Chapter Two

Jack grinned at Serena's expression, showing some gold teeth that Serena didn't remember him having before. He looked so different – his clothes and hair made him look like another person. Yet when she looked at his eyes, she knew it was just the same Jack. He moved away from the tree and swayed towards her. Serena exhaled deeply. He was so good looking. He looked more like a pirate than any she'd seen before. He had a beard (which was done in two small plaits secured with beads) and a moustache. He wore a red bandana on his head and his dark eyes looked even more striking outlined with kohl. On his dirt-caked fingers were rings and he wore a white shirt underneath a bluish grey over-vest. Tied around his waist under a belt was a white floaty material and pirate boots came up over his breeches. He looked so unique and interesting. He had changed so much since she had last seen her.

"Serena."

He said her name with emotion in his voice as he stood opposite her. Serena couldn't believe what was in front of her. Hearing him say her name again...When he had left, he was almost a man. Now, he definitely was.

Her lips parted and as her eyes boldly met his, she half-wished he would take her in his arms. But then her green eyes flashed in anger. Why had he come back for her now? NOW? After more than ten years, did he just expect her to collapse in his arms? She was engaged to Edward, so why was she thinking such thoughts about him? Why was he confusing her feelings like this? She battled with her frustration.

Jack watched her, wondering if she was going to say something. When he was walking up to her, she had looked at him with admiration. But now, as he watched her eyes gleam, he knew she was angry. She didn't know what to say, he could tell. Then her hand reached out and gave him a sharp slap on the face, jolting his head and sending a row of beads swinging. But she didn't walk away.

"Jack!" she shouted and he winced at her anger. "Why...how did you...I mean..."

She stared at the ground, trying to find the right word in her rage.

"What are you doing here?" she finally settled on, glaring at him.

"Now love, I know you're very temperamental, but..."

Another slap cut him off and he stood back from her a bit.

"Erm...well. I'm back!" he said, spreading his arms wide and showing her his gold-toothed grin again.

Serena shook her head impatiently and started to march off. Jack had to run after her to catch up.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Home."

"Oh. So you still live with your aunt then?"

"Yes." Serena was still walking briskly, Jack hurrying to keep up.

"She used to hate me, remember? Didn't want you near me. You had to sneak out and we'd meet down here, remember? And we'd look at the stars over the ocean. Remember love?"

"And then you left to be a pirate and broke my heart, REMEMBER?"

Jack suddenly grabbed her arm from behind and pulled her round to face him. His liquid eyes were filled with sorrow.

"I'm sorry." He said intently.

Those who knew Jack well knew that he was a complex person. He was clever, quick-witted and sly. But he wasn't ruthless, as everyone who had heard of him expected him to be. Most of his adventures were lies, anyway, as only Elizabeth Swann knew. He had been lucky a good number of times and was skilled at escaping. He brought things to his advantage a lot, but he wasn't selfish. He'd never killed anyone unless he had to and he always saved people when he didn't have to. When he had saved Elizabeth that day a few months ago, nobody cared that he had done it out of a good heart. That was the secret of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. Underneath the front he had, he had a good heart and a romantic nature. It was as though there was another person hidden inside him who he wanted nobody to discover.

Serena's angry expression fell and she said imploringly,

"Oh Jack. Why are you here? What do you want?"

"I said I'd come for ye one day. Well, this is that day."

Serena stared at Jack. He was just the same as before in the way that he never gave up on anything. His smile remained unfaltering as he looked at her bewildered expression. Oh yes, she thought to herself, he still has the alarming confidence that everything will go his way. She could hear it in his rich voice.

"How can you even think that, Jack? Do you know how long I waited for you to come back before I gave up? Almost four years! I realised that I couldn't just spend my life hoping that you'd return. You'd obviously forgotten me!"

"Serena, I never forgot about you! When I was locked up in that cell in Port Royal, I thought about you. And when the noose was being put around my neck..."

"The noose!" Serena shrieked suddenly, making Jack jump. "You escaped the noose! I heard about that, but I thought it could never be true."

"Thanks very much!"

"Sorry, it's just the stories we hear over here. That you sacked Nassau Port without any weapons and how you got away from several agents of the East India Company in hardly any time at all! Are they true Jack? Did you really do all those things?"

Jack stuck out his chest and said in a casual but proud voice,

"Of course I did! I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy?"

"That's...that's amazing."

"Better than any Lieutenant could ever do, eh?"

"What?" Serena looked shocked. "Jack, you were spying on me earlier weren't you?"

"Pirate!" Jack shrugged nonchalantly, trying to push the image of Serena and Edward kissing out of his mind.

"What's spying got to do with being a pirate?"

"It's...it's in the code." Jack lied. "Pirate's Code."

"So you had to spy on me because it was in the code."

"Well..."

"So what else is in the code, Jack? Enlighten me." Serena folded her arms expectantly. "How about 'never visit your lass back home' or..."

"That is one actually! That's why I couldn't come back and see you."

"Really? So aren't you breaking the code now?"

Jack didn't like being proved wrong, or made to look foolish. He was Captain Jack Sparrow! In the end, he always got the upper hand.

"Perhaps there's a reason why I never came back for you!" He growled at her, becoming angry. She wasn't even glad to see him!

A flicker of hurt crossed Serena's face at his words.

"You know Jack, you haven't changed a bit!" Serena shouted back at him, her own anger rising. "You're arrogant, pushy and stubborn. My Edward's much more of a man than you are!"

"Fine. I'll just go then, make it easier for both us." Jack said calmly and started to walk away in the opposite direction. His face was carefully expressionless but inside his mind was going crazy. Was this it? Was he never going to see her again? If so, it was her fault for being so bloody impetuous. When he had walked quite a way away, he glanced back over his shoulder but Serena had already gone.