Chapter
1
The cruise ship traveled slowly on the ocean. Lewie reclined on
the edge of the railing, feeling sick. I knew I shouldn't have
come. Mom was right. She told me to bring motion sickness
pills and I was too stubborn to admit to doing that. She retched
again and stared at the water blearily. Through glazed eyes she
looked at the distance, unaware of the footsteps approaching her.
Lewie didn't notice until she was right next to her, staring
directly into her face. A short girl at about 5 feet approached her,
Chinese, by the looks of it. She looked
at her with her strange light green eyes that was outlined in black
eyeliner. She was dressed all in black. Where's the Goth
convention? An irritatedLewie felt like asking. But the
seasick girl thought better of it.
"What do you want?" Lewie snapped, grumpy.
"Well, sorry. I was just going to ask you if you were all right," the girl gave her a slightly reproachful look before walking off.
Lewie sighed and massaged her temples. She had ended up on this boring cruise ship after entering a raffle drawing at her high school. The thing that totally sucked was that only one winner was allowed per school, therefore she was alone on this voyage. She scowled at the thought that nobody else was seasick and she was the only one embarrassing herself by chucking the contents of last nights dinner into the sea while everybody else was having fun swimming, chatting, and overall having fun.
Lewie had a twinge of guilt itching at her, because she didn't have the right to be so mean to the girl, but being sick over the edge of the boat doesn't make one happy. Lewie grabbed a bottle of water next to her, rinsed and spat, getting the vile taste of the vomit from her mouth. She spat a second time in spite of her sickness, grabbed her belongings from around her and walked down to her cabin. Lewie looked for her room and found it. Room 714. She unlocked the door and went in, sagging down on one of the soft beds with her duffel bag under it.
Staring up at the ceiling, she took in the look and smell of the room. A slight tinge of some kind of body spray lingered in the room, and the velvety blanket under her soothing, and she welcomed it to her tired body. The silky pillow beneath her head was cool, very welcoming in comparison to the heat from the tropical ocean cruise. Sighing, she got up again, looked into the mirror to wipe off a bit of smudged eyeliner, and left the room. Locking the door behind her, she wandered up to the drink bar. Of course, they didn't let the high school students have beer or any other alcoholic substance, but they were bountiful in sodas and snacks. She grabbed a Sprite from the cooler and went outside again, hoping that the carbonated goodness can soothe her upset stomach.
She was wearing her swimsuit underneath her khaki shorts and black sweatshirt, but she didn't feel like going swimming just yet. Feeling a little better, she kept an eye out for hot guys. She didn't find any, but saw what the ship really looked like. It was luxurious, whitewashed with a blue-green trim. Everything was clean and spotless, like a cruise ship should be. Wandering around in circles, Lewie realized that this ship was actually pretty modest in contrast to some other cruise ships she had seen.
Lewie decided to stop looking at the ship and started looking at the people. There were many interesting people here, all from different states. There were people tanning, chatting, swimming, and just wandering around like she was. Lewie took another sip from her Sprite. The crisp flavor was very refreshing, and feeling a lot better than she had a half hour ago, she stripped down to her swimsuit and sunbathed in the 10 o'clock sun.