A Wish on a Full Moon
I do not own H2O: Just Add Water or any of the characters.
Chapter 11: Party Girls (part 1)
[Out in the middle of the ocean, Lewis sits in his boat with his fishing gear lying next to him while he reads a book on mermaid mythology. Something seems to be sneaking up on him in the water as his phone rings. He picks it up and answers it.]
"Oh Lewis, don't tell me you're in trouble now," Charlotte sighs, a little worried. Lewis chuckles as he just points to the screen for her to see what it is.
Lewis: "Hello? Yeah, just a second." He hangs the phone over the edge, not even looking at it. "It's for you." The mysterious lurker comes up, revealing itself to be Emma swimming as she grabs the phone and answers it.
Charlotte smirks, finding it a little funny how the scene played out. The others begin to laugh at it as well.
"Were you trying to scare him?" Elliot laughs. "Maybe," Emma shrugs. Lewis just smiles.
[Cleo is at her new job at the marine park inside the food preparation room. She is on the phone with Emma while wearing gloves and an apron as she holds some tongs in her other hand.]
Cleo: "So have you decided what time for the party tonight?" Hearing Emma's answer, she is shocked. "Emma, this is a tradition we're talking about."
"What party?" Will asks. "It better not be a pool party," Sam warns. "It was a slumber party," Emma informs them.
Emma: leaning over the side of the boat. "I know, but, I just don't see how I can have the party this year. Not with recent developments." Looking at Lewis, she sees him laughing while still reading.
"You can still try to live normally you know," Bella says. How would you know? Emma thinks, staring at the girl.
Emma: Cleo tells her where she is at. "Your new job. The dolphin tank at the marine park?"
Lewis: they look at one another stunned. "The what?"
"The marine park?!" Bella yells in complete shock. "When I said try to live normal, I didn't mean that much normal!"
"You got a job that involves a ton of water?" Ash asks surprised. "You got a job that involves dolphins?" Charlotte whispers quietly for nobody to hear, shaking at the thought of working with one. Annette hugs her, trying to calm her down as she notices her shaking. "Yep," Cleo replies.
Cleo: places some fish in a bucket from the bin with the tongs, still talking on the phone with Emma. "Yes, of course the tank is full of water, Emma, they're aquatic mammals. Yes, I do remember what water does to me. But, I'm not going to let that ruin my life."
"That's very brave of you," Lewis compliments, making her smile. "No more fearing water I see," Will smirks.
"Those are very obvious answers, Emma," Rikki says. "Yeah, after several weeks of being one, you'd think I would remember," Cleo chuckles, causing Emma to roll her eyes playfully.
[The door opens to the food prep room and Mrs. Geddes, Cleo's boss, walks in with a clipboard in hand. Cleo looks at her before continuing her conversation on the phone.]
Cleo: "Look, Emma, I really want to make this work."
Mrs. Geddes: looks at her on the phone. "Cleo?"
"Probably not a good idea to be on the phone on your first day," Annette says.
Cleo: "I've gotta go." She hangs up the phone and puts it and the tongs down.
Mrs. Geddes: walks to the exit door as she turns around and sees Cleo putting on a shower cap. "Cleo, are you alright?"
Cleo: "Yep. Ready when you are." She grabs the tongs and puts them in the buckets, and she picks them up, following her out the door.
"She must've thought you were crazy," Kim giggles. "See Em, I took precautions," Cleo comments, ignoring her sister's remark. "Very cautious," Emma mutters, smirking at the sight of how ridiculous Cleo looked.
"I don't dress like that anymore now," Cleo informs everyone, the others giggling as well, remembering the diving suit from before.
[Back at Lewis's boat in the ocean, Emma hangs up the phone and hands it back to Lewis.]
Emma: "She can be so stubborn sometimes." Lewis puts the phone up and continues reading.
"Hey!" Cleo yells. "I know someone else who is too," Rikki grins. "Me too!" Elliot speaks up as Emma shakes her head.
Emma: looks at the book he is reading. "So do you really think that's going to tell us something useful?"
Lewis: "It's already told me you guys are hotter than your average mermaid, and they don't have cool water powers."
"He isn't wrong," Ash shrugs.
Zane and Charlotte both get jealous at the comment Lewis made. Does he hit on every mermaid he sees?
"Did you ever get anything useful out of that book?" Denman asks curiously. Lewis hesitates before deciding to answer, figuring they will find out sooner or later. "Not from that book." Denman's eyes go wide as she hears this. "There's another?" "Yes, but you probably won't see it for a while." Denman sighs as she leans back in her seat, waiting for the new arrival of information to be seen.
"Watch it, Lewis," Neil mutters, not liking that comment. Lisa hits him on the shoulder as she laughs quietly. She knows who he is really crushing on.
Emma: "There's only one place we will find answers to why we became mermaids." They look over their shoulders at Mako Island, which they happen to be not too far from.
"Mako," everyone says. "Why were you so close to Mako?" Neil asks. They shrug, not really knowing why their selves.
So that's the answer, Denman stares at the island.
"Full of secrets and mysteries," Chatham whispers to herself.
Emma: "That's where it happened. That's where the answers are."
"Not all the answers. Some come from far away," Chatham winks at the girls, hinting about the moon as the girls smile back at her. The other's becoming clueless by what she means.
Lewis: puts the book up. "All right, well, I'll just pull in my line."
Emma: "No, not you Lewis. I'm faster on my own."
Lewis: "Are you really sure that's a good I –." Emma dives back underwater before he could finish his sentence and swims to Mako. "dea?"
"Emma!" Lisa yells worriedly, "You shouldn't go alone." "I needed to find out for myself. And besides, we go on swims alone sometimes there too," Emma says, a little annoyed as she explains to her overprotective parents. "I didn't think he should go at the time till I saw it again by myself."
[Cleo exits the food prep room, letting out a breath as she nods and heads to the training dock for the dolphins. One of the dolphins does a small jump next to her. She sets the buckets down as Mrs. Geddes watches her from the doorway. Cleo grabs the tongs from one of the buckets and the dolphins' squeal for food. She grabs a fish with the tongs and tosses it to them before they catch it.]
Charlotte shrieks, causing others to jump and look at her strangely. Cleo looks over at her wondering what was wrong.
[On her swim to Mako, Emma stops when she sees two different dolphins as they swim around her in circles near the ocean floor. One of them follows along with her on her journey and squeals goodbye as she swims through the underwater entrance of the moon pool.]
"What is up with you guys and dolphins?" Charlotte asks, her voice sounding real shakily. "It's just a connection, I guess. We're all the time swimming with them." Emma sighs, not hearing how she sounded.
[At the bottom of the moon pool, Emma finds a necklace, and grabs it, studying it. She rises to the top and sits on the ledge, where Cleo had been on the first night, and looks around as if there was something new or strange about the place. She holds the necklace up to look at it some more.]
Max gasps, his eyes widening. He looks over at Emma. "You found it," he whispers, but notices that she was not wearing the one she found; instead, it was the one that he made for Mrs. Chatham. He looks at the other two girls and notices that they are wearing the matching pairs before his eyes land on Cleo's necklace. Gracie's locket! Mrs. Chatham looks at her old friend and smiles, placing her hand on his shoulder, and nods as he looks at her. He returns the smile, a heartwarming smile.
Completely forgetting about the terrifying scene she just watched, Charlotte stares at the necklace as if she had somehow seen it before. But where? Annette joins her as she thinks about it as well.
"Did you lose it from the last time you were there?" Sam asks. "No. It wasn't ours," Emma says, glimpsing at the elderly woman. Kim gasps as a realization comes to her. "That means that someone was there before you!" Denman's eyes widen at that realization. Another mermaid? But how long has it been down there?
[At the marine park, a dolphin show takes place with the trainers doing tricks in the water with the dolphins: tossing them onto the stage, riding on the dolphins while waving to the crowd, who claps and cheers. Everyone that is, except for Mrs. Chatham who just sits there with the crowd.]
"Mrs. Chatham?" Denman looks at her quizzically. That's right, earlier when we raised our hands about who all knew, she was one of them. But how? When?
"Is this when you two first met?" Rikki whispered to Cleo. "Yep."
Max looks at the screen confused, wondering why it would show her. Could it be because of the necklace?
[Cleo, now without a shower cap, runs inside the prep room and grabs two buckets on the table, and rushes back out to the show. Mrs. Chatham smiles ecstatically as the dolphins jump over the trainers' boat. Cleo hands the buckets to one of the trainers and leaves. Mrs. Chatham, sensing some sort of magic perhaps, gets up from her seat and goes down the bleachers as the show still goes on.]
"Don't you dare mess with her!" Don shouts. "Dad!" Cleo yells, feeling a little embarrassed.
[Cleo is back in the prep room placing more fish in the bucket of water with the tongs. During a dolphin trick, she accidentally drops one a little too hard into the bucket, causing water to splash on her.]
"Seriously Cleo?" Kim sighs, worry building up inside her. "You need to be more careful on your first day," Annette says. "I tried," Cleo shrugs.
[Shocked, she picks up a towel laying on the rim of the bucket that turns out to be soaking wet. She puts it back down when a dry towel gets thrown at her and she immediately starts to wipe herself off.]
Mrs. Chatham: "Try this."
"Thank you, Mrs. Chatham," Emma and Rikki say at the same time. "How did you know she needed it?" asks Bev curiously. "I just did," Mrs. Chatham smirks, deciding to play the waiting game on how long it will take them to figure it out.
"How does it seem like you girls know her so well?" Neil asks when he heard their remark. "Long story," Rikki smirks, deciding to play the game too as the other two mermaids chuckle.
Mrs. Chatham: at the doorway to the dolphin show. "Timed well, wouldn't you say?"
Cleo: "Uh, yeah. Thanks. Nearly got saltwater in my eye. It would have stung."
"Not a bad excuse, but still need work," Ash says.
Mrs. Chatham: "It does sting, doesn't it? but not when you're actually underwater? Why is that, I wonder."
Denman looks between her and the on-screen self. What the heck is going on?
Bella feels a little nervous, remembering the last time they talked. Did she know something about her?
Cleo: nervously shakes her head. "I don't know."
Mrs. Chatham: "Lots of things are a mystery. Still, you've got time to learn. Staying dry, that's the big one." Cleo goes wide-eyed, fixing to speak when the other door opens, and she looks at it.
Mrs. Geddes: "Cleo." At the door to the prep room, she waves to Cleo for her to follow and leaves. Cleo looks back at the other doorway and sees that Mrs. Chatham was gone. She nervously glances back and forth before following Mrs. Geddes.
"Did you know?" Max whispered. "I felt the magic," she replies. "But how?" "I used to be one too, remember? I know what it was like" she chuckles. Max smiles, glad to know they had another ally; one who knew what it was like.
Bella goes wide-eyed, similar to Cleo. She definitely knows something! And not just about them either!
The theater mumbles to one another, confused as to what she was talking about, except for the girls, who just laugh, "Yeah, no kidding."
[In Emma's bedroom, they sit on her bed with Emma at the head of the bed and Lewis and Rikki by the bed frame. Lewis examines the necklace and opens it. With a closer look at it, the necklace has a blue jewel located on top. He closes it and hands it back to Emma.]
Lewis: "It looks like a normal necklace to me."
Oh, but it's not, it has such a spectacular story to them, Max grins.
Emma: "Whatever was in it is long gone, but, I found it at the bottom of the moon pool. It's gotta be important."
"That's because it is," Mrs. Chatham mumbles.
"Moon pool. Nice ring to it," Will comments.
[Lewis grabs several bottles with random liquids in them out of his bag and sets them on the bed frame.]
Rikki: smiles at them. "Maybe there's some earrings that's supposed to match it."
"Is there?" Kim asks. "No," Cleo says.
Emma: snaps. "I'm just trying to find some answers here."
"Relax, Emma. It was just a joke," Rikki laughs.
Lewis: sighs. "Settle, ladies. Emma, it still doesn't explain why you guys are mermaids."
Rikki: "See?"
"I guess that's true," Emma shrugs.
Lewis: "However, I think I've just about figured out which liquids won't turn you in to fish." Lewis grabs a bottle off the bed frame and while the two of them are distracted, he sprays Rikki on the arm. He puts his glasses on and looks at his watch.
"So, it depends on the liquid?" asks Denman. "Apparently," Lewis remarks.
Rikki: disgusted. "Lewis, what are you – you think you're funny?" sniffs her arm. "Eww, what is that stuff?" Begins wiping it off.
"Okay, now you're just asking for a death sentence," Zane comments, trying his best to hold in his laughter but fails and earns a glare from Rikki.
Lewis: "4, 3, 2, 1." Looks over at Rikki and they see that she has no tail. He grabs his journal and writes in it, sighing. "Hmm. Mostly vegetable oil. No change, interesting." Emma holds in a laugh.
The audience laughs at the liquid he attempted to use but are ultimately glad that will not change them. "Well, that's a relief I guess," Denman remarks.
[A few minutes later, Lewis goes through his bottles while Rikki paints her nails and Emma is on the phone with her mom.]
Emma: "I really don't think so, mom. Ok. Love you." She hangs up the phone.
"Love you too," Lisa smiles.
Lewis: "Was that the, uh party again?"
Rikki: perks up and turns around. "What party?" Lewis winces.
"Were you not invited?" Zane asks shocked. "Not yet," Rikki sighs.
Emma: "Every year my mom throws this party for me. Only, this year it's not happening." Rikki goes back to painting her toenails. "Can't have heaps of people, and drinks spilling, and tails appearing." Lewis looks at her.
"Although you're not wrong, you should still try to have a normal life," Bella reminds her. "If Cleo can try, so can you," Elliot says.
Rikki: "When was this party supposed to be?"
Emma: "Tonight."
Rikki: "Tonight? I hope I would've been invited." Tilts her head.
Emma: squints. "It's not really your scene."
"Oh, come on, Rikki loves parties!" Zane says. Terry looks at him confused about why he is defending her. "Not this kind," Emma smirks.
Rikki: turns around, shocked. "Party, me. Those worlds are welded together." Emma looks down and Rikki dips her polish. "Ah, you don't want me there. Is that it?"
Emma: throws her arms down and looks at her. "Of course, I do."
Lewis: still in his journal, he points with his pen. "So, the party's on?"
Emma: "No, it's not."
"Make your mind up already," Kim rolls her eyes.
Rikki: "Pity, it would have been great. Boys, dancing, boys."
Zane looks at the screen with a tad bit of jealousy while Terry looks at his daughter, a worried look in his eyes.
Emma: "It's not really that type of party, Rikki."
Rikki: turns back to them, with a questioning look. "What do you mean?" Emma sighs.
Lewis: shrugs. "It's a sleepover." Rikki's jaw drops, shocked.
"You still have sleepovers?" Will laughs. "There's nothing wrong with them. They are for any age," Bella defends, wishing she would have been invited to one before, but from moving a lot she never has. Charlotte nods along in agreement.
[Lewis sprays Emma's leg and Rikki's arm.]
Both: Lewis!
"Seriously, death sentence Lewis. They're a lot stronger than you," Zane says in a deadpanned tone.
"What is it this time?" Charlotte asks. Lewis shrugs. "I don't remember."
Rikki: "So a sleepover? Wow, that is so neat-o. I wish I hadn't done my nails. We could have painted them together. Then we could have a pillow fight and play with each other's –." She turns into water then sprouts a tail that goes over the bed frame. "Hair." Emma smiles.
They all laugh. "I deserved that," Rikki admits. "Karma strikes once again," Elliot says.
Lewis: back to his journal. "That one had a 32% water content."
"Interesting, the main focus is always water," Denman mumbles.
Emma: mocks her. "Are you ok?"
Rikki: "Fine." Turns to Lewis and waves. "Thanks, Lewis." He shrugs as Rikki looks at her tail.
"Did it mess up your nails?" Bev asks. "No, they were still the same when I dried off."
[At the Juicenet, they are at a booth with Emma sitting across from them.]
Rikki: "She knows something. Like what?"
"Who are you talking about?" Neil asks. "That lady, clearly," Elliot says.
Cleo: shakes head. "I'm not sure. But she knew it was dangerous for me to get water on myself."
Emma: "You got water on yourself?" Cleo rolls her eyes and Emma looks away with a look saying she was right. "I knew it."
"Sure, you did," Rikki sarcastically says. "I'm more careful now," Cleo reminds her.
Cleo: "One drop. I wiped it straight off. Nothing happened. I took precautions." She looks at them both. "I can do this job."
"She sure can," Don states proudly.
Emma: "And I told you we should have discussed this further."
Cleo: "What would that prove? You're just scared."
"Of what?" Ash asks. Emma sighs. "Of getting discovered, and the secret itself," she admits sadly. Denman lowers herself feeling a bit of shame while Ash looks over at her with concern.
Emma: "No, I'm not."
Cleo: "Yes, you are. Scared for me, and too scared to have your own party. Well, I'm not living like that anymore, Emma." Emma sighs and begins fiddling with her necklace. "I'm not going to be scared of every drop of water I see."
"Good for you, Cleo," Don encourages. "You couldn't live like that forever," Sam reminds, causing Charlotte to look over to her once again, taking in those words.
Rikki: "As crazy as it sounds, I agree with Cleo." Cleo smiles and Rikki holds up her finger. "Just this once."
"Yep, sounds crazy alright," Rikki replies to her own comment, laughing.
Cleo: sees Emma's necklace and points at it. "Wow, where'd you get that?"
Emma: holds it up. "The moon pool at Mako Island."
Cleo: "It's beautiful."
"Made specifically for each girl," Max whispers, glancing at Mrs. Chatham who is smiling.
"Wait, isn't that the one Cleo wears all the time? How did she get it?" Kim asks as everyone turns to her and sees that she is right. "Yeah, how did you get that?" Bella asks. "Oh, you'll see," Cleo smiles.
Emma: determined, she gets out her phone and calls her mom. "Hi, mom. I need you to start texting the invitation. Yes, all the girls on the list, plus Rikki." They look at Rikki as she rolls her eyes playfully. Emma hangs up the phone and leans in. "Cleo is right. If I don't have this party, it's like I'm not even putting up a fight."
"Thank you, Cleo, for helping her," Lisa smiles. "Why wasn't I invited?" Kim whines. "Because you weren't old enough," Cleo tells her. And you were so annoying back then.
Will laughs. "The girl who was once scared has now become the master."
"You got a 'right' too? Nice!" Rikki gives the brunette a high-five.
[Zane brings a tray of drinks to their booth, smirking.]
Zane: "Free frozen cones." He begins to walk away, but Rikki stops him.
Rikki: "What about them?"
Zane: "You look thirsty. Enjoy." He turns around, walking back to his table where Miriam and Tiffany are sitting, and joins them.
"I think I know where this is going," Harrison glares as Zane winces.
Emma frowns at the drinks, annoyed that he tried pulling a prank on them.
[Cleo grabs a drink and takes a sip from the straw. She coughs as Zane laughs.]
Emma: "Prune juice?" Cleo nods in disgust. Miriam laughs.
"I'm guessing by how neither of you have picked one up that he has done this prank before?" Harrison sighs, rubbing his forehead in irritation as they nod.
Rikki: looks over to their table. "Mature Zane, real mature."
"Definitely," Emma says rolling her eyes.
[Right then, a girl at a nearby table in the café gets a message on her phone behind Miriam and she opens it.]
Girl 1: "Emma's sleepover is on." Miriam overhears as more phones begin to go off all around them in the café, Zane takes notice.
Girl 2: "Hey, party at Emma's. Did you get one?" They begin to show each other the messages on their phones. Miriam feels left out and Zane looks at her phone, which is not beeping.]
"That must've sucked. But it was also well deserved," Kim states.
"Em, why didn't you invite her?" Lisa asks. "Why would I?" Emma scoffs, "She's so rude." "Why would you invite a thief?" Rikki mutters and Emma and Cleo nod.
Zane: "Battery dead?"
Miriam: "As if I'd go to her stupid party anyway."
"It wasn't stupid, it was actually kind of fun," Rikki admits to Terry's surprise.
Zane: smiles wickedly and looks at her. "Why don't we go? You and me?"
"Because the sleepover is for girls only," Emma says annoyed.
Miriam: "Umm, I don't think we are invited. Surprise."
Zane: "Come on, who needs an invitation?" Miriam smiles, catching on.
"Unbelievable Zane," Rikki says, narrowing her eyes at the boy in anger. "You're the one who caused her to be there?" Emma nearly shouts, upset that he was the one who caused the whole mess in the first place. "Sorry," he flinches, feeling bad for what he caused.
"Why would you talk about it in front of that poor girl without even asking her to join? She must've felt so left out," Bev says feeling bad for Tiffany.
[That night at Emma's house, she and Cleo prepares for their guest to arrive. Cleo takes chips out of the cabinet and puts them on the counter. Emma throws some pillows onto the floor.]
Cleo: "Em, are you sure alfalfa and black current juice is really the way you want to go?"
"Ew, that sounds so gross," Kim says, feeling sick at the thought of tasting it. "It's not as bad as it sounds," Emma says.
Emma: turns around and gets more pillows. "What do you mean?"
Cleo: "Well, I just thought maybe this year, now that you've quit the swim team, it'd be a good chance to try something new."
Emma: throws some more pillows onto the floor and looks at her. "Like what?"
Cleo: shrugs and leaves the kitchen, sitting down at the counter. "Sugar."
Emma: scoffs. "Sure and why don't we just have full-cream milk whilst we're at it. That's just crazy talk." Throws her hands to her side.
"Yeah, good luck getting her out of her diet routine. I've been trying for years," Elliot says, crossing his arms as his parents chuckle. "Besides, the swim team would've flipped out if we didn't," Emma says, ignoring her brother's comment.
Emma: walks to Cleo and grabs a bottle off the counter. "Are you sure people are going to go for these?" Puts it back down.
Cleo: "Sure, people will love them." Picks it up. "Individual bottles, any spillage contained." She smiles.
"They look nice to me," Bella shrugs.
Emma: places towels on the living room table. "And these?"
Cleo: "Just say your mom was doing the washing." Lisa walks in behind her to check on everything.
Lisa gasps. "You were going to keep them around in case something happened, weren't you? And how did I not hear that?" Emma chuckles. "Yes, I was keeping them around as an emergency, but unfortunately it didn't work out like we planned."
Lisa: gasps. "The room looks great. Don't worry, I'm not going to hang around." She points to each object in the area. "There's sushi for starts. We've got soy and tofu burgers for mains. And you might want to think about putting away those towels, eh?"
"You never did put them up, did you?" Lisa says, shaking her head. "Nope," Emma smiles, enjoying the reasons why she disobeyed her parents just a little.
Emma: "Thanks, mom." Someone knocks at the door and she goes to answer it.
Lisa: "I'll make myself scarce. Have fun." She heads back upstairs.
Emma: opening the door, she greets her guests as they walk in. "Hi, come on in. Right on time."
Girl 3: "Hi, Emma." Comes inside with the others carrying all their stuff; Cleo moves some beanbags.
Girl 4: "How are you doing?"
"This is going to be a long night," Rikki says, rolling her eyes. "Oh, come on, you had fun," Emma nudges her. "Yeah, at the end."
"How did they get so much stuff ready at the last second?" Annette asks Charlotte. Charlotte shrugs but laughs a little, knowing that girls have their ways. She sighs as she realizes she missed out on all the fun, although she knows she has not moved into the area then, she still wishes she were there. But she is not the only one. Bella stares at the screen, dreading to watch the rest of this episode in front of her as she gets to see them have all the fun that she never got to have.