Waterworks (H2O Just Add Water) 🌊

21. Red Herring

I met up with Cleo, Emma, and Rikki for my lunch break. The four of us headed to one of the tables overlooking the dolphin lagoon.

"Do you think I'm predictable?" Emma asked all of us.

"What makes you think that?" I wondered as we sat at one of the tables.

"Let me answer your question with a question," Rikki replied to Emma, "Do you count how many times you can chew each mouthful?"

"That's not being predictable. That's just good health sense," Emma answered.

"And my role in this conversation ends now."

"You know what I think?" Cleo spoke up, "I think our lives have gotten so nutty lately, it's nice to have a normal person we can rely on."

"For sure," I agreed and sipped my drink.

"I'm predictable," Emma nodded.

"That's not what I meant."

"The sun, and Emma. I know what this is about," Rikki stated.

"This has got nothing to do with Byron," Emma informed her.

On noting the topic, I could tell Emma was beginning to question herself and felt the need to ask the rest of us for our opinion.

"You three just confirmed it for me," Emma turned to each of us, "I'm sick of being dependable Emma. I need a change. I'm gonna color my hair."

"What color do you have in mind?" I wondered as I tried picturing her with a different hair color.

"Girls," Miss Chatham arrived at our table, "I am so glad I bumped into you."

"Miss Chatham. Hi," Cleo greeted her politely.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"How are you, Miss Chatham?" Emma inquired.

"In all honesty, Emma, I'm very concerned.

"Concerned about what?" I turned with a worried expression to the elderly woman who took a seat with us.

"I just wanted to tell you that you must stick together, no matter what. You must be there for one another. Promise me," Miss Chatham advised all of us.

It gave me the feeling that something had happened to her and her friends, including Ida when they were young.

"Miss Chatham, I don't know what you're worrying about. But as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing I wouldn't do for Cleo, Rikki, and Zoey," Emma assured her.

"Absolutely," Cleo nodded, "The four of us are like best friends. No secrets. Right?" She turned to the rest of us.

"Right," Rikki, Emma, and I replied in unison. Personally, if there was something that I wanted to get off my chest, I'd tell them.

"I'm glad," Miss Chatham smiled.

I noticed an expression on Rikki's face that told me she had something on her mind. I decided to leave her be and wait until she was ready to say anything.

🌊

The next day was my day off from work, after helping Grandma run some errands, I met up with Cleo and Emma at the Gilbert house. I saw that Emma was determined to dye her hair a different color when Cleo read the instructions on the box.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Emma asked her.

"It's easy. I've done this 1,000 times," Cleo nodded as she read the box.

"Really?"

"Not, but I've seen it being done before. Let's go."

I remembered seeing Mom dye her hair once. She had gotten her hair wet before applying the dye and waited for almost half an hour for the color to settle in before washing it with the shampoo that came with the box.