I was on top of the world. After my kiss with Tommy, I don't think I had ever been happier before. I was so happy, I wasn't even thinking about what was going to happen in a matter of hours.

Tommy ran through the Third Class hallways with me on his back and wearing his brown bowler hat as we both laughed together. We crashed into a couple people, but we never stopped to apologize. That was probably rude, but things were about to go south for us fast. I figured I owed myself some happiness for now after constantly denying it from myself this whole time.

We ended up back in the General Room and Tommy set me down. There were hardly any people since mostly everyone was asleep by now.

"Care for a dance, lass?"

"But there's no music."

"Oh, come on now. Such a talented dancer as yourself surely doesn't need music."

He put his hand around my waist and took my hand in his. He led me in a slow ballroom dance around the room, something I had never done formally. My experience in ballroom dancing went as far as dancing on my dad's feet when I was little.

Suddenly, the piano started playing a soft melody that went perfectly with our dance. I looked over to find a young man sitting at the piano, smiling at us. I looked back at Tommy and saw an affection for me in his eyes that I had never seen in Nate's. That's how I knew that what he felt for me was genuine.

Soon, a couple more instruments joined the piano as we continued to dance. It was a far cry from our last dance, but I loved it all the same. Another song started up and more couples began dancing along with us. But as Tommy and I locked eyes, I didn't even notice them.

After several dances, I took his hand and led him outside of the General Room. Once there, I leaned against the wall as I interlocked my fingers with his. Then we shared several warm kisses as people passed by with either small laughs or grumbles of annoyance.

"Why don't we go somewhere a little more private?" I whispered in his ear.

He smiled at me and we went inside a small closet where the stewards kept some of the few supplies for Third Class. It was small, but it wasn't horribly cramped.

Tommy wrapped his arms around me and began kissing me again. I kissed him back with more passion than I expected to come from me considering how much I believed it was impossible to fall for someone so fast. We began kissing with more and more fervor. He lifted me up, and then placed me on one of the shelves as my legs wrapped around his waist. His lips traveled down to my neck and shoulders as my hands ran through his curly blond hair. The sleeves of my dress came off my shoulders. His hands were tightly pressing into my body as if trying to memorize all of my curves and how exactly I felt. The bowler hat lay forgotten on the floor on the closet.

To be honest, had the moment continued, I can't say for sure what would've happened. A part of me knew that I wanted to save this kind of intimacy until I was married. But the other part of me knew that with the events about to transpire, it was now or never.

Regardless, nothing more happened between us. Because at that moment, the ship began shuddering and we were forced to pull apart.

It was the beginning of the nightmare that no one was going to forget.

"What was that?" Tommy asked.

He opened the closet door and we stepped out. Luckily, everyone was so distracted by what had happened with the ship that no one noticed a boy and a girl coming out of a supply closet looking rather disheveled. I knew what they would all start thinking. I mean, it's what I would've thought.

My heart dropped as I realized that water was beginning to build up on the floor. This was it. We'd hit the iceberg and the sinking had begun.

"Come on!" Tommy said, firmly taking my hand.

We ran back to his cabin and he grabbed his coat and his bag. Then he hurried back out the door and began running up the hall. The frigid water was coming up fast and I knew we had to get out of Third Class if we wanted a chance to live.

Up ahead, I saw Fabrizio and the other people we were bunking with step out of our room.

"Come on!" Tommy yelled. "Let's get out of here! Come on, hurry up!"

Fabrizio and I grabbed what few possessions we had, and then the three of us started trying to find a way out.

The water was quickly trickling into the hallways and covering the floor. It was already up to my ankles. Ahead of us, several rats were scurrying away from the oncoming water. They had no more chance of survival than any of us did.

"If this is the direction the rats are running, that's good enough for me," Tommy remarked, throwing on his sweater as we walked.

Several stewards came down and began handing out life vests as we all continued to run down the cramped hallway. Unfortunately, there was only one left for us. Tommy quickly grabbed it from the steward.

"Here, lass," Tommy said, handing it to me.

"No, you take it," I insisted.

"No, you need it more than I do."

"Tommy, please, take the life vest. I'll be fine."

Not wanting to waste time arguing, Tommy relented and put the life vest on. Normally, I would've taken it, but I wasn't meant to be here anyway, and I didn't want to take the vest from someone who actually did use it in the movie. I just hoped that I could get on a lifeboat with Tommy. Our chances were slim, but it was possible if we tried.

Tommy kept a tight hold of my hand as we all ran to the stairwell that was crowded with people because the stewards had closed the gate, forbidding Third Class members from going up to the Main Deck where all the lifeboats were. I hadn't really minded being in Third Class until now when our lives were at stake.

"Wait here," Tommy said to me at the bottom of the steps. I nodded, and then he forced his way up to the top to try to get the stewards to open the gate. Fabrizio went to go check on the boats from a door on the Third Class hall and see if there were any left for us.

"What are we doing, mummy?" I heard a small voice ask.

I turned to find a young boy and girl with their mother. The mother said to her little boy tenderly, "We're just waiting, dear. When they finish putting First Class people in the boats, they'll be starting with us, and we'll want to be all ready, won't we?"

It hit me that we all had very little chance of survival because of our class. In fact, most of the people who died on the ship were Third Class because they never were allowed out. This mother was attempting to comfort her children, but I could see it in her eyes. She knew very well that it was highly unlikely she and her children were going to leave this boat alive.

"You can't keep us locked in here like animals!" I heard Tommy yell to the steward. "The ship's bloody sinking!"

After a pause, the steward ordered, "Bring forward the women! Unlock the gates. Women only! No men!"

It was useless. As soon as the gates were unlocked, men flooded through them trying to get off the ship before they drowned. The stewards forcefully pushed them back, hitting them with the blunt end of an axe to get them back before the gate.

It was too chaotic, and the gates were locked once more.

"For God's sake, man, there are women and children down here!" Tommy screamed. "Let us up so we can have a chance!"

"Get back!" the steward yelled.

"Myndi!"

I turned to find Jack and Rose running up to me. "Jack!" I cried, hugging the two of them. "Rose! You're both alright!"

"Are you okay?" Jack asked.

"I'm fine!"

"Jack!" a voice said as someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to find Helga with her parents.

"Helga! Hey! Where's Fabrizio?"

She pointed in the direction Fabrizio had gone to check on the boats.

"Jack!" Tommy called, forcing his way through the throng of people. He took my hand in his again.

"Tommy!" Jack exclaimed. "Can we get out?"

"It's hopeless that way!"

"Whatever we do, we've got to do it fast."

"Jack! Myndi!"

Jack and I turned and saw Fabrizio running towards us.

"Fabrizio!" Jack said, hugging his friend.

"The boats are all going!"

"The whole place is flooding. We've gotta get out of here."

"There is niente this way!"

"All right. Let's go this way, all right? Come on!"

"No! Jack! Jack, aspetta!" Fabrizio turned to Helga and her family. Speaking slowly, he tried to tell her, "Everyone, you come with me. We go! The boats. They're going!"

"Can we go?" Helga asked her parents.

Helga's father angrily said something in Norwegian to Fabrizio, but Fabrizio desperately kept trying to convince him that they needed to leave and that they were going to try to find a lifeboat.

"Come. We go to the boats. In the boats. Capito? Come now!"

Helga again tried to get her father to come with us, but he again refused. She turned back to Fabrizio sadly.

"Helga, per favore, you come with me now. I am lucky. Is my destiny to go to America. Please."

Her father shook his head yet again. Helga passionately kissed Fabrizio and my heart tore at the sign of affection. I didn't remember any of this. I didn't remember Helga at all. I didn't remember that Fabrizio found a love of his own.

"Come!" he shouted. He pulled on her hand, but she did not go with him. Her eyes were torn between her love for her family and her love for him. It hurt, but I could see that she was choosing her family.

Jack put his hand on Fabrizio's shoulder. "Come on." When he could not tear himself away from her, Jack pulled him roughly. "Come on! We gotta go!"

"I will never forget you," Fabrizio said to her. Tommy gripped my hand and the five of us ran down the hallway, leaving a tearful Helga behind.