Waterworks (H2O Just Add Water) 🌊

48. Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

I met up with Cleo for an early morning swim around the reefs before school. It had been a while since I had seen the dugong pod. So I checked in on them. The calf hugged me once it saw me. 

At that moment, I noticed an orange tail that went behind a bedrock. I assumed it was Cleo, though she would normally swim over to see the dugongs with me. She adored the huggable calf so much. However, Cleo came around from another direction with a worried and shocked expression and pointed to the bedrock. I knew it couldn't be either Emma or Rikki since they would be prepping for school already.

A familiar face revealed herself. It wasn't any of the other girls. My eyes widened on seeing that it was Charlotte, in mermaid form. She smiled at both Cleo and me. I had to guess she figured everything out and got into the moon pool during the full moon. The dugong calf released me from its embrace and swam back to its mother. Cleo gave me an expression that it was time to leave and inform the others. So we swam rapidly back to the mainland.

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After our legs returned, Cleo and I hurriedly raced to school. We found Rikki and Emma along with Lewis seated on the ground.

"Guys, brace yourself," Cleo started in shock after seating ourselves with them, "We have news."

"So do we," Emma and Rikki stated in unison.

"Us first," I jumped in feeling out of breath after running.

"What is it, Cleo? Zoey?" Emma wondered.

"Come on. Spit it out before you choke on it," Rikki demanded impatiently wanting an answer.

"OK," Cleo nodded, "As long as you understand that life as you know it is about to change."

"It's about Charlotte," I added.

"She's--"

"A mermaid," Rikki filled in the sentence.

"Yes! How do you know?" Cleo asked.

"Lewis just told us."

Cleo turned to him with a glare, "What have you got to do with this, Lewis? Explain."

"Not now, Cleo," Emma suggested, "We have to deal with this somehow."

"Correction. Lewis has to deal with this somehow," Rikki snapped, "After all, it is his fault."

"My fault?" Lewis questioned, "How is it my fault?"

"Don't make me state the obvious, Lewis."

"Let's not point any blame on him," I suggested trying to calm Rikki down, "He didn't expect all of this to happen." 

"Zoey's right, I don't think we need to play to blame game, Rikki," Lewis agreed, "The fact is, Charlotte is a mermaid. That part's history."

"Now it's up to you to do something about it," Rikki glared at him.

I felt bad for Lewis who felt expected to solve all of our problems just because he was going out with Charlotte. The girls and I could jump in and help him out with her, especially since she was another mermaid already. It made me guess Charlotte got into the moon pool during the full moon because she wanted to experience what Gracie, her grandmother, got to feel and see. 

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The PE teacher, Ms. Scarf approached me about my sports attendance, especially swimming. I informed her that I inherited Dad's allergy to chlorine. Plus, I had tried my hand at soccer, or football as the Aussies and other folks in the Commonwealth countries call it. However, I often got kicked in the thighs during tryouts by a couple of the other players. To not fail phys ed, I ended up signing up for beach volleyball. The other girls also signed up begrudgingly not wanting to fail the class. Ms. Scarf told each of us that we would need a fifth player.