April 12th 1912
It was lunch time. Lily felt that familiar hungry sensation in the pit of her stomach.
"For heaven's sake, girl, are you ever not hungry?"
"Joan! Of course. I haven't been hungry since, since, since last night!" Joan laughed.
"Well lunch isn't until half past one, so I suggest you run along and find something to do." Once again, Lily walked away, having to find her own way to amuse herself on the Ship of Dreams.
All of a sudden, she saw Rose. Rose looked rather taken up in her thoughts, and Lily had a feeling they weren't entirely pleasant ones. She approached Miss DeWitt Bukater slowly.
"Are you alright, Rose?"
"I suppose," was the slow, melancholy reply. Lily was worried.
"What is it, have you had bad news?" Rose looked into Lily's eyes.
"I wouldn't- well what I mean to say is, well, I wouldn't want to worry you, dear." Lily was frustrated.
"Pray why would you worry me?" Rose looked skyward, defeated, and easily at that.
"I was just speaking to Mr Andrews."
"Oh yes, Mr Andrews. He seemed a nice man," Lily responded pleasantly. Rose looked out to sea with a bitter expression on her face.
"Well, I won't meander about a given point. There aren't enough life-boats for half of us on board. I believe there are enough for less than a thousand." Though Lily knew that of course on an unsinkable ship, life-boats wouldn't surely be more than a last resort, she felt a little of the colour drain from her face.
"How many on board?" she asked quietly. The answer was immediate.
"Two thousand, two hundred. Including the crew, the stewards, the officers, you know." Lily was horrified.
"But that's not POSSIBLE!" she squealed.
"I'm afraid it is. If this ship were to sink, over half of us would all meet our maker." Lily felt hot tears slink into her eyes. Rose noticed that her young friend was not best pleased by this news.
"Don't worry, Lily. I'm sorry I said anything. Of course she won't sink. You'd better run along." Lily smiled sadly and went slowly along the deck. She heard a sharp voice behind her.
"Rose, Rose! What are you doing, sitting moping here. How very third class! And you'll not be seeing Mr Dawson, I trust?" Cal's last sentence sounded smooth as syrup but menacing and deadly. The combination sent a shiver down Lily's spine, and she walked inside, intent on having a rest.
April 13th, 1912
Lily watched the stewards and officers smile politely at passers-by. They did not talk to them, and it was only now that Lily realised that it must, if anyone had seen, been a rather unusual sight, officers talking to a 1st class passenger. It was obviously not considered 'proper'. Perhaps she oughtn't to be so open anymore. 'On the other hand,' she said to herself, 'They're the only decent people on this wretched boat.'
Lily was not bored of Titanic- she couldn't be - it's sheer brilliance could have one in a trance for weeks and months on end, but she had rather run out of things to do. She had heard that Rose had had a wonderful time with the 3rd class people, but Lily, for all she possessed, (and though she was a bold girl) did not posess Rose's nerves of steel. It was the late afternoon, she and Joan stood by the front of the ship. Lily gazed out at the sea, and the impressive firey line that skitted over the divine horizon.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Joan said, happily.
"Of course it is. Everything about this ship is heavenly." Joan looked at Lily.
"I hope you're not talking about men now, Lily!"
"Honestly Joan, you are obsessed. You must think me a terrible flirt or something."
"No, Lily. I just don't want you growing up quickly or getting airs beyond your years." Lily laughed.
"You were the one that forced me into a corset 3 years early!"
"There's a good dea of difference between wearing a corset and ogling at unsuspecting men who are quite easily old enough to be your father."
"Murdoch is. Lowe isn't. But they're both lovely. They're very handsome, and they're so much nicer than everybody else here. Except you. And Rose Bukater. And Mr Dawson, and his friends. And Mr Andrews. Hmmm, and the captain, he seems nice. And-"
"You never cease to amaze me, Lily. What am I to do with you, eh?" Joan sighed jokily. Lily laughed. She had a soft spot for Miss Federick. And she knew Miss Federick had a secret liking for her as well.
"So will I be going straight home to Miss Walthamstow, after we've looked around New York?"
"I suspect so. I shouldn't think we'll be there more than a couple of days. My goodness, you look exhausted, girl. Come along, off to bed with you."
"But I wanted to ta-"
"Bed, now."