Chapter 2

Ash's P.O.V

That afternoon, we met with our friends at a deserted beach I hadn't known existed. Emma had told me they called it 'Lewis' Secret Fishing Spot.' I could see why 'Secret' was in the title. The entrance was well hidden from the road and to walk around from the other beaches would be a mission in itself. Emma had informed me that the others already knew she had told me. Nothing had changed between the group and me. Except, possibly, Zane was already much warmer towards me. Maybe that was just my imagination...but he really seemed nicer. I could tell by their energetic smiles that Rikki and Cleo were happy to have me in on their secret; they knew I had already seen a lot. It seemed I had passed the initiation into their Mermaid group, or 'Club' as Zane termed it.

On the way here, Emma had filled me in on everything they had faced during their time as mermaids as we walked over, along with the odd sweet kiss. I felt up to date on all the strange things I had seen. To my own surprise, there was no alteration in my feelings towards my girlfriend. I think I had already fallen in love with her fishy half. The mermaid was a part of her; it had been well before I met her. In the short hours since she had shown me her tail, she had already been acting different. Not different in a bad way, don't get me wrong, but she seemed more honest and ... free. I guess this had been eating away at her for a while, especially with the pressure I had been putting on her to tell, I admit. She was still Emma. That is all that mattered.

OoOoO

Lewis, Zane and I leant against the rocks as our opposites ran towards the water before stopping and waving. I shook my head at their antics and laughed. They then continued and swam off into the vast ocean.

"So, what do you think?" Lewis asked.

"They are absolutely amazing." I replied, "You'd never guess, they hide it so well,"

The guys nodded. "Wow," I sighed, still a little overwhelmed.

"Don't worry mate," Lewis said, "You'll get used to it,"

We chatted amongst ourselves about life and mermaids and eventually I confronted Zane. My theory had been correct, he was being nicer.

"Zane, why are you being so nice all of a sudden?

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"You always seemed to have something...against me,"

"Mate, if you remember correctly, you had a little something against me," he replied with a smirk.

I had to agree with that, I always thought he was an arrogant prick. He was always loud in the cafe and disruptive and really did not pay attention to authority. Then there was the tough thing with the girls. We were both trying to defend our girlfriends when they were defending us and we ended up making a mountain out of a molehill. We made up at the end of that but he was not exactly chummy towards me.

I think he saw my thoughts, "If you were thinking about that time with pool and the girls, no hard feelings ay?"

"Yeah, na, it wasn't the pool exactly I was just thinking about our relationship..." I trailed off and thought back to the pool game, "Wasn't there some strange stuff going on during that game though?"

"Oh yeah, there was, the girls were using their powers on us," Zane laughed, "Emma froze the cue to my hand and Rikki made you sweat heavily," he paused, "And remember when I accidently spilt something on Emma, she had turned into a mermaid in the cool room, that's why I was trying to distract you,"

It all made sense.

"Mates?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied shaking the hand that I had offered. Lewis had just been watching the exchange with a smile.

"What are you looking at Lewis?" Zane demanded.

"Nothing, nothing," he looked away quickly before a secret smile reappearing on his face. Apparently, over the years, Zane and Lewis had grown closer. They were actually great mates, despite their personalities.

About twenty minutes later, the three mermaids returned. In the distance, we saw the girls pulling themselves slowly out of reach of the waves. Their tails flapped madly and it was actually rather funny. Rikki was suddenly enveloped in steam. She was soon human again. The other two were in clouds soon after.

They walked up the beach to where we were. I think my face resembled a stunned mullet.

"Being a mermaids is not just the transformation you know," Rikki said, "We got powers to go with it, mine, as you may have guessed is heat,"

"What did you guys get?" I asked Cleo and Emma eagerly.

Cleo raised her hand and out of no-where, a large ball of water appeared. She moved it around in demonstration. I stared as my girlfriend raised her hand and it froze solid. Rikki then balled her hand into a fist and the ball of ice melted again, still held in place, obviously by Cleo. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it tumbling into the sea.

"That is totally wicked." I said awestruck. Emma beamed at me again – obviously is was the right answer.

OoOoO

After heading back to the Juice net as a group, I went back to work and everyone else chatted. After my shift had finished, Emma and I left the group and walked hand in hand down the boardwalk. We exchanged small talk before leaving the path and sitting on the soft hand, still holding hands.

"You're coping very well with this Ash," Emma addressed me. I shrugged off the praise.

"It's surprising yeah, but you haven't changed much in your behaviours, you just seem a little freer now that I know what you are," She nodded in response, happy with this explanation. She leant her head on my shoulder. I turned my head and buried my face in her sweet smelling hair, like lemons.

"Thanks for understanding," she said. I smiled raising my head off hers. I lifted her chin and kissed her gently.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed that. Please continue to read, review and enjoy. I love to hear your feedback. Constructive criticism welcomed but no flames.

Thanks very much to my very good friend k8sastar, and to onlinegirlgoing4god, Quillox, Zandaya, Juliet Knighly, LBF, ashray4, XxRaindr0pxX, and YugiohObsessed for reviewing, I really enjoy reading your reviews.

Thanks :P