Another long chap today! I'm really getting in the story now, so you can expect long chapters! Enjoy!

That night I decided to sleep in the moon pool. As I swam there, I felt strange. I hadn't felt this way before. It was like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, probably because I saw Rita again.

But I was so worried about Allie. What if she couldn't go back. What if the island would keep teleporting her to the moon pool every night.

Also, why did the moon pool give her a tail in the first place. I had so many questions, and nobody to answer them. What if Allie wasn't the the only weird thing that happened. What if that was just the start? And the full moon was only a week or so away. What if another girl would get teleportated to Mako?

I was so stressed I totally forgot about the upcoming testweek in landschool. When I woke up after an almost sleepless night, I just wanted to stay there. And it kept circling in my mind. I was more than 20 hours flying away from my house. I could just stay there, live with Rita and eventually go back to the pod. Living with the pod was a life without stress, the opposite of living on land. Have you ever wondered why dolphins are always happy?

As I said, I could stay there and just forget about my life on land. I almost did, but there was one major thing that I couldn't forget about. Lily. She was the first one on land to ask me if I wanted to sit with her. She didn't think I acted weird. When I couldn't tell what something was, she didn't laugh at me. She just explained and didn't ask any other questions. I didn't want to leave her. She didn't deserve that. What she deserved was a loyal friend.

I decided to teleport back home. And a second later I lay in my bed, thousands of miles away from Mako. I pushed myself trough the day, but it was hard. I hardly slept that night and I was so tired. When I finished school the first thing I did was giving Lily a hug. A very strong, long hug. 'I'll never leave you, I promise.' I said. 'I know, I love you Ava.' Lily was the reason I stayed on land. At day.

When I went to bed, I immediately teleportated and swam to Rita's. When I got there I started crying. I didn't know why, I just kept crying and when Rita walked in, she tried to calm me and after a few minutes I stopped crying. 'I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry.. I-I just want to stay here but I don't want to leave Lily and my other friends.. But being here feels so good. Not having to worry about anything. Land stresses me out and I can't handle it. I-I.. ' I sighed. I was really upset. 'Listen, Ava. There is a solution for everything. I can't think of one right now, but calm down. This is not the end of the world. Crying is okay, expressing your emotions is okay. Just breathe in,breathe out. Well done, now repeat. In.. and out. See?' Rita really helped me.

A little stress relieved with every breath. 'I know, it's just that I want to tell Lily so bad. It'd be so much easier. She'd understand me.' I said it. I told Rita what has been going on in my mind ever since Lily became my friend. 'Ava.. Do you really think that's necessary? Don't make any conclusions so fast. You're emotional.' 'I am not making any conclusions right now. I've been wanting to tell her since I first met her. Don't you think it'd be easier? If I told her, she probably would freak out at first, but I know we can trust her. Maybe I can even take her to Mako! Do you think I can teleport two people?' I had a big mood swing. I was so hyped up about telling Lily, I didn't even think of Isabelle for once. 'Listen.. I don't know Lily. She doesn't know who you really are. I understand she is a good friend, but do you really need to tell her? What if she tells everyone about you?' Rita said. 'She won't. What if I tell her a small secret first, to see if she will tell others? If she can keep it, I'm sure she'll keep mine too!' I said happily.

'Finding out mermaids exist and your best friend is one, is not the same as a small secret. I understand your feelings and why you want to tell her, but just don't okay? Not yet.. Maybe one day. Just not yet.'

Rita told me something that was true. If Lily found out I was a mermaid, she'd really freak out. She wouldn't believe it, even if I showed her. She would think she was dreaming. What if she would take a picture and put it on the internet? Our cover would have been blown. I agreed with what Rita said, but there was still that small sense that told me I had to. I pushed it away and answered Rita. 'I understand.. It's just.. s-school and everythi..' I started crying again. Why now. Why is it so hard. Why couldn't I just go back to the pod and never worry about all this again. But then I'd lose Lily. And that was something I didn't want to happen. 'Thanks for calming me. I have a lot to process now, but I'll manage it. I'll just sleep at Mako and teleport back tomorrow morning.' I said, sighing.

Rita gave me a warm look. 'Speaking of teleportation, do you think you can teleport Allie back to Sydney? You can borrow my moon ring if that'll help?' I nodded ' I think I can do that. Where is she? ' Rita smiled. 'Thank you. She's upstairs, I'll go get her.' Allie walked down the stairs in the grotto and greeted me. 'I need a description of your bedroom, so I can focus on that place.' I told Allie. 'Of course.' She showed images of her room, told me about every single detail and the exact place. I was ready to teleport her back home. I hold her hand and did my thing. I focused on her room, the room only. I focused a little harder and one second later we were in Sydney. She thanked me and then went downstairs.

I teleported back to Rita's and that was it. 'Come on, go to Mako. Go get some rest. You'll be fine. Will you come back tomorrow? I hopefully have sorted out Allie then.' Rita said with a warm smile. 'Thank you, I will.' I jumped in the pool and as soon as my tail formed I headed for Mako.

The next morning at school Lily ran to me and gave me a hug. 'Hi bestie! Want to hang out today? We can watch a movie?' I replied 'Sure! Can't wait.'

And after school when we got to Lily's, she told me she already picked out a movie called 'Mermaids'

I was a little uncomfortable when she told me, but I knew it was going to be fake, so I tried to nod and smile.

The movie was about a land girl who was an olympic swimmer. Then one day, she was hiking and fell in a stone pool. Not the moon pool, but it looked like it. She got out, but the next day when she took a shower, she sprouted a tail. It was similar to mine exept that it was blue. At that moment I must have looked shocked because Lily asked me if I was okay. Then the girl found out she was destined to be a mermaid. Then she saved the world from a meteorite and the movie ended.

Lily kept on talking and talking about the movie 'This looked so real! I'm almost going to believe in mermaids.. The costume was so realistic, the special effects were wonderful! Do you believe in mermaids Ava?' I coughed and took a breath. 'There are much more mysteries in the world than we think. You know, 90% of the ocean is unexplored by humans.' I tried to say it, but I kept thinking about what Rita said yesterday. Lily laughed. 'What's with the mysterious type suddenly? You sound like you know something. And I want to know what.' I chuckled nervously. 'I don't know anything, I watched a documentary about it, that's all.' Lily laughed even harder. 'You watched a documentary about mermaids?' 'Not exactly, the documentary was called: secrets of the deep. It was about how little we know about marine life and the ocean. There was a small part about mermaids.'

I lied. I never watched a documentary, I mean I knew more about the ocean than any human does. Let's hope she won't google it or something. 'Ohh that sounds interesting! Is it on. Netflix?'

Oh no. 'Uhm I don't remember. I think I watched it in Croatia.' But Lily was determined. 'I'm just going to google it, maybe I can watch it online.' No no no! She'll see I made it up. She'll suspect even more. 'Uh sure..' Then she googled it and I stood there awkwardly, waiting for her to find out I lied. As she scrolled she began to sigh. 'I can't find it. Is it even a real movie? Come on Ava, I know you better than anyone. I can see you're lying. Why are you lying about some dumb mermaids?' The thing I was so scared of happened.

Should I tell her.. I didn't know. But somewhere I felt I had to. I took a deep breath. I was going to tell Lily my deepest secret.

CLIFFHANGER! I'm sorry but this was a good point to end this chapter. I hope you enjoyed! Love, Mimi :)