I was woken up the next morning by Oliver and Miley who were used to going to school at the break of dawn. The two of them were talking, so I decided not to look as if I were awake and tried to tune out their conversation. I ended up falling asleep again, for another couple of hours until I was woken up again by the smell of pancakes and Mr. Stewart whistling in the kitchen. I sat up on my elbows, shook my head at the sight, and put my head back down on the pillow and was distracted by the ceiling fan, which was turned on due to the very humid weather that was coming through the porch doors from the beach.

But I wasn't allowed to watch the ceiling fan for very long. Mr. Stewart came over to the couch, with a big plate full of his famous pancakes smothered in syrup. I gratefully took the plate, and sat up in my seat before Miley and Oliver came to sit next to me with their plate of pancakes. We said nothing, but only because we were too busy stuffing pancakes into our mouths.

When we were done, Mr. Stewart took our plates to the sink and demanded that we get into our beach clothes. Miley and Oliver helped me up the stairs slowly, dropped me off in my room, and quickly retreated to their own so that they could change. I looked around my room and decided what I was going to wear rather than getting up to get the clothes. I was used to not being able to balance myself now, and as I walked though the room I held on to the first chairs and bureaus that I could find until I got to my closet.

It was easier from that point on; I picked up my tankini, short-sleeved shirt, and Bermuda shorts and walked back to my bed. From there, I changed into the clothes and made my way slowly down the stairs again where I found Mr. Stewart, Oliver and Miley all waiting for me on the couch.

"All ready to go?" Mr. Stewart asked me, picked up the bag I was holding with my suntan lotion and towel. I nodded, and Miley and Oliver got up from the couch to follow Miley's dad out the door. Just before we got into the car, Mr. Stewart turned around, "We have about a half an hour drive if any body needs to use the bathroom." We shook our heads, "Alright, here's the plan then. We're going to meet my friend Jacob at the marina, and he's going to show us how to use the boat before we set sail. We'll go to a restaurant, of anyone's choice, and we'll have the food half way to Catalina, sail around the island before we land, and go to the beach until whenever you feel like coming back." We nodded our heads, in agreement, "Okay then, let's get into the car."

Oliver went in first, then Miley and me, because Oliver and I had called the window seats way before Miley could get a word out. "You two are so evil," Miley muttered when we played jello on the way to the marina. The point of the game is to move around freely as you go around each bend in the road, and so far Miley was getting squished, "Can we play a new game?" Miley asked, after tolerating ten minutes of jello.

I leaned forward and looked at Oliver, I nodded and so he agreed as well, "Alright." I announced, "What do you want to play Miley?"

"How about the quiet game?" Miley suggested with an eager tone.

I bent forward to look at Oliver, and when I did he nodded his head, "Alright Miley, Oliver." I said, "Last one to talk gets…"

"Five dollars," Oliver held up a five-dollar bill that he'd taken out of his pocket.

We all nodded, agreeing to the rules, and Mr. Stewart counted down ten seconds to the game so that we all started at the same time. When he got to one, the car got silent, and Mr. Stewart chuckled to himself at how childish we were being. He told us jokes, so that one of us would burst out laughing and lose the game, but no one did no matter how funny the jokes were. Mr. Stewart even talked to us like we weren't playing, but none of it was working.

"You know guys," Mr. Stewart told us, after giving a twenty-minute lecture about Algebra and how we're going to use it when we're older. "I'm betting on Oliver taking first." Oliver made a face, and Miley and I stuck our tongues out at him, "And then Miley." Mr. Stewart continued, "Because if there's one thing I've learnt about Lily through all of this. It's that she can stay quiet for the longest time if she feels like it."

By that time we were at the marina, and Mr. Stewart could now turn around and look at our faces, "Well," He said when he turned around. 'I'm impressed – but can someone please lose so that I have someone to talk to on the boat?" The three of us shook our heads, "Alright, this is going to be a fun trip."

Mr. Stewart got out of the car, and the three of us followed behind him and down the dock where we walked up to the biggest sailboats I'd ever seen. Mr. Stewart then introduced us to his friend, and explained how we were playing a game and that was why we weren't talking. His friend, Jacob then showed us around the boat, carefully showing us how to get the sails up and down, and how to work the steering wheel. But most interesting of all, was below deck, where there was a kitchen, and four beds with we could all sleep on if we got tired.

Mr. Stewart thanked Jacob, and we all waved his a goodbye as he got off the boat.

"Let's get this ship moving," Mr. Stewart announced when Jacob was far away. "Now if Oliver can help me with this sail, and you girls can pull that one up then we can be on our way."

The three of us nodded, and went to our stations – pulling the sails down, which was way harder than it looked. The four of us raced to see who could get theirs up first, and of course Miley and I won, being the better gender and all.

When we were done, Mr. Stewart got to the steering wheel, turned on some music on the stereo that we'd brought, and brought us out of the harbour slowly. Miley, Oliver and I sat at the tip of the boat, with our legs over the side and safely hanging out to the three metal bars that would stop us from going over the boat. "What if I gave you each five-dollars?" Mr. Stewart asked when we'd reached the end of the harbour. We all looked at him and shrugged, "Because this silent game is starting to get a little creepy."

I looked at Oliver and Miley, and the three of us nodded our heads, indicating that we would start talking again. "Alright," we said at the same time. We laughed at the coincidence, "now where's our five-dollars?"

Mr. Stewart reached into his pocket and took out three five-dollar bills, and distributed them between us. We thanked him and Mr. Stewart turned the music up and sang to it – very loudly.

Miley and I covered our ears, and ran for cover below deck, where as Oliver just sat there and continued to hang his legs over the boat.

While Miley and I were below deck, I realized that I should have been wearing a hat outside and hoped that my bare scalp wasn't burnt. When I reached up to feel my head, Miley got the clue, and picked up the hat she had brought. "Here Lil," She said, handing it to me with a smile. "And don't worry, your head isn't burnt."

"Thanks," I smiled back, gratefully taking the hat from my best friend's hand. I was so glad that she was acting as if this were normal. "So what do you want to do?"

Miley though, and sat down on the couch in the sitting room. "I don't know," Miley told me when I followed. "I'm getting a little sea sick, maybe we could sit a while and talk."

I nodded my head; that sounded like a good idea, "What do you want to talk about?" Miley shrugged, "How's school going?" I asked to break the ice.

"It's good," Miley told me, lying down on the couch. "But Mr. Larkin is only now giving us the study guides for the final, and the other teachers did that, like, three weeks ago. He can be so dumb sometimes." I mumbled an agreement, and Miley turned to face me, "Are you going to take the finals?"

I shook my head slowly and smiled at Miley even though I was breaking down inside, I might not even be around for 10th grade, I though to myself. "Probably not," I told Miley.

Miley nodded, "I have a Hannah event tonight," she told me. "Do you know if you can come?" I nodded, "Good." Miley smiled, "I feel better, do you want to go back up?"

I nodded, and Miley and I went up the steps to get to the boat, where we found Mr. Stewart teaching Oliver how to sail the boat.