They say that we're young, that we're allowed to make mistakes. If you fall on the road, get up again... the tricky part comes when you wonder the road to where?

Rose

Friday 13:30 Southampton Harbour Hotel & Spa.

"Rose, have you uploaded the pictures from today already?" Again, I've tried to relax for five minutes with no interruptions or people telling me what to do with no success at all. It seems like today isn't my day either. What does she want from me? The luggage is ready, the passports, the visas... I'm not the one planning this huge world trip on a boat.

"No mom, I've been busy"

"Busy doing what?"

"Reading?" I didn't take my eyes off the page.

"Dear Evan Hansen... is he like a motivational speaker or something?" my mother said as she snatched my book.

"Mom! Give it back!" I whined and got out of bed to grab it. "It's a novel based on the Broadway show" Complaining was useless, I had lost the page I was on.

"If you like to read, why don't you read something about marketing or placement? It could be useful for the trip. Focus Rose, you must reach a million followers before the year ends" What does she mean with that? 'If I like to read?' Maybe if she spent time with her daughter she would know what she likes or not...

"What I have to reach right now are some fries before I starve" I said as I started walking towards the bedroom door. I didn't recall very well where the hotel restaurant was, but I could always ask for directions. Or I could order food, both options were good for me, what I really wanted was to escape my mother for a while. I couldn't believe we would be spending the next seven months together... I just hope she doesn't want to be attached to the hip.

"Grab a salad" I overheard her say. I was about to walk out when someone popped up as I opened the door.

"Oh hey sweet pea, I was just wondering if you had the pictures we took earlier? I would've texted you but, you're right on the next room so I figured I'd come ask"

"Um... yeah, I'll send you the pics after lunch, is that okay?"

"Oh... well... yes. Yes, thank you Rose"

"No problem" I started walking through the hallway

"Can I come?"

Caledon Hockley. Once named the most handsome bachelor in Harvard, was my boyfriend. We met in a charity dinner my father, may he rest in peace, was invited to. That night we were the only teenagers at the dinner, so we clicked. We FaceTimed a few times a week and eventually he asked me to be his girlfriend. My mom always thought he was a good match, his family owned a Steel company in Pittsburg, he studied business at Harvard and was getting ready to eventually take his father's place at the company.

Our relationship... was not exactly the same as it was at the beginning. We'd dated for almost a year and i soon realized we are very different. I know he tried to be nice but eventually his vain, sexist, egocentric self comes to show.

But now, mother wouldn't let me break up with him. She said our breakup could damage the relationship between our two families. Around eight months ago, we discovered my dad owed a lot of money to a lot of people, so almost no one wanted to work with the DeWitt's construction company. The investors that had stayed were here because of the Hockley's. Technically, the company needed them to survive and now they had put all this weight on my shoulders.

I've lost plenty of sleep figuring out a way to get out of this relationship without consequences for the business, but i haven't found one yet. Maybe it was my destiny, just like princesses married back then so there wouldn't be wars between countries. I had accepted it, in my mind it was a sacrifice I was willing to make for my mom and the rest of the company. Just a piece in their game of chess. Just when I thought this wasn't that bad, Cal said something like

"Do you want my sweatshirt to cover up?"

"Excuse me?"

"You seem cold with those shorts"

"I'm fine, thank you"

Right. The hotel is warm, the heater is on.

"But... I don't want you to get sick" he said as he tried to tie his sweatshirt to my waist. Was he for real? Do you wish to control how I dress too?

"Cal, I'm wearing a sweatshirt, I'm fine"

"Yeah but... imagine catching a cold overseas, we don't want that to happen..."

And just like that, an idea popped to my mind. "You're ruining your outfit"

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, it's not the same without the sweatshirt and I was planning to post some stories while we eat" We entered the elevator and he put his sweatshirt back on. Oh well, this is going to be a long trip.

Jack

September 10. Moving day.

At least for us. Normal cruise passengers would board on sailing day, which was tomorrow, but since we were the first generation of students, the Royal Marine School had wanted a proper ceremony on board.

Time seemed to be slower by the minute, my body was in the ship's theatre, but my mind was definitely somewhere else. I don't know if it's an art thing, but I've always felt strongly attracted to the beauty of stuff that normally goes unnoticed. The wooden details on the wall, those sculptures we passed in the lobby... I just wanted to get out of here, run around and explore the ship. My senses came back to my body as I worried about not paying attention. From what I understood I had some sort of tutor that would pay the tuition and all my expenses on board, i think it was a big company in America, but I don't remember the name.

"I've never seen so much luxury in my life" Just outside we found a table with a fruit buffet, I managed to get a strawberry with chocolate. Not too sweet, I liked it.

"Jack, that's for the passengers"

"And what are we?" I said, mouth full.

"The avoiding taxes" I laughed at Fabrizio's terrible joke. Terrible but true. Around us everyone was having a sentimental moment saying goodbye to their parents. Fabrizio's family had already left so we were practically by ourselves.

"Now that that's over, we need to find the actual school... excuse me sir? Hi, my name's Jack, do you know the way to the Royal Marine School?" I didn't mind taking the lead at all, they say every good friendship has an introvert and an extrovert; I'm not saying Fabrizio didn't have any idea where to go, but his lost puppy vibe gave it away.

"Take the elevator to the 4th deck, at the end of the hallway towards the stern young man, you'll see the signs"

We thanked the crew member and proceeded to find our cabins. I helped Fabrizio with one of his two huge suitcases, contrary to him I had only my backpack with me, travel light. Upon arrival at the deck there was a welcoming canvas with the world's flags and people handing schedules, ID cards, and tote bags. We took a picture for the ID card with which we could access everything from below deck 12. From what I understood, we were the last ones enrolled so we would share the last stateroom.

"We have geography and social studies, our elective, then lunch, then another elective..." Fabrizio read as we walked through the hallway "...then on Tuesdays and Thursdays it's the same but instead of geography we have marine biolog-" he stopped abruptly.

"What?" I turned around to see my friend staring at a blonde girl who was 16ft away or so.

After a moment of silence, I derailed his train of thought "Introduce yourself"

"What?"

"Why don't you go say hi?"

"Jack I... I'm not as outgoing as you... I would... I would make a fool of myself"

"Oh c'mon. I bet she's in at least one of our classes"

"We're all in the same classroom..."

"See? You have to say hello anyways. Think about it as meeting your neighbor"

"Maybe tomorrow"

Beside the door there was a small mail organizer, and we were told we could decorate the door how we wanted to. We marked territory by writing our names in the small whiteboard and stepped into the room.

At the back there were two individual beds separated by a nightstand with a small, rounded mirror on top of it. There wasn't very much really, just some plain white sheets and a matching pillow. The carpet was brown and some details in the decor simulated the old Titanic. On the left side we had a closet, and we had a bathroom on our right; beside the bathroom there was a small balcony. At the end of the beds, we had curtains to separate them from the 'social part of the room?' We also had a couch, a small table in the middle of the cabin, and a long desk on the right side of the wall with a small tv.

Our home for the next seven months.

"So, let's see what's in this bag..." Just like young children given new toys. I was carefully taking everything out of the bag and placing it on the bed. Surely the carefulness was a thing that would last a week at its most, after that i would be practically throwing around all this stuff and leaving it everywhere.

"RMS Titanic... cool"

"What's in yours, Fabrizio?"

"Uh... water bottle... itinerary, pen... agenda, hand sanitizer..."

"Look, a coupon for the store"

"Let's go find it!"

Following the map to the deck above us, we arrived at the bookstore. From candy to clothing, everything had the initials R.M.S. Titanic II.

"Good afternoon boys, what can I do for you?"

"Good afternoon... we... have this in a bag" The lady at the desk stared at Fabrizio and his attempt to speak English.

"We were wondering if we could exchange this merch coupons?" I explained

"Oh yes! Of course! Please come this way..." The lady walked towards the back of the store where the clothing was and i caught a glimpse of Fabrizio staring at the floor disappointedly.

"Hey, don't worry" I placed a hand on his shoulder "you'll get the hang of it"

"You can choose one of the many items in this section... here we have sweatshirts, t-shirts, tank tops... choose the one you fancy boys"

We thanked her and looked through the items. A dark blue sweatshirt caught my eye when certain Italian boy grabbed my arm and pulled me down.

"Fabri what the-"

"Shhhhh" I heard giggling and saw the blonde girl from the cabins, she was with another 2 friends.

"Oh, c'mon man"

"Let's go, before she-"

"Dude, go talk to her"

"Subito! Per favore?"

I sighed. "Fine." I grabbed the sweatshirt and headed towards the front desk, Fabrizio frequently looking over his shoulder to see if the girls were looking.

"Have a nice day boys!"

"You too ma'am... you know, you'll have to talk to her eventually"

"Non riesco a parlare con le donne, in English no"

"I'll teach you"

"Really?" His eyes popped open at my proposal.

"Really, no problem ragazzo mio"