Chapter 10: A New Friendship
Later at night, Rose decided to go out on the decks for fresh air. The stars were appearing like glittering diamonds and the girl breathed in through her nostrils. She sighed and turned to her left to see Artemis perched on her shoulder. The chameleon made the position of a soldier and kept her eyes traveling at three hundred and sixty degrees.
She looked over to see Jim mopping the quarterdeck. Not wanting to be seen, she saw a barrel that was in a corner from the stairs. Using a small box crate as a stepping stool, she managed to balance herself on the top on the barrel and made sure she was hidden.
The redhead cautiously watched the boy mopping on the decks and Morph in the appearance of a miniature mop helped him out. Morph turned back to his original pink form and hiccuped bubbles from his mouth. Jim gave a sigh from completing his chore and leaned on the mop.
"Well, this has been a fun day huh? Making new friends, like that spider psycho," Jim said, using his fingers to imitate a spider.
Morph transformed himself into a miniature Scroop and repeated, "Spider psycho! Spider psycho!"
"A little uglier," the boy encouraged.
Then Morph made an ugly face of Scroop along with a crazy laugh.
"Pretty close," Jim commented simply with a smirk, making the blob shrug.
The redhead gave a quiet chuckle, making sure she wasn't heard. Then loud footsteps were heard as Silver walked up the stairs with a bowl full of food scraps. Luckily for Rose, she hadn't been noticed by the cyborg as she was hidden in the shadows by the stairs.
"Well, thank heavens for little miracles! Up here for an hour and the deck's still in one piece," Silver said, dumping the scraps over the railing and Morph flew down to eat them.
There was an awkward moment of silence between the two. Jim realized that he didn't thank the cyborg for saving him from Scroop. He stopped mopping and looked at him hesitantly.
"Um, look, I, uh… what you did… uh… thanks." Jim said, smiling at Silver.
The cyborg looked at the boy for a brief moment, as if he had never been thanked before. He asked the boy with a concerned voice, "Didn't yer pap ever teach ye to pick yer fights a bit more carefully?"
Jim's smile disappeared from his face and looked away with a disheartened expression, gripping his mop. Rose's eyebrows went up, and she wondered why the boy had showed hard feelings against his own father.
"Yer father's not the teachin' sort."
"No," Jim replied bitterly as he continued to mop. "He was more of the 'taking-off-and-never-coming-back' sort."
The redhead's eyes widened and held in her gasp. She never knew about parents abandoning their own children when they needed them. May be this was the reason why Jim was like that? Her heart was filled with empathy and wished she could comfort him, but believed this wasn't a good time.
"Oh," Silver said, coming up to the railing next to Jim, feeling sympathy for him. "Sorry lad."
"Hey, no big deal," the boy shrugged, continuing to look down towards the abyss of space. "I'm doing just fine."
"Is t'at so?" Silver asked as a smirk appeared on his face. "Well, since the Captain has put you in my charge, like it or not, I'll be poundin' a few skills into t'at thick head o' yours to keep ya out of trouble!" He tapped the boy on the head with his fingers.
"What?" Jim asked.
"From now on, I am not lettin' you out of me sight!"
"You can't just…"
"You won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch yer bum," Silver counted his cyborg fingers before banging his arm on the railing of the ship. "Without my say-so!"
"Don't do me any favors!" Jim shouted sarcastically.
"Oh you can be sure o' t'at my lad!" the cyborg said, wrapped his arm on Jim's shoulders and patted the boy's chest, giving a hearty laugh. "You can be sure o' t'at!"
Rose gave a giggle, finding Silver to be rather amusing. Maybe the cyborg might be worth trusting as well along with Jim? She thought now might be a good time to talk to the boy.
"Hey you, girl!" a rough voice yelled, startling Rose. She gasped and spun around to see a few crew members giving her dirty looks, along with Mertock bellowing, "What are you doing out here?"
"Oh!" The redhead lost her balance and toppled off from the barrel. Jim and Silver heard the commotion and spun around to see the girl landing on the deck, scrambling up to her feet, and ran away from the glaring crew.
"Haven't ya caused enough trouble already?" Bird Brain Mary added.
"Hey wait!" Jim called, as he dropped his mop and ran after the redhead. "I'd like to talk to you!"
Rose took a quick look back to see the boy following her, and she continued to hurry back to the medical bunks. She feared that she might cause more trouble around him. She closed the door and scrambled to look for the attic door to the secret room. She managed to find the door and pulled down the ladder, hoping to hide up there. Then the door to the medical bunks swung opened and the girl looked back to see the boy catching up to her.
"There you are," he said, catching his breath. "I was afraid I lost you."
"Yes. Well, I um," she looked at him and stammered nervously. "I have chores to do and I-I-I-it was nice seeing you again…"
She groaned in frustration, and felt embarrassed about not making a good impression. She turned away and began to make her way up the ladder.
"No wait!" Jim said, and he began to follow after the girl. "I'm really sorry about what happened earlier today. I never thought that Spider Psycho would go too far to nearly killing you…"
When Jim arrived in the secret room, he stopped and looked around at the sight in amazement. The secret room had simple furniture, a small garden, a nook for arts and crafts, and a desk.
"What is this place?" he asked, astonished.
Rose appeared from behind one wooden beam and replied to the boy, "This is my secret room, the Captain and Mr. Arrow gave it to me recently."
"Boy, I've never seen such a room like this," Jim admitted liking the sight of her crafts. "Did you do all of this yourself?"
"Most of them."
"This is beautiful," Jim looked at one of the plants and gently fingered a flower. "If I could do this, you wouldn't find me go solar surfing."
"Solar surfing? I didn't know you like performing that sport."
"Well, it helps me get away from my problems," he admitted shrugging his shoulders.
Rose came out from her hiding place and slowly came up to Jim. She walked a few steps, until she was six feet away from him. She twiddled her slender fingers in her braid, looking down at the ground, and managed to get her turquoise eyes to look at his blue-gray eyes. His eyes showed warmth and his small smile was genuine.
"Mr. Hawkins," she said, working up her courage. "There's been something I wanted to tell you."
"What is it?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Look, I… I… I… appreciate you for standing up for me earlier today… It wasn't necessary… but I'm very grateful. Thank you. Thank you for saving my life."
"You're welcome."
"There's something I've been wondering. Why did you do it?"
"What do you mean?" Jim looked at Rose with a confused expression.
"Why did you stand up for me?"
"Well," he looked away for a moment and looked back at the girl. "I did it, 'cause something told me to help others in need. If I didn't do that, I'd be living in guilt and that feeling would never leave me."
The redhead took in the brunette's words, and felt them sink into her brain. She gave the boy a smile, and felt that he was attractive up close, despite being a few inches shorter than him. They looked at each other intently, until Artemis appeared on the top of her mistress's head, turned red, and hissed at him. Jim didn't flinch back, but he leaned in to look at the chameleon closely. His blue-gray eyes widened in curiosity.
"Wow! I didn't know you have a lizard," Jim said.
"Oh, she doesn't take kindly towards strangers," Rose said, reaching her hand to pick up her reptile and held her in her hands. "This is my chameleon Artemis, I named her after the Greek Goddess of hunting and the moon."
"Huh? That's a cool name for a chameleon," he remarked.
"She can get very feisty and defensive around strangers. But once she gets to know you, she's fine."
"Well, hopefully she'll come around to trust me."
"I'm sure she will, Mr. Hawkins."
"No need to be formal, you can just call me Jim," he said waving his hands.
The redhead's eyes widened with a little shock. She wasn't expecting the boy to ask her to call him by his first name. She shook the feeling away and responded back with a blush and shy smile, "Okay, and you too can call me Rose."
"Jimbo!" Silver called from the medical bunks. The two teens looked back and came down the opening and saw the cyborg at the bottom of the ladder. "I hope ye 'ad a good time chattin' with t'e Captain's daughter. I'm 'ere to inform ya that tomorrow will be lots of work to do."
Jim gave an annoyed groan as he rolled his eyes. The redhead could tell that the boy was less interested in working with the cyborg throughout the entire voyage. The two teens exited from the secret room, and Rose pushed the ladder up, hiding the ceiling door. Silver placed his hands on his hips and gave a smirk to the boy.
"Ye might as well get some rest and be up bright and early lad. T'ere will be hard work tomorrow."
The cyborg left the medical bunks, bidding the teens good night. Rose responded politely, but Jim brushed it off, he wasn't really in the mood to get along with the cyborg.
"Looks like this may be one interesting voyage," the redhead said.
"Yeah, just my bad luck I have to work with the cook," the boy said, sarcastically.
"But look on the bright side Jim, you and I get to see each other every day. Probably when I'm away from my nursing duties and helping you and Mr. Silver."
"Well, that's true."
The two realized how late it was getting and decided to turn in for the night.
"Good night Jim, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night Rose," Jim gave the girl a genuine smile, and she returned a smile back to him as well.
The two went their separate ways, Jim back to the lower bunks and Rose returned to the stateroom. The girl's head continued to spin with the thoughts of talking to Jim, and believed there was more to him on the inside. But for now, all she had to do was take it one step at a time.
