Chapter 12: Too Close for Comfort

Lewis had been staring at his computer screen for so long that he finally had to turn away because the words were losing focus. Like usual, he was trying to find out more about the girls and how they got their mermaid powers but nothing was making sense to him. He couldn't find the science behind why a full moon gave them their powers, and it was starting to annoy him.

For the past four days he had been sitting in the library, trying to find anything he could about the full moon but he came up with nothing. Also, he was starting to annoy Cleo with his constant searching. She kept telling him to embrace what had happened to them because it made them happy, but he couldn't let it go for fear that they would be discovered one day.

Also he, under Zane's watch, spent hours researching the super humans and anything he could find about them. Lewis couldn't find a way to get it through Zane's head that they didn't exist because he was being as hard headed as ever. Plus, Lewis himself was starting to believe in the accusations. A year before he didn't think mermaids existed until he found out his friends' secret, so who says there's no such thing as super humans?

"Lewis, are you coming?" Cleo's annoyed voice broke through his thoughts. He spun around in his chair to face Cleo who was standing behind him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh...I'm sorry Cleo, I have all this work to do-" Lewis was interrupted by Cleo's heavy sigh and an eyeroll. "Cleo, I'm this close to being able to find out why the moon was what gave you your powers. I can't leave yet."

"Fine, I'll just walk with the girls then." She spun on her heel and stomped out of the room. Lewis sighed and ran a hand over his face.

Cleo pushed open the door to the library and left, noticing Rikki leaning against the wall, looking at her i-pod screen. She looked up and turned off her i-pod as Cleo fell into step with her. "Trouble in paradise?" Rikki asked, breaking the silence.

"No...Lewis is just busy working...all the time," Cleo sighed. "I don't get it; he always made time for me before. Why not now?"

"Uh...Cleo, he's a boy," Rikki pointed out. "Guys only have a one track mind. Once something's in it, it's there until they fill it with something else." Cleo noticed that she said this somewhat bitterly.

"What's going on between you and Zane now?" Cleo asked.

"Nothing," Rikki replied. "Same ol', same ol'. But enough about us, Ash and Emma are what I want to know about. Something's up with him and I won't rest until I find out what it is. Everytime Emma goes near him to ask him something he gives a bad excuse."

"I thought I was the only one who noticed that," Cleo said as her eyes widened.

"Noticed what?" Emma asked, squeezing her way between the two girls and smiled brightly. Rikki shifted her gaze while Cleo bit her lip and tired to come up with an excuse. "Whatever, I need to talk to you two about something important." She paused. "Actually, Riley told me about this." She looked around them to make sure no one was paying attention but lowered her voice anyway. "Remember when you fainted, Cleo? And you kept muttering something about the darkness?"

Cleo shuttered as she nodded at the memory. She held onto her arms, looking at the floor. She hated being surrounded by the darkness. She hated feeling cold, scared, and alone. "Yeah, I remember," she muttered.

"Riley told me that it darkness trying to take you over," Emma replied.

"Darkness?" Rikki repeated, before scoffing. "Riight, the darkness is so scary."

"Will you be serious for once?" Emma snapped. "I'm sure they wouldn't have told us this if it weren't important. They have more on their plate then we do."

"Really? How? They aren't the ones that turn into fish every time they touch water," Rikki pointed out.

"I'm being serious, Rikki."

"So am I!" She shot back. "Why do you always think I'm making a joke out of something?"

"Because you always make a joke out of something."

"Girls, please!" Cleo begged, trying to stop the two glaring blonds from starting an argument. "Not now."

"Why are you always on my case?" Rikki demanded, ignoring Cleo. "You always look at me as if I'm some sort of...street urchin or something!"

"I don't think that, Rikki!" Emma shot back. "What I do think is that you should get some sensitivity instead of making a joke out of something serious all of the time!"

"So sue me for wanting to make my life fun for once!"

"You can't always have fun!"

"Watch me!"

Cleo and Emma watched as Rikki stomped down the hall. She shoved people out of her way before turning the corner. Cleo sighed and glanced at Emma who had her arms crossed over her chest and a stony look on her face. Once Emma noticed that Cleo was staring at her she turned and raised her eyebrow. "You could've dropped it," Cleo sighed. "Why do you two always fight? You could avoid it you know."

"Rikki never takes things seriously," Emma muttered as they continued down the hall. "She has t learn life isn't full of fun and games. There are times when you need to be serious."

"Emma...are you sure your anger isn't fueled by Ash?" Cleo asked hesitantly.

"Ash has nothing to do with this!" Emma hissed.

"Are you sure?"

Suddenly a classroom door burst open and Nate and Zane ran out of it. Nate, carrying a tray of paint water, wasn't paying attention and crashed into Emma and Cleo. They didn't have time to move before the paint jars were jostled enough so water sloshed onto them.

"Nate!" They both shrieked as Zane's eyes got wide.

"Relax, girls, it's just paint water," Nate said, laughing gleefully at the soaked girls.

"Girls, run!"Zane hissed.

Cleo grabbed Emma's arm and the two girls dashed down the hall. Cleo threw apologies over her shoulder when they accidentally hit the other students. Cleo didn't bother to say anything when her elbow hit Charlotte's books and knocked them to the floor.

"You could've at least said you're sorry!" Charlotte yelled back at her.

"What's with those girls? They've gotten so weird lately," Nate commented as he shook his head and checked to make sure that none of the jars had broken in their collision.

"They're girls, why try to understand them?" Zane questioned. "Anyway, about those super humans I've been telling you about, Dad pulled out of the research for it so now I don't have access to anything he has on his computer."

"Bummer, man," Nate muttered. "What are you going to do now?"

"Get Lewis to find stuff for me, what else?" Zane asked. "He's some sort of...geeky genius, if he can find anything about them then he can."

"Why Lewis? Can't you find someone less geeky to find information?"

"Do you know anyone else that can help me?"

"I might be of some assistance."

-----

Crystal tapped her fingers on the table as she stared at the clock, begging for time to go by faster. She was stuck in there for the next ten minutes because she was paired with Byron on a project, which she really wanted to fail just to get away from him.

"So, we can do a visual aid on this and we're sure to get an A," Byron said as he pointed at the computer screen.

"Mhm," Crystal muttered distractedly as she looked up at the clock again.

"Umm, which part do you want to do? The research or the construction?" He asked, trying to make conversation.

"It doesn't matter," she said in a dismissive tone as she looked out the window. She envied the students that were outside, practicing or leaving to go home for the day. She would kill to be able to leave and get away from Byron. He was one of the few guys at the school who didn't constantly hit on her, which she was grateful for, but he didn't give her the space she needed. And right now, she felt that she would explode if he asked her one more questioned. She really wanted an excuse to get away so she could get to her job.

The beep of her cell phone caused her to jump and she dug into her pockets for it. Saved by the text. She flipped open her phone and read the two words that Riley had texted her: Teg Tuo. Crystal's eyes shifted from her text message to the window where she could see Patrick, Noah, and Sydney running out of the Elementary school in the distance, which signaled that they got the text too.

"I have to go!" Crystal said as she jumped up, sweeping her books into her bag.

"We still have ten minutes," Byron said as he looked up at the clock.

"It's an emergency," she told him.

"You don't have to lie," he muttered as he turned back to the computer screen. "I know that you don't really want to be here with me. You could've just said so instead of coming up with an excuse to get out of here."

"It's not an excuse," Crystal muttered as she looked out the window again to see Noah throwing down his bag before racing forward and kicking at Koto. "It is an emergency. Really, I can't afford to fail."

"Great, so I'll meet you here tomorrow," Byron said as he spun around and flashed her a smile, causing his dimples to form in his cheeks.

"Are you blackmailing me?"

"That's not blackmail. That's just moving towards what we both want. See you later."

Crystal fought over whether or not she should just leave or knock his head off but the sound of a body crashing into a wall made her decision for her. She dashed down the hallway and pushed open the closest double doors to her. She squeezed her eyes shut when the bright light hit her. She quickly jumped out of the way when Kotaro aimed a punch at her head.

"Why here?"

-----

"Emma, this isn't funny, get the door open," Cleo said as she slapped her tail against the ground. Emma and Cleo had dashed to the janitor's closet after Nate splashed them with water. In the process of getting inside they knocked over the container of water that was in the janitor's bucket. The water spilled all over the floor and somehow they got locked in so they were stuck in their mermaid forms locked in the janitor's closet for the rest of the day.

"I can't, Cleo," Emma replied as she pushed her wet hair out of her face and flopped back onto the ground with a loud smack. "Rikki probably went home by now. Ash probably went to work."

"Lewis would probably be in the library," Cleo concluded. "We're stuck here. No one's going to notice we're gone except for our parents, but by the time they find out we'll be in so much trouble."

Emma sat thinking for a while. She looked at the water on the ground before looking over at the bucket that had tipped over. A smile spread on her face as she pulled herself over to the bucket and lifted it upright.

"Cleo, can you-" Emma's words died on her lips when she heard the doorknob turning. Cleo and Emma exchanged scared glances.

"Why won't this door open?" They heard a voice mutter on the other side.

"Charlotte!" The girls hissed in unison.

"Cleo, quick, move the water off of us and the ground and back into the bucket," Emma told her as she kept glancing back and forth between the door. "Hurry!"

Cleo nodded and raised her hand, bending her fingers slightly as she concentrated on moving the water. Emma bit her lip and kept her eyes on the door as the knob continued to jiggle. She could feel the water slowly pulling away from her as the sound of keys swinging on a chain grabbed her attention. "I'm almost done," Cleo whispered.

The door swung open and light flooded the janitor's closet. Charlotte and the janitor peered into the room as Emma picked something up in the corner and Cleo turned around and flashed a bright smile.

"What're you two ladies doing in here?" The janitor asked.

"We noticed that someone had thrown up in the Science lab so we were going to put this sawdust over it for you," Emma said with a bright smile as Cleo nodded in agreement.

"Thank you ladies, but there is no need," the janitor said with a smile. "You ladies should be going on home now."

"Yes sir." Emma and Cleo rushed out of the janitor's closet and brushed past Charlotte.

"That was too close," Cleo muttered.

"Now, what was it that you wanted?" The janitor asked, turning to Charlotte.

"Oh...I just heard those two were stuck in there and I came for you to get them out," Charlotte replied.

"That's very nice of you. If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to cleaning."

Charlotte nodded before walking down the hall. Once she turned the corner she clenched her hands into fists to keep from screaming out loud. She almost had them. She was so close to getting them she could feel it, but somehow they found their way out of her trap. I have to think of something better to get them.

A/N: Gosh, I have a drawn out plot for this story and yet it still comes out jumpy in my chapters. Hmm, I'm going to have to fix that. Anyway, the reason I haven't updated a lot is because of school. Lame excuse, I know, but I will try to update more often. You'll see more of the twins' family and more of Ash, Kim and Elliot, and more of Dr. Denman too. Everything will make sense soon, hang in there.

~Crystal

P.S. I don't know why this chapter is centered, I'll get it fixed soon.