Just Add Water

Chapter 18

A month had passed since the girls had transformed into mermaids and they were starting to get the hang of things. They were learning to hide their secret better and to avoid water touching them in public better. The three of them were always together either attending school, swimming in the sea around Tendrou Island, or having a smoothie at the juice bar.

Like today for instance. The girls were hanging out at the juice bar with Gray watching the other customers at the bar sing karaoke. It was karaoke day, every few weeks the owner of the juice bar would allow his customers to sing in front of everyone. The one who was singing at the moment was Minerva but she had no musical talent whatsoever. But because she was pretty, popular, and somewhat scary everyone applauded her. Everyone except Gray and the girls.

"Where's earplugs when you need them?" Erza asked. "Minerva is terrible."

"No kidding." Gray said. "I hate karaoke. It's just a bunch of wannabes looking for their fifteen minutes of fame and half of them can't even sing. I think it's pretty deluded."

"I think it's fun." Lucy said. "I'd do it if I could sing."

"You can't be as bad Minerva." Erza said.

"She's not that bad." Juvia said.

"Are you kidding? She's horrible and she would be booed off the stage if so many people weren't afraid of her destroying their social life." Erza said.

"Besides Juvia you're a much better singer than her." Lucy said. "Why don't you go up there and sing something. Let everybody hear from someone who can actually sing for once."

"No thanks." Juvia said starting to feel shy. "I mean I'm not really all that good you know and it's been so long."

"What do you mean? You used to sing all the time when we were kids."

"Well I haven't had much time to do singing since I starting becoming a teenager."

"There's nothing to be worried about. You sound wonderful."

"I'm sure you could out sing Minerva any day." Erza said.

"Is that right?" Minerva had overheard her conversation. She didn't like when people said that anyone was better than her especially when it was someone who she considered to be a loser. Now she knew that Juvia was a better singer than her but she knew something else about Juvia. Something that she could use to humiliate her. "If you're so much better than me then why don't you sing?"

"I don't think-"

But Minerva just grabbed Juvia by the arm pulled her on to the stage.

"Oh no. This isn't going to end well." Gray said.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"You'll see."

The music was turned on and all eyes were on Juvia. But she just became as stiff as board while clutching the microphone as tightly as possible. She couldn't move, talk, and she especially could not sing. When everyone save for her friends started laughing at her, she dropped the microphone and ran out of the juice bar. 

"What a freak." Minerva snickered.

"Shut up Minerva!" Erza snapped. 

"What did I do?" She asked feigning innocence.

"You know what you did!" Gray said.

"Do you really need to make others feel bad just so you can feel good about yourself?" Erza said. "You're really pathetic!"

Then Lucy, Erza, and Gray ran out of the juice bar to look for Juvia.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked. "Why did Juvia freeze up like that?"