H2O: The Strongest Mermaid

Dinner Disaster

Maddie invested in a small hidden trunk that locks to store the magic book and her wishing potion and was overall having a good week. At least she was until MerClub, and all of MerClub, decided we should all see the coral reef spawning at the end of the month.

Matthew backed out quick, stating once he told Karen he had plans, she wanted to do something that night, so he wasn't coming. Cleo then, the day before, told us her dad was forcing her and Kim to dinner with the woman he was seeing, so she couldn't come either. Now, all that stood in between Maddie and Casey was Emma and Rikki, and Maddie wasn't sure that was going to be enough, however, all of Maddie's worries faded away as the reefs began spawning and the true beauty of it was enough to enrapture everyone's attention.

Thankfully, Casey went straight home as the girls went back to Emma's place to gush about the experience, which was when Cleo's call came in and then the night turned dark and disastrous.

(Maddie POV)

We arrived as quickly as we could to the Satori residence and I could only imagine the awkward scenarios that had taken place. Apparently, the woman Cleo's dad was seeing, was Charlotte's mother, and Lewis had shown up unexpectedly, which was causing tension between him, Cleo, and Charlotte.

Now, I had no issues with the redhead, or her mother, but I could understand Cleo's frustration with seeing Charlotte shamelessly flirt with her ex-boyfriend in front of her all night,  and the possibility of their parents marrying and the prospect of prolonged frustration and awkward situations was bound to be driving Cleo mad.

We went upstairs and found Cleo in her room and she explained everything that had already happened and she said, "I can't go back down there."

Emma, ever the comforter, reached out to touch Cleo's hand, "You don't have to; we'll just say you're not feeling well and wait for them to leave."

Rikki, ever the instigator, replied, "Are you kidding? You're just going to lie down and take this? Let that woman steal your dad and let her daughter hit on Lewis without putting up a fight?"

Cleo whined, "Well, what can I do?"

"You're a mermaid," Rikki answered. "You've got some serious kick butt superpowers. They don't know who they're dealing with."

I held up my hands, "Hold on, before we go scorched earth, are you sure you're not reading too much into this? Perhaps you've misunderstood something."

Despite my pleas, the girls turned on me, starting with Rikki, "Who's side are you on?"

"I'm not no anyone's side, I'm just keeping an open mind."

Cleo then stood up, "Rikki's right. Let's do this."

Maddie uncomfortably followed the girls downstairs and stood back by the stairs watching as the horrendous scene unfolded. Rikki boiling over Annette's secret family recipe sauce. Emma refreezing the fish as Charlotte pulled it out of the oven. Lewis caught on quickly and pulled the girls aside toward me, "Guys, whatever you're doing; it has to stop."

The girls gaslit him and Lewis, realizing Cleo was reacting because of Charlotte went to go sort it out, but it didn't exactly go the way he planned. Due to Lewis's words Charlotte thought Lewis was professing his love and hugged him, which Cleo saw, and in her rage she caused the sink water to erupt and completely drench both Annette and her father.

Annette left in a huff, with Charlotte in tow and Don seemed crushed. Lewis left too leaving Emma, Cleo, Rikki, Kimmi, and I standing in the living room.

Suddenly Kimmi stated proudly, "it's alright dad, if she truly loves you, she'll be back."

Don turned to his daughters, confused, "Loves me? What are you talking about?"

Kimmi continued, "You and Annette? Aren't you getting married?"

Don shook his head, "What? Annette is a business partner. She was here to inspect my fish, to buy for her restaurant." 

As the realization hit everyone, Cleo asking for clarification, "She's a chef?"

"Yes! There's nothing going on," Dn exclaimed, "and certainly not now, she wouldn't want anything to do with me. I've just lost the biggest deal of the year!"

As Don and Kimmi retreated upstairs, Maddie turned to Emma, Rikki, and Cleo as they joined the huddle, "Should I say 'I told you so' now, or wait until we've fixed this mess?"

Cleo huffed, "I'm sorry. You were right. Let's just all go home and I'll come up with a plan in the morning."

The next morning, at the Moon Pool, us girls were talking about the night before. Cleo huffed, "How could I have gotten it so wrong?"

Rikki pushed herself up and waded over to Emma, "You may have been wrong about your dad, but Lewis is still a little worm."

Cleo frowned, "No, forget about Lewis. I broke up with him, and I understand if he wants to find someone else."

Emma piped up, "Even if that someone else is Charlotte?"

"Yep, it's his choice. It's an incredibly dumb choice, but it's still his choice," answered Cleo, but Maddie could tell from her tone that she was lying to herself.

Maddie decided to change the subject, "So, what about your dad? Have you figured out a plan?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to need your guy's help."

Maddie smiled, "I'm in."

Emma and Rikki nodded as well and the four of them set to work, gathering the best the sea had to offer to impress Annette.

As the business woman waltzed into the Cafe and inspected the prepared seafood, Cleo began her speech, "I'm sorry about last night, it was an accident. Would you please forgive us?"

Annette sighed and smiled, "Well, this is just the sort of produce my restaurant needs. You tell Don to give me a call. I'm sure we can do business."

As all of us guided Annette out, we caught sight of Charlotte and Lewis talking and Maddie shivered seeing the jealousy and hatred fly between Cleo and the redhead. Maddie feared things would only get worse before they got better regarding the love triangle between Lewis, Charlotte, and Cleo, but it wasn't her job to fix her friend's love lives. So, Maddie went back inside the cafe to dig into the prepared seafood, not wanting it to go to waste.

After lunch, Maddie went to visit Miss Chatham and updated her on everything and with a few sage words, Maddie went home content to sit in her room and continue practicing control of her powers by the pool.