Edited

Chapter Three

Becca's POV

I wake up to the sound of my mobile phone playing the song Where We Belong by Kate Alexa. This means that the phone call I'm receiving is from one of two people - either Mel or Lolly. I set this ringtone for both the girls because it most certainly relates to our mermaid situation.

I check the screen and the caller ID tells me that it's from Mel. I answer it.

"Hey Mel," I greet. "What's up?"

"Can Lolly and I get to your house a little earlier this morning?"

"Okay. Why?"

"'Cause, you know, the locket…"

"Oh, yeah, sure."

"K. So in about half an hour?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Right. I'll let Lolly know. See you then."

"Bye." I cut off the call before hopping out of bed and getting ready for school.

"Shut up!" I shout at Lolly as I thrust the front door open.

She simply shrugs and lets go of the doorbell that she's been pressing on for the past half a minute or so. "You were taking ages, so I thought you might not have heard."

I scowl. "You're lucky my parents were already awake." Then I step to the side of the doorway to let Mel and Lolly inside.

"So where is it?" Lolly asks. I point towards the ceiling to show that the necklace is in my bedroom. Lolly nods before walking down the hallway and up the stairs like it's her own house. "Hey Mrs. D," I hear her say as she presumably passes my mother on the landing. I roll my eyes at Mel and she and I follow Lolly upstairs. When we reach my room, Lolly's already sitting on my bed, still wearing her bright blue and white trainers.

I raise an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"What?" Lolly asks, faking innocence.

I sigh then sit down on the bed too. "Never mind."

There's a short pause while Mel sits down too, then, "Ahem." Lolly - again!

"What now?!" I exclaim incredulously.

"The locket? You're forgetting - Mel and I can't touch it. And we don't even know where it is."

"Oh, right." At least it's a valid excuse this time. I stand up and open the top drawer on the desk next to my bed, take the locket out, then sit back down again. Mel leans forward to take a closer look at it.

"It's really pretty," she comments.

"I know," I reply, tracing the intricate design. My finger hovers over the white gemstone. "I wonder why it's white. You'd think they'd choose something a bit more… colourful."

"Maybe it represents something," Mel suggests.

"Like what?" Lolly asks.

"Well, my bet is that this used to belong to another mermaid. So who's to say it didn't represent something, er, mermaid-y?"

"You could be right." I nod.

"Yeah, okay, that makes sense. But I don't get what it's supposed to represent," Lolly persists. "I mean, we're mermaids, so wouldn't we know if it represented something?"

"But that's just it," Mel says. "Maybe you were meant to find the locket as some sort of clue. Maybe it's trying to help us find out whatever it is that the gem represents."

"Y'know, Mel, you can be really clever sometimes," I say honestly.

"Sometimes?" Mel asks, mocking hurt.

I roll my eyes, smiling. "You know what I mean. But anyway, even if you're right, we still don't know why the locket is cold, but only to you two and not me."

"Um… I don't really have an answer to that one…"

"But I think I do!" Lolly suddenly announces. Mel and I turn to her.

"Go on," I say.

"Well, what can be so cold sometimes that it burns? Ice, right? And what colour is ice? White! That could be connected somehow!"

Mel nods. "Maybe."

While Mel and Lolly discuss how they could be connected, I glance at my alarm clock. "Uh, sorry to interrupt, but we'd better get going, or we'll be late for school," I say.

"K." Lolly picks up her school bag - which I've noticed she just carelessly slung onto the floor when she entered my room - and walks through the doorway without even waiting for Mel or me.

"God, she can be annoying sometimes."

Mel smirks. "Correction: all the time."

I laugh. "Guess so."

"Are you taking the locket with you?"

I look down at the necklace wrapped around my left hand, considering, then shake my head. "I don't want it to get lost or anything." I place the locket on my desk, then pick up my own school bag. "C'mon, let's go."

"Hey Mum, I'm home!" I call out, slamming the front door shut behind me. I kick my shoes off, then pick them up and take them, along with my bag, upstairs to my bedroom. I leap onto my bed after placing my shoes side by side next to the door and hanging my bag on the hook on the back of my door - what can I say? I guess I might be a little bit of a neat freak… Then I lean over to my desk to grab the locket and… it's not there. Wait, what?! I jump off the bed and desperately scramble for the necklace on the floor but it's nowhere to be seen. And to think, not losing it is the reason why I didn't bring it to school with me…

Okay, stay calm Becca. Don't panic. Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance allows you to more easily assess the situation and see the options. When you panic, you forget to think. Think… Aha! I bet Mum cleaned my room today. Simple. I'll ask her if she's seen it.

I calmly exit my bedroom, then make my way down the stairs. I'm about to enter the kitchen - Mum's probably in there - when I hear her hushed voice, seemingly talking to nobody. Well, I suppose she's on the phone. But why is she being so quiet…?

I creep towards the kitchen and peer around the corner at my mum.

"They're identical," I hear her say.

What are identical? I wonder silently.

"The gemstone is even the same colour - white."

Wait a minute… that sound familiar… Does Mum have my locket?

After a brief pause, Mum continues, "Yes, Cleo, I know I'm probably just being paranoid. But we ditched the necklaces. How did Becca get ahold of mine?"

Well I guess that just confirmed my suspicions - Mum has my locket. Wait a minute… her locket? How is it hers? How did it end up so deep down in the ocean if it's hers? Suddenly, I realise I just missed the rest of the conversation as I hear the phone beeping as Mum hangs up. Oh well. I think I heard all I needed to. Enough to guess that my mum, along with the mums of my best friends, may have a deep dark secret of their own…

"So, what do we think? They're mermaids?" Lolly asks once I've finished telling her and Mel about our parents and the locket (lockets?).

"They can't be; we've seen all of them get wet before, right?" I puzzle, frowning.

Mel frowns too. "Maybe they aren't, but maybe… maybe they used to be…"

"No, that's just too weird," I say, shaking my head. "It would be a pretty big coincidence, don't you think?"

"Well it might not be a coincidence. Maybe we were meant to become mermaids. Maybe… maybe… um…" Mel trails off.

I sigh. "We keep saying maybe, but we need to know for sure.

"But how would we find out?" Lolly asks.

"We could ask them," Mel suggests, but instantaneously changes her mind. "No, bad idea, we might be wrong."

"We could spy on them," Lolly says.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Mel says, nodding. "Becca? What do you think? It's down to you."

"Well… um… I don't know…" I hesitate while the other two look at me pleadingly.

"Come on, Becca, please?" Lolly begs.

Finally, I give up trying to be sensible. What's it worth when you're a mermaid anyway?

"Okay, yeah, I'm in."