"I knew they were seeing each other but sleeping together is a completely different thing"

Cal and Molly had developed a very odd friendship. It made sense in a way, they were close in age and were two of the few young people in first class. After Caledon had opened up with her, she felt certain empathy towards the dark-haired guy; she understood how society had turned him into the character he was trying to portray to the rest of the world... she still hatred him though.

"But you broke up with her"

"We broke up yesterday, when she had straight hair. She was curly in the video, clearly it was recorded before"

"But they were already seeing each other! And you knew that Cal!"

"Nobody else knew that Molly! Just the few people on this boat that don't give a shit who we are."

Molly walked up to him "You're not mad because Rose cheated on you, you bastard. You are mad because it damaged your reputation!"

"I don't need this right now" he walked towards the door, threatening to leave the cabin before she could finish talking.

"You're angry because I'm telling the truth, aren't you? I thought we were working on that"

He turned around to face her "Why are you defending her? She's a cheater!"

"She asked you. She literally BEGGED you to drop the engagement many times!" Cal was aware that the more Molly used her hands in an argument, the closer she was to flare up, she had that in common with Fabrizio. Right now, Cal had no chance against her.

"I don't deserve any of this! I didn't even do anything!"

"According to Jack you did" Cal rolled his eyes and sat back on the chair again, this time, with more desire to show he disagreed and despised the conversation. "What was that about? Huh?"

"I don't know, he's demented, he doesn't know what he's saying..."

"He said 'at least I don't hit women' what did he mean by that?"

"I don't know, i..."

"Have you hit Rose?"

For the first time in hours, silence was present in Molly Brown's suite. "Answer me. Have you ever laid a hand on her?"

"What was I supposed to do?" Turning around and asking everyone up above for patience, Molly walked away from him, unable to spend another second breathing the same air as a Hockley "She went alone to a party wearing a mini dress, got drunk, probably fucked and smoked weed or something..."

"AND YOU THINK THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?"

"If she was single..."

"You know what? I don't wanna hear you right now, I don't even want to look at you. Get out."

Cal didn't argue the last comment. Deep, deep inside, he knew what he did wasn't right... but he would never admit it. How could Caledon Hockley admit he had done something wrong? He was right and everyone else was wrong. That was the way it had always been.

Jack

Cold. My first thought was how cold everything felt. I didn't remember my dream, as usual... I'm not even sure if I dreamed something or just fell asleep. My mind patiently collected the events of the night before. Rose wanted to vomit, and I looked for some Dramamine in the first aid kit at the bathroom, to my dismay, I found it empty. They had taken away all the pills.

When I found a Transderm Scop in my backpack it was too late, Rose was already steep on the toilet. She cried 'I'm sorry' every now and then. She was burning up. Anxiety ended her completely, I took her in my arms and carried her to bed; and then I cried.

I do not wish a night like that to anyone, watching the person you love most being eaten by their own thoughts to the point of fainting, I could see her soul through her eyes, begging her body to set it free.

It smells, was my second thought in the morning. I was afraid to open my eyes although the sun was bright enough to erase every trace of guilt- the sun. I was late to class.

Fuck.

I got up so quick I don't know how I didn't got vertigo; Rose was in deep sleep. I apologized for not being there when she woke up, without many hopes of her hearing my voice of course, I kissed her head and headed out. I didn't have a first-class card so I couldn't use the elevator... I had to take the stairs. Today of all days, I had to run from the twelfth deck to the fourth.

Thank goodness nobody was in my way because, at the speed I was running, I could have caused a big accident. Finally, I found everyone at the auditorium, the lecture had already started. It was best if I sat at the back where nobody would notice me. Fabrizio wasn't much far from me, yeah, I could sit next to him when the new teacher turned around.

It was not the reaction I was expecting.

"Why is everybody staring at me?" They've never stared at a person who is late for that long...

"Because of the video" Fabrizio wasn't the one to talk meanwhile a teacher was speaking.

"What? We've been disconnected this whole trip and the second we have internet this happens!"

"Mr. Dawson, since you're already 30 minutes late at least I suggest you pay attention"

I decided I did not like this new teacher... Miss Catherine, as I read on the whiteboard... I think that's what it said. My eyesight had been failing a lot recently, soon I would have to start wearing glasses. Wait... how did she know my name?

"What are you doing?" I whispered to Fabrizio

"She's been explaining the new course... social leadership I think?" He whispered back

"What do you mean you think? You always pay attention"

"I can't get my mind off Helga... we fought again last night..."

They have everything to be together, but they fight, Rose and I are against all odds but we get along just fine... sweet life.

"I don't wanna go back to the kitchen"

"Why not?"

"I don't want to cook with Helga or her friends... I wish there were more guys in my major..."

I looked up to the ceiling as Fabrizio kept talking, the ceiling of the auditorium was very detailed, my ears were listening, but my eyes had nothing better to do at that moment.

The next day was similar, and the next, and the next one. Kota Kinabalu was fascinating, along with the rest of Malaysia. We separated from the group because I didn't want our energy to break with the group dynamics... although Fabrizio did say that Helga was also acting quite unusual.

A day before arriving in Japan we learned that Cal had sued Rose for harm to his reputation. We had to pretend everything was for a short film and built a story around the original video. At the world's eyes, Rose and Cal were happier than ever. It wasn't my cup of tea to have more than twenty million people watch my worst acting in a fake short film on YouTube under the name Homework 11, but at least my girlfriend was eating again.

We agreed to tour Japan all together again. Every day that passed was a day closer to the end of the money in my student card. It was stressing me out, I didn't have access to the amount of money that was left, and the on-board jobs didn't start until the next weeks. Tommy frequently had me try on shirts and bought them behind my back... it was frustrating, but he said he wanted me to have something to remember visiting that country. He used the technique in KK, Tokyo, Shanghai and Halong Bay.

Eventually, I started drawing again. I settled in crowded places everywhere we went and did drawings for five dollars... or whatever the currency was. Tommy was the one doing the math... speaking of Tommy... him and Rose had become very close friends. The last day in Japan I found them giggling in the hotel hallway, I wanted to separate them so bad...

"Jack"

"What?"

"They're friends"

"I know"

"Then why are you staring at them like you wanna cut them in half?"

I sighed and went back to the room "I'm sorry, you're right. I don't know what's happening to me Brit" I jumped on the bed and covered my eyes from the light.

"Brit?"

"Who's Brit?"

"You said Brit"

"No I didn't"

"Yes you did"

"Well I meant to say Britzio!"

"You're too tired. Go to sleep for once"

He was right. I took off my shirt and jeans and thanked there was a heater in the room, because I didn't need to cover myself while I slept. Outside it was freezing.

"Happythoughtshappythoughtshappythoughts..."

"When you took all those pictures of Rose and when you asked me to take a picture of you and it was blurred, and you got mad and she laughed at us" Fabri tried to help

"I'm a way better photographer... but nooo! Ask Tommy for a picture. Tommy this, Tommy that... Tommy! Look at the lights! But when she sees the ones that I took with my camera... is the Digital Art Museum open tomorrow?"

"I don't know... oh! Helga had the hours!" I blinked and Fabrizio was already out of the room and on his way to see Helga. I got up and followed him, walking past Rose on purpose to see her reaction.

When I arrived at her room, Fabrizio had her phone in his hand. From what I understood, she had taken a screenshot of the museum hours online before sailing in Australia.

"What is this?" Fabrizio questioned. Helga turned pale.

"December 31st 4:02 pm... Helga why do you have this?"

"What is it?" I couldn't help but ask

"It's the original video"

What?

I took one look at Helga; her face detailed a fear that had been contained for weeks.

"I'm sorry... We meant it to be a joke" she broke

Oh my god.

"Jack I'm so sorry"

"YOU SAW ROSE HAD A PANIC ATTACK AT THE TABLE AND YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING! SHE'S BEEN MISERABLE FOR WEEKS!"

I had never seen Fabrizio even close to angry. His voice had reached a volume nobody would believe, and he also almost slapped me with his hands. I took a step back and looked over my shoulder to confirm that the discussion had indeed caught the attention of the ones talking and giggling in the hallway.

"I was scared! I didn't want you to hate me..."

"Why would you do this?"

"I'm sorry, we thought it would be funny, we had no idea it would go viral..."

"We?" Fabrizio was getting more and more exasperated. She took one look at me and decided she wasn't lying or hiding anything anymore.

"The girls from the kitchen"

"What? They don't even know Rose! Why would they-"

"They wanted to tease Jack so it would bother you"

"Why?"

"They're still mad about the beard incident"

The whole class was talking behind his back this whole time. And of course, they had tricked Helga so they could laugh some more. In their mind, me and Fabrizio had something going on; what Helga didn't know... was that they were using that video to bother Fabrizio because he wouldn't sleep with her, but he didn't do it because he wanted to wait. This was Fabrizio. The one that wanted to make every moment special, the one that examined every single detail to make sure everything was perfect all the time; you could see it in his dates, you could see it in his food, you could see it in his clothes... and Helga shouldn't have shared details of their relationship with the rest of her classroom either. She had to learn the hard way.

"Jack I'm so sorry. Please tell Rose that it was not my intention for any of that to happen"

"I know you didn't do it with intentions of hurting Rose. Thank you for your apology"

"Fabrizio..."

"Don't. It's over"

"Fabrizio wait!"

"DON'T COME AFTER ME! I SAID WE'RE DONE"