Alone With You (Remma)

Denman's Disaster

"Lewis! We're not supposed to be in this area," Cleo said as she followed the boy into a white room with a mass of scientific equipment.

He had told the three mermaids of a scientist who he believed could help them figure out why they had tails. Dr. Denman was renowned for her work in marine biology and her expertise in aquatic mammalian cellular evolution, and luckily, she was working at the Marine Park where Cleo worked. He believed that, with Denman's equipment, he could do his own research about the girls without ever spilling their secret.

"Woah!" Lewis exclaimed. "Talk about heavy duty," he said, admiring the expensive equipment.

Cleo sighed in frustration. "Yes, yes, now you've seen it! Can we go?" she asked. Unlike Lewis, she actually worked at the Marine Park and could be fired for going into unauthorized areas.6

"Chill out! Dr. Denman is likely miles away on a deep sea dive or a dolphin retreat."

The door to the lab opened again but this time a woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a gorgeous smile walked in. It was Dr. Denman herself.

"Can I help you two?" she asked the teenagers.

Lewis's mouth had fallen to the floor and Cleo noticed this. She could tell he found the woman very attractive from the start and she knew why. Dr. Denman looked more like a supermodel than a marine biologist which is why Lewis was so shocked at her appearance. He began spluttering some words but none made any sense. Finally, he stopped staring at the woman and found his words. Sort of.

"Sorry, I'm Lewis McCartney. Are–are you Dr. Denman?" he asked.

"Yes, I am," she said, grinning at the nervous boy. "Lewis McCartney? You emailed me 48 times about the research assistant's position, right?"

"That would be me," he replied with nervous laughter, glancing at Cleo self-consciously. He hadn't meant for the number to grow so large but it seemed to make his name stick in the scientist's mind.

They continued talking about Lewis's determination to get the job and he handed over his resume which he had forgotten he was holding. The doctor was very busy so she sent the two on their way, saying it was good to meet them and telling Lewis she would take a look at his resume. The entire interaction was over as soon as it began because of Dr. Denman's busy schedule, but Lewis walked out of the room with a lovesick smile nonetheless. Cleo only frowned at his infatuation with the doctor and went back to work without saying goodbye to the boy.

—

"I think all of the equations should go at the top because they're the whole point of the problem," Emma argued.

"But it would make more sense to have them all throughout the poster because each one goes with a different part," Lewis disagreed.

Emma shook her head, agitated. "We'll have them all around the poster too but we should also have them together at the top so they're easier to find!"

"Then we won't even have room for the rest of everything else! Rikki, what do you think?" he asked the third group member.

Rikki looked up for the first time at the sound of her name. "What?" she asked.

The three friends were in maths class and had chosen each other as a group for a project they were assigned. The last two days had been constant arguing between Emma and Lewis about what should go where and who should do what, but Rikki, not caring about the project, usually zoned out until they gave her a task to complete. Cleo didn't have maths this period so Emma had been filling her in on Lewis's "immaturity" and "inability to work with others" whilst they hung out at the Juicenet after school.