A/N: Yo-yo, guess who? Emmy! Kat keeps sneezing -_- Sorry for the long wait. Busy, you know?

Chapter Eleven

Lolly's POV

I slowly glide through the crystal ocean, surrounded by schools of fish, and running my hand over a cluster of coral. Suddenly, I come to an abrupt halt. Looking at my surroundings, I reflect on how amazing the gift I have is. I especially love the way that the vast blue ocean can always brighten up my day, even on the dullest Monday ever. I've really come to appreciate the beauty of the underwater world since becoming a transformer or whatever you want to call me. I suppose it's all the same. Whilst transformers transform into their dumb robotic state, I can transform into a fish. Anyway, I'm getting off of the topic. As I was saying – uh, thinking – I know that being a mermaid can sometimes be a major pain, but most girls would give anything to have the secret that I share with Mel, Becca and Emily.

I smile at the three girls who are drifting in the water beside me. My best friends. They're part of what makes this secret even more amazing.

I know.

Wait. Who said that? It certainly wasn't me. I look in confusion and the others to see that they all have the same look on their face. So they heard it too.

Yep.

Uh… This is kind of freaking me out. No one can speak underwater. And how are they answering my thoughts, anyway? Unless…

Are we reading each other's minds…? I ask in my head uncertainly.

Apparently, Emily's voice comes back. Now that I've realised what's going on, I can actually feel her words echoing in my mind until they fade away. Weird.

Why? Mel asks.

I have no idea, Becca replies.

Maybe we should ask our parents, I suggest.

Good idea, Emily agrees.

"Hey Mum," I greet as my mum walks into the kitchen. She smiles.

"Hi Lolly. Have you been with the other girls?"

"Yeah. Actually, I was meaning to ask you about something that happened when I was with them today."

Mum turns to look at me properly while I speak.

"Well it was really weird. Basically, we were all swimming and I was just thinking, then I suddenly heard another voice in my head. And I looked at the others, and they were all looking confused. And after a while, we realised that we were listening to each other's thoughts. So we were wondering if anything like that ever happened to you?"

Mum frowns. "I think something like that happened once or twice. I remember sometimes I would be thinking to myself, then suddenly I'd hear another voice in my head. It happened rarely, and I could never figure out what it was, so I just let it go. But now that you mention it, the voices did sound like Emma, Cleo and Bella…"

"Okay, thanks. Well I'll go and tell the girls," I say, taking my phone out of my bag and starting a three way call with Mel, Becca and Emily as I walk up the stairs.

"God, yesterday was so weird," Emily says.

"I know," I reply, nodding. Emily and I grabbed a table in the canteen before it got too crowded, and we're sitting here waiting for Becca and Mel. We're talking about the mind reading thing yesterday while we wait and eat.

"Do you think Lewis has found out anything else about it yet?" Emily asks. Mel's dad said that he would look into this thing when he had time.

"Probably not. I mean, I don't think it's even been twenty four hours since it happened."

"Oh, right."

"Hey, I have an idea!" I suddenly exclaim after a few moments of silence.

"What?" Emily asks. I look around to make sure that no one's listening, and lower my voice to a whisper.

"Let's try and read each other's minds right now, and see if it works. Y'know, if we do an experiment of our own while we're waiting for Lewis to find out anything."

"Sure. So what, if we just… think to each other…?"

"I guess."

Okay, uh, hey, I say. (A/N: Thoughts are still written as if they're being spoken but you can tell they're being thought because they are in italics, not speech marks.) I wait for a minute. No answer. I look up at Emily and she shrugs. Then Becca and Mel come along and sit down opposite me and Em.

"Did you guys just… um… think to us?" Mel asks.

I narrow my eyes. "Well Emily and I were testing to see if the mind reading would work again so we just thought to each other. But we didn't hear anything except our own thoughts. I guess you guys did though…"

Becca sighs. "This is so weird…"

Understatement, I think, concentrating on sending my thoughts to Becca. Apparently, she hears them, because she looks at me with a raised eyebrow and sighs again.

After my three best friends and I have finished eating our lunch, we go our separate ways. While Emily, Becca and Mel head to do their own things, I go to my locker to grab my biology textbook. Not that I'm going to study. I just need it for my next lesson, although I still have about twenty five minutes to go. I like to be prepared, see (JOKE).

"Lolly!" a voice suddenly calls out. Oh God. No. Not her. Please. Anybody but her. Unfortunately, it is her, because after a few seconds, I turn around to face Penny Allen, also known as Demented Fake Blonde.

"What?" I ask, not bothering to mask the displeasure from my voice.

"Chill, Lols, it's just me, Penny."

"That's the point. And you can call me Lola."

"I know, Lolly."

Grr.

"Shut up. What do you want?"

Penny mocks hurt. "Is that really any way to treat an old friend?"

"My point exactly. An old friend. You're not my friend anymore, Penny. So seriously, what do you want?"

"Alright, alright, fine. Look, I just wanted to invite you to my birthday party."

I narrow my eyes and take a step back. "But… why…?" I ask suspiciously.

"Because I just do." Penny hands me a dark pink card, complete with pale pink feathers around the edge (is this girl for real?). I back away even more after I take it from her.

"Okay Penny, yeah, it was lovely chatting to you, I had a wonderful time, it was great to catch up with you and all, but I really have to go now to… uh… study," I babble, saying the first activity that pops into my head. Pfft. Studying. As if. But luckily for me, Penny seems to believe the unbelievable.

"Studying's for wimps," she says, smirking, and turns on her heel. Once she's turned a corner and is completely out of sight, I sigh with relief, and walk over to my locker to get my chemistry textbook. No, wait, I have biology next. Ugh, that girl gets me so mixed up. I sigh, and check my phone for any text messages or missed calls before taking out my textbook and slamming my locker door shut. Then I turn to the right.

Two words:
Big. Mistake.

The boy standing in front of me has tousled black hair and brown eyes so deep that you could easily get lost staring into them forever. He has a tanned complexion, and his lips are tilted up into a lopsided grin as he speaks.

"Hey Lolly. Long time, no see, huh?"

After an eternity of shifting from foot to foot, gaping, I find the courage from somewhere to finally say something. Anything. Including, "Oh shit," which is exactly what I whisper.