Chapter 5--Plans
“Bye, Lewis. I love you.” Cleo said, ending a late-night call with her boyfriend. Barely a second after she clicked ‘end’, her phone started ringing again.
“Hello?” she said, half-expecting it to be Lewis.
“Cleo?” It was Rikki. “We have a problem.”
“Where did you get to after the swim? We all dried off and looked for you, but you were gone.” Cleo told her.
“Sorry, I just wanted to be alone for a while…but, Cleo, I think we have a problem.” She said, sounding stressed.
Cleo frowned. “What is it?”
“I went to the café and on my way out, I bumped into Charlotte.” She sighed. “I left without talking to her.”
“Charlotte? As in, boyfriend-stealing-psycho Charlotte?” Cleo exclaimed. “Rikki, this is a huge problem! She knows about us, what if she tries to tell someone?”
“Do we know any other Charlottes?” Rikki asked irritably. “And if she tries…then we’ll stop her. Don’t worry about it.”
“We need to talk about it, in person. I’ll get Bella and you call Emma. We’ll meet in my dorm around 6:30, okay? Number 307.”
“Kay.” Rikki said and hung up. Cleo took a huge breath. Rikki had said not to worry, but how could she not? Charlotte was her worst enemy.
Cleo quickly called Bella, and the three girls were at her dorm in a matter of minutes. Her roommate still hadn’t shown up, so Cleo and Emma sat on Cleo’s bed and Rikki and Bella sat on her roommate’s empty one.
“So what’s the big deal? Who’s Charlotte?” Bella asked immediately.
“She was a new girl in our Junior year.” Cleo explained. “She started dating Lewis when we broke up, and she found the Moonpool. She turned into a mermaid and had all of our powers, all three of them.”
Bella gaped. “She doesn’t still have them, does she?”
Rikki jumped in. “No. There was a special full moon that would take away a mermaid’s powers. Charlotte planned to get us in the Moonpool then, but we fought her and she fell in, instead.”
“But she still knows about mermaids. So she’s dangerous.” Cleo finished the story.
“Well, what do we do about her?” Bella asked logically.
Cleo noticed that Emma wasn’t contributing much to the argument. “Emma.” She nudged. “You’re the smart one. Do you have any ideas?”
Emma shrugged, looking slightly annoyed. What was up with her?
“If she tries anything,” Rikki began. “I’ll—ˮ
Rikki was interrupted by the creak of the door opening. Charlotte herself walked in. She didn’t look menacing and angry, like Cleo expected. Instead she looked surprised.
“What are you doing here?” Emma asked. She didn’t sound angry or accusing. But she wasn’t friendly, either.
Charlotte glanced at the door. “This is my room. Number 307. What are you doing here?”
Cleo glanced uneasily at the rest of the girls. She cleared her throat. “I invited them. This is my room, too.”
There was a long, awkward silence. Charlotte broke it.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but could you get off my bed?” she asked Bella and Rikki. Bella sprang up immediately, but Rikki lazily raised herself up, eying Charlotte with contempt.
“You guys should go.” Cleo told them quietly.
“See you, Cleo.” Emma said, leaving immediately. Rikki and Bella waved and gave her sympathetic looks.
Bella turned before going out of the room. “I’m Bella, by the way. Nice to meet you.” She said kindly to Charlotte.
“You too, I’m Charlotte.” Charlotte replied, also sounding surprisingly nice. Bella left.
She turned and gave Cleo a tight smile. “It’s been a while, huh?”
“Yeah.” Cleo said. “It sure has.”
“Listen, I know we weren’t exactly friends back in year eleven…but I’d like to change that. Or at least, not be enemies.” Charlotte said apologetically.
“Um…” Cleo hesitated. “Agreed.”
“Alright then.” Charlotte grinned. “Nice to meet you, I’m Charlotte Watsford.”
“Cleo Sertori.” She answered, going along with Charlottes ‘starting over’ plan.
Even though it was still light out, Charlotte turned off the lights and got under the covers. Cleo realized what a long day it had been. She was tired, too.
“Goodnight.” She said in an effort to be friendly.
“Night.” Charlotte replied softly.
She settled down and shut her eyes. Despite Charlotte’s friendly act, Cleo was worried it was just that—an act. Cleo hoped she wasn’t still burning for revenge, because if she was, Cleo didn’t know if she could take on Charlotte and second time and win.
