Still suffering with exams, but here's an update :D

I know, reading the last few chapters, it may seem that I don't know what I'm doing, but I assure you that I do. In fact, I can tell you that this story has only 5-6 chapters left, so we're sort of heading for the 'final arc'. Or we would if there were any arcs here, anyway, you get what I mean.

Beta-read by Aerle :)

Chapter 35: The future

During the few months that she had been here, Evelyne had noticed that rain wasn't a particularly common phenomenon. It wasn't rare by any means, but it didn't happen as often as sunny summer days did. Today it rained, however, and Evelyne had joined the joy of part of the crew at the news. This month she was back on cleaning duty, to be more precise in a group in charge of an area of the deck, and with the rain it was useless that they tried to work. They had also, very charitably, refused to join the people working the inside of the ship. By the way the scene had evolved, Evelyne could tell it was a common occurrence whenever it rained too much to clean outside.

She had decided to spend her unexpected free time reading, and to relocate to the relatively empty mess hall. It was relatively empty because many of her crewmates were outside playing some sort of team game in the rain. She didn't feel like getting soaked.

Someone sat on the bench at the other side of the table she had occupied, and Evelyne raised her head to see Amanda sitting there, a slice of apple pie in one hand. A look around proved that there was no pie anywhere else. It was too early for food to come out.

"Where'd you get that?" Evelyne asked.

"Kitchen," Amanda answered through a mouthful. She swallowed. "I missed lunch."

"…Really?" Evelyne hadn't noticed. If she had to be honest, she would say that she didn't pay much attention to anyone who wasn't at her table. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, I just wasn't feeling very well." Amanda pulled a box out of her pocket, a very familiar box of painkillers Evelyne didn't like to have to deal with herself. She grimaced. She liked to complain, but she tended to forget that others menstruated just as she did.

She looked more closely at Amanda, because there was something odd about the way she sat.

"You look… relaxed," Evelyne observed somewhat dumbly. Amanda always had a slightly tense air around her, and she tended to be a little jumpy. Seeing her relaxed enough to slouch in her seat was strange.

"I'm more comfortable, you could say."

"Since when?" Evelyne hadn't been paying much attention to the other former students to begin with —she tended to forget to check in on them and all that— and barely any since the argument a couple of days ago.

Amanda smiled, amused at her confusion, and took another bite of her pie. It looked really appealing.

"It's been going on for a while. Remember when I was talking to Julia, Britney, and Anna?" Evelyne nodded. She didn't ask who Anna was, guessing that was the blond girl. That was one name she didn't have to worry about learning anymore. "I guess you haven't noticed, but I've been spending a lot of time with them. You could say we're friends now." The way Amanda smiled, Evelyne could tell that she had never had many friends.

"That's good, I guess," Evelyne said, unsure what response she should give in this situation.

They trailed off into silence until Amanda, once she had finished her slice of pie, spoke again.

"Julia is pissed at you."

"I know," Evelyne muttered.

"No, I don't think you do."

"Huh?" Evelyne looked questioningly at her.

"It's not like last time, I doubt she'll want to make up anytime soon. She's sure you're lying to cover up that you were wrong or something like that, and she is annoyed that you won't let her or the others help."

"…Really," Evelyne deadpanned. "You can tell her to fuck off. She doesn't have anything to worry about."

"I'm not risking my new friends with this mess. You tell her if you want."

"I have. She refuses to believe me."

Today was a very nice day. It was sunny and there was a light breeze, but it wasn't so hot that it would become stifling after a short time outside. If the weather didn't take a sudden turn —and it wouldn't be the first time a blizzard appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a nice spring afternoon— it was a perfect day to sit somewhere calm on deck with a book. She still had a large portion of Marco's collection to go through.

She had headed for their cabin with the intention of choosing a book, but she stopped at the doorway right after she had opened the door.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Marco had the notebooks that he usually kept piled on the desk —shouldn't she call them logs?— strewn on the bed in two fallen heaps, a couple of them open on top of the covers, and he was sitting on the mattress, currently scanning the pages of one of them. At her words, he raised his head.

"I'm looking for something," he said, unhelpfully in Evelyne's opinion.

"I figured as much." She walked closer to the bed and looked down at the piles of notebooks. "Anything I can help with?"

Marco looked at the open notebooks, then gave her a considering look.

"That depends. Do you dare go into my office?"

"Will you kill me if I mess up anything?" she asked, remembering their last conversation about that room.

Marco smiled.

"Maybe."

Evelyne decided to take that as a no, so she went ahead.

"What do you need?"

"A journal titled 'medical supplies'. It's green and it should be… on one of the piles on the floor to the left of the door. Or maybe on that bookshelf."

So maybe there wasn't as much order to the chaos in that room as Evelyne had first believed.

Marco usually wasn't so frustrated over organizing the necessary purchases for a stop at an island, but, for some reason, the nurses hadn't sent him a list until today, and they were scheduled to reach the port tomorrow. Marco hadn't found it strange, because they bought supplies in bulk and there were times when they didn't need to buy anything. It turned out that this time they not only did have to buy some stuff, but they were short on many things. They just hadn't brought the list earlier because everybody had thought someone else had done it —Marco had made it clear that if it happened again they would have to do all the numbers themselves.

Amongst the list of things they were almost out of, there were various of the different painkillers they generally used. It would be chaos if they had a battle and not enough painkillers to treat the injured. Seasoned pirates they may be, but the Whitebeard Pirates could whine like any self-respecting five year old.

He had been forced to readjust their budget —no matter how much treasure they found, they always managed to be short on money in no time— and that meant checking the costs of everything they needed. He kept the logs from the last couple of months in the cabin, but some of the supplies they needed weren't very frequently used and didn't appear in these logs.

When Evelyne returned with the log he had asked her for —she assured him she hadn't messed up anything and hinted that he should organize the shelves— she sat on the chair, and he had her search for everything listed on it.

The problem with buying medical supplies was that they were expensive, and would cause a considerable dent in their current treasure.

Somehow, Evelyne, who had never in her life entered a bar of dubious reputation before landing in this world, had adhered to the crew's custom of visiting precisely that kind of bar whenever they came to an island. She still refused to go anywhere near beer, and stuck to drinks that were more expensive, eliciting some jokes that she had learned to go along with —half a year ago she would have been mortally offended at anything that might have been taken as an insult.

She was currently sitting on a stool, leaning against the bar and watching the curious social interaction of guys trying to get girls who in most circumstances would be entirely out of their league to go with them. In this particular circumstance, however, the girls weren't entirely out of their league because, Evelyne had soon learned, being a Whitebeard Pirate gave people a certain status in the New World. There was one girl in particular that looked interested, and Evelyne guessed at least she would leave with one of the guys before the hour was over.

"Some things are the same everywhere," Maggie, who was sitting next to Evelyne and going through her third beer, commented.

"I guess. I never paid much attention."

"I doubt you even went to a bar," Maggie countered. Evelyne might have been offended, except because it was true.

"No, I didn't. I bet you did, though."

Maggie smirked.

"Oh, yes. I've had some of the best sex of my life in the bathroom of a bar." Evelyne grimaced. She could have done without that information. "Though I guess you prefer alleys."

Had Evelyne been drinking, she would have choked and might be in a very difficult situation about right now. As things were, she just felt her eyes open wide and turned to look at Maggie.

"…What?"

Maggie scoffed.

"Oh, please, did you really think nobody saw that? You're lucky it was me. By the way: nice." Maggie wiggled her eyebrows.

Given previous experiences, she had to agree. It was kind of embarrassing that Maggie had caught her twice already, though. She decided she needed an urgent change of topic, and asked the first question that crossed her mind.

"Where are the others?" She didn't exactly care, it wasn't like this island was dangerous or anything, but it worked, even if the look Maggie gave her made it clear she knew what Evelyne was doing.

"They're scouting, you could say. Searching for the doctors around and asking if they know of any place where they can study medicine —they're still trying to find a school."

"All of them?" Evelyne knew Julia and Anna were interested in medicine, but, as far as she could tell, nobody else was.

"Of course, we're sticking together, remember?" Evelyne just gave her a puzzled look and Maggie sighed. "Do you ever pay attention to people?"

"Sometimes. What's that about sticking together?"

Maggie sighed again.

"Just what it sounds like. After everything, we've talked and decided that we don't want to stay alone anywhere. Julia and Anna are the ones with the most specific idea of what they want to do, so we'll go somewhere where they can learn medicine."

"Amanda too?" Evelyne asked, remembering that it had been a while since she had last enquired about Amanda's plans for the future.

Maggie shrugged.

"Honestly? I don't know. I think she still doesn't know what she wants to do."

As Marco had guessed, it had been just a matter of time before the next hopeful crew attacked them. They had barely left the last island when the large ship had appeared. At least these guys had kept the fight away from the civilians under the Whitebeard Pirates' protection, and that gave them some survival points.

This time the first division was on crewmember fishing duty —Thatch had cackled, rubbed it on, and jumped to the enemy ship— and once everyone was in place Marco moved to stand next to Evelyne.

"I never thought of asking: how are you at swimming?"

"Pretty good, actually. But..." She looked down at the sea. "I'm not sure I can jump down there and not kill myself."

Marco looked down, too. He guessed that made sense. He didn't think she would die, but with her current level of endurance she might break something. The water was far below and, though she was getting better, it may be a little soon for that.

"Don't worry, I doubt many people will fall. Just pay attention." The enemy crew had a couple of pretty good fighters, but most of the other men seemed average at best.

"What about you?" Evelyne asked, and he turned his head to look at her.

"Me?"

"You can't exactly swim, so what do you do?"

He grinned.

"I catch them before they hit the water, of course."

To be continued