"But, Mom!" Thalia whined.
"I'm not sure, honey." Her mother said. "I've barely even met these boys! They seem nice, but…well, they're boys…"
"Oh my GOSH! I cannot believe you're thinking about THAT! They have purity rings! Plus, I'm not THAT stupid."
"Still, dear. It's going to be you and three of them-"
"Four."
"Four? See? You and four boys. I don't want you to-"
"Who said I was going alone? Ashleigh and Mary are coming too. Please, mom? They were with me since…since…" Thalia started to tear up.
"Promise me you won't do anything stupid?"
"Does that mean I'm going?"
Her mom gave her a pained-looking smile.
"OH MY GOSH! THANKYOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"
Thalia dashed up to her room, happy as can be. She phoned Nick to share the good news.
"Hello?" Nick mumbled into the phone.
"Hey, Nick. Sorry, did I wake you?"
"Um, kind of. But that's okay. There's only one and a half weeks of touring left, then relaxation!"
"Which is why I called you. I'm GOING!"
"YES! This is excellent! I'm so excited, I'm, I'm…oh my gosh, I'm turning into Kevin before the American Idol finale. Ahem. A cruise ship on the Mexican Riviera for a week with you! Well, five days plus Kevin, Joe, Frankie, Ashleigh and Mary, but still!"
"Can't wait either! Well, get some rest, Nick. I don't want you falling asleep during When You Look Me In the Eyes or something."
Thalia smiled. She was going on a cruise with her boyfriend, whom millions of girls wanted. For once, life was getting better.
--
Day of the Cruise"Hey, wake up!" yelled Ashleigh's voice.
"Mmmm…fivemoreminutes, Mom." Mary mumbled.
"It's cruise time! Come on!" Thalia threw a pillow at her.
The three girls slept over at Ashleigh's the day before.
"Get up, cheetah butt!" Ashleigh said.
Mary groaned then sat up on her sleeping bag. She insisted on bringing her cheetah print pajamas.
"Get dressed. We're meeting Kevin and the others at about 6:30."
"It's like, 5:00 AM!"
"We live like, an hour away! Plus, I remember the last time you slept over. You took a million years to get dressed. "
"Psh, whatever. I'll be back…"
Half an hour later, Mary came out with a bright hoodie with white capris and white Etnies. She grabbed a yellow headband and tried to close her overstuffed suitcase once more.
"It took you THAT long to pick THIS out?" Thalia said in disbelief.
"Hey, I have to actually look good." Mary said.
"How much did you pack, anyway?"
"Not a lot." Mary pouted. "I wanted to bring more."
"Alright…" Ashleigh said, lifting an eyebrow.
They walked out and went to Ashleigh's black SUV Lexus. After they had squeezed Ashleigh's lime green suitcase into the trunk, they got in.
On the way, they stopped by Starbucks and all of them got Venti, to laugh at Kevin after they sipped it in front of him.
"Wow, Ashleigh. You're evil." Mary said.
"No, I'll share with him when he can't take it anymore."
When they got to the port, they walked to where the sign in place was. Kevin, Joe, Nick and Frankie were standing there. Mary had a mischevious smile on her face. She crept up behind Joe. She poked his side and yelled out 'BOO!' as loud as she could. He let out a girlish shriek and turned around to face a grinning Mary.
"YOU ARE SO DEAD!" he yelled.
He ran after her and he accidentally tripped over a public trash can and sent trash flying everywhere, knocking Mary over and spilling frappuccino all over her outfit.
"OH MY GOSH! JOE GET BACK HERE!" she screamed.
She ran after Joe, still clutching the empty cup. She threw it at Joe, who ducked out of the way just in time but bopped an unfortunate Nick on the head.
"Joe's getting chased by a girl!" Frankie laughed.
"If this is what happens before the cruise, this should be an interesting vacation…" Nick whispered to Thalia.
"Where'd you get the Starbucks?" Kevin asked.
Ashleigh grinned.
"Oooh, it's a Double Chocolate Chip Frap. You know you want it, Kevin." Ashleigh waved the half-empty cup in front of Kevin's face.
"You're mean." He pouted.
"Okay, fine. I'll share…fatty." She teased.
"I'm not the one who drank HALF of a VENTI chocolate filled frap!" he shot back.
Ashleigh just laughed and took a straw out of her purse that she saved for Kevin and handed the drink to him.
"All we need is popcorn and this would be perfect." Thalia whispered back to Nick.
"Alright, we're checking in before you do something stupid and break something." Nick said grabbing Thalia's hand.
He led her to the check-in desk and the people whisked away their luggage.
"Let's go, the ship's gonna leave soon." Thalia said.
"Welcome to the SS Neptune." Said a man in a white suit.
The group stepped onboard the ship. They smiled at each other. This vacation was going to be fun, relaxing and most importantly, safe.