𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃: h2o - just add water
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ONE OF THE FIRST LESSONS THAT ALEXA HAD BEEN TAUGHT GROWING UP AS A PRINCESS WAS TO NEVER SHOW ANY SIGN OF EMOTION. if her people back in atlantica witnessed any emotion that had nothing to do with happiness from the princess, then she would have been perceived as weak. and the last thing that her people needed was to be terrified. as a princess, alexa's job was to serve her people to the best of her ability. no matter what threat came her way, she would approach it calmly and not show any signs of fear so alexa and her family served as a symbol of hope and protection to their people.
some habits stay but others remain. and it was clear as day that alexa's ability to bottle up her emotions and hold herself together until the bitter end had been instilled within her as a child. she couldn't help it, it was just who she was.
so instead of worrying about herself, she would distract herself by helping her friends out with anything they needed. whilst she looked out for everyone, she forgot to look out for herself. alexa believed that she could handle anything that could come at her and that she would be the barrier that would prevent the bad things happening to her family and friends. but the strong people would eventually break meaning that alexa breaking down was inevitable from the start.
she refused to let her breakdown get the better of her. like a switch had been flipped within the young princess, she remained quiet as a mouse. the rooney was in the juicenet cafe reading a book called, 'wonder' to herself quietly. she was sat beside emma and was facing cleo and rikki who were looking through a magazine of their own.
"hi, byron." emma greeted the surfer softly who was making his way towards the booth where the four girls were sat. shortly following behind the surfer was niall who alexa had yet to notice since she was engrossed in the book she was reading, "hi, niall." the gilbert greeted the henderson with a polite smile on her face.
"i was thinking about talking to you, but maybe not right now." byron told emma as he realised that the gilbert was sat with her friends.
niall chimed in, "actually, alexa, can we talk in private?" he asked the rooney which caused the group to share a look.
alexa looked up from her book to face niall. she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before she slowly nodded her head to the henderson's request. she placed a bookmark inside the book to mark the page she was on before she stood up from her seat with her book in her grasp. she followed niall out of the cafe where they sat on the silver circled tables that were outside of the cafe.
"so what did byron need to talk to emma about?" alexa questioned niall curiously.
niall answered the rooney, "byron entered the school swimming sports. he would really like to beat zane in the 100 metres since zane would always beat him. so, he is going to ask emma if she can teach him on how to beat zane in the 100 metres."
alexa nodded her head in understanding, "i see. and.. what did you want to talk to me about since you took me away from my friends?"
niall shrugged his shoulders, "i just said that so you wouldn't be put in an awkward position with byron and emma."
alexa tilted her head quizzically, "so you led me out here just so that i wouldn't be in an awkward position with byron and emma?" she added, "and yet, you left cleo and rikki there in an awkward position."
at the mention of the sertori and chadwick's name, niall simply waved them off, "they can fend for themselves." which earned an eye roll from the rooney. now that the two were alone, niall asked the rooney, "do you think byron and emma would end up together any time soon?"
alexa lightly chuckled before she nodded her head in agreement, "definitely. there's something there between them that they have yet to discover."
"that means that you'll be seeing more of me then, speedy." niall bragged as he sent the rooney a charming smile.
"lucky me." alexa muttered.
before niall could say anything to the rooney, cleo and rikki made their presence known when they walked out of the juicenet cafe. when they noticed alexa and niall sat on the silver circled table conversing with one another, they made their way towards the two.
"we need to talk, lex." cleo told the rooney and rikki nodded her head in agreement to the sertori's words.
niall stood up from his seat, "i should go check on byron and see what's taking him so long. see you around, speedy." he sent the rooney a cheeky smile before he made his way inside the juicenet cafe.
alexa turned her attention to her two friends, "what do we need to talk about?"
"not here." rikki chimed in, "let's go for a walk and then we'll tell you what you missed, lex."
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WHILST ALEXA WAS CHATTING TO NIALL OUTSIDE, CLEO AND RIKKI INFORMED ALEXA OF WHAT SHE HAD MISSED. after byron and emma chatted about the school swimming sports, emma walked off for some fresh air after telling byron that she can't help him win the 100 metres since it would put the mermaid secret at risk of being exposed.
shortly after emma left, lewis made his way over to cleo and rikki and asked for a hair sample from the two girls in order to continue his research on how the three girls became mermaids.
the request that the mccartney made rikki experience the feeling of anger towards lewis. the mermaid secret was a secret for a reason. and it was for the four girls to not be treated as science experiments but to continue living their lives as normal as possible even though they weren't ordinary girls.
alexa understood why rikki was feeling the way that she was. the chadwick just wanted to be treated like a normal person, not as someone who was there to provide anything that was requested of her.
as for cleo, she had known lewis the longest out of the three girls. she believed that everything that lewis was doing was with good intentions as they needed to figure out how the three girls became a mermaid and how their transformation can be triggered at the contact of water.
alexa, on the other hand, was stuck in the middle. she understood that lewis was simply being a good friend by conducting experiments on her friends in order to figure out what was happening to her friends but at the same time, the experiments were beginning to anger rikki.
and whenever someone conducts an experiment, consent must always be asked before any further research can be done before any issues can be raised.
so to keep the peace between cleo and rikki, alexa remained in the middle as she listened to what the sertori and the chadwick had to say. the three girls all had their shoes off as they walked on the sand barefoot with their shoes in their grasp.
"how dare lewis expects pieces of us." rikki told the two girls, referring to lewis' request when he asked for a hair sample.
"he shouldn't have said something like that so casually in the middle of a public space where questions would be raised in which would make us suspicious." alexa pointed out to the two girls.
rikki nodded her head before she continued her rant, "him and his little experiments are really starting to bug me."
"he's just trying to help." cleo chimed in as she came into defence of the mccartney.
"his help is better than someone like dr denman." alexa admitted, "but haven't you realised that lately, all he comes to you guys for is only for a sample of your dna?"
rikki nodded her head in agreement, "he likes annoying us."
"you're angry?" cleo questioned the chadwick.
"he'd be angry too if he was a guinea big." rikki pointed out.
cleo shook her head, "i don't know. i've known lewis since i was five and i've never seen him get angry." she informed the two girls.
"yeah?" rikki questioned the sertori in disbelief, "well, we'll see about that."
alexa advised the blonde chadwick, "don't do anything too drastic, rikki. it's preferable to just talk to him if his experiments are making you uncomfortable."
rikki sent the rooney an innocent smile, "don't worry, lex. i won't do anything that'd hurt lewis."
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CLEO AND RIKKI (MAINLY RIKKI) DECIDED TO PROVE TO ALEXA THAT LEWIS WAS ACTING AS A SCIENTIST TO THE GIRLS INSTEAD OF THEIR FRIEND. so the three girls (excluding emma) were over at the sertori household the next day where lewis had called cleo asking where she was. so the three girls were waiting for lewis in the kitchen of the sertori household.
since lewis asked cleo and rikki for a hair sample for his experiment, rikki had already used a pair of scissors to cut off a small piece of her hair.
once lewis had arrived at the sertori household, he had a pair of scissors in one hand and plastic bags in the other to collect the samples he needed in order to conduct his experiments so he could figure out what was happening to the girls.
lewis had a small smile plastered on his face with a pair of scissors in his grasp as he made his way over to rikki. he held a piece of rikki's hair but before he could cut it off, the chadwick held up a piece of her hair to the mccartney, "i cut it for you myself." rikki said to lewis as she avoided making eye contact with the mccartney.
lewis took the piece of rikki's hair that she held out to him, "that's a big help. thank you." he pursed his lips before he placed rikki's hair in a plastic bag and sealed it shut.
"lewis?" rikki called to the mccartney, "bye." she waved her hand goodbye to lewis as her irritation and anger towards the mccartney continued to grow within her.
"yeah, yeah. no, i'll see you all tomorrow for the saliva swab." lewis told the girls.
alexa raised an eyebrow quizzically, "none of us said that we would take part in a saliva swab, lewis. just make the most of what you've got and then we can decide if we want to take part in the saliva swab." which caused lewis to shortly nod at the rooney before he made his way out of the sertori household.
"see? we're just specimens to him." rikki pointed out to cleo and alexa, "that guy really needs a wake up call. and he's gonna get one."
"remember what i said, rikki. don't do anything too drastic." alexa advised the chadwick.
"yeah, sure." was rikki's response but alexa could tell that the blonde chadwick had a range of plans that were stirring in her head and that she was willing to test out on the mccartney.
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AFTER LEWIS LEFT THE SERTORI HOUSEHOLD, THE THREE GIRLS GOT THEIR STUFF FOR SCHOOL BEFORE THEY MADE THEIR WAY TO THE GILBERT HOUSEHOLD. the plan for the day was before they set off for school that they get breakfast at the juicenet cafe so that the three girls could catch up with emma on what she had been up to lately since they haven't seen her for some time.
since emma wasn't answering her phone to either of the girls, they decided to check on her so the three girls walked from the sertori household to the gilbert household. cleo was about to knock on the front door of the gilbert household when rikki simply opened the door and walked in. cleo and alexa simply shrugged at the chadwick's actions before they made their way inside the gilbert household and shortly followed behind the blonde chadwick.
the three girls heard the sound of a blender being used in the background so they followed the sound to where they found emma. she was in the kitchen where the table was full of a range of fruits as she had her full attention on the blender she was using to blend some fruits. once emma was positive that the fruits had been blended effectively, she turned off the blender and took off the lid of the blender so that she could pour the contents of what was being made in the blender into a glass.
she was heavily focused on her task that when she was about to pour the contents of what was being made in the blender into a glass, she stopped in her movements when she realised that her three friends were inside her house. she calmed down her racing heart and reassured herself that it was just her three friends before she resumed her actions in pouring the content from the blender into a glass, "what are you three doing here?" the gilbert questioned her three friends.
"we rang. you didn't answer." rikki replied with her arms crossed to her chest.
emma avoided eye contact with the three girls and looked over to the left where the three girls had entered the kitchen.
"we came over to make sure everything was alright with you, emma since we haven't heard from you since yesterday." alexa added.
"you seem kind of tense." cleo told the gilbert after noticing emma had avoided eye contact with the three girls.
"me?" emma questioned, "no." she shook her head which caused the three girls to slowly nod their heads.
"ok. so i wanted to run an idea past you about lewis—" rikki began before she was cut off by byron.
"— awesome shower." byron told emma and unintentionally interrupting rikki from what she was about to say to the gilbert. byron's words caused the three girls to slowly turn their heads to face byron who made his way into the kitchen, "this must be mine." he took a sip of the drink that emma had made for him whilst cleo, rikki and alexa shared a look of shock at the presence of the surfer in the room, "see you at the pool." he told emma. he smiled at the three girls before he walked out of the gilbert household leaving the three girls completely speechless.
the three girls turned to face a nervous emma who was smiling shyly at her three friends. alexa, cleo and rikki stared at the gilbert for an explanation to what byron said about seeing her at the pool, "there is an explanation." emma told her friends which caused cleo to purse her lips and for rikki and alexa to slowly nod their heads with the latter raising her eyebrow in expectance for an explanation for byron's words.
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SINCE THE FOUR GIRLS HAVEN'T HAD BREAKFAST YET, THEY MADE THEIR WAY TO THE JUICENET CAFE FOR BREAKFAST BEFORE THEY SETTED OFF FOR SCHOOL AND FOR EMMA TO EXPLAIN HERSELF ABOUT WHAT BYRON MEANT WHEN HE SAID, 'SEE YOU AT THE POOL'. it turned out that byron went over to emma's house in order to apologise for insulting her when she said that she can't help train him in beating zane in the 100 metres. he believed that the gilbert can't go in the water because she had an ear infection.
soon after, zane had made his appearance by leaving a new blender at the gilbert household for emma's mum. once he realised that emma and byron were talking about the swimming sport competition, he had taunted the surfer that he couldn't win, not while zane was around.
zane's taunts towards byron caused emma to change her mind. she vowed to train byron so that he would be able to beat zane in the 100 metres.
now that the three girls were informed of what had happened with byron, emma apologised, "i'm sorry. i'm sorry. i'm sorry. but i felt more sorry for byron." she added, "he's come second three years in a row. and he's been having dreams about zane."
rikki rested her head on her left hand, "and he's just got those big brown sleepy eyes." she said in a dreamy tone as she mocked the gilbert, referring to her crush on byron.
"that's got nothing to do with it." emma snapped in defence. she reasoned with her three friends, "it's only for a couple more days. i'm being really careful around water."
"i get it. one rule for you, a different rule for us and water doesn't even trigger alexa's transformation so the rule doesn't even apply to her." rikki commented bitterly.
"rikki." alexa warned the blonde chadwick, not wanting another argument to begin with the two blondes who would tend to clash with one another.
"you're not even trying to understand." emma told the chadwick in aggravation.
"why don't you just admit it?" rikki questioned the gilbert, "you like him. you wanna spend time with him." she shrugged her shoulders.
emma snapped at the chadwick in frustration, "that's not it at all, rikki." she turned to face the sertori, "right, cleo?" when the sertori avoided eye contact with the gilbert and remained silent, she turned to face the rooney, "lex?" she asked the brunette.
alexa remained silent for a moment so that she could collect her thoughts together so that she could answer the gilbert's query as honestly as she could without upsetting emma, "i think that.. by helping byron win the swimming competition, it's like it'll give you the chance to finally gain closure on the fact that you can no longer go swimming without triggering your mermaid side. you may not be participating in the race but the fact that you're willing to train byron so that he could beat zane in the 100 metres would allow you to feel like you have won something you cannot enter."
emma closed her eyes as she processed the rooney's words. she knew that alexa could see right through her without having even to try. it was what drew her to alexa in the first place, how she could easily read an individual through their eyes or posture and she could easily break down their walls without even putting up a fight. the gilbert announced, "i'm leaving." before she stood up from her seat and made her way out of the cafe with her tote bag in her grasp.
"em, wait." alexa called to the gilbert who didn't listen to the rooney as she continued making her way out of the cafe. the rooney stood up from her seat and placed her tote bag over her right shoulder before she ran after the gilbert.
eventually, alexa caught up with emma who was making her way to the swimming pool where byron would be waiting for her for their training session, "go back to the others, lex. i said i was fine."
"i don't believe that for a second, em." alexa retorted, "you know you can always come to me about anything, right?"
"exactly." emma snapped in aggravation as she halted in her movements and turned to face the rooney, "i don't know how you do it but you can handle anything the world throws at you and not just that but, you have the capability of reassuring everyone that everything will be better. the fact that i can come to you about anything scares me, lex. because, it makes me feel weak and what if.. you're not there when i need someone to bring me back up?"
alexa quickly reassured the gilbert, "i have reassured you all once and i'll do it again. i will always be here for you and the rest of the group with whatever you need. we stick together, until the world falls apart."
emma linked her left arm with alexa's right arm as the two girls continued their walk to the swimming pool, "i have no idea what we would do without you, lex."
"you won't have to worry about that because i will always be here for all of you. and if something prevents me from doing so then i would happily move the earth and doing so, do anything i can to help with whatever you all need." alexa vowed.
but alexa should know that not all promises can be kept. some can be broken and it would only be within time that alexa's vow would be worthless to the people around her.
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SOON ENOUGH, ALEXA AND EMMA ARRIVED AT THE SWIMMING POOL WHERE THE GILBERT WOULD CONTINUE TRAINING BYRON FOR THE 100 METRES. alexa shouldn't have been surprised that niall would also be with byron since the two boys were friends. after overcoming her shock that the henderson was here, emma had instructed byron to swim four laps of front crawl whilst she would time him to see whether any progress had been made during the time they have trained for the 100 metres.
once byron's hand had made contact with the wall and thus completing the final lap, he took off his goggles and placed it next to the diving block.
"we've been training for ages and you haven't improved one bit." emma told byron with her arms crossed to her chest.
both alexa and niall felt like they were gonna be in the middle of an argument with their two friends so niall took the rooney's hand and tugged her in the direction of a bench that was a few metres away from emma and byron. the two took a seat on the bench in an awkward silence with the henderson running a hand through his hair and the rooney fiddling with her necklace that was clasped around her neck.
"your friend seems like a control freak." niall began as he broke the awkward silence between the two.
alexa rolled her eyes at the insult the henderson had made about her friend, "ok, emma is my friend and besides, she only means well. also, wasn't it byron who insisted on asking for her help in winning this competition? he should've known what he was getting himself into."
niall shrugged his shoulders, "he made his choices. i'm simply by his side to support his decisions."
"well, emma is just doing what any other instructor would do for a pupil.. push them to their limit until they can persevere their challenges." alexa stated to the henderson.
niall rose an eyebrow quizzically, "sounds like you're speaking from experience, speedy." he tilted his head at the rooney as if he was trying to decode the mystery behind the brunette beauty.
alexa simply smiled at the henderson, "maybe i am, maybe i'm not." she groaned in annoyance, "do you really have to call me speedy? can't you just call be by my name?"
"the nickname has stuck, speedy." niall simply said, "have you managed to find a nickname for me?" he questioned the rooney.
"no. a nickname is just a nickname. nothing more, nothing less." alexa told the henderson.
before niall could comment further on the rooney's words, emma had raised her voice at byron which gained the attention of niall and alexa, "you can't be finished until i say so."
the two immediately stopped their conversation and turned to face their friends. whilst byron was grabbing his stuff, emma stood a few feet away from him with her arms crossed, "i thought this was gonna be fun, us working together." byron began, "i thought you were gonna inspire me. but you let me down, man. i never thought you were gonna turn into some heavy training dragon." he finished, leaving a hurt emma by the swimming pool as he walked away from her.
niall stood up from his seat on the bench beside alexa, "i should go talk to him. catch you later, speedy." he said to the rooney as he ran off to catch up with byron.
"bye, niall." alexa said even though the henderson was already gone. she stood up from her seat and rushed over to the gilbert who was hurt by byron's words. no words were said as alexa pulled emma into a much needed hug which allowed emma to bask in the warmth that alexa radiated.
emma may be a perfectionist in everything she does but she was still human with emotions. she was just capable of hiding them by performing her best in everything that she did as she revelled in the praise that she got whenever she won something. but she knew that she had nothing to hide, as long as she was with alexa.
after emma recovered from the surfer's words, the two girls made their way to school to meet up with cleo and rikki. the gilbert discussed the words that had been exchanged between herself and byron whilst alexa and niall were having a conversation of their own and it made alexa guilty that she wasn't there to defend her friend. but emma had quickly reassured her that it was a battle that she had to fight on her own.
emma and alexa eventually found cleo and rikki by their lockers as they grabbed the books they needed for the day. the four girls walked down the hallway with their designated books in their grasp as they made their way to their designated classes.
"am i too tough or too demanding? am i a heavy training dragon?" emma asked her three friends.
cleo assured the gilbert, "no way."
rikki added, "not possible."
"not at all." alexa chimed in.
cleo cut in, "although at times, you can be a little bossy."
the blonde chadwick continued, "and sometimes, you don't really listen to people."
alexa noticed the crestfallen look on the gilbert's face so she quickly reassured, "but that makes you, you. and you shouldn't have to be ashamed of yourself, em. it's better to be yourself than being someone you're not." which earned a small smile from the gilbert before she turned around and walked in a different direction, leaving her three friends behind.
once emma was completely out of their line of sight, rikki commented, "wow. she takes criticism well."
alexa pointed out, "not everyone can take criticism. but knowing em, she will bounce back from whatever she has faced. that applies for the both of you, too."
before either cleo or rikki could add to alexa's words, lewis made his way up to the three girls, "boy, have i made a startling discovery." he began.
rikki questioned the mccartney, "you're an android?" she pointed at lewis.
lewis shook his head in response, "no." he added, "far better than that. according to the hair sample you gave me, you are a seven-year-old german shepherd." he said to rikki.
rikki widely smiled at the mccartney's words, "i was wondering how long it'd take you to figure out that it wasn't my hair." she stated cheekily.
"about fourteen hours, actually. rikki, what are you up to?" lewis questioned the chadwick, "are you scared to find out the truth about being a mermaid?" he placed his hand on rikki's shoulder which caused a disgusted expression to appear on her face which the mccartney ignored, "it's ok to be scared." he took his hand off her shoulder and made his way to his next class.
rikki shook her head at lewis' disappearing figure. until he was no longer in her line of sight, the chadwick stated, "there has got to be a way to make him crack."
cleo had informed alexa of what happened when she went after emma. shortly after emma and alexa left, lewis entered the cafe. the chadwick had asked lewis to pick up a fork that she dropped on the floor. whilst the mccartney's attention was on finding the fork on the floor, rikki used a pair of metal serving tweezers to pick up an ice cube from her drink and placed it inside of lewis' shirt from behind.
lewis' experiments were clearly getting to rikki and it resulted in the chadwick doing everything in her power to annoy the mccartney to whatever means necessary.
cleo scolded the chadwick, "rikki, that was mean." she added, "considering all that time lewis wasted."
alexa added, "rikki, i specifically told you to just talk to lewis if he was making you uncomfortable or frustrated with all these experiments he's conducting. pulling these pranks on lewis won't do anything. if you could just talk to him, he would be aware of his actions and then he would only do whatever you're comfortable with."
rikki turned to face the sertori, "don't weaken on me now, cleo." her eyes turned to meet alexa's, "you also said to not do anything drastic, lex. the pranks i've pulled on him didn't harm him whatsoever, it was for fun." which earned an eye roll from alexa at rikki's carelessness for the mccartney.
before alexa could scold rikki for her carelessness towards lewis, the gilbert announced her presence to the three girls, "i'm sorry." emma apologised which caused the three girls to turn around to face emma who made her way towards her three friends.
"that's ok." rikki replied with a small smile on her face.
"you don't have to apologise, em." alexa assured the gilbert with a soft smile on her face.
emma turned to face cleo expectedly for her to speak up. in response, the sertori simply shrugged her shoulders and sent the gilbert a timid smile.
"i may seem tough but i'm easily hurt." emma confessed to the three girls, "i'm gonna be nice from now on." she vowed which earned a range of looks from her three friends from disbelief to confusion, "how do i do that?" emma questioned the girls as she tilted her head in confusion.
"you're asking the wrong person here." rikki told the gilbert before she walked off from the three girls.
emma questioned the sertori and rooney, "where is rikki going?" which earned a shrug of the shoulders from both brunettes.
"start small." alexa advised emma, referring to the question that emma had asked first, "then work your way up. a little progress goes a long way."
emma sent the rooney a small smile for her advice, "thanks, lex. i'm going to use my free period to look for byron and hopefully, we can use this time for training so that he can take control of what he wants to do during training. see you girls soon." she sent a smile to the two brunettes before she walked off.
alexa turned to face cleo who had been quiet throughout the majority of the conversation. the rooney questioned the sertori worriedly, "is everything alright, cleo?"
cleo knew that out of all the girls, alexa would always be the one who would listen to whatever anyone had to say before considering all kinds of perspectives when given a scenario, "you know that lewis has been asking for a range of dna samples starting with hair samples to toe nail clippings. by collecting our dna samples, he should be able to find out how we can turn into mermaids but these experiments are annoying rikki."
alexa nodded her head, "i've noticed that about rikki lately." she said as the two girls walked to their english class together, "why do you think she's been acting like that?"
"well, this whole mermaid situation is still a lot to process. but then again, rikki was the first one out of all of us to fully accept her mermaid side." cleo pointed out with a thoughtful look on her face.
"the morning on the day we had emma's sleepover, we were all in emma's room, you weren't with us because you had work at the marine park. when lewis found out about the mermaid secret and elected himself as experimental scientist so that he could help find answers for all of you, he was testing out which liquids would trigger your transformation into a mermaid." alexa informed the sertori, "he sprayed some sort of liquid onto rikki but nothing happened so perhaps what rikki is doing is payback revenge?"
cleo shrugged her shoulders, "perhaps but the point is, she's taking it way too far."
"at this point, the only way you could possibly get rikki to stop what she's doing is to pull a prank on her." alexa stated truthfully, "she's reached a point where she won't listen to anyone's words. until she's fully satisfied with enacting some sort of revenge on lewis, she won't stop."
once the two girls arrived at their english classroom, they made their way inside to their designated seats which were right beside one another. as cleo placed her book on the table and pulled her chair in so she could sit down, she said, "you've just given me an idea, lex."
alexa sat down in her seat and turned to face the sertori who was sat to her left, "i hope its nothing too drastic."
cleo sent the rooney a small smile, "don't worry, lex. it won't go too far."
before alexa could say anything, her english teacher entered the classroom which indicated that the class was going to start so the rooney had to have hope that cleo spoke the truth in her words.
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ENGLISH CLASS CAME AND WENT IN A BLUR SO ONCE CLEO AND ALEXA WERE OUT OF CLASS, THEY WALKED OUT OF THE SCHOOL TOGETHER ONLY TO GO IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. whilst cleo went to the cafe to continue studying with lewis and rikki, alexa went down to the beach to start on a new painting. the last thing she did a painting was for emma's dad which was a painting of the gilbert family for his birthday which was weeks ago.
alexa had no idea what she would be painting but the beach would always be her source of inspiration.
once she found her usual spot on the beach, she placed a blanket on the sand so that the sand wouldn't stick to her clothes before she pulled out a canvas and a range of paint bottles and a paint brush so that she could start painting. she hummed a tune to herself as she dipped her paintbrush in a beautiful purple colour and as she reached into the centre of the flower, the purple colour gradually changed to a pale yellow with little black seeds in the centre of the petals.
footsteps could be heard over the crashing waves that hit the shore and they ended up sitting beside alexa on her blanket. the rooney immediately knew that it was niall that was making himself comfortable beside her. after all, he would always find her.
"new painting?" niall questioned as he noticed the canvas with a purple flower on the rooney's lap, "it looks good." he complimented.
"thank you." alexa thanked the henderson, "you and byron are usually together, where is he?" she questioned.
"ever since he's entered the swimming sport competition, he's been using his free time to train in the 100 metres. i've never felt so bored without him." niall ranted, "like i understand that it's something he wants to do but i miss my friend. he's also been hanging around emma lately and it's so obvious that those two are smitten with one another. no way am i being a third wheel."
whilst the four girls and lewis all had each others' backs, niall and byron had each others' backs. since byron had put all his attention in training for the swimming competition, it resulted in niall being on his own. he was still relatively new around here and he could fully be himself around byron.
alexa and niall may had started off on the wrong foot but their friendship had been developing slowly. progress was being made day by day through their interactions on the beach and the conversations they've had. their friendship could really go somewhere if one of them took a leap further.
so alexa chose to be the one to take a leap, "whenever you feel alone or you just want to talk or hang out, you're always free to come to me." she sent a small smile to the henderson, "crossing one another on a daily basis seems like it's become a thing of ours in a way. but just know that, i'm always here."
the henderson looked at alexa with a look that she had trouble deciphering, perhaps it was a look of shock and adoration but he hadn't expected the rooney to say something like that. but then again, he had heard from byron that she was known as the kind-hearted yet intelligent individual who would always be ready with her shoulder for anyone to lean on when needed. yet niall saw a different side of her but maybe it was the way in which he presented himself that had alexa baffled that caused her to show the henderson a different side of her that hadn't been discovered since he caught her by surprise.
he liked a challenge. and a challenge was what he got.
it allowed alexa to explore another side of herself that she had no idea she had until niall arrived at the gold coast and constantly pushed her buttons.
but perhaps it was time for the rooney and henderson to move forward in this strange friendship. it was worth a shot.
niall held an awestruck look on his face at the rooney's words before he stuttered out his reply, "oh, w—wow. that—that's great, speedy. that means a lot." he smiled brightly at the brunette beside him.
alexa shrugged her shoulders, "of course. since the swimming competition is tomorrow, you can sit with me and my friends. but only if you want to, i don't want to push you into something you're not comfortable with."
niall couldn't believe that what byron said about the rooney was true. not only was she kind-hearted but she was considerate of the people around her. it was like as if a disney princess had been brought to life in the form of alexa rooney. he could not take his eyes off her as she held the sun in his eyes, "that's alright. i'll join you and your friends tomorrow."
"that's great." alexa smiled brightly. she held out the painting of the purple flower that she completed today to niall, "take it."
niall's eyes darted from the painting that was held out to him in the brunette's grasp to alexa's eyes to search for any indication of hesitation. when he noticed that there was no sign of hesitation in her eyes, he took the painting from her delicate hand where their fingers slightly touched which caused the two to share a small yet awkward smile, "thank you." niall stated quietly.
luckily, alexa could hear it over the crashing waves so she sent a soft smile to the henderson, "your welcome."
👑
ALEXA NEVER THOUGHT THAT SHE WOULD MISS SO MUCH WHEN SHE WASN'T WITH HER FRIENDS. it turned out that when emma went to look for byron during her free period so that they could train, zane was also at the swimming pool and he challenged byron to a race to which byron agreed to. he believed that if he was relaxed then he would win but he was proven wrong when zane won the race.
words were exchanged between emma and byron. in the end, byron fired emma from being his coach.
cleo and rikki went over to check on the gilbert after not hearing from her so they went over. when emma noticed that alexa wasn't with them, she left the two girls in the gilbert household living room and made her way upstairs to her bedroom and cried herself to sleep. the one person that she needed wasn't there for her as promised.
alexa blamed herself once again. she vowed that she would always be there for her friends whenever they needed her. but niall needed her so that was a good reason that she wasn't there for emma, right? either way, she broke her vow.
so the first thing alexa did was sending a message to emma.
ALEXA
cleo and rikki told me about what happened between you and byron. i promised you that i would be there for you and i wasn't which was my fault and i take all the blame for that. my advice may not be helpful to you since it hasn't proved helpful lately but whatever happened between you and byron can only be fixed if the two of you are willing to meet halfway to think of something that can work for the both of you. just do what you've got to do to recover from your interaction with byron and i know you'll come back stronger and smarter than ever.
alexa placed her phone in her yellow sundress pocket before she turned her attention to lewis. the group including niall and excluding emma were all at the juicenet cafe getting a refreshment before the swimming competition started. it allowed alexa to properly introduce niall to cleo, rikki and lewis who were all welcoming to the henderson. whilst rikki went to get the drinks, cleo, lewis, alexa and niall were sat on a silver circled table inside the cafe.
"based on the law of probability, byron has no chance of beating zane today." lewis stated knowingly which earned a nudge in the ribs by niall.
"i still think byron can win." cleo voiced out her opinion.
niall nodded his head in agreement, "he's been working hard for the past few days. i'm sure he'll stand a chance between all the swimmers that are competing today."
rikki brought a tray of refreshments and placed them on the table, "better drink these quickly if we want good seats at the race."
"thanks, rikki." the mccartney thanked the chadwick as all five of them each took a drink each from the tray. lewis took a sip from the straw provided by the cafe before he lifted the drink to observe closely before he placed the drink on the table, "that is disgusting. this has got wheat germ in it. i hate wheat germ. rikki, how many times have i tried to tell you that?"
niall turned to face alexa with furrowed eyebrows in confusion only for the rooney to shrug her shoulders in response as she had no clue on what was happening between lewis and rikki.
"i don't know." rikki replied as her eyes flickered momentarily to meet cleo's.
"well what is your problem?" lewis questioned the chadwick, "get this straight. i never, i never have wheat germ. i never want to have wheat germ." he emphasised his words repeatedly to rikki, "not only that, i just don't wanna look at this glass. it makes me want to spew!" he added before he pinched his nose with his hand in frustration. he ordered the blonde who was smiling widely, "rikki, go get another drink."
rikki's wide smile immediately faded but she complied with the mccartney's words, "ok. coming right up. no need to get.. mad." she took lewis' drink and made her way back to the front desk for a new drink.
throughout the conversation between lewis and rikki, alexa felt incredibly awkward. she was simply taking light sips of her drink whilst niall was looking at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the cafe to look at. meanwhile, cleo was covering her face with her hand as she hated witnessing her two friends winding one another up.
once rikki was gone, a giddy smile appeared on lewis' face which caused alexa and niall to furrow their eyebrows in confusion. the mccartney asked cleo, "was that convincing enough?"
"perfect." cleo replied with a relieved smile on her face.
"wait." alexa suddenly said. she looked at lewis for a moment before she turned to face cleo, "did you both pull a trick on rikki?" which earned a nod of the head from the mccartney and sertori, "you really took my advice, cleo."
"of course." cleo said to alexa. her eyes met lewis', "thanks, lewis. she's been driving me mad all week." she thanked the mccartney.
"yeah, i've sort of enjoyed of driving her mad." lewis admitted to the three.
niall chuckled, "revenge at its finest." he took a sip from his drink.
lewis continued, "there is one catch, though." he lifted the straw from rikki's drink and stirred it in a clockwise motion, "i'll never be able to drink wheat germ again." which earned a smile from cleo, a chuckle from niall and a suppressed smile from alexa.
once the group finished their drinks, they made their way to swimming pool where the race would be taking place. lewis had to leave because he had to finish his experiments on figuring out how the girls had been gifted with the ability to turn into mermaids at the contact of water which left the three girls and niall to make their way to the stands.
the four were sat at the top of the stands where they could easily watch the competition. whilst everyone was taking their seats on the stands, the group were waiting for emma to arrive only to realise that she hadn't arrived.
rikki noticed byron making his way to his lane at the pool so she called, "hey, byron." which gained the attention of the swimmer, "have you seen emma?" she asked.
byron shook his head, "she's not coming." which caused the three girls to share a look.
alexa turned to face niall who was sat beside her, "i'll be right back. i need to check on emma."
"take your time." niall told the rooney with a small smile on his face, "i'll save your seat."
"thanks." alexa said to the henderson before she stood up from her seat and made her way down the stairs so that she could find somewhere private to go to contact emma .
a hand grabbed her arm and tugged her in the direction of a palm tree which was a few metres away from the swimming competition. the rooney turned to face the person who had grabbed her only to realise that cleo had grabbed and followed her which caused alexa to sigh in relief.
alexa took out her phone from the pocket of her yellow sundress and dialled emma's number. with the phone placed in between the two brunettes, they waited patiently for the gilbert to answer.
once emma answered the phone, cleo immediately inquired, "why aren't you at the pool to support byron?"
alexa added, "with all the hard work that the two of you have done for the past week would surely convince you that you should be here with us to support byron."
"i wish i could come and it's not about the hard work that was made during the past week but i really need to clean my shoes." emma replied as she concocted an excuse to why she wasn't there with the group.
"you hate cleaning your shoes." cleo pointed out, knowing the gilbert inside and out.
"i shouldn't have kissed him. now i've gone and ruined a friendship and i didn't even teach him on how to swim better." emma ranted to the two brunettes.
"you're just letting your fear control your actions because you're scared of the outcome if something goes wrong, em." alexa stated, "it's ok to not have everything in your control because we all mess up in situations, we're not perfect and that's alright." she reassured the blonde.
cleo added, "you're just worried about what kind of a girlfriend you could be as a—" she looked around if anyone was paying attention to their conversation before she finished her explanation, "— a mermaid."
emma replied softly, "maybe i should just accept that i'm more mermaid than human."
"you can't say that, em. not when i was born a mermaid." alexa pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone, "you are equally both a human and a mermaid. they do not define who you are as a person."
"not only that but you're just making excuses. this is who we are now and we've got to live as normally as we can. he's still your friend. besides, there's still a chance he might beat zane." cleo said which earned a chuckle from emma and alexa, "do you wanna miss that?" once cleo had said what she wanted to say to the gilbert, she turned to face alexa, "i'll give you a moment to talk to emma. i'll tell niall you'll be back shortly." and with that, she walked away back to the stands where rikki and niall would be.
alexa held the phone to her ear, "i haven't had the chance to check if you've seen my message but if you haven't, then that's alright. i made a promise that i'd be there for you and in your moment of vulnerability, i wasn't there for you. for that, i am sorry." she began, "do you remember that day you hosted a sleepover at your house? you were hesitant on hosting the sleepover this year because of how you, cleo and rikki would have to pay attention to your every movement in case one of you accidentally made contact with water which would result in your mermaid side to be triggered. do you remember what i said about living in fear, em?"
emma was silent for a moment before she recalled, "you can't live in fear. if you continue living in fear, you won't be living your life to the fullest. don't let your fear cloud what you can or can't do with your life."
alexa smiled, "exactly. you can't be afraid. it's your life and you are old enough to make your own choices but don't let your fear dictate your decisions."
"i really needed that, thanks lex. i'll join you all as soon as i can." emma told the brunette.
"see you soon." alexa bid the gilbert goodbye before she ended the call. she placed the phone in the pocket of her yellow sundress before she made her way back to the stands which was full of people. she walked up the stairs to the very top and took her seat beside niall.
"is everything alright?" niall inquired.
alexa softly smiled at the henderson, "absolutely."
"you're just in time. they're going to start any second now." niall informed the brunette.
all of a sudden, a horn was blown which signalled the swimmers that the race had started. the swimmers dove into the pool and once they swam up to the water's surface, they swam front crawl to the other end of the pool whilst the crowd cheered which further encouraged the swimmers to keep swimming.
shortly afterwards, alexa noticed emma making her way up to the group. she took a seat in between alexa and cleo which caused the four girls to exchange a bright smile at the presence of the gilbert as they continued to watch the race.
once the swimmers completed the first lap, they performed a tumble turn in order to gain momentum in the legs to push back from the wall to gain an advantage in swimming to the other end of the pool. it wasn't long until a swimmer had firmly pressed his hand against the tile of the swimming pool wall which indicated that he won. byron took off his goggles with a bright smile plastered on his face at the fact that he had won the 100 metres.
the four girls clapped for byron as he had won his first ever swimming competition in 100 metres after coming second multiple times to zane. cleo pulled emma into a side hug as the group basked in the moment of happiness.
meanwhile, niall was practically jumping for joy that his friend had won the competition that he had spent the past week working towards. with the crowd cheering for the winner and the sun shining down, niall couldn't help but pull alexa into a tight hug as he lifted her off the ground in content, "he did it! he actually did it!"
alexa had no idea how she ended up in the arms of niall henderson. she would complain to him but she didn't want to ruin his mood after witnessing his reaction to byron winning the competition so she wrapped her arms around his neck. she lightly chuckled, "yeah, he really did it, niall." she smiled against his body. she noticed the three girls sending smirks to her so she mouthed to them, 'stop it.'
niall pulled out of the warm embrace. he sent the rooney an apologetic smile, "i'm sorry about pulling you into that hug. i just got excited."
alexa waved it off, "no, don't worry about it at all. you're completely fine." when her eyes met niall's, the two maintained eye contact with neither of them daring to break eye contact as if their private world would collapse in thin air.
alexa and niall's staring contest was interrupted when emma pulled alexa into a hug, "he actually did it, lex. he really did it." she stated in shock.
alexa was immediately snapped out of her staring contest with niall as she wrapped her arms around emma's frame, "he did, didn't he?" alexa replied with a light chuckle in her tone. when she noticed byron looking at emma, alexa pulled out of the hug, "he's looking at you." she teased the gilbert. alexa lightly pushed emma in the direction of where the stairs were so that the gilbert could make her way down to byron, "go to him." she beckoned emma with a smile on her face. the blonde did what alexa said and made her way down to byron.
the rooney turned to face niall who was already looking at her with a soft smile on his face. she tilted her head quizzically at the henderson, "what is it?"
once niall realised that he was caught staring at alexa, he fumbled with his words, "i—i um... it's nothing, i just.. yeah, it's nothing."
the rooney furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before she decided to just let it go so she slowly nodded her head, "alright then."
niall cleared his throat, "i should go congratulate byron for his win." he stood up from his seat.
"i'll join you since cleo, rikki and i are planning to check on emma after she finishes her conversation with byron." alexa responded as the two made their way to the bottom of the stand with cleo and rikki following shortly behind.
niall pulled byron into a bro-hug, "congratulations, man. you deserved it after all the hard work you put in."
byron wrapped his arms around niall's frame, "thanks, niall." the two boys pulled out from the hug, "i should get dressed. i ruined your clothes."
niall shrugged his shoulders, "it's just water, it won't do anything to me. we've got a lot of catching up to do, man." he wrapped his arm around byron's neck and directed him in the direction of the changing rooms. as he walked away, he turned around to face alexa to bid her a goodbye with a fingerless wave which caused alexa to smile nonetheless but she returned the gesture to niall's retreating figure.
once the two boys were gone from their line in sight, the three girls stepped forward towards emma, "are you ok?" rikki asked the gilbert with her hands in the pockets of her pants.
"everything's fine." emma assured the girls.
"glad to hear it, em." alexa chimed in with a relieved smile on her face.
cleo suggested to the three girls, "let's go down to the juice bar. my shout."
"i feel like a swim." emma responded with a thoughtful look on her face.
"we'll come with you." rikki replied which caused cleo and alexa to nod their heads in agreement.
"alone." emma specified to the three girls. she turned to face alexa, "and don't even think you're off the hook, alexa. i wanna know what the hell was that between you and niall."
alexa's eyes widened in shock, "it was a hug!" she exclaimed, "are friends not allowed to hug?"
rikki teased the rooney, "he was giving you the big dreamy eyes throughout the entire time he was with us."
"it was so obvious." cleo added with a light chuckle in her tone which caused the group to hum in agreement whilst alexa shook her head at the teasing that her friends gave her.
"well, i'm going for a swim on my own but i'll join you all at the juice net cafe soon." emma told the three girls before she walked away.
so the three girls made their way to the cafe as they waited patiently for the blonde gilbert to arrive after her swim. once she arrived, the group ordered their drinks before they spent the evening in the presence of one another. stories and gossip were shared, laughter was exchanged as the four girls cherished the moment of normality they had.
because deep down, the four girls knew that peace was something that they could only experience momentarily before something terrible happened. this was only the calm before the storm.
👑
AUTHOR'S NOTE: so this chapter is a lot longer than my usual chapters. we've got a lot more niall and alexa content and a lot of emma and alexa moments.
there's also a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter which will allude to later on in the book.
other than that, this book has been a way for me to escape reality for a moment. i hope you're all doing well and see you all in the next chapter :)