Chapter 2
Ebony Tiller woke up and for one disoriented second, she had no idea where she was. The 16 year old felt like the room was swaying around her. It took her a couple minutes to realize that the room, in fact, was rocking slightly back and forth. The girl started to remember. A week ago, she had entered her name into a raffle. To her surprise, she had been picked and she won a weeklong cruise. Ebony was relieved to have an excuse to get out of her house where she lived with her mother. Her father had moved out three days ago, and her mother did nothing except bicker about everything. Since her father wasn't there to get blamed on, naturally, Ebony had to suffer from the wrath. One more day she had to spend in that hellhole would definitely push her over the edge. She seriously needed to get away from her life, which is why she was lying on a bed in an unfamiliar cabin.
Ebony wondered what time it was. The rest of the cabin was empty, most likely all out to get breakfast. At the thought of breakfast, she realized that she was hungry, having skipped dinner that night. Ebony sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She got up slowly and uncertainly, holding the side of the bed for support. She had only been on this ship for one night, and she had been sleeping too, so she hasn't had the chance to get used to the sway of the ocean yet. She walked to the bathroom, stumbling once only, but she grabbed the sink to regain her balance. Ebony studied her reflection.
A Taiwanese- American mix teenager looked back at her, her large, light green eyes looking slightly sleepy. Her face was Asian looking, but her hair was naturally brown. At the moment, it was straggly and unkempt. She raked a hand through the mass of tangles, but only made the knots worse. After a few futile tries, she gave up with a sigh and decided to go get her hairbrush.
Ebony walked back to her bed, this time not tripping, and leaned over to grab her bag. It was a dark green duffel bag filled with clothes, cosmetics, and other items of importance, like her sketchbook. She dragged it to the bathroom and dropped it on the sink. Ebony unzipped it and rummaged through the all the dark colored clothing. She pulled out a smaller bag at the bottom and opened it. It was filled with make up and other accessories. She pulled out her red hairbrush and ran it through her hair, wincing as it caught at the knots. She turned on the sink and wetted her hands, running them through her hair. She brushed them again. Now her brown hair was straight once more, and no longer bore resemblance to a bush. She pulled the strands of hair off of the brush and threw them away. Ebony put away the brush, but left the make up bag out. She would have to use it later.
Ebony quickly picked out a black halter-top and matching short skirt. She changed out of her oversized and baggy gray shirt and short shorts and pulled on the outfit. She had trouble tying up the strings in the back of her halter-top, but after a few minutes, she got it right. She examined herself in the mirror and then decided that her long brown hair threw off the outfit. Ebony pulled it up into a messy bun and tied it with a rubber band. She drew the cosmetics bag towards her and took out her eye makeup. Ebony looked up at her reflection and laughed silently to herself. She had forgot to take off her makeup last night and had just collapsed into the bed. As a result, she looked like a sick raccoon. Ebony rubbed off the artificial bags around and under her eyes and started over again. She put on her eye makeup pretty fast and in about 2 minutes, she was already zipping up her bag and shoving it back under her assigned bed. Ebony walked to the door of the cabin and let herself out, locking the door behind her with the cabin key she had received the night before. Ebony was excited to explore the ship. She was finally free from parent supervision. The girl was going to make the best of it.
Ebony started walking around the ship. She found the dining hall and grabbed a toasted bagel with cream cheese from the buffet. Ebony bit into it as she left the hall to walk around some more. She found the large sparkling swimming pool that was already filled with high school students. Ebony turned around and started to walk in the other direction. She passed a girl in khaki shorts and a black sweater that was throwing up over the railing. Ebony paused for a moment, meaning to ask her if she was all right. Before she had a chance to though, the girl looked up at her and said sharply, "What do you want?"
Ebony stared back at the seasick girl, slightly taken aback. "Well, sorry. I was just going to ask you if you were all right." Ebony shook her head, walking off. Some people are so rude.
She kept walking until she was a good distance away from the girl. Ebony saw some comfy chairs on the deck that faced the ocean. She suddenly felt like drawing the aqua blue waves so she turned and started walking back to her cabin. Luckily, she was near the location. Ebony came out of the cabin a few seconds later with her watercolors pencils, a water bottle, and papers. The girl looked around, but the cross girl had already left. She settled down in one of the chairs and placed her things on the small table beside it. Ebony relaxed and started painting her picture.