So first off, I'm going to start with an author's note even though I hate when people do that. To be fair, I really think that this deserves one. So I started this a few years ago as a one shot that then turned into a two chapter story that then turned into this. This story is going to start from the very beginning and work its way to the Lovesick Episode story and further on. This story will start off with just Cleo and Zane scenes, everything else will be the same. As the story goes on there will be a couple of things that are different from the show but I want to keep it as canon as possible.

Also I don't own any rights to H20.

First season, first episode. Starts off on the dock with Zane and Cleo.

Zane has been tinkering with his boat all day long trying to get it to start. It's the spark plug. Someone must have stolen my spark plug. Zane was so annoyed when he realized the reason why his boat wouldn't start.

"My dad is going to kill me", Zane muttered to himself. I promised him I wouldn't be late this time. He runs his hands over his face, then from the corner of his eye he sees someone walking by. Perfect timing. He notices that it's a girl but not just any girl its Cleo, the perfect person to mess with. Cleo was so naive, he almost felt bad about taking his anger out on her. Almost.

"Cleo!" he shouts at her, trying to get her attention. "Hey, Cleo!" He calls out to her and she starts looking around as if she couldn't believe that he was addressing her.

"Yes, that Cleo." He can't help but smile a little bit.

"I'm in some trouble here," he tries to look helpless in an attempt to get some pity from Cleo so he can lure her into his trap. "Can you help?"

Of course, I already know that she is going to give in and say yes. Cleo is way too nice, one day someone is going to take advantage of her.

"Um, I don't think so," Cleo says immediately. Come on, I'm not that stupid Zane! I'm not falling for that one. How stupid does he think I am.

"Come on." Zane licks his lips. Damn, I really thought she was going to say yes. Zane smiles, time to bring out the big guns then.

"Please. My zodiac won't go and all I need you to do is hand me the tools." There I said please, there is no way she can say no now.

Cleo can't help but let a small smile slip through. Wow, the rich and powerful Zane said please and to me of all people. He must really be desperate. Ughhhh, fine Zane wins, curse my kind heart. Cleo rolls her eyes and starts walking toward Zane and his boat.

"I'm not good with boats," she lets him now in what she hopes is a calm voice because the truth was she was a little skeptical to help. I really hope that this isn't another one of his awful pranks.

"You'll be fine," Zane a little quietly, he can't help but feel just a tiny bit bad. Why would she agree to help me if she isn't good with boats. God, Cleo, why do you have to be so nice? You are making this whole thing a lot harder. "You know," a little voice in the back of his head says, "You could always not go through with it" Shut up, stupid conscience. He bends down getting ready to untie the boat.

"Took me a while to realize that someone stole my spark plug," a little longer than he would like to admit to anyone, especially someone like Cleo.

"So does it work without one?" Cleo asks. She starts grabbing the first tool she sees in the tool box. This one looks like it can do something. Cleo was so busy trying to not look stupid in front of Zane that she didn't even notice what he was doing until he pushed the boat away from the dock.

"No," he tells her. This isn't really making me feel better, he thinks. It's too late now, might as well enjoy the show. "No spark plug, no spark. I was getting sick of that thing anyway."

I knew it. Cleo couldn't but feel a bit hurt, she really did think he was being sincere this time.

"Why me?"Maybe he thinks I took the plug? "I didn't steal your spark plug," she tells in a desperate attempt to get him or his stupid friend to help her. No way, I can't go off to sea on a boat with no spark plug. How am I going to get back to shore? It's not like I can swim there.

"Because you're here, Cleo." Duh. Oh come on Cleo, don't look at me like that, you just had to help me didn't you? It's not like I can change my mind, especially now that Nate is here. If I help her now, he would call me a wuss for days. I feel really bad though… I got it!

"My dad will buy me another boat anyway. I tell you what, if you get it going, you can keep it." There, I played a completely harmful prank on Cleo and in return she gets my practically new Zodiac. It seems like a fair trade to me.

"This isn't funny," Cleo yells out to Zane. Why would he do this to me? He knows that I can't swim, he has to remember that I can't swim. It's a pretty important, hard to forget detail about me.

"Are you kidding? Works for me, right mate?" Zane laughs and looks at Nate. Why is she so freaked out? It's not like she can't swim back to the docks. The worst that can happen is she gets a small cold from swimming in cold water.

Of course he forgot that I can't swim, Cleo thinks as she remembers what a self-absorbed jerk Zane is. Cleo starts panicking a little as she looks around and realizes that the docks are too far away for her to jump. Come on, Cleo think. I can always ask Zane to help but right now, I would rather die at sea. Cleo can feel herself panicking even more the longer she's on the boat. I'm getting further away, screw it. I don't want to die at sea.

"Zane!" Cleo yells out to him hoping that he somehow remembers that she can't swim.

"Looks like you'll have to swim for it, Cleo." Zane yells back.

Idiot! I hate him, Cleo thinks as she sits down and looks around. There is nothing I can do now.

"This isn't happening," she says shaking her head. If he doesn't remember that I can't swim, I'm not going to remind him. He'll only make fun of me.

Just as Cleo was finally starting to lose hope that she could find a way out of this, some crazy blonde girl jumped in front of her.

"Ahhh!" Cleo yells out. She's going to throw me off the boat and keep it for herself, and I'm going to drown and die alone. Or maybe she's here to help, the more reasonable side of Cleo thought, but how is she going to help me?

The blonde girl gives Cleo the most disgusted look after hearing her girly scream. Cleo stands up quickly once she sees the blonde move around on the boat. Great, I bet she jumped on thinking all she needs to do is turn on the boat and we are good to go.

"Is this suppose to be some sort of rescue?" Cleo asks a bit annoyed. " Because there is a fatal flaw here. I don't meant to state the obvious, but we're just floating out to sea. Both of us." I bet she can swim though. Then, the blonde smiles and lifts her hand up. Now, Cleo is no genius but even she knows that it's the missing spark plug that got her into this whole mess to begin with.

"You took that," Cleo said. She couldn't help but get mad at this girl. Who even is this girl? Why didn't she say something earlier when Zane tricked me. The blonde walks over to the area where the spark plug belongs.

"Zane Bennett's a pig," the blonde girl, looking up. It's then that Cleo realizes that Zane was following her. What is he doing? Why is he following? Maybe he wants to see me drown and die a slow and painful death for something that I didn't even do.

Zane didn't even realize that he was following Cleo. He was beginning to get a little worried when he saw that the boat was only getting further away and Cleo still hadn't jumped off. Cleo, what are you doing? I get it, I feel really bad now, so you can jump off and swim back.

"Anything I can do to get under his skin can't be a bad thing, can it?" The blonde girl says as she looks up at Cleo.

Wait, a minute. I know this girl. She's that new girl that moved here not that long ago. I always wanted to talk to her but she kinda scares me.

"Cool, thanks, Rikki," Cleo tells her. Maybe now we can actually become friends.

"You know my name," Rikki ask/states, looking her up and down suspiciously.

"Yeah, well, I've seen you around school since you arrived." Once Cleo says that out loud, she realizes how rude that actually sounds.

"Oh I mean, I've meant to say hello and everything." It's just that I was waiting for a moment where you didn't look so angry, but that moment never came, Cleo thinks knowing that she can't say that to her face. Great, she'll never want to be my friend now. By now, Rikki, has put the spark plug back to its original place and started up the Zodiac.

"Hold on," she tells Cleo.

Zane is still following getting even more worried, until he hears the sound of a motor. He lets out the tiniest smile ever when he sees the Zodiac running. No way, maybe Cleo isn't as innocent and helpless as I thought.

This is so cool! Cleo can't help but think, as she looks over at Rikki and smiles. Does this mean that I can keep the boat. I mean, technically I didn't get it started but I supervised...sort of.

"Cool, you got it started again," Cleo tells Rikki, "Do you mind if I take over for a bit, I want to get under Zane's skin too."

"Sure, just whatever you do, make it real good," Rikki tells Cleo as she moves over to let her steer.

Cleo smiles deviously as she quickly yanks the wheel to the side, completely spraying Zane with water from head to toe.

"Agh," Zane yells as he quickly tries to cover himself but it's no use. He couldn't help but feel a bit shocked. Was that Cleo steering? It sure looked like it. Zane looked over at his friend who was laughing at him.

"Did Cleo just spray me with water?" Zane asks, still in shock.

"Yeah, mate, that was definitely Cleo at the wheel" Nate tells him.

Will you look at that, Zane thinks to himself. Maybe Cleo isn't helpless after all.

Later in the day

Zane was out on his motorcycle, aimlessly driving around. He didn't want to go back home anytime soon. His father ripped him a new one when the water police told him that they found his zodiac out on Mako Island with three missing girls. I can't believe that he thinks I'm really that stupid. I wouldn't just give a girl the zodiac, no matter how cute she is. Not that I'm saying Cleo is cute or anything. I did give her the zodiac though, and she is kinda cute, but not cute enough to get in trouble with my dad.

While driving his motorcycle he notices Cleo and Lewis walking. Lewis! What the hell is Cleo doing hanging around with that loser? She has to know that he has a monster crush on her and will do anything to get on her good side. Zane wonders what it's like to be Lewis, I mean, the guy has no backbone when it comes to Cleo. I'll mess with him a little, just to make him look bad in front of Cleo. Zane pulls up in front of them.

"Oh no," Cleo says. He probably thinks that I stole his spark plug. I told him it wasn't me though! Oh no, poor Lewis is going to get dragged into my mess.

Zane flips his face shield in what he hopes is an intimidating way.

"Just ignore him," Zane hears Lewis tell Cleo. So, he's trying to act like the tough guy in front of Cleo.

"Let's go back," Cleo says grabbing Lewis' arm. If Zane gets a hold of Lewis, he'll kill him for sure.

Zane smiles, Leave it to Cleo to try and protect Lewis, instead of the other way around. What a wuss. He sees that Cleo has a hold off Lewis' arm and before he knew it, he was driving between the two, forcing them apart.

Zane didn't know why but something about that guy made him angry. Maybe it was because he was such a loser. If he didn't hang around Cleo so much, then Cleo would have been a lot more popular. Zane and Cleo might have even been...friends.

Can you imagine if I had sat down next to Cleo that day in class instead of Lewis? Maybe it'd be my arm she'd be grabbing like that, she might have even become my girlfri-

Zane quickly stops that train of that, even if Cleo wasn't friend with Lewis, he would never date her. She might have been cool enough to hang out with him but not cool enough to date. Zane knows that if Cleo were actually his friend she would probably go out with someone like Nate. Even though Cleo was considered a loser, a lot of his friends thought that she was really cute. It's why Miriam hated her so much because she knows that in another world, Cleo would be the one calling the shots.

Zane takes off his helmet and gets off his bike. He turns to look at Cleo to see if she was okay. Zane has decided that he is just going to apologize for what he did to her yesterday and for almost killing her just now. He notices that Cleo is now clinging to Lewis. He starts getting angry. Angry at Cleo, angry at Lewis, but mostly angry at himself. Here I am, ready to apologize to her and she's acting like I'm a monster. You know what, Zane thinks, Screw apologizing. If she's going to act like that then she's not even worth apologizing to.

"Nervous," he tells her, pointing out to Cleo the way she's clinging to Lewis.

I didn't even notice how close I was to Lewis. Zane probably thinks that I like him now. What do I care what he thinks anyway, he's been such a jerk to me these past couple of days. Usually he's only like that when his stupid friends are around. He always apologizes to me afterward though. That's it! I'm so stupid, he's here to apologize. Right?

"What do you want Zane?" She says in a defensive tone. Even if he is here to apologize he did almost killed me with his stupid bike.

"My father didn't appreciate having the water police knock on his door." Zane tells her hoping that she might feel a little guilty about how much trouble he got into because of her. He noticed that she backed away from Lewis just a tiny bit.

"Well, you shouldn't have told me to keep the zodiac," Cleo says. I can't believe this guy, is he trying to make me feel bad. He's the one that pushed me out to sea. I asked him to help and he ignored me. He better have a damn good apology because I'm getting so mad right now.

"I don't like people making me look bad, Cleo," Zane tells her as he slowly starts walking towards them, "Especially chicks like you." And especially in front of my father.

"In front of your dad you mean, Zane," Lewis says the thing that everyone was thinking of, "Sounds like your scared of him."

I am definitely not apologizing to Cleo, at least not in front of this loser. Zane feels himself getting even more mad.

"You think you're better than me, Lewis," Zane says, "Is that it?"

"Almost everyone is better than you, live with it," Lewis tells Zane.

When did Lewis become such a hot shot? Zane thought. Is Cleo really worth getting his ass kicked? Because that's exactly what he was going to do to Lewis.

Cleo, at this point, wasn't even paying attention anymore. She was distracted by the fire hydrant that was next to her. She was getting really angry at Zane.

Why couldn't he apologize, I mean he has apologized to me for a lot less. I could have died if Rikki hadn't jumped in. Not only that but I wouldn't be stuck in this "mermaid" mess to begin with. And what's up with that fire hydrant? The angrier Cleo got the more she wished that Zane would get sprayed with water from the fire hydrant.

This is weird, she thinks. It's almost like I can feel the water trying to come out, but that's impossible. No, I CAN feel it! It's almost like my hand is a magnet and the water is trying to get closer to me. I wonder if this has anything to do with the whole turning into a fish thing.

Zane looks over Cleo and sees that she looks really angry.

Oh no, I've really done it this time. You know what I'm just going to swallow my pride and apologize to her like a man, I don't care if Lewis thinks I'm a loser. I'm Zane Bennett nothing I do is lame.

Zane starts walking up to Cleo so he can properly apologize to her. Before he reaches her though, Lewis jumps in front of her.

Who the hell does this guy think he is. I can kick his ass twenty different ways without even trying. Does he think that I'm going to hurt Cleo, Zane thinks as he looks over to Cleo.

Zane never takes his eyes off of Cleo because really she's the only one that matters right now. I'm here to apologize to her, she's gotta know that I can't possibly hurt her. Zane waits for Cleo to defend him and tell Lewis that Zane would never hurt her but she doesn't. Instead she looks away from Zane. Zane took that as a sign that maybe she really was scared of him. Crap, come on, Zane, say something to lighten up the mood.

"Got yourself a protector, have you, Cleo?" Zane says trying to get her attention.

That might not have been the best approach. As much as I hate Lewis, he is her best friend. Well, at least she's looking at me now, but if anything she's looks angrier.

Cleo starts concentrating even more on the fire hydrant. She knows that she is the one moving the water in there, she can feel it moving in her hand. Worst case scenario is that she had some bad fish last night and she ends up making a fool in front of Zane. I do that at least once a day, so that won't be so bad. If I'm right though..

Zane is still waiting for Cleo to say something to him. Is she just going to cower behind Lewis the whole time? Where is the strong Cleo that sprayed me with water yesterday. She can't spend her whole life trying to be nice and avoid all confrontation. What if Lewis wasn't here, Zane thinks, what if I was someone else, someone who actually wanted to hurt her? What would she do then?

"You know, Cleo, one of these days something really bad, might happen to you, with or without Lewis-" Zane doesn't get a chance to finish what he was about to say because suddenly the fire hydrant exploded and he was being sprayed with water.

"Ahhh!" he yells as the force of the water pushes him all the way to the beach.

Cleo stares at Zane in shock. That was not what I meant to do, I didn't want to hurt I just wanted to get him a little wet. Crap, how do I turn it off? Maybe if I move my hand the other way I can push it down. There, that's better...Is it though? I can't deal with this right now.

Cleo turns around and starts running away. I've gotta find Emma and Rikki.

As Cleo heads over to Emma's house, she can't help but think about the look on Zane's face when the hydrant exploded. If only they had been there, we could laugh about it together for days. I feel a bit bad though, I think Zane was about to apologize. If he had, then that would have been the first time he did it in front of another person. Sorry, Zane, I have to sort my freaky mermaid power thing first.