Jack sat at the edge of the bed, staring down at his feet trying to grasp what had happened overnight as Anne was getting dressed.

"Jack, would you be a dear and help me tie my stays?" Anne asked.

"Uh, sure," Jack said. "I don't really know how to lace these things though."

"All you have to do is tighten the laces and tie it off at the end."

Jack pulled on the laces all the way down her back. Just as he was about to tie the ends at the bottom, Anne interrupted. "Tighter."

"Tighter?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, tighter."

Jack pulled on the laces tighter. Every time he stopped, Anne urged him to keep pulling. He pulled and he pulled until it sounded like Anne could barely breathe anymore. "This good?"

"Yeah, that's good," Anne said a little out of breath.

Anne pulled on a dress over what she had on as Jack jumped into his britches and tucked in his shirt. Anne stared at him lovingly as he whipped all his dark hair forward and tied his bandana on. He then whipped his hair back and smoothed it out over his bandana.

Anne smiled. "I think you're missing something."

"Well, yeah. I haven't finished getting dressed," Jack said.

"No, it's not that." Anne went to her vanity and searched the drawers. She found what she was looking for and walked over to Jack. "Sit down." Jack sat on the edge of the bed and Anne stood in front of him, tilting his head up to her with her hand lightly under his chin. "Now close your eyes." He closed his eyes as she rubbed something over his lids, smudging it out at the edges with her thumb. Jack smiled at her scent as she was really close to him. "Open and look up." He did so. She repositioned his head and rubbed and smudged the same thing on his lower lids and waterline. "Now go look in the mirror."

Jack blinked hard to get whatever it was out of one of his eyes. He got up and walked over to the vanity, staring at himself in the mirror. In his reflection, he saw each of his eyes lined in something thick and dark, as black as coal.

"Aw! You look so adorable!" Anne cooed, standing next to him also staring at his reflection.

"Eyeliner?" Jack trialed off, leaning closer to the mirror and furrowing his brows.

"It's kohl," Anne remarked. "It's used to protect your eyes from the sun. Like when you're out at sea or doing work outside and such. Someone I knew from India gave it to me."

"Very interesting," Jack said in fascination as he further examined the application she did on him. He'd seen a handful of pirates wear something similar on their eyes, but he never knew it was this.

Anne took his arm and placed the stick of kohl in his hand. "I never had the need to wear it and I found it in my things not long ago. Knowing you sail on ships, I thought you'd might want to use it on future trips." Jack felt her soft hands close his fingers around the stick as he stared into her beautiful brown eyes and smiled.

Anne let go of him. She slipped on her shoes and walked towards the door. "Come out when you ready." She shut the door behind her, leaving him in the room by herself.

Jack walked down the lowly streets of Shipwreck City, his now kohl-lined eyes wide and staring off in thought. He could hardly comprehend what happened the night before. It was pleasurable, but something felt really, really wrong about it. The way Anne came off on him made him feel very off. This was the same girl who confided to him about being made take a class on drinking tea! He knew this was coming since they had been dating for sometime now, but Anne gave him bad vibes. At the same time, he still couldn't help it; he was very much in love with her. He had liked girls before, but he loved this one. Yes, love was a strong word for a girl he had only been going out with for a couple weeks, but there was no way he could give this one up, especially since the relationship was going so well.

Jack always somewhat had trouble with talking to girls. He was a master at flirting, thanks to tips given by the whores, but a relationship was the only kind of ship he couldn't set sail. He knew he had always been surrounded by violence growing up. Violence in the family, violence amongst boys his age, violence everywhere. He was surrounded and influenced by pirates. In his family, he was taught that violence was how they showed affection, and that was what he actually did think for the longest time. He remembered when he was about eleven or twelve, he tried talking to the very first lass he liked. He went up to her, said hello, and slapped her across the face. Of course, he did not get the reaction he was expecting. Though it was difficult, he tried not to repeat that, especially with Anne.

Jack crept through the doors of the brothel. Everything was quiet and he assumed nobody was there, then multiple voices boomed from the second floor.

"JACKIE!" The four girls ran down the stairs and crowded around Jack. "YOU'RE BACK!" "HOW WAS THE SLEEPOVER?" "WHAT DID YOU DO?" "DID YOU DO IT?"

"Okay, okay, ladies. Calm down," Jack subdued the excited girls.

"So? Tell us what happened," Lavina said.

"Well, it went great," Jack replied. "Played cards, had some drinks..."

The wide-eyed girls leaned in closer.

"And, well..." Jack prepared for the room to explode, "we did it."

"AHHHHHH!"

Jack winced at their high pitched screams.

"You did it!" Claire shrieked.

"Congratulations!" Donna cheered.

"How was it?" Abigail in an excited quaver.

"Did you do what we taught you?" Lavina asked.

Jack scrambled for words. "Err, I mean it was mostly her who did it, but—"

"Exactly what we taught you!" Abigail grinned.

"It's all about making her feel good!" Donna quoted.

"Okay, but did I ever tell you how old she is—" Jack tried to say before being cut off again.

"Since when does age matter?" Lavina said. "How old are we since we had done it on your birthday?"

Claire interjected "But we didn't—" Donna elbowed her hard in the breast.

"But...Teague and I were drunk, and I don't even remember any of it!" Jack said.

"And you said you guys had some drinks last night as well?" Lavina questioned. "That's the same thing, right?"

Jack always had the shivers thinking about the night of his birthday, mostly thinking about the fact he likely put it in the same hole Teague did before.

"We've been in the business since we were about your age," Abigail stated, "perhaps even younger." she added.

Claire chimed in. "As they say, when your age is not on the clock, you're ready for the—" Donna elbowed her again before she could finish.

"The twenty-four hour clock I hope?" Jack faltered.

All four girls smiled and shook their heads, and pointed to the old longcase clock sitting across the vintage furnished room, showing all twelve hours and the hands pointing quarter til noon.

"Ah, speaking of, look at the time!

I must head out, ladies," Jack said.

"Aww!"

"I'll be back tomorrow, if Teague ends up dragging me."

"Yeah, he's probably wondering where you are," Lavina said.

"Probably not. I have to do some work on Borya's ship, but I gotta face him later," Jack replied with a little bit of dread.

"All right. We'll see you later, Jackie!"

"Bye!" the girls chanted.

As Jack turned to head out, Donna stepped forward and stopped him, leaning in a little too close for comfort. "By the way, whatever that stuff on your eyes is, get us some of that," she whispered.

"Will do, love," Jack responded with a smile and a wink before heading out of the door.

Anne was right. The kohl worked wonders when Jack worked on Borya's ship for those few hours. The glare from the sun didn't put as much strain on his eyes as it usually did. He definitely couldn't wait to use it the next time he'd go out to sea!

However, not everything was great as Jack stood at the front door of his home soaking wet. He had yet another confrontation with Asher and the other boys and they pushed him off the dock. The boys were then scared off by Borya yelling and firing shots from his ship, the Koldunya, which was right next to them.

Jack opened and walked through the door. He rushed through The Great Chamber with his head down, and leaving soggy steps behind in his path.

He went up to the living chamber and was about to quickly head up to his room when he was stopped by Valerie.

"Hey, what happened to you?" Valerie asked with scorn.

Jack kept looking down, hiding his eyes with his dripping hair. "Leave me alone." Jack said through gritted teeth.

"Aww don't be so angry!" Valerie sneered. "If anything, I should be angry since Asher seemed to have taken my job."

She pulled Jack's head back by his hair and revealed his eyes.

"You're wearing makeup?!" Valerie gasped, referring to the kohl Jack had around his eyes.

"It's kohl! It's a tool, not a fashion choice!" Jack protested.

An evil grin drew across Valerie's face. "I'm telling Teague," Valerie threatened.

"No! No! Please don't tell Teague!" Jack begged.

"Too late," Valerie then screamed, "TEAGUE! YOUR WHELP HAS MAKEUP ON!"

"Damn you!" Jack swore.

Teague then mysteriously appeared. "What's going on here?"

"Look Teague! Jackie's wearing makeup!" Valerie told Teague, pointing to Jack.

Teague took a closer look at Jack's eyes. "Why are you wearing eyeliner, boy?!"

"It's not eyeliner! I told her it's a tool—" Jack tried to explain.

"Enough! I don't want to hear it!" Teague interrupted. "Go upstairs and take that bloody crap off your eyes right now or you're not getting any dinner tonight!"

"I hate you!" Jack shouted.

Jack stomped away from Teague and up the stairs. Before he reached the top, he turned to the angry Teague and laughing Valerie and screamed, "I HATE ALL OF YOU!"