17 years later…

"Sorry! Oh, sorry! Pardon! I can fix that!"

It wasn't very often that you see a young lady running like a lunatic through the streets. Especially if she was wearing very dressy clothes and seemed of higher class but she wasn't. She was half elegant and half low-life. I guess you really couldn't tell if you saw her, running into people, stepping on tails of innocent cats and dogs and just about killing young children. You wouldn't know what to think. To you, she might be some lunatic that stole someone's clothes but you couldn't really tell.

She was holding her shoes in her hand as she ran and her long dark brown hair was tied back in a ribbon but it was clear that it was coming undone. She ran up the small stone road up to the Governor's house and pushed through the gates. She ran up to the front door and quickly put her shoes on, fixed her hair and caught her breath before knocking on the door.

But, in fact, she didn't have to knock on the door since someone on the other side opened it. She looked at who it was and saw a maid, a man, a young man, the Governor, Elizabeth and Will all staring at her. Will and the Governor seemed angered and the young man grinned stupidly at her.

She recognized the two extra men. Their names were Franklin and Mr. Hester. She hated both of them. The Governor was always trying to fix her and Franklin up together but she despised him.

"They were just about to leave, Julia," said the Governor to her. Julia flushed with embarrassment. She was supposed to be there for lunch but she was so late it was over. The Governor looked at Julia with an angered and annoyed expression as Mr. Hester and Franklin stepped by him and walked to their carriage. Julia's eye twitched as Franklin winked at her.

"Er… Sorry I'm late…" Julia said lamely while looking at her feet. She could hear Mr. Hester's carriage drive away.

Julia sat quietly in a wooden chair back at their house while Elizabeth brushed her hair and Will paced the floor, finding the right words to say. She fidgeted with her thumbs and listened to the cackling fire and the brush dragging through her mother's hair. She tried not to listen to the clunk of Will's boots.

"Well, Julia? What do you have to say for yourself?" Will finally said, stopping right in front of Julia.

"I just-" Julia tried to answer but she was interrupted.

"Didn't we tell you to be there at noon, precisely?"

"Yeah… But there's a good reason why I was late!"

"What is that, then?" said Elizabeth.

Julia looked away and combed a stray lock of hair away from her face. The real reason was that she'd fallen asleep but she knew that would be a sorry reason so she just told a simple, white lie.

"I was practicing my posture."

"Oh come off it!" Will said. This made sense, Elizabeth and Will never cared about things like that but she was sure her grandfather would. It was a stupid lie and she knew it but the last thing she wanted to do was upset her parents.

"Look," Julia started, "I just don't want to be one of those posh women who dress up all prissy and proper just for a meal."

Elizabeth seemed angered at this when she said, "Oh! So I guess I'm posh since I used to do that every day until I met Jack!"

Will looked from Elizabeth to Julia, over and over through wide eyes and not speaking a word.

Julia looked at Elizabeth and raised an eyebrow. "Who's Jack?" she asked.

Nothing more was said and Julia was sent to bed. They had almost slipped up. They had almost revealed to her the story that explained how she was a half pirate. Julia couldn't stop thinking about who this 'Jack' character was as she lay there in her bed, wide awake and wondering as always.

Two days later…

Twenty-one years had passed and old Jack hadn't changed at all. He was still this deranged psychopath with no meaning in life except trying to get lucky and drinking rum.

Jack had been rowing for about thirty minutes and he was just now coming into the harbor of Port Royal. He was humming the tune to "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" and squinting in the darkness.

When he got into the shallow water, he jumped out and pushed the small rowboat onto the sandy shore. Pleased with himself, he looked around for the house on the cliff.

"Ah! There it is!" He said, starting up the hill to the edge of the cliff.

Knock, knock, knock.

Julia looked up from her seat by the table and put her book down. She stood up and walked to the door, wondering who would visit at such a late hour. She opened the door, sighing but seemed to gain interest when she saw the crooked man with strange clothes.

"Er, is this the Turner's house, luv?" Jack asked, glancing Julia up and down with a stupid, confused face.

"Uh, yes." Julia answered, looking at him the same way.

"Wha'? You a maid or summin'?"

"No, I'm Julia Turner."