter.

Water filled my lungs, and I coughed underwater. I twirled my legs as I tried to figure what had just happened—Zane pushed me.

When I surfaced, coughing and sputtering, and trying to wipe the excess chlorinated water from my eyes, which were probably making them turn red. I saw Zane's friends walking into the house where the rest of the guests lie.

I swam uncontrollably to the edge, where I clung on and took deep, shaky breaths, trying to calm myself. I looked up to see Zane, grinning ear to ear. No one else was here, which was a bad thing. I'd rather take everyone at the party knowing I was a mermaid over Zane Bennett. Seriously.

"This is gold!" Zane said, giddily stretching out his arm to me, which in his hand a red phone. He was going to take a picture of me!

I snatched the phone angrily from his hand and drowned it in the water. "Hey!" he shouted. "That was new!"

"Listen Zane, there's something I need to tell you," I said. "I really don't want you to freak out, but you should know..." I looked behind me to see my legs magically bubble and transform into a long, shiny bronze-orange tail. I slowly looked back at Zane to see his expression.

"Oh my God..." he whispered, horrified at the sight he was seeing. He stumbled backwards, his face wearing an expression of utter disgust.

"I'm so sorry!" I said. "I really didn't want you to find out! Please don't tell!"

It took him a minute to gather himself back up, and when he did, he inched closer to me to get a better look. "Are you kidding?" he said. I gulped, knowing I had lost. I had barely been a mermaid for long, and I was already exposed. I hung my head low until I felt a light tapping on my head. I looked up to see Zane, his arm extended. "I would never tell anyone."

I smiled gratefully, and took his outstretched hand. I couldn't believe Zane, local bad boy, snotty rich kid Zane Bennett would actually help me out!

Zane struggled to pull me up by my arms. I felt like my arms would be ripped out of their sockets when Zane tried harder to get me out. He was probably having a hard time because my tail was too heavy. That thought made me blush a deep crimson red.

While he was tugging me out of the pool, grunting and wheezing, I couldn't help but think if this was just a façade. Was he just trying to show me he was man enough to handle that I was a mermaid? Was he just showing me he could easily lug me out of the pool? I ignored the burning sensation in my arms where Zane was pulling me up, and said, "Zane? Why are you doing this?"

He stopped for a second, and I was just standing upright in air, a few inches of my tail submerged in the water. To get him to start pulling me up again, I splashed him with my tail. He shook off the excess water, and said, sputtering, "Right, sorry." He continued to pull me up, and answered my question: "What do you mean?"

"Like, we've been enemies for so long. Why the change in heart? Once you pull me out, and my tail disappears, are you going to call out everyone? Then throw me back into the water like a helpless little goldfish?" My tail was now out of the water, so I swung it onto the concrete side and rested down on the pool's edge, grateful that it was over. Then I looked up into Zane's wide eyes, scanning my tail.

"No," he said bluntly. "I wouldn't do that, Cleo. I may be...you know, a snobby rich kid, as you put it, but we've known each other for so long, and I couldn't do that to you." He knelt down besides me and smiled.

This was wrong. I felt a weird panging feeling, telling me this was supposed to be someone else. I averted my eyes away from Zane and to my dripping wet tail. "What do I do now? It'll take forever to dry this!"

"Is that how it goes away?" Zane asked, looking at my tail, probably still deciding if his eyes were deceiving him or not. I bit my lip, feeling like I had given out too much already.

"Cleo!" a voice called out. I swiveled my head to see Emma and Rikki jogging around the bend to get to us. Once they saw us, their eyes widened in shock and horror.

Rikki, the first to recover, asked, "Where are the others?"

"Inside," I replied in my shaky voice. I had forgotten about them. What happened if they came out and caught me?

Rikki and Emma ran back around the bend. I turned back to my tail and uselessly rubbed my hands on it, trying to dry it quicker. "It's no use!" I wailed. "I'll have to air dry."

"Emma froze the door!" Rikki called as my two friends jogged back to us. "Now what are we going to do about you?"

"Wait...Emma froze the door?" Zane said in shock. "How is that possible?"

"Oh, it's possible," insisted Emma. "See, Cleo isn't the only one with a tail...or powers."

"You too?" Zane said, raising an eyebrow. Rikki gave him a devious smile and crossed her arms. "And Rikki? The three of you?" He looked at me, as if to ask me if it was true—I was the one sitting on the concrete with a tail, after all.

"Yeah," I said. "But that still doesn't change the fact that my tail is here for anyone to see if they ever unfreeze the door!" It was possible. In this heat, the ice wouldn't last long.

"Well, you see Cleo, I can help," Rikki said with a smile. Frankly, I was confused. She didn't have a towel or anything on her to dry me.

Instead, she knelt down by me, and told everyone to stand back. They obeyed, all except for me. Rikki balled her fist over my tail, and soon everything seemed to heat up. Wisps of fine steam danced around my face, making it bead with sweat. My tail began to sting. I winced in at the heat and the feeling of dread that someone would pop out a corner and see my tail.

It didn't take long for Rikki to finish. Soon, my heavy clothes were back on my body, layered up and making me sweat even more. I fanned myself with my hand as I exclaimed, "Rikki, you found your power!"

She beamed in pride at me and shrugged as if it was nothing. Zane, bewildered, said, "Okay, I am officially overly confused. What is going on?"

"We'll explain later. Right now we have to get the heck out of this place!" Emma cried, and we all shot to our feet and ran out the exit, never looking back.

I realized, the whole time Zane was helping me, something felt off. It felt as if the story were supposed to go another way, and someone was supposed to take Zane's place. I caught up to Rikki, who was jogging just a few paces ahead of me, and said while unraveling my scarf, "Rikki? Did you and Emma try to get someone to go to the pool party to check up on me?"

Rikki blinked in surprise. "Well, yeah. Emma and I were hiding behind some rocks, and I was demonstrating my newfound power when Lewis came along, ready to fish. We tried to get him to go to the party and bring you home, but he refused."

Lewis. Five simple letters. I just knew something was amiss. It was supposed to be Lewis.

I looked over to Zane, who wore the same expression as when he saw my tail: utter disbelief. I shuddered, thinking again of Lewis. It could have been Lewis, not Zane. I wish it was Lewis instead of Zane to tell you the truth. But now Zane knew, and nothing would change the way he thought of us now. If only it was Lewis.

A/N: Reviews would be appreciated. I just want to say that I don't need any suggestions at the moment XD. So sorry again for the slow update. Here is an update on my mystery story: I am currently working on the end of chapter two. I realized each chapter takes longer to write than I had expected, pretty much because of details and that the chapters are longer than what I usually write (about double as long, if not longer.) I'm actually really enjoying writing it, so I hope when it comes out you will read it. I need to write some more chapters before I post it. I currently am unsure of the title, but it'll come to me (I hope :)) So for now, hope you liked, and till next time! Ciao.