Chapter Eight
Sarah was up on deck. She loved the breeze that carried the tang of the sea (but not that as much) and the way they moved effortlessly across the water.
Behind her, Marcus, Nora, Silas, and Rian were playing some card game with cookies and potato chips. She turned her chair to watch, and saw that Rian was holding an ace. "Read it and weep!" he crowed as he claimed a bag of Lays, a bag of Ruffles, and a roll of Oreos. Marcus grumbled but forked over his last Nutter Butter, and Nora laughed. "Out!" The darker-haired boy jumped out of his chair and walked over to join Sarah.
Only an hour had passed since they started off, but to Sarah it felt like minutes. Milo came up from the cabin below with Koran and they were chatting as if they'd been friends for years. Koran went over to the card table, and Milo plopped himself down next to his sister and buddy.
"You've taken to Koran" Marcus remarked as he slurped a Coke. Milo shrugged.
"Once you get to know him, he's pretty cool." He glanced at Sarah. "We're all getting used to him." Sarah nodded. "He's not bad, but we still need to finish the Test, whether we like him or not." "True."
Marcus got up after a few minutes and left to join the game again. Milo and Sarah were left alone, with only Rack in hearing distance.
"You know, Koran's a pretty good singer. He says he's practiced, but when I asked why he didn't answer. Weird" commented Milo. Sarah said nothing to her brother, just asked a passing Silas if he could get her a Sprite.
"Did you ever figure out what CD Rack had at the party?" Milo questioned Sarah. She shook her head and growled, "It's none of my business." "Touché" he said with a grin. "Mmmrmph."
Then she winced. "Uggh. I think I'm seasick." She rushed down
Koran, meanwhile, watched Sarah run past and was worried. He hoped she wasn't horribly sick. Then he saw her go to the lower deck. He felt a jolt, and closed his eyes. Suddenly feeling very odd, he dropped to the deck, and blacked out.
"Hey, what happened to Koran?" "He passed out." "What the heck?!" He blinked open his eyes to see Rack, Silas, and Milo above him, their eyebrows raised in a "What the frick?!" expression. He struggled to his feet, and Milo asked, "What happened? Are you okay?" Aside from a throbbing pain in the back of his skull, Koran was fine.
"I don't really know what happened…" he muttered, rubbing his head. "I just glanced over at"—he fumbled in his mind—"the stairs, and then poof, I was out like a light." Nora came over. "Gee, everyone's acting sick. Sarah threw up over the edge." The others all wrinkled their noses, and then Sarah came back.
"I'm okay" she said in barely a whisper. Then, stronger, "Rack, why aren't you running the boat?" "Rian's running it" he said with a little grin. She raised an eyebrow. "Then why did I look in a window and see him playing arcade games?"
Everyone's eyebrows shot straight up, and they looked out the edge of the boat.
There was nothing but water surrounding the boat, and no land was in sight in any direction.
"AAAAAAHH!!" they all screamed, running around on the deck. "WE'RE LOST AT SEA, LIKE ALL THOSE CLICHÉ MOVIES!!"
"Wait, wait, guys, we've got to calm down" said Rian, who had come up from below deck. "Rack and I know how to drive a boat, and we'll just send out a radio signal. Wherever the radio signal comes from, we'll go there."
Rack and Rian went into the little driving area and the others looked at each other, shrugged, and started playing cards again.
"Let's play blackjack." "Okay," said Koran. "I'll be dealer. Marcus, I show a five, you show a six and a jack." "Hit me." "Ouch. Okay, Silas, I show a five, you show a 10 and an eight." "Stand." "Sarah, I show a five, you show a—whoa, Blackjack!" "YESS!!" "Alrighty, Nora, I show a five, you show a five and a three." "Double down." "And you get a six. That makes 14. Milo, I show a five, you show a four and an eight." "12…hit me." "Kay."
As Koran looked at everybody's cards, Sarah drifted into thought. Wow, Koran's changed a lot since we first met him, even though it's only been about a month. He's gotten popular and a lot of people like him. I wonder if he'll really get mad at us once he finds out what the last part of the Test will be.
Meanwhile, Rian was lounging back in his rolly-chair as Rack sent out a radio signal in a 10-mile radius. It was: "SOS. We are eight kids lost at sea trying to get to the Marram Marshes. SOS."
Soon there was a response. "Woohoo!" cheered Rack, and wrote it down. "Let's see, it says: 'Go east until you see land, then turn north for a while until you get to the marshes.' YESS!!"
He burst out of the driving-place-thing and yelled, "Hey, guys! We know where to go!!" Everyone looked up and grinned. "Excellent, we were running out of things to bet with" said Silas as he chowed down on an almond cookie. "I hope you don't mind, Rack, that we bet your entire life's savings."
Rack slapped his forehead. "Great. Who won it?" "I did" said Sarah. Her eyebrows were narrowed but she wore a sneaky grin. "Now I can finally buy that remote-controlled giant squid. Watch your back in the pool at home, Milo." Rack slapped his forehead again, but it wasn't as loud.
He sat down at the table, set Rian on duty, and glanced at Sarah. "I'm gonna win that back" he growled in good humor. "Try me" she said with a smirk.
About half an hour later…
"Yes, I finally won it back!"
"Hey guys, we're at the Port!"
Sarah looked up. "Lets refresh our food supply, since SOMEONE"—she glared at Marcus—"ate all our junk food when we weren't looking." "Hmmph" Marcus grumbled.
"I'll go aboard" said Koran. "I'll go" said Rack with a glare at Koran. "I'll go, and Milo, how about you come too?" asked Sarah pointedly with a glance at the two boys that seemed to say, 'WHAT IS YOUR FRICKIN' PROBLEM??!!'
The others didn't notice either exchange, and they nodded. Sarah looked at Nora, Rian, Marcus, and Silas, and said, "Rian, you're in charge." "I always was." "I'll ignore that. Nora, you have to make sure Marcus doesn't eat any more of the food we use to bet with." "Why am I always stuck with the hardest jobs?"
They docked (paying a small fee of $5) and the four went aboard. Sarah found herself next to Koran and hissed, "What is going on?!" Koran clenched his fists. "I don't know. The guy just hates me for some reason." Sarah thought she knew why, but she didn't say it aloud. "Well, try and ignore him."
She ran up to walk with Milo. She jabbed a finger behind her and growled, "What's with them?" Milo smirked sneakily. "Rack seems to have some competition." Sarah sighed. "Forget it, I'm not going there." Milo shrugged. "You know, Sarah, the best way would to just be friends with both of them." "What the bleep do you think I'm doing?!" she spat.
Milo said nothing. Sarah huffed angrily and grumbled, "You're no help."
When they got to the Port, they bought a whole bunch of junk food and then went back to the boat. They were off again almost immediately.
Sarah let herself sink into her thoughts when Koran tapped her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry" he muttered. "But Rack's really getting on my nerves." "It's okay. If it makes you feel better, he makes me mad sometimes too" said Sarah. She met his eyes and he blinked, then looked away. "You know, he's not one of the Royal Rambles. He never was. But Rian might be" said Sarah. Koran looked at her again. "Rian's a good guy." "Yeah" Sarah agreed, and then Koran left.
She stared into the sinking sun, hoping that the problems could be solved when her own thoughts were a bit more organized.
A/N: I realize this chapter is not as funny and a bit more emotional, but I felt I needed to put at least one of these chapters up. If I get some stuff wrong on the card playing or whatever, it's because I've never played blackjack or poker before.