Zac walked into his bungalow to find his parents waiting for him. They were both standing in the middle of his room with their arms crossed.
"Good evening Zac." His mother said. Zac noticed the bitter tone in her voice.
"Mum. Dad. What's up?" Zac asked, nonchalantly.
"Sit down Zac. We have a lot to talk about." Rob said gesturing to the couch. Zac took the hint and sat down. His mother sat next to him and his father sat on the chair next to them.
"Zac, your mother and I are very concerned about your recent behavior."
"Your dad is right. You are not acting like yourself lately. You've changed honey. You seem to have a change of interest lately and to be completely honest, it is starting to worry us. I mean, going through change is perfectly normal for a boy your age, but you seemed to have changed overnight." Lauren explained, putting her hand on Zac's knee.
"I-I don't know what you mean." Zac mumbled.
"I think you know exactly what we are talking about. First you quit the swim team, which is totally fine with us. But then you quit your job as a lifeguard and start acting so weird. And then these girls show us and…"
"Those girls are my friends." Zac interrupted his father. "And they have done nothing wrong."
"Do you mean to tell me that those girls have nothing to do with your recent changes?" Lauren asked.
This took Zac back a little. "Changes? What changes?" Zac asked carefully. He wondered what they knew.
"Would you care to explain to us why you and your sister jumped off the dock and into the water fully clothed this afternoon?" Rob questioned his son.
Zac's eyes widened. "You saw that? Why were you spying on us?" Zac practically yelled, standing up. His parents looked at each other.
"We weren't spying on you honey. We were just looking out the window when we saw you two jump in. I admit, we did follow you to see where you went, but you both didn't resurface. We were worried about you. We called Evie to ask her where you two would have gone to, but she told us not to worry. Why is it that she seems to know more about you than we do?" Lauren asked her son.
Zac walked away from his parents and walked up to his window. He stared out onto the sea. The sun was starting to set. He wondered what his friends were doing right now.
A hand was placed on Zac's shoulder. Zac jumped and looked over at his mother.
Lauren sighed. "Zac, please talk to us. We are worried about you. It's not like you to keep secrets from us."
Rob nodded as he walked up behind his wife and looked at his son. "If this whole thing is about finding out that you are adopted, we can…" Rob started.
"No, I'm not upset about that. I've just gone through some changes recently that I really don't want to talk about right now." Stated Zac.
"It just doesn't make any sense. You look perfectly healthy and I know that you would talk to someone if things were wrong mentally. Heck, you tell Evie everything and she would tell us if anything was wrong." Rob said with a sigh.
"You know, it all started with that night you and Cam went camping on Mako Island. Ever since that night, things have been off with you." Lauren stated.
Zac took a step back and looked at his parents. Thoughts raced through his head. He could just tell them everything. But he would be putting everyone he loved in danger. Land people would jump at the opportunity of merfolk. No one would be safe. The pod would have to leave Mako again. His sister would have to leave too. And what about him? He could either leave everyone he loves and go with the pod, or he could stay where he was and be experimented on. His life would never be the same either way. Nope, telling his parents was not an option. But lying to those he loved was starting to take a toll on Zac. It was exhausting, but it was the only way to keep his family in the sea safe.
Lauren and Rob could both see that their son having an internal conversation with himself. And whatever it was, it really seem to be bothering him.
"Zac? Are you okay?" Lauren asked Zac.
Zac looked at his parents. They could see the fear in his eyes. Fear and uncertainty. But what was causing these emotions were a complete mystery to his parents. They didn't know what to do. They haven't dealt with anything like this before. It wasn't like Zac to keep secrets from them. He was usually pretty open with them.
"Look, I'm pretty tired. Can we continue this conversation tomorrow?" Zac asked his parents. He was so done with today.
His parents looked at each other and shrugged. There was no use trying to pry the problem out of their son at this hour. Both of his parents bid him goodnight before they exited the bungalow.
Zac changed into his sleepwear, brushed his teeth and went straight to bed. He fell asleep almost instantly.
Meanwhile, Rob and Lauren were sitting at the table, trying to discuss the recent events.
"You don't think that he is in danger, do you?" Lauren asked her husband.
"I doubt it. Zac is a good kid. Besides, it's not like he is the kind of teen that goes looking for trouble." Rob said, trying to comfort his wife.
"Maybe we should call somebody. Someone like Principal Santos. Zac is always spending time at her house due to her nieces living there. Maybe she would know something. It wouldn't hurt to ask."
"I don't know. Would she still be up?" Rob asked looking at the clock. It was going on 10:00pm and it was a school night.
"It wouldn't hurt to try." Lauren stood up and picked up the home phone. After the dinner party, Principal Santos gave them their home number just in case they needed to call one of the girls. Weilan was the only one who had a cellphone out of the three girls.
Dialing the number, Lauren waited for someone to answer the phone. On the third ring, a feminine voice answered.
"Hello, Santos residence. Weilan speaking."
"Weilan, hi. It's Lauren Blakely, Zac's mum. We met at the café. I was wondering if Rita was there?"
"Oh, Hi. Umm, I believe she is still awake. Hold on let me check." Rumbling came from the other side of the line. It sounded like Weilan was going up some stairs and through a sliding door of some sort. Lauren could faintly hear the girl say "Shoo Poseidon, those are my prawns. You already had your dinner." More noise came from the phone as some people were having a conversation.
Finally, Rita answered the phone. "Good evening Lauren. What can I help you with?"
"I was wondering if you knew what was going on with Zac." Lauren asked hesitantly. Rob listened closely to the conversation.
"Something is wrong with Zac? I haven't noticed any strange behavior lately. Why? What happened?"
"It's just, Zac seems different. He is always gone and his personality has changed. Rob and I believe that he is hiding something from us. He always seems to be at your house hanging out with your nieces, and we were just wondering if you had any explanation to this strange behavior?"
"Zac's a teenager Lauren. Every parent believes that their child is hiding something from them. From what I have observed, Zac is a perfectly normal kid." Rita answered, trying to put the merman's mother off track.
"Rob has some questions too, if you don't mind."
Rita sighed on the other end. "I'll tell you what. Zac was planning to come to my house tomorrow after school to hang out with my nieces. Why don't you and Rob stop by and have dinner with all of us. Then we can get all questions answered while having a nice meal. How does that sound?"
"That sounds perfect. We will come by after school and have a talk then. Thank you Rita." Lauren said.
"Have a goodnight Lauren. And don't worry. Everything will be fine."
The two women hung up their phones.
Back at the Santos house, Rita turned to Weilan.
"Text Zac for me. Tell him the plan and encourage him to come up with as many excuses as he can. Tomorrow will surely be an interesting day."
Okay, here's the thing. I have been in writers block for a while now, and I am finally getting out of it. That is why there is two chapters today. My fingers kept flowing so I was like hey, why not make the most of it and post two chapters in one day. I hope you like this one.
~Moonlight Mermaids