Chapter 14
A couple of hours later, most of the pool was drunk, as were the girls. Actually, they were past drunk, and into the realm of doing things completely spontaneously and stupidly - actually, what Frankie was like most of the time. Gemma and Alex were loudly singing 'Jump' (the song Hugh Grant dances to in 'Love Actually') and doing dance moves. Sadly, they didn't know all of the words, and so made up some unsuccessfully.
"JUMP!" they half sang, half shouted, "For MY LOOOVE! JUMP IN!!! AND LA LA SOMETHING ABOVE!!! IF YOU WANNA LA LA KISSES IN THE NIGHT THEN!!!! JUMP!!!!! FOR MY LOOOOOOOVE!!!!!!" A sign of just how drunk Frankie was was that she wasn't protesting to this singing of a song she hated.
Brandi, Catarina, Mro and Mort had attached ropes to the ceiling and were swinging everywhere, giggling non-stop. Mako staggered over to Will. "Hey Will," she said, trying not to giggle, and failing miserably, "You know hahahahahaha I don't know if you know what I know you probably don't know hahaha..."
"Are you quite all right?" said Will slightly worriedly.
"Yes, I'm FINE," said Mako, in a loud whisper, "It's just, well, I don't know if you know-"
"Don't start that again," said Will.
"Yes, well, thing is - I think that you are very very gorgeous, and sweet, and many other things, and I love you. Just so you know." She then staggered off back towards the others. Will looked after her in surprise, glanced at Elizabeth, then ran after her.
"Hey, Mako. Hey!"
"Yes?" said Mako, wobbling slightly, then falling over. Will quickly caught her and sat her down on the ground.
"Listen, Mako. I think you're a great girl, but for one thing, you're several years younger than me, and I'm in love with Elizabeth."
"Still stuck on that then?" said Mako, swaying slightly.
"Yes," smiled Will, "Sorry." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips, then went back to Elizabeth. Mako sat there for a moment, then wandered back over to the others.
"Will just kissed me," she stated proudly, causing Frankie, Cirfia, Kathryn, Hanna and Danielle to stare at her in amazement. "But you know the worst part?" she said miserably, "Chances are I won't remember ANY of this in the morning..."
"I doubt you'll forget THAT," said Hanna enviously.
"I don't know about that, I've had a LOT of rum..."
Diana shuffled over to Tanuki. "You know what?" she asked.
"What?"
"You know what?"
"What?"
"You know what?"
"What?"
"You're cool."
"You too."
"As cool as Jack."
"As cool as Elizabeth."
"Great." Tanuki put his arm round her and they settled back to watch Brandi and Catarina spraying rum at Elizabeth from the ceiling, and her trying to figure out where it was coming from.
Suddenly Jack came stumbling back down the tunnel, looking very wet indeed. "What did I miss?" he said.
"Jack, my lad!" shouted Yilantri, "How have you been, old chap?"
"You know, my bead fairies are like LITTLE PEOPLE," said Cirfia, gazing at them in wonder, "Except BEADS."
"You all look slightly more intoxicated than usual," said Jack, an eyebrow raised.
"HEADS UP!" shouted Brandi as she came flying through the air and landed on top of Jack, knocking him over.
"Are you all drunk?" said Jack.
"Not DRUNK," said Alex, "Slightly INEBRIATED, that's the term."
"But - where did you get the rum?" said Jack in amazement.
"Drink - pool - get - instructions," said Tobias, not bothering to make full sentences.
"My kinda curse!" cheered Frankie, raising her tankard in the air.
Jack's eyes flicked from the now empty pool to all the empty tankards littering the cave. "There was... a whole pool of rum... and you drank it all without me?"
"Got it in one," said Jackie, knocking her tankard against Tobias', "A pirate's life is a wonderful life, we're sailin' over the sea! MORE RUM!"
Kathryn leant over the side, peering down into the pool. "All gone," she said in a slightly puzzled tone of voice.
"Y'wha?" said Cirfia.
"No more," stated Kathryn simply.
Jack seemed to be fighting to keep his emotions under control. "The rum is GONE?" he said.
"All gone," said Kathryn again, smiling benignly.
"WHY IS THE RUM GONE???" cried Frankie, Alex, Yilantri and Mako, then burst out giggling again.
Will and Elizabeth ran over to the girls, the boys and Jack (who is also a guy, but you know what I mean) Jack was holding onto his head and staring forward in shock, and the other girls and boys were sitting around. "If you've reached the bottom," said Will confusedly, "Aren't you going to read the instructions?"
"That's a VERY GOOD POINT," said Hanna. But no-one made any movement to read the bottom - Jack was still in a state of shock and horror, and everyone else was too drunk. So Will sighed and walked over to the now- empty pool.
"There's a message," he said.
"Fabby! Brilliant! Absolutely MARVELLOUS!" said Ariana.
"What does it say?" asked Elizabeth.
"It says 'IF YOU CAN READ THIS THE CURSE HAS BEEN LIFTED'," said Will.
"How did you get pirate blood, showing you're a pirate and killing from THAT?" said Krystal and Mar to Mort. He shrugged.
"Wait, there's small print," said Will, "Which says 'The simplicity of the this curse is supposed to be ironic, as pirates would immediately assume the curse has to be lifted by blood and killing. But only a true pirate could probably drink all this rum, thus showing that you're a true pirate - far better than if you've just killed a lot of people."
"Ahh," said Danielle, "Now there's a nice moral."
"So since the curse is lifted," said Elizabeth, "Can you go and get the diamond now?"
"Sure," said Will, and started to climb the large rock pile that the pedestal was on top of. Despite their obvious inebriation, the girls and boys noticed this was the main moment of the story, and stopped giggling to watch. He went up nearer and nearer, finally reaching it. He paused for a second - then reached out and grabbed it.
"Well, that was an anticlimax," said Frankie.
"There wasn't even a bit of soundtrack!" said Becky, "Rip-off!"
Will, meanwhile, was holding the massive pink diamond in his hands. "It's big alright," he said, and turned away from the pedestal, and walked back to Elizabeth, where he got down on one knee. "Elizabeth, will you marry me?"
"Of course I will," beamed Elizabeth, "I still would have even if you hadn't got it for me." She grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet, where they had the very romantic, very passionate kiss that there's always one of in Disney films.
"Awwww!" chorused some of the girls, while the others muttered, "Lucky bitch."
"Now that that's done..." said Jack, "What say you we get back to Tortuga before the Commodore comes back for the rest of the pirates?"
*****
A few days later, several things happened. First of all, the girls reached the later stages of their hangovers; they were able to stay conscious for more than just a couple of hours and their headaches faded. Second of all, they arrived at Rum Island, causing Jack's spirits to rise considerably from the depression he had sunk into after missing drinking a five-foot deep pool of rum.
The third thing they noticed when they landed. The Dauntless was moored at the docks, and there were naval soldiers everywhere. They were striding through the crowds and stopping people. "How did they get here so quickly?" said Jack.
"Well, maybe it's because of your insisting to stop off at the Rum Runners island to see if they were back in business?" pointed out Will. Jack purposefully ignored him.
"But what are they DOING here?" said Kathryn, "They're not still looking for Jack, are they?"
"We need to go ashore and get more supplies anyway," said Tanuki.
"And more rum," added Jack quickly, "Don't forget the rum."
So they decided that Will, the girls and the boys would sail ashore and leave Jack and Elizabeth on the ship. It took a bit of coaxing to make Will leave Elizabeth alone with Jack, but they pointed out that Elizabeth was just gazing at her big pink diamond and didn't have eyes for anything else.
Ashore, they sent Jackie, well known for her ability to always look innocent, to see what was going on. She learnt that the soldiers were indeed looking for Jack, but not only that, also for all the girls.
"Us?!" exploded Ariana when she heard, "Why?"
"Well, mainly for Diana and Hanna," said Jackie.
"Us?" said Diana, "Why?"
"Did you think of telling your parents you were joining a pirate gang before you sailed off with us?" said Yilantri.
"Umm," said Hanna, "No."
"There you go. Your parents report you missing, the navy sees you in company of pirates and immediately assume you were kidnapped, and therefore assume we were all kidnapped as well," said Catarina, "Damn."
"So what do we do?" said Krystal, "If we go and tell them that we went willingly, then they'll know that Jack is nearby."
They were silent for a while. Gemma cleared her throat. "I think," she said, "That we ought to go and tell them that we escaped, and that we last saw Jack sailing to, uh, Isla de Muerta. That journey'll take a few days, and give Jack time to get away."
"Stop being pirates?" wailed Brandi.
"She's right," said Mar, "Otherwise we'll get Jack into trouble."
It was decided. The girls went back to the ship quickly to say goodbye to Jack and, amazingly, most gave a hug to Elizabeth. The boys - Tanuki, Mort, Mro and Tobias - were staying. The farewell between Tanuki and Diana was quite moving really, and Tanuki promised he'd come back and kidnap her one day.
"You've been a simply wonderful crew," said Jack, "If I'd known how useful you'd be, I would have kidnapped you."
"That really means a lot, Jack," said Kathryn.
"Oh, and one more thing-" said Jack, turning to Gemma, "Who do you like better - me or Will?"
"What?" said Gemma, torn away from where she was saying goodbye to Elizabeth, "Are you still stuck on that?"
"A little," said Will, "So who do you prefer?" He noticed Elizabeth giving him a look. "I'll explain later."
Gemma looked thoughtful. "You mean 'like' as in - that way, don't you?"
"Yes," said Jack.
"Well, I don't particularly like either of you in - that way," said Gemma finally, "I like Jack because he makes me laugh, but I like Will because he's very sweet. Sorry."
"WHAT?" said Will.
"I could say the same thing," said Jack, "Beaten by a WHELP?"
"I'M NOT A WHELP!!!"
Finally the girls sailed back to shore in the rowboat and walked over to the nearest group of navy soldiers. They looked very surprised to find all of the girls they'd been looking for at once, and led them to the Dauntless. Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Mro, Mort, Tobias and Tanuki watched them for a while, then raised anchor and headed back for Tortuga.
"Hey, Elizabeth," said Will when they were alone, "Just where were you on Rum Island? When you vanished for all that time?"
"Oh," said Elizabeth, "I - I was actually enquiring to see whether there were any blacksmith forges for sale. So that you didn't have to work for Mr Brown any more - set up a business of your own. And there was."
"There was?"
"Yes. So I just need to collect some of my clothes and things from Port Royale, then we can come back to Rum Island."
"That's..." Will didn't know what to say. "That's wonderful, Elizabeth."
"I know," beamed Elizabeth.
Jack was discussing their next venture with Tanuki, Mro, Mort and Tobias. "We meet up with my crew in Tortuga," he said, "Then we go off and pillage, plunder, pilfer and loot, savvy?"
"Good plan," said Mort.
A couple of hours later, most of the pool was drunk, as were the girls. Actually, they were past drunk, and into the realm of doing things completely spontaneously and stupidly - actually, what Frankie was like most of the time. Gemma and Alex were loudly singing 'Jump' (the song Hugh Grant dances to in 'Love Actually') and doing dance moves. Sadly, they didn't know all of the words, and so made up some unsuccessfully.
"JUMP!" they half sang, half shouted, "For MY LOOOVE! JUMP IN!!! AND LA LA SOMETHING ABOVE!!! IF YOU WANNA LA LA KISSES IN THE NIGHT THEN!!!! JUMP!!!!! FOR MY LOOOOOOOVE!!!!!!" A sign of just how drunk Frankie was was that she wasn't protesting to this singing of a song she hated.
Brandi, Catarina, Mro and Mort had attached ropes to the ceiling and were swinging everywhere, giggling non-stop. Mako staggered over to Will. "Hey Will," she said, trying not to giggle, and failing miserably, "You know hahahahahaha I don't know if you know what I know you probably don't know hahaha..."
"Are you quite all right?" said Will slightly worriedly.
"Yes, I'm FINE," said Mako, in a loud whisper, "It's just, well, I don't know if you know-"
"Don't start that again," said Will.
"Yes, well, thing is - I think that you are very very gorgeous, and sweet, and many other things, and I love you. Just so you know." She then staggered off back towards the others. Will looked after her in surprise, glanced at Elizabeth, then ran after her.
"Hey, Mako. Hey!"
"Yes?" said Mako, wobbling slightly, then falling over. Will quickly caught her and sat her down on the ground.
"Listen, Mako. I think you're a great girl, but for one thing, you're several years younger than me, and I'm in love with Elizabeth."
"Still stuck on that then?" said Mako, swaying slightly.
"Yes," smiled Will, "Sorry." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips, then went back to Elizabeth. Mako sat there for a moment, then wandered back over to the others.
"Will just kissed me," she stated proudly, causing Frankie, Cirfia, Kathryn, Hanna and Danielle to stare at her in amazement. "But you know the worst part?" she said miserably, "Chances are I won't remember ANY of this in the morning..."
"I doubt you'll forget THAT," said Hanna enviously.
"I don't know about that, I've had a LOT of rum..."
Diana shuffled over to Tanuki. "You know what?" she asked.
"What?"
"You know what?"
"What?"
"You know what?"
"What?"
"You're cool."
"You too."
"As cool as Jack."
"As cool as Elizabeth."
"Great." Tanuki put his arm round her and they settled back to watch Brandi and Catarina spraying rum at Elizabeth from the ceiling, and her trying to figure out where it was coming from.
Suddenly Jack came stumbling back down the tunnel, looking very wet indeed. "What did I miss?" he said.
"Jack, my lad!" shouted Yilantri, "How have you been, old chap?"
"You know, my bead fairies are like LITTLE PEOPLE," said Cirfia, gazing at them in wonder, "Except BEADS."
"You all look slightly more intoxicated than usual," said Jack, an eyebrow raised.
"HEADS UP!" shouted Brandi as she came flying through the air and landed on top of Jack, knocking him over.
"Are you all drunk?" said Jack.
"Not DRUNK," said Alex, "Slightly INEBRIATED, that's the term."
"But - where did you get the rum?" said Jack in amazement.
"Drink - pool - get - instructions," said Tobias, not bothering to make full sentences.
"My kinda curse!" cheered Frankie, raising her tankard in the air.
Jack's eyes flicked from the now empty pool to all the empty tankards littering the cave. "There was... a whole pool of rum... and you drank it all without me?"
"Got it in one," said Jackie, knocking her tankard against Tobias', "A pirate's life is a wonderful life, we're sailin' over the sea! MORE RUM!"
Kathryn leant over the side, peering down into the pool. "All gone," she said in a slightly puzzled tone of voice.
"Y'wha?" said Cirfia.
"No more," stated Kathryn simply.
Jack seemed to be fighting to keep his emotions under control. "The rum is GONE?" he said.
"All gone," said Kathryn again, smiling benignly.
"WHY IS THE RUM GONE???" cried Frankie, Alex, Yilantri and Mako, then burst out giggling again.
Will and Elizabeth ran over to the girls, the boys and Jack (who is also a guy, but you know what I mean) Jack was holding onto his head and staring forward in shock, and the other girls and boys were sitting around. "If you've reached the bottom," said Will confusedly, "Aren't you going to read the instructions?"
"That's a VERY GOOD POINT," said Hanna. But no-one made any movement to read the bottom - Jack was still in a state of shock and horror, and everyone else was too drunk. So Will sighed and walked over to the now- empty pool.
"There's a message," he said.
"Fabby! Brilliant! Absolutely MARVELLOUS!" said Ariana.
"What does it say?" asked Elizabeth.
"It says 'IF YOU CAN READ THIS THE CURSE HAS BEEN LIFTED'," said Will.
"How did you get pirate blood, showing you're a pirate and killing from THAT?" said Krystal and Mar to Mort. He shrugged.
"Wait, there's small print," said Will, "Which says 'The simplicity of the this curse is supposed to be ironic, as pirates would immediately assume the curse has to be lifted by blood and killing. But only a true pirate could probably drink all this rum, thus showing that you're a true pirate - far better than if you've just killed a lot of people."
"Ahh," said Danielle, "Now there's a nice moral."
"So since the curse is lifted," said Elizabeth, "Can you go and get the diamond now?"
"Sure," said Will, and started to climb the large rock pile that the pedestal was on top of. Despite their obvious inebriation, the girls and boys noticed this was the main moment of the story, and stopped giggling to watch. He went up nearer and nearer, finally reaching it. He paused for a second - then reached out and grabbed it.
"Well, that was an anticlimax," said Frankie.
"There wasn't even a bit of soundtrack!" said Becky, "Rip-off!"
Will, meanwhile, was holding the massive pink diamond in his hands. "It's big alright," he said, and turned away from the pedestal, and walked back to Elizabeth, where he got down on one knee. "Elizabeth, will you marry me?"
"Of course I will," beamed Elizabeth, "I still would have even if you hadn't got it for me." She grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet, where they had the very romantic, very passionate kiss that there's always one of in Disney films.
"Awwww!" chorused some of the girls, while the others muttered, "Lucky bitch."
"Now that that's done..." said Jack, "What say you we get back to Tortuga before the Commodore comes back for the rest of the pirates?"
*****
A few days later, several things happened. First of all, the girls reached the later stages of their hangovers; they were able to stay conscious for more than just a couple of hours and their headaches faded. Second of all, they arrived at Rum Island, causing Jack's spirits to rise considerably from the depression he had sunk into after missing drinking a five-foot deep pool of rum.
The third thing they noticed when they landed. The Dauntless was moored at the docks, and there were naval soldiers everywhere. They were striding through the crowds and stopping people. "How did they get here so quickly?" said Jack.
"Well, maybe it's because of your insisting to stop off at the Rum Runners island to see if they were back in business?" pointed out Will. Jack purposefully ignored him.
"But what are they DOING here?" said Kathryn, "They're not still looking for Jack, are they?"
"We need to go ashore and get more supplies anyway," said Tanuki.
"And more rum," added Jack quickly, "Don't forget the rum."
So they decided that Will, the girls and the boys would sail ashore and leave Jack and Elizabeth on the ship. It took a bit of coaxing to make Will leave Elizabeth alone with Jack, but they pointed out that Elizabeth was just gazing at her big pink diamond and didn't have eyes for anything else.
Ashore, they sent Jackie, well known for her ability to always look innocent, to see what was going on. She learnt that the soldiers were indeed looking for Jack, but not only that, also for all the girls.
"Us?!" exploded Ariana when she heard, "Why?"
"Well, mainly for Diana and Hanna," said Jackie.
"Us?" said Diana, "Why?"
"Did you think of telling your parents you were joining a pirate gang before you sailed off with us?" said Yilantri.
"Umm," said Hanna, "No."
"There you go. Your parents report you missing, the navy sees you in company of pirates and immediately assume you were kidnapped, and therefore assume we were all kidnapped as well," said Catarina, "Damn."
"So what do we do?" said Krystal, "If we go and tell them that we went willingly, then they'll know that Jack is nearby."
They were silent for a while. Gemma cleared her throat. "I think," she said, "That we ought to go and tell them that we escaped, and that we last saw Jack sailing to, uh, Isla de Muerta. That journey'll take a few days, and give Jack time to get away."
"Stop being pirates?" wailed Brandi.
"She's right," said Mar, "Otherwise we'll get Jack into trouble."
It was decided. The girls went back to the ship quickly to say goodbye to Jack and, amazingly, most gave a hug to Elizabeth. The boys - Tanuki, Mort, Mro and Tobias - were staying. The farewell between Tanuki and Diana was quite moving really, and Tanuki promised he'd come back and kidnap her one day.
"You've been a simply wonderful crew," said Jack, "If I'd known how useful you'd be, I would have kidnapped you."
"That really means a lot, Jack," said Kathryn.
"Oh, and one more thing-" said Jack, turning to Gemma, "Who do you like better - me or Will?"
"What?" said Gemma, torn away from where she was saying goodbye to Elizabeth, "Are you still stuck on that?"
"A little," said Will, "So who do you prefer?" He noticed Elizabeth giving him a look. "I'll explain later."
Gemma looked thoughtful. "You mean 'like' as in - that way, don't you?"
"Yes," said Jack.
"Well, I don't particularly like either of you in - that way," said Gemma finally, "I like Jack because he makes me laugh, but I like Will because he's very sweet. Sorry."
"WHAT?" said Will.
"I could say the same thing," said Jack, "Beaten by a WHELP?"
"I'M NOT A WHELP!!!"
Finally the girls sailed back to shore in the rowboat and walked over to the nearest group of navy soldiers. They looked very surprised to find all of the girls they'd been looking for at once, and led them to the Dauntless. Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Mro, Mort, Tobias and Tanuki watched them for a while, then raised anchor and headed back for Tortuga.
"Hey, Elizabeth," said Will when they were alone, "Just where were you on Rum Island? When you vanished for all that time?"
"Oh," said Elizabeth, "I - I was actually enquiring to see whether there were any blacksmith forges for sale. So that you didn't have to work for Mr Brown any more - set up a business of your own. And there was."
"There was?"
"Yes. So I just need to collect some of my clothes and things from Port Royale, then we can come back to Rum Island."
"That's..." Will didn't know what to say. "That's wonderful, Elizabeth."
"I know," beamed Elizabeth.
Jack was discussing their next venture with Tanuki, Mro, Mort and Tobias. "We meet up with my crew in Tortuga," he said, "Then we go off and pillage, plunder, pilfer and loot, savvy?"
"Good plan," said Mort.