For the rest of that school year Nicole pretty much left me alone - a little too much alone. It was like I wasn't even there. A few times when I'd been walking out of the school toilets she would barge into me as if she was walking straight through me. Another time she 'accidentally' threw a rounders ball straight into the side of my head when she claimed to have been throwing it at somebody behind me. On plenty of occasions she would slam the classroom door right into my face, but she was careful to do it when Miss Hort wasn't watching. Then the other kids in my class started copying off her; they wouldn't do anything like she did (I'm sure that she wouldn't let them anyway because she wanted to be the only person to do this to me) but not one of them would look at me. I felt like I blended in with the background.
On the last day of school every single person in my class was in tears, or at least had watery eyes. Every person except me. To everyone else school was a place to spend time with your friends, where they could sit back and relax. It clearly wasn't that case for me. As much as I wished that I could happily walk to school each morning like all the other kids did, I couldn't. When the summer holidays would be over we'd move on to secondary school and I would probably never see at least half of them again. Unluckily, Nicole would be going to the same high school as I would be. I just hoped that we wouldn't be put into the same classes and that out of the three hundred people in our year, I'd be able to make at least one friend, since I couldn't do that in our class of twenty people at primary school. My shyness was my worst enemy sometimes.
At the end of the summer holidays I'd get my SATs results which would determine which sets I'd end up in at high school. Also, by the end of the first week of the holidays I became bored. So bored that I even let J.J persuade me to take up playing the guitar. The first few times I felt like a beginner all over again, then I began to get the hang of it and even enjoy playing it. It amused me to watch Max playing on it, he seemed to expect himself to be able to get it straight off and was trying to pursued J.J to teach him to play some Metallica songs. I couldn't really say that I was a fan of Metallica. My holidays consisted of me writing, attempting to draw, attempting to make cakes and practising my guitar. I'd began to get way more comfortable around Max, we even played table tennis a couple of times with each other since we were already at a leisure centre which was surprisingly fun. Especially when I beat him all of the time.
Too many times was my mind brought back to the 'delusion' of when I met Captain Jack Sparrow. What would have happened if it happened whilst I'm in school? How would my mother react if she knew about it? I couldn't ignore the fact that I wanted it to happen again. So after a few moments thought I decided to retrace what happened last time I had a delusion. I placed the DVD in the DVD player and sat back to watch Dead Man's Chest. To my surprise it didn't stop playing or go into extreme slow motion when I reached the point that I got to last time. The film continued to show one of Jack Sparrow's best escape plans yet (even if it was completely unrealistic).
Jack's figure sprawling in the sand suddenly shot up as he spotted a large ship coming closer to the island from the horizon, with a wicked and knowing smile he ripped some very strong rubber leaves from a nearby tree and proceeded to climb then he tied it high up between two trees at the very edge of the island with his hair. This time the hair wasn't from his back, after all this time it still hadn't had enough time to grow fully, he had to sacrifice two of the large thick dreadlocks from his head off with a sharp pointed shell. To anybody else they probably would have considered it to be a bit extreme to do all that just to make what looked what a hammock, but of course Jack knew what he was doing. He climbed up on of the trees and hitched up his foot and put a little bit of weight on it. The only way to describe the thing was springy. It was so springy that it almost thew him off when it bounced back up after he tested it. He smirked that famous Jack Sparrow smirk and his breath whooshed out of his nose, sounding like how somebody would say 'ha' if they didn't have a mouth. Then the smirk vanished. Jack could see the few of his surviving crewmates desperately swimming towards the island. There must have been at least ten of them - and they were going to be angry when they discovered that Jack took off with the only get away boat, assuming that they hadn't realised that already. He made sure to recover his balance because after all, it was a long way down to the ground even if it was a soft landing. He eyed up the ship that was coming closer and closer to the island, but obviously not close enough for the leftovers of the crew to spot it and swim towards it.
"Odd." He muttered, then his eyes bulged and one of the corners of his mouth twitched. The crew were heaving themselves up onto the platform of sand right below where he was perched in the tree, but they were clearly too exhausted at the moment to look at anywhere above them.
"Just a few more seconds..." Jack whispered to himself. The ship suddenly swerved to avoid crashing into the island but it was still fairly close to the coast. Elizabeth was the only one alert enough to spot it, she leapt to her feet and waved her arms above her head shouting "HEY!" but her voice was drowned out by the noise of the waves making and breaking contact with the sand. It was at that moment when she held her head to the sky that she saw Jack, her mouth opened in outrage and she glared towards him but all that left her mouth was:
"I thought that you were a good man, Jack."
That got the attention of the crew, they too looked towards where he was stood and shouted various insults. Jack smirked again downwards towards Elizabeth.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, darling." He flashed his teeth in the sun before leaping onto what was effectively his home-made trampoline.
Unfortunately enough for him, after sailing through the air (no pun intented) when he landed on the ship he discovered that it was one of the Royal Navy's ships. Not just one of those, but the one with Lord Beckett himself on it.
"Oh bugger." He cursed. Not just because of his unfortunate landings but because the ship's men on board had all turned around and pointed their neatly polished long guns at him. So this is why none of my crew would swim to this ship... Still, he guessed that this would beat slowly starving to death on the island. At least here the chances of escape were much more in Jack's favour - he was way more used to having to escape from situations such as this one.
"Cuff him!" An all too familiar voice shouted. He winced as somebody behind him trapped his hands behind his back. Lord Beckett emerged from behind the circle of men with his smug walk and nose in the air.
"I see we meet again, pirate." He spoke with a triumphant expression. "This time, Jack Sparrow-"
"Captain." Jack corrected immediately with an air of confidence.
"Mr. Sparrow, you have no ship. How can you possibly be titled as a captain?"
"Who's to say I don't have another?" Jack spoke hurriedly, idly fantasising about somehow breaking out of his cuffs, whipping out his sword and somehow turning all of the guns away from him in order to take over this ship. Just temporally until he could find a better one. Lord Beckett raised his eyebrows and his lip curled up. The king's men spluttered with laughter.
"As I was saying earlier-" But Lord Beckett was interrupted by a spurt of his own laughter "this time you won't escape the hangman's noose, Sparrow. I've been waiting years to see this and just this time I will have caught 'Captain' Jack Sparrow." He beckoned the King's men. "Tie him up and lock him in one of the cell's below. Oh, and by the way; we're having a lovely trip to Port Royal."
Jack twitched again. This was the inevitable end for every pirate, someday or another they got caught. Jack always fancied himself as the pirate who was never caught, the one who always escaped from the consequences of his own actions. In desperation he said,
"I have the compass."
Lord Beckett turned around with a larger sneer.
"What good would that do me if I already have what I want?" He turned around to his men. "Lock him up!" Lord Beckett took one look last look at Jack then added in victory "I already have the heart. For once in your life Sparrow - you lose."
Always in his life Jack Sparrow had hope. Even in the most desperate of situations. His escapes were legendary but for once he doubted that this time it would be possible. Well, that's not entirely true, only at one occasion in his life Jack had been hopeless: when he made the deal with Davy Jones. He looked round his cell again. No holes in the wall or floor. No sharp objects. No weak spots in the iron bars. No dog who carried around the keys in his mouth. No member of the Royal Navy who he could bribe nearby. No member of his own crew who could - or would - save him. And he couldn't even move his arms or legs for the men had tied his up so that he was curled up with his knees folded to his chest and his hands tied in front of them. Even if he could move them there was still the complication of being chained to one of the iron bars. Even if by some miracle this ship got attacked by, say, a pirate ship and there was a large hole blasted through his cell it's not like he would be able to escape. He would remain chained and tied and would surely drown. At least he would (partially) still have his pirates honour: not to be brought down by authority figures because technically, it would be the pirates who attacked the ship that brought him down even though it would be the authorities fault that he would remain chained. Of course Jack had realised that whilst he was still in this cell it was virtually impossible to escape. He would just have to wait. Unfortunately enough for him, Jack Sparrow did not have much patience.
A few nights later the ship finally took a well-deserved rest in the bay of Port Royal. Jack had only been given the leftovers of food that the rest of the Royal Navy didn't want, they only wanted to keep him alive for just a few days longer so that they could finally bring the pirate to 'justice'. Any other pirate they probably would have just killed on the spot but killing the legendary escapee Captain Jack Sparrow would serve as a warning to all of the other pirates: the world is getting smaller and the authority is closing in. Quick sounding footsteps thudded towards his cell and Jack smirked at them, he didn't want them believing that they had got him for good even if there was a strong possibility. One of the six members of the Royal Navy unlocked the cell and quickly rearranged Jack's ropes so that he could walk and his hands were firmly tied together behind his back. The man also unlocked the chain that attached Jack to the cell like how the owners of a horse would leave their horses tied to posts. Jack grinned when the six men surrounded him in a clearly well thought out formation before dragging him towards the deck. It made Jack proud that he needed so much security and careful planning. Jack considered lurching towards the man with the slightly vacant expression but decided against it when they reached the deck and fourteen guns were pointed straight at his head.
"Ah, , I'm glad that you made it. " Lord Beckett announced as if Jack was here on a voluntary basis.
"I can't say that I am." Jack replied with an arrogant grin that made the sunlight reflect off one of his golden teeth.
"Of course, I understand completely." The men began marching him closer to the dungeons of Port Royal and Jack's feet didn't feel right on solid ground. "Except for one little detail. How did you, pirate, land on our ship?"
The King's men began muttering between themselves superstitiously. Jack's grin widened and he did what he did best – he lied, or as he liked to put it, he mislaid the truth.
"I was placed upon your ship by your almighty God." Jack spoke as if telling the tale troubled him. "You see, after my near death experience with The Kracken I had a vision. During which your God decided to let me live because in those last moments I… I saw the error of my ways." Jack flashed his eyes at the men pointing their guns at him. He knew what they feared and he hoped that if they thought their God was on his side they wouldn't want to disagree with him. 'Religion' he thought '… Pfft'.
"But why our ship?" One of the six men asked worriedly and received a glare from Lord Beckett.
"He wanted to give me a second chance and he thought that I'd turn my life around and do great deeds if I joined the Navy. So he dropped me on your ship in hope that you'd hold his word to the highest possible standard."
The men exchanged more worried glances. Lord Beckett snorted loudly.
"He's lying! I told you that the only thing that Sparrow is good at is getting himself out of trouble. Lock him up!"
And that is how, ten minutes later Jack Sparrow found himself – once again – locked in that same dungeon of Port Royal.
"Bugger!" Jack cursed loudly.