I stared at the clock on the wall in the dance studio. I had an hour and a half to have something to eat and get ready for my 'tour' with Zack. I was really starting to have second thoughts about this but I refused to hole up in my room while I was traveling across the globe. So I put a smile one my face, grabbed my bag, and walked out the door.

After wondering around for a little less than twenty minutes trying to find the pizza place on the plaza deck, I decided that I really did need a tour. I was just about to admit my incompetence and ask for directions when a girl with light brown hair walked over to me. "Um, do you need any directions?"

Okay, so I wasn't being very inconspicuous about being lost. Dang. "Yeah, how do I get to the plaza deck from here?"

"Take the elevator three floors up. And the elevators are down the hall to the left. I'm Bailey by the way."

"Mira," I said as I followed her to the elevators.

"Are you a new student here?" she asked as she pressed one of the buttons on the control panel.

"Yeah, I just got here today."

"That's a little late isn't it?"

So tact wasn't her strong suite. Or she's just really naive. "Yeah, it was kind of a last minute thing." Yeah, my best friend just died a few weeks ago. Nothing big. It wasn't her fault though. Most people didn't think of things like that so I won't blame her.

After that she let the subject drop so maybe she wasn't that tactless after all. Anyway, once we got off the elevator she went off to talk to some people. I wondered around for another five minutes trying to find the pizza parlor. But it wasn't my fault. That was a big boat and I am only one person.

Finally I found it. It was right next to the elevator. Go figure. Anyhow, I eventually got my dinner and I still had time to get ready for my tour. And that's all it was. Just a tour, not a date. Even if Kathryn was convinced otherwise.

{xXx}

"You just got here and you're already going on a date with Zack Martin. How did you manage that?" Kathryn asked, swinging her legs from her desk.

I tossed my head back in annoyance. "I am not going on a date with Zack. He is just giving me a tour. That is all." I was trying to get ready for my tour and she had been nagging me for half an hour. I was understandably starting to get frustrated.

"Yeah, at nine thirty at night when he just got done working a five hour shift. Sounds like he likes you."

"Kathryn, for the eighteenth hundred time this is not a date. This is him being nice because he wants to get in my pants. I did not come here to date and I did not come here to get laid. He is just being my tour guide for the night. That is it. Nothing romantic at all, okay?" I ranted pulling

my skirt on and yanking the straps over the t-shirt underneath.

"Alright, alright. Anyway, I got to go now; Bailey's going over my pre-cal homework. I'll see you tonight," she said hopping off the desk. "Oh by the way, I want details on your tour."

I glared at her while pulling my hair up. "There will be nothing to tell."

"Uh-huh, sure. Bye now!" I groaned and flopped down on my bed. Who the hell was I trying to kid, I had a date with the ship's player. I rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on my desk. I was all ready and I still had half an hour left. Fantastic.

I sat up and grabbed Cassie's iPod out of my bag. Would one more diary entry really be that bad? The little voice of reason in my head was screaming 'yes' but I had a problem with listening to that voice. So I put my head phones on and clicked on the second entry.

"May 30th 2009." My breath caught, she was crying. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know you probably won't hear this for a while, if ever but…. I- I slept with Jason. I just… I was drunk and I wanted to know what you were always going on about…. Mira, I am so sorry. And I am just so damn pathetic for not telling this to your face.

"I feel like shit. I can't believe that I did that. I'm so sorry." By this point she was in hysterics and I was crying too. I wasn't even sure what I was crying about. Cassie, Jason, Kali, my family shipping me off to this sea school, not going to her funeral, all the mistakes I made, all the things I should have told her and didn't, all the things I could have done to help her, a little bit of everything.

I took of my headphones and tossed them on to the bed. This was a great way to start a date. I stood up and made my way back to the bathroom, I had mascara dripping down to my chin. Yuck. Just after I put my make-up bag back into the drawer there was a knock on the door. Talk about great timing.

I slipped my shoes on and opened the door and there was Zack. With flowers. Impressive. "For you," he said holding them out.

"Do friends give friends flowers?" Yes, I was still trying to fool myself into the friend thing. It wasn't working so well.

"The cheap plastic kind's fair game." At least that's better than the real kind, although they don't die… so not really.

"Well thank you then," I said taking the flowers and dropping them on my dresser. "Shall we go now?"

He held his arm out to me. "We shall."

Author's Note: I don't really like this chapter but I don't think it's going to get a lot better. Anyway, the next chapter's their date :D Tell me what you think about it? I'm still aiming to have it out on Friday but again, no promises.