Chapter Two : Boarding

The Night Before The Cruise, CeCe's House, Chicago, 7:30pm

"What do you think of this, Rocky?" CeCe held up a pink skirt.

"It looks good, I guess." Rocky replied, nonchantanly flipping through a magazine.

"Rocky!" CeCe exclaimed, slightly angered that her friend wasn't really paying attention.

"What?" Rocky looked up from her magazine. "That's like the sixth outfit you've shown me! It only took me ten minutes to pack!"

"But I need to look perfect!" CeCe protested. "What if there are hot boys on that ship?"

"You look fine just the way you are, CeCe." Rocky assured her friend. CeCe tossed the skirt into her open suitcase and began going through her desk drawers. CeCe dug through her desk drawers for a few minutes before sighing and sitting on the sleeping bag she had laid out, beside Rocky's.

"What's wrong?" Rocky asked her friend.

"I just want to make sure that I have everything. What if I forget something important?" CeCe asked.

"CeCe, you brought enough clothes to last you the entire year. You packed your diary and your iPod." Rocky laughed and assured her friend. "Trust me, you have everything you need."

CeCe began reaching around in her sleeping bag before pulling out a teddy bear. Tossing the teddy bear into her suitcase, CeCe laid down on her sleeping bag and pulled the covers on top of her. Rocky got up from her sleeping bag and turned the lights off before lying down herself.

Sonic Boom Music Store, 10:00pm

"Ugh! Come on and fit already!" Austin groaned trying to squeeze his portable DVD player into his already full suitcase. Austin pushed down on the suitcase, the suitcase let out a loud click and all of the items in the suitcase came flying out. Austin felt a few of his DVD's hit him in the face.

"Not again!" Austin groaned and began putting his DVD's back into the suitcase. After a few minutes Ally walked into the store and stared at all of the items scattered across the floor and then stared at Austin.

"Well?" Austin's voice broke her daydream. "Are you going to help me out or not?"

"Fine." Ally leaned down and picked up his Playstation Portable. "Where's the charger for this?"

Austin pointed to the counter where the cash register is. Ally walked over the counter and saw a bunch of tangled cables for various video game systems. Letting out a sigh, Ally began untangling the cables and began neatly arranging them. Picking up the black cable which she assumed was for the PSP, Ally walked over to where Austin was leaning down, trying to collect all of his games.

"Thanks, Ally." Austin took the charger from her and for a brief moment, their hands touched. Ally blushed before withdrawing her hand. Austin didn't seem to notice, and turned his attention back to his suitcase.

Carl's House, 9:00pm

"Well, it took a while but I finally packed." Carl smiled at his tightly jammed suitcase, with a few clothes and various cables sticking out of it. Porter beamed beside him, holding his own suitcase.

"How did you pack so quickly?" Carl asked.

"Angel magic." Porter replied smugly.

"You mean, I could have just asked you to beam all of my stuff into my suitcase rather then spend two hours packing?" Carl asked, slight irritation in his tone.

"Yep." Porter nodded smugly and smirked at the irritated Carl. "Hey, at least you learned how to pack by yourself."

Denise beamed beside them, holding her own suitcase. "Hello, Carl." Denise waved to Carl and then noticed his suitcase. Denise snapped her fingers and all of the items sticking out of Carl's suitcase disappeared.

"Thanks, Denise!" Carl put his hand on her shoulder. "You're more helpful than Porter was."

Denise grinned at this but her joy was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"That must be Jane!" Carl let go of Denise and rushed over to his mirror, he ran his hands through his hair, and quickly ran his hands down his clothes, brushing off imaginary dust.

"How do I look?" Carl turned toward Porter and Denise.

"You look okay." Porter shrugged.

Denise glared at Porter before turning to Carl. "You look amazing, Carl."

Carl beamed at Denise before rushing down the stairs to open the door, leaving Porter and Denise alone. Porter turned to Denise, his arms crossed.

"You know that we can't date humans, right?" Porter asked Denise.

"I know!" Denise protested, holding up her hands. "I'm just trying to help him!" Denise walked around Carl's room, trying to pretend to be busy, in an attempt to get away from Porter.

Porter saw through this and followed her. "You know that it would never work, don't you?" He asked again.

"Yes!" Denise exclaimed. picking up a t-shirt and throwing it back onto Carl's dresser.

"Oh, really?" Porter crossed his arms and leaned towards Denise. "You seem to be extra helpful to Carl. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you have a crush."

"It's nothing, Porter!" Denise replied. "I'm an Angel! Isn't it our job to help people?"

"You seem only interested in helping Carl." Porter replied.

"Look, Porter!" Denise turned towards Porter, her eyes glistening. "You think I don't know that we'll never work? You think I don't know about his crush on Jane? I know that he'll never return my feelings but it doesn't stop them! Why does it even matter? I'm not openly trying to pursue a relationship with him!"

"I was just checking." Porter stepped back from the girl. The two angels heard foosteps coming up the stairs. Denise quickly wiped away a few stray tears before turning to Carl, a smile on her face.

"Are you okay, Denise?" Carl asked, his friend, Jane, standing beside him.

"Yeah." Denise nodded.

"I should set up my sleeping bag." Jane awkwardly laid out her sleeping bag.

"Here, let me help you." Carl took her hand and began helping her place her sleeping bag. Denise looked slightly hurt at this display and turned away.

"Thanks, Carl." Jane said, her tone slightly awkward.

"No problem." Carl smiled and blushed.

Alex's Room, The Russo Home, 1:30am

Alex and Harper sat on Alex's bed. Alex was reading an issue of Seventeen while Harper was applying nail polish onto her toenails.

"So, have you finished packing?" Harper finished painting her big toe and turned to Alex.

"I'll pack later." Alex shrugged and went back to reading her magazine.

"It's the day before the cruise." Harper pointed out, now painting her smaller toes.

"I have magic powers." Alex shrugged. "I can just beam my stuff into my suitcase whenever."

"Good point." Harper finished painting her toes and put the nail polish away.

At that moment, the two girls heard three loud knocks on the bedroom door.

"What do you want, Justin?" Alex yelled at the door.

The door opened and Justin poked his head inside. His best friend, Zeke, was standing shyly behind him. "Have you finished packing yet, Alex?" Justin asked, walking into the bedroom.

"I'm working on it." Alex replied, not bothering to look up from her magazine.

"No, you're not!" Justin exclaimed, pointing at the pile of clothes and magazines scattered all over the floor.

Alex lazily took her wand out of her sweater pocket and waved it. At once, her clothes and magazines floated into her open suitcase and the suitcase closed itself.

June 1st, 5:30am, Russo Home

Alex groaned as her alarm clock went off, waking her up. She looked over at Harper who seemed to be in a deep slumber. Alex groaned and snuggled under the sheets further. Alex closed her eyes and let herself drift off into a peaceful slumber...

"Alex! Harper!" The door slammed open and Justin and Zeke walked into the bedroom, fully dressed. "Time to get up!" Justin walked over to Alex's bed and shook her awake while Zeke woke Harper up.

Harper groaned and rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock. "It's five-thirty in the morning!" Harper moaned and let her head fall back onto her pillow.

"Come on, guys!" Justin shook Harper awake again. "You two need to get dressed, me and Zeke will go pick up Mason."

Alex moaned and grabbed a white towel hanging in her closet.

A Few Minutes Later...

Alex waited for Harper to finish her shower. Alex had already taken a shower and Harper practically had to drag her out of the warm water.

After a few minutes, Harper walked into her bedroom, wearing a pale pink bathrobe with cherries all over it.

Alex picked up her bag containing her clothes for the boarding. She tossed Harper her bag. Harper walked into the bathroom to get changed.

After a few minutes, Alex had finished dressing herself. Harper walked back into the bedroom, wearing her own clothes.

At that moment, the boys and Mason walked in.

"Alex!" Mason greeted Alex with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "It's good to see you again!"

Max grinned and picked up his suitcase. "Well, let's get going."

The others picked up their suitcases as well. Justin took out his wand and beamed the group to Starfish Harbor.

Starfish Harbor, 6:00am

"Stand still, Austin!" Ally scolded her friend. Austin simply grinned at her and continued jumping up and down like an excited child.

"It's coming! It's coming!" Austin exclaimed as he saw the boat approach.

"Austin, what's with you?" Ally asked. "Haven't you been on a cruise before?"

"Nope." Austin continued jumping up and down. "What's it like?"

"I don't really remember to be honest." Ally said, deep in thought. "My parents went on a cruise for their honeymoon. Apparently, that's where I was conceived. On a cheap ocean liner in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean." Ally laughed bitterly.

"Is everything alright?" Dez asked Ally.

"My mom..." Ally shook her head. Trish quickly saw how emotional her friend was getting and decided to cover for her.

"Loved to go on cruises! Didn't she, Ally?" Trish tried to prevent Ally from upsetting herself even more.

"Yeah." Ally nodded, trying to avoid meeting Austin's worried eyes.

Alex and the group stared at the two arguing teenagers a few feet away.

"Don't I know him from somewhere?" Alex pointed at Austin.

"Yeah." Justin explained. "He made a video of himself singing then posted it online."

"Harper, do you recognize him?" Zeke asked Harper. "Harper?"

Harper seemed to be in a daze, she was examining Austin closely, as though she'd seen him before.

"Harper?" Alex tried to snape her friend out of her daze.

"Oh! Yeah?" Harper immediatly stopped staring at Austin and turned to her friend.

"You're acting strange, is everything okay?" Max asked.

"Yeah, I just thought I knew him from somewhere." Harper pointed at Austin.

"Of course you do." Justin replied. "He's like a huge popstar."

"No, that's not what I meant." Harper tried to explain but her friends were already boarding the ship.

Harper shook her head before boarding the ship along with her friends.

The S.S. Tipton, 6:15am

"Attention passengers." A voice on the intercom was speaking. "We will be departing for Quail Harbor in Chicago. Anyone who is not a passenger or a student must leave the boat."

Ally looked around her as she saw dozens of parents hug their children goodbye. She saw teenagers waving goodbye to their best friends and little siblings begging their older siblings not to go. Ally's eyes stopped on a mom and her little girl.

"Now, you call me every single day." The mom handed the little girl a tiny, silver cellphone.

"Thanks, Mommy!" The little girl hugged her mother goodbye.

"Who is my special little girl?" A woman that Ally vaguely remembered was leaning over her, smiling widely at her. The woman seemed so much taller than she did in pictures.

"I'm right here!" Ally heard her voice speak. Except she didn't sound like a seventeen year old. She sounded more like a three year old.

Ally felt herself be picked up the woman. She couldn't explain why but she felt safe and warm around this woman. She felt a surge of love for whoever this woman was.

The woman held Ally up and nuzzled her nose with Ally's.

"Ally." Ally heard the woman say her name. The woman repeated her name again. And again. The woman continued to repeat her name. What was going on? She felt pressure on her shoulder but when she turned to look, there was nothing behind her. What was going on?

"Ally." Austin's voice broke through her thoughts. Ally looked down at her shoulder and sure enough, Austin's hand was lightly shaking it.

"Austin?" Ally asked, slightly confused. Hadn't she just been with some strange woman a minute ago?

"Are you okay?" Austin asked her.

Before Ally could respond, a girl with long, brown hair approached them.

"Hey." The girl greeted them. "My name's Alex."

"Hey, Alex." Austin gave the girl a friendly wave.

A girl with red hair and a strange outfit with watermelons all over it approached them. "Alex!" The girl turned to Alex. "There you are!"

"Sorry, Harper." Alex apologized to her friend. "I was just meeting some new friends."

Harper turned to the group and her eyes met Austin's once again. "Harper Finkle." Harper held her hand out.

"Austin Moon." Austin shook hands with Harper, feeling as if he should know this girl.

"Well, we should go now." Alex grabbed Harper by the arm and began dragging her off to the main deck. Harper turned around to wave at Austin and he gave her a shy wave back.

"Do you know her?" Ally asked Austin.

"I don't know." Austin replied.

Ally approached the front desk. A bald, African-American male was standing beside the desk. He had a stern look on his face but at the same time he had a friendly glint in his eyes.

"Hello." The man greeted them. "I am Mr. Moseby. Are you passengers or students?"

"Students, sir." Dez replied, handing Mr. Moseby a credit card.

"Your money won't be necessary." Mr. Moseby waved off the money. Mr. Moseby reached into a drawer and took out two keys. Handing one key to Austin and the other to Ally, he smiled at them and turned to help Alex and her friends.

Ally looked down at her key which read "Cabin 306", she looked over at Austin's key which read "Cabin 307"

"How can we tell where our cabins are?" Trish asked. Ally looked up and saw numbers above the doors. They were currently passing Dorms 202 to 209.

After crossing a few hallways, Ally stoped at a dorm which had a large 306 above its door. "I guess there is where we split up." Ally said awkwardly to Austin.

"Yeah." Austin shrugged. "But we'll see each other tommorow, right?" The look in his eyes was hopeful and his voice had the smallest trace of uncertainty in it.

"Of course." Ally replied, trying not to show her sadness at being seperated from Austin. Why was she even sad about it? She'd get to spend all of her days away from him! She didn't understand why she felt so sad leaving him.

Austin reached his arms out for a hug, at the same time Ally had reached her hand out for a handshake. The two glanced at each other for a second before Ally had her arms outstretched and Austin had his hand reached out. The two glanced at each other awkwardly before Ally heard a loud clinking sound on the floor.

Oh, shit.

She had dropped her key, in front of Austin. Way smooth.

Blushing furiously, Ally leaned down and picked up her cabin key. With fumbling fingers, she unlocked their cabin door and rushed inside the cabin as quickly as possible.

When Ally walked into the cabin, she saw a girl with long, brown hair and a beauitful white sundress. The girl was currently busy unpacking her suitcase.

"Who is she?" Trish asked from behind Ally.

"I guess she's our roommate." Ally replied.

"Hello!" The girl had heard them talking and turned around, beaming at the two. "My name is Denise Simmons. It's nice to meet you." Denise held out her hand.

Ally stepped forward and shook Denise's hand. "It's great to meet you too, Denise. When did you get here?"

"Oh, not that long ago." Denise replied. "I bea-" Denise quickly stopped herself from revealing her secret and attempted to think of an excuse to tell the girls
"I mean I've been having a nap ever since I got here which was about two hours ago."

"Right." Ally nodded her head. She wasn't fully believing Denise's story. Denise had seemed like she was about to reveal a secret but stopped herself. She would have to investigate this later.

Denise turned to her suitcase and took out a tiny plush alien that resembled one of the Aliens from Toy Story. Denise smiled at the alien and hugged it. Seeing the baffled looks on both Ally and Trish's faces, Denise quickly explained. "Oh, this was a gift from my friend, Carl." Denise blushed as she said this.

"Is Carl your boyfriend?" Trish asked.

"No." Denise shook her head, blushing.

"You like him, don't you?" Ally asked, observing Denise's red face and nervous body movements.

"No - of course not!" Denise quickly denied this. A little too quickly.

"You so do!" Trish exclaimed, pointing at Denise. "Why don't you ask him out?"

"Oh, I can't." Denise replied quietly.

"Come on!" Trish tried to persuade Denise. "We'll go with you!"

"No!" Denise exclaimed quickly. "I mean, it just wouldn't work. He likes someone else."

Ally and Denise nodded their heads in understanding. At that moment, the door burst open and an Asian girl wearing an overly glamorous (At least in Ally's opinion) strutted into the room, a tall blonde boy followed behind her, carrying hundreds of hundreds of pink traveling bags on his shoulders. As the girl entered the room, the boy let out a sigh of relief and dropped her bags. The girl still didn't notice the others and was too busy having the boy remove her faux fur coat for her. After straightening her outfit, she turned to the other girls, with a grin on her face.

"Oh!" The girl stopped and looked at all of them. "You must be my maids!"

"No." Ally corrected her, a little irritated that this girl mistook her for a maid of all people. "We're your roommates."

"That's impossible." The girl seemed genuinely confused. Ally couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for her but her sympathetic feelings quickly vanished when the girl spoke again. "My daddy owns this ship. He wouldn't make sleep with 'roommates'." The girl shuddered as she said roommates and her voice was layered with disgust as she spoke the word.

"What's wrong with roommates?" Denise stepped forwards. "Rooming by yourself sounds lonely and we might actually end up being friends."

"Oh!" The girl let out a laugh. "You poor girl! Do you even know who I am? I am London Tipton, the richest teenage girl in the world! I don't need friends! All I need is my money!" The girl walked over to one of her traveling bags and opened it. Taking out a small box, she opened it.

The other girls couldn't help but gasp when they saw the box full of glamorous necklaces, bracelets and various other accesories, made out of real jewels!

"That's made of real rubies." London explained, as Denise picked up a solid gold bracelet.

Trish was already gathering dozens of earrings into her hands but stopped when London glared at her. Trish sheepishly said "Just kidding." and started to put the earrings back.

"This is beautiful, but why are you showing us this?" Ally asked.

"Take one from the top and one from the bottom." London simply stated. Trish reached into the box, pulling out a large pearl necklace and a tiara with rubies on it. Denise and Ally simply stared at the box in disbelief.

"What are you guys waiting for?" Trish exclaimed. "Free jewels!"

"Why are you giving us free jewels?" Denise asked.

London shrugged and replied. "Well, since I'm rich and I don't want a roommates, I was thinking that if I let you have some of my jewels, then you guys would leave the ship."

London smiled and jumped up, clapping her hands together, obiviously proud of herself for her 'genius' plan. Ally and Denise simply stared at her with wide eyes.

"Look, London." Ally explained slowly, trying not to lose it on the oblivious girl. "Your jewels are nice but I don't want to leave the ship."

"Neither do I." Denise added. The two girls looked at Trish expectantly.

"What?" Trish asked. "It's free jewels!"

"Trish!" Ally exclaimed. Trish sighed and put the jewels back into the box.

"You're right, Ally." Trish stood beside the other two girls glaring at London. London seemed almost shocked that they hadn't taken her jewels, but she quickly reached into her purse.

"How much do I have to pay you? One hundred dollars? One thousand dollars? One million dollars?" London offered, pulling various bills and cheques out of her purse.

"You actually have that much money?" Trish stepped forward, greedily looking at the bills. Ally grabbed Trish's arm and pulled her back. Trish seemed to snap out of it.

"I don't care how much you pay me." Denise stepped forward defiantly taking one of the bills out of London's hand and throwing it onto the ground.

"Me neither." Ally added.

London looked expectantly at Trish. But Trish simply shrugged and said "Sorry, I'm with them on this."

London seemed almost shocked that they had refused her money. "But I always get what I want!" London stomped her foot like a little girl preparing for a tantrum. "Well, if this is how you guys are going to be then I'm leaving!"

Author's Note : Sorry for the late update. I've been busy with family matters and such but every day I have managed to squeeze a bit more into this chapter. Now that the festivities are over, I hope that I will be able to get the next chapter up more quickly.

I made a reference to the first episode of the Suite Life On Deck when London offers her roommate (Can't remember her name) jewels and successfully bribes her to get off the ship.

I figured I would be stretching this chapter out too much if I had the Wingin' It group board the ship as well, so I just tweaked it so they're already on the ship. The Shake It Up group isn't around yet. The guys should be meeting their roommates next chapter.

Thanks!

I own nothing.

Ms. Oh