We arrived in Miami. I had to be checked over by a security guard to make sure I wasn't a "terrorist", as soon as I got off the plane, but other than that, things went pretty smoothly since my morphing accident on the plane. We hurried out of the airport and got into another ground transportation vehicle called a "taxi". During the ride in the taxi, the driver had human music on, which I enjoyed. Marco told me it was called "raggae" and it originated in one of the islands on our cruise were was visiting called Jamaica. We drove for a few minutes towards what appeared to be a large human city, much bigger than the one my human friends live in. The sun was setting as we drove into our hotel. We would rent a couple of room there and spend the night. Rachel and Cassie got one room, and Marco, Prince Jake, and I got the other. Tobias would sleep outside, since he is a bird. Our cruise would leave the next day at 3:00.

We walked across the street to a restaurant called Burger King, which served more delicious human foods called burgers, fries, and coke (which Jake would not allow me to taste). All of which my human friends considered to be extremely unhealthy but cheap. Then we went back to our room and watched the Red Sox win the World Series.

We were woken up by the telephone in our room. My human friends yawned and complained about their lack of sleep (even though they had gotten ten hours of sleep that night). I don't know why humans are always surprised by the time they get up every day, but apparently this is normal for most humans.

After we were all dressed properly in our artificial skins, we headed down the elevator and emerged into the lobby, which is a room in hotels where humans sit around and do nothing. I was glad we were going on a cruise instead. We walked through the lobby and went into a room with a few tables and a counter with a coffeemaker (which some humans use to wake up instead of alarm clocks and telephones), a juice dispenser, some donuts, and a basket of apples and oranges. Continental breakfast, as my human friends called it. I tried a cup of the coffee. It was incredible! The flavor was unlike anything I had ever tasted before. I wanted more, more! I filled my cup again and again. The excitment was building. I felt incredibly energized. Now I know exactly why Marco had told me this was how humans wake up in the morning. Then I noticed Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias all staring at me. "Uh, Ax, maybe coffee isn't the best thing for you," Jake said. I realized that in my frenzy fo the beverage, I had drunk six cups of it, soaked my shirt with it, and accidentally tiiped over the coffee maker (perhaps an even more wonderful device than the oven that makes cinnamon buns), causing coffee to spill all over the counter and soaking the donuts. I carefully placed my cup in the trash can and started eating a donut, smiling at my human friends. A couple minutes later were kicked out of the room with the breakfast by an angry hotel employee.

The people in the lobby were giving us suspicious looks looks, and nobody looked like they wanted us to be there, so we headed out the door. We walked a few blocks to a bike store, and we rented bicycles. We rode for a couple hours along the beach. Marco made some comments about me checking out the girls who were lying on the beach. My human friends laughed, and Marco said that if I wanted, he could help make me a hot girl magnet on the cruise.

Just when my legs were starting to get tired, we turned onto a bridge and arrived at the dock. Our ship loomed in front of us. It was a huge white metal hulk, but its design was so beautiful and clever. If it was as cramped as the plane we had come on to Miami, it would fit millions of humans, but my friends assured me it would be much more spacious. There was a sign in front f the gangplank that said that boarding would begin in an hour and a half. We rode over to a couple of picnic benches and ate the sandwiches we had packed. Then we walked along the docks for a while, looking at all the ships moored there. One of them was a cruise ship that was even bigger than ours. The dock started to fill up with humans very quickly. We walked back to our ship. The dock had become very noisy. There were people selling brown bread with salt on it. I bought one and shoved it all down my throat at once, and suddenly I could not breathe. Marco dragged me behind a concrete column and stood behind me while wrapping his arms around me and forcefully pressing against me. I coughed and then I could breathe again. Meanwhile, a bunch of humans had gathered around us. I heard murmuring, and heard the word "gay" a few times. "Ax, don't do that anymore! You're gonna hurt yourself. Don't do that then come to yellin :'Ay!Me duele el estomgo!'"

"Yes, Marco. Ko," i said sheepishly. We waited for a long time before finally stepping onto the boat. It was very strange and exciting to see that the inside of the boat resembled so many buildings I've seen. We had separate rooms like in the hotel. Rachel and Cassie shared the room next to ours. There were four beds in our room. Prince Jake slept on the bed in the back, and Tobias had the bed on the other side of the room for whatever he wanted to use it for. Marco pulled down two beds off the wall. He slept on the one above Prince Jake, and I slept on the one above Tobias.

After we had unloaded our luggage in our room, we went our separate ways. I wandered around the ship for a while; exploring the different decks. When I reached the top deck, it was dark but I could not find Prince Jake or the others. I wandered towards a group of humans around a swimming pool. There was loud music playing, many humans yelling and having fun, and various pool objects flying everywhere. Suddenly I saw something flying at my head! I was under attack! "Aaah!" I cried and put up my arms in an effort to defend myself. The ball bounced off my head and fell on the floor. Then a girl ran up to me and laughed. She picked up the ball and said, "Come join the fun, silly!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the pool. At first I was reluctant, afraid that she was a Controller and was trying to get my infested, but then I saw Marco waving at me and grinning and I realized that this was one of those "chicks" that Marco had told me about. When we got to the pool, we were joined by a group of other girls who helped me pull off my shirt. Then they pushed me in the pool, laughing. All the girls jumped in a circle around me, giggling. The one who had seen me first asked, "So what's your name?"

"My name is Ax," I replied. I silently berated myself. Ax was definitely not a believable human name. It is a nickname for my Andalite name, Aximili.

The girls giggled again. "Well, hi... Ax," she said. "My name's Chelsea."

Suddenly, more flying objects. "Crab puffs for all!" someone yelled. I reached up hand and caught one. I put it i my mouth, but before my taste buds could fully register its taste, my head was pushed underwater. "Hey, let's try to dunk Ax!" Chelsea yelled.

I was confused. "Now why would you-" I was suddenly interrupted by a beach ball and another crab puff, both of which simultaneously hit me in the face. Then I saw the girls coming toward me! I quickly swam away from them, but they were faster! "AAAH!" I screamed in terror. Chelsea laughed so hard she had to stop. Then, somewhere I heard Marco yelling, "Everybody get Ax!" and pointed at me.

I had a lot of fun at the pool, but I cannot understand how it ended. Once we were back in our room, I told Marco what Chelsea had told me before she left. "WHAAT?!" Marco exploded. "She said WHAAAT?! Oh no, no, this is very bad."

"What?" said Jake as he walked through the door.

"Some girl at the pool said 'Ax, I want to know more about you. You're such an interesting person. You wanna meet me at the Gavroche tomorrow and just... talk?' "

"Oh you're right, the Yeerks might discover there's an Andalite on board if Ax goes on a date at the Gavroche ," Jake said worriedly.

"NO!!" Marco exploded again. "Ax got asked out by the same girl that said 'Oh, guys like you... I'll see ya later, Marco' when I asked her out! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I may be loses my touch to... Ax!" he wrinkled his nose at me.

"Oh Marco," Jake laughed. "Just because you got beaten out by Ax to the hottest chick on the ship doesn't mean you have to get all jealous..."

"That does it, this has to stop!" Marco yelled. "We'll just let Chelsea see tomorrow who's the cooler guy, me, or Ax." He paused. "Ax, this is a one time shot, so don't act like a total weirdo in front of Chelsea. I'll guarantee both of you Chelsea'll have a different boyfriend before goes to bed tomorrow. And it had better be me," he grumbled.

As we got into bed, Jake gave me a smile and whispered "Don't worry about it," to reassure me.

Oh I was definitely worried.