Hey! Sorry for the long wait. It's school issues again! It's been bugging me for a long time. I've just entered a new school. The procedures and everything have warmed up on me already, but all the projects, homeworks, essays, blah blah blah... They really get on my nerves and make me stay up until around 1 AM. I always try to find at least 3 days a week where I could work a little bit on each of my fanfictions. Just note that I always try to split my time writing. (i.e. When I'm on, I do some Back to Ireland as well as A Mermaid Tale and etc.)
Also, suggestions for the story are always welcome. Same as usual ;) Please review or PM, honestly, I prefer PM because I get to reply to you easier :) Anyways enjoy the story, and again, I really apologize for the long wait!
By the way, I've been rereading some of my old chapters, and I've noticed how much I've grown in writing skills! I'd like to thank fan fiction, fanfiction writers of my favorite stories (I hope you guys know you've inspired me to do fanfictions :), reviewers, followers, favoriters, anything! Thanks for all the follows, reviews, and favorites! I'll try making my chapters longer if that helps!
~Elysa~
Chapter 7: Mistake or Not?
Bella carefully backed up on a cliff. She looked behind her and tried to relax a bit. But she couldn't. Dr. Denman and Charlotte were surrounding her, and she couldn't escape. Behind her was a cliff to the ocean, covered with spiky rocks and such. Though the ocean would save her, the rocks would injure her. And who knew? If she got injured, Charlotte and Dr. Denman, not to mention, Sophie would probably all capture her and take her to a tank to put in the aquarium.
She tried to relax, but failed. The cliff is still 10 feet away. You aren't going to die. She spoke to herself. "Tell me. Bella, are you a mermaid? Don't you remember?" Charlotte taunted me. Of course Bella was a mermaid, but it's not like she could just simply say, Of course I'm a mermaid? What else what I be... A dolphin? "Of course you must be right? If you aren't, why would Rikki and Cleo be friends with you?"
"I'm friends with Cleo and Rikki because we stick together," Bella fired back, anger seeping in. She hated the way they talked to her. She didn't like to be asked these questions. Especially when it involved Cleo, Rikki, Will or even Zane and Lewis. They were all her friends.
"Oh? Really?" Dr. Denman pretended to look shocked. "If you were never a mermaid, would they even bother to talk to you?" She asked, smiling deviously. I winced as her cold slitted eyes gazed at me. They seemed like a snake's, worse than a shark. "Tell me the truth Bella, you are a mermaid, aren't you? I know Cleo and Rikki, they'd never accept someone who isn't a mer."
"That's not true. We're all humans. We're all mers. But tail or not, they'd still be my friends! They don't only make friends with mermaids! The boys aren't mermaids, certainly not mermaids or mermen!" Bella defended herself. On the inside and outside, she knew Cleo and Rikki would never be like that.
Bella peered over behind her. A little less than 7 feet away, Great, she thought sarcastically. Bella looked over Charlotte's shoulder, she silently begged that Will would come to my rescue. Or anyone really. "Look... Uh... Could we talk about this somewhere else?" Bella asked shyly. She looked behind her. She was slowly inching back as the two moved forwards.
6 feet... 5 feet... A little less than 5 feet, I'll say 4 and a half feet... Bella didn't dare look any further. She peered again over their shoulders, and to her relief, Rikki and Cleo were at the top along with Lewis and Zane. "Cleo! Rikki!" Bella called. This is when she started to panic. Dr. Denman and Charlotte turned around their heads snapping back. Bella took this moment to duck and unsuccessfully try to push between them and run. Unfortunately for Bella, Charlotte grabbed her right arm, and Dr. Denman grabbed her left, holding her back.
"You are not running away this easily Bella..." Dr. Denman's harsh voice whispered in my ear, feeling like it was cutting my ear to tiny pieces. She turned to look at Rikki and Cleo. "Don't come any closer or we'll just simply take Bella to a lab. It's your choice, Cleo. Save yourself, or your friend. You too, Rikki."
Bella knew that Rikki and Cleo would never leave just with themselves. But at the same time they would never leave themselves here with only me to escape. Bella knew that they would and we would work together to save ourselves. Bella glanced from Cleo to Rikki to Lewis to Zane. Where was Will? Was she still down there with Sophie?
Bella tried to wriggle herself out of Dr. Denman and Charlotte's grip but it didn't help of course. Dr. Denman tightened her grip on Bella, "Do not even try to escape, Bella," She spit her words out as if each syllable was broken as a separate word.
"What do you even want me to do?" Bella asked helplessly. "What do you want for me to do?" She stated again.
"Just come with me down to the moon pool. If you do that for me, Cleo and Rikki will be safe... We won't bother them at all," Dr. Denman sighed. Bella glanced at Cleo and Rikki and gave a 'I'll go', look. And she sighed, giving in and slowly nodding.
"Good..." Dr. Denman smiled.
"Bella!" Cleo called. Rikki gave a horrified look. But Lewis whispered something into their ears and they both nodded.
With Sophie and Will
"Will..." Sophie's eyes were still wide open as the rest had left. "How...? How could you be... Be so... What could I say? Clueless? Selfless? Stupid? Brainless? Dumb? Idiotic?!" Sophie snapped. "Bella is no where near loving you. No where near liking you. She does not like you one bit. She's just using you. She wants to break your heart! How could you not see that? And how could you fall in love with someone like her? What would ever make you feel that way around her? I would prefer you to like anyone else in the world but her!" Sophie yelled.
"Maybe I like her because I feel great around her? I feel like I could finally be myself around her?" Will fired back, angerous.
Sophie shook her head. "You aren't yourself around her? You aren't the brother I've had when I first met you again in the Gold Coast..." Sophie said slowly. "You don't care for diving anymore? That's your passion!"
"My passion is diving. And I still do care for it. But Bella's reminded me that diving for fun... It feels twenty timesbetter than diving in competitions, records, or any of that sort. And she was right! She wasn't lying to make me forget about diving! She was telling the truth for me to enjoy diving more! And I do enjoy diving more! More than ever. And at the same time, I could have her in my life! That's better than just diving alone in competitions. Way better," Will insisted.
"You've just lost your head Will. Are you saying it doesn't feel right to be in competitions? To be a champion?!" Sophie paused, looking at him, furious. "How could you not enjoy being a champion? A world-known star?!"
"Maybe because I don't care what strangers think of me. I care of what Bella thinks of me, and my friends think of me," Will protested. "And life isn't about being a world-known star. It's about living your life to the fullest. And living life so you could have fun."
Sophie just shook her head. "If you became a star-than... Who knows how much fun you could've had? Who knows how much more fun you would've had? Who knows anything of your future that you could've had, but you tossed it away! You might've met someone like Bella. Someone way better than Bella!" Sophie rolled her eyes. "You could've found someone else. Someone who supported you in your dreams, not someone who wanted you to give up everything for herself!"
"Bella didn't make me give up diving. Bella supported my dream like no one else. Because she didn't want me to give up diving. She wanted me to dive for fun, for the joy of it. Not the competitions where only you could think of yourself, and your pride," Will argued. "By now. I am sure that I am in love with Bella."
"You're just... Will... How could you say that?! After all our years of training, practice... The hard work, the sweat... Everything. And you suddenly meet Bella and claim you're 'in' love with Bella. Believe me, that's not what love is like. She's just messed with your head to much," Sophie shrugged the image of Bella off her shoulder. "You know. If mum was here. She wouldn't be proud of you... She would be nowhere near proud, just disappointed."
"Then let them be. I don't care. I've found what I want. And that's just four things. Bella, friends, my passion, and my life. If I have all of that, I'll be happy." Will said coldly, glaring at her sister. "It doesn't matter what you think. I'll love Bella, and I'll love my friends, and I'll have my passion and life right in front of me."
"Oh?" Sophie said, surprised, but not giving up easily. "What if Bella told you she was moving across the world? You know, you haven't even thought of this one fact. You'll be leaving in a few weeks. Then what? You can't be with Bella anymore. You must find a new girl... A new love for you. Cause Bella obviously doesn't care enough about you to argue and protest to her parents for her to stay. She doesn't care for you, Will. And that's why she's dragged you here."
"That's not true, Soph. She wasn't the one to get the great idea to have a trip for us to move here. It wasn't her at all. So why blame it on her? Anyways, if she doesn't return to the Gold Coast... Then..." Will trailed off. Honestly, he had nothing to say. He couldn't say anything. What could I say? I love Bella unconditionally. There's nothing else to it. "I'll stay here."
Sophie's eyes widened and she didn't hesitate to scream. "WHAT?!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Her mouth seemed to tear open as wide as possible and her eyeballs seemed to fall out of her eyes.
"I said. I'd stay here. I'd sacrifice that much for her." Will asnwered slowly.
At the same time Will had finished, Dr. Denman entered as long as Charlotte and they were pulling on someone else's arms. The darkness hid the person, but Will could probably guess who it was. Bella. Bella stepped out of the shadows and locked eyes with Will, pleading for help. "Bella!" Will recognized her. "Dr. Denman... Charlotte. What are you doing here with her?"
Charlotte snorted and rolled her brown eyes. "Of course we're here with Bella. You didn't think we were going to let her off so easily, right?" Charlotte shook her head. "Now... I'd suggest you not bother us. Or we'd prefer you go up there. Without us."
Will shook his head firmly. "No." He didn't seem like he was going to change his decision. "What are you planning?" He glared at all three of them. "Sophie. What are you guys going to do...?!"
Bella mouthed a 'please help' and Will nodded and locked eyes with her, then looked back to Sophie. "We're not planning anything bad. We're just doing a teeny expirement," Sophie laughed.
Will looked at her in horror. The word expirement was never good. Especially when you knew a mermaid was involved. "No. Sophie, why would you do this? Why would you be on their side? Why would you do this to me?" Will asked in terror. The least thing he wanted was Bella to be in danger or at risk of becoming an artifact in a museum, or an animal in an aquarium. "You can't do this, Soph. How could you even think of doing something so cruel?"
"Oh? This is cruel? Think of what you've done. You've wasted my time on you, just to give up diving for Bella," Sophie spoke as if Bella weren't in the room once again. Bella flinched as Sophie sent daggers in her icy glare towards her. "And you. Bella. You've ruined Will's life completely. You deserve this," She snarled.
"No one deserves something like this, Sophie. You've said several times I've lost my head. Blah, blah, blah. But you know the truth? You know what really happened in reality? I wasn't the one who lost my head. You were the one who lost your head with competitions! What's money when you've got friends? What's money when you have everything you need?! How do they compare?" Will fired back furiously. "Money could buy you anything. Anything but a life, love, and happiness. I have that all right here."
"I haven't lost my head." Sophie simply replied. "You're just too proud to admit that you've made a mistake."
Sorry if you thought that was a short chapter! That honestly was kind of a short chapter but I've been trying to update as much as possible. Every time as soon as I'm done with a chapter, I upload, and right now today, I've uploaded 2 chapters already. One for Back to Ireland, the other for Mermaids and Mermen. I'll try to update a new chapter to A Mermaid Tale as well, if you even know or read that story. It's about the 4 OCs if you're interested.
Please don't expect me to update the story again that fast! I'll do my best for more length, and more meaning in each chapter. And currently I'm working on a new fanfiction, really 2 new fanfictions for H2O. If you are interested in those, they will be uploaded in a month or two. But in between I'll still be updating these stories!
Thanks guys for all the reviews! It really means a lot that people actually read my story, and enjoy it. It's been so fun writing it, and I hope you guys enjoy reading my stories as well! Again, thanks for all you reviewers (you know who you are, guest or user), you guys really do keep me updating! And remember to review honest thoughts please! The worst thing is reading a review full of lies.
Anyways, I love hearing what you guys think, and enjoy the next chapters of this story when I update! ILYASM 3
~Elysa~