AN: Thank you to my reviewers…xCole-and-Dylan-rockx, tiptonxprincess, mikromb13, and ClarkR! I am also enjoying your stories!
Chapter Five: Departure
Carey, Zack, and Cody stood along a forward facing railing just below the bridge on deck 1. From this vantage point they could see the forward well deck, and the forecastle deck. Passengers clogged the railings all along these decks as well as the one they were standing on.
Zack and Cody suddenly spotted Barbara and Max in the crowd and Zack decided to try and call her on her cell phone to tell them where they were.
As he was dialing the number, the great ship's horn sounded and all three of them were effectively lifted from the deck by the sudden loud noise. His phone shot out of his hand and sailed down the slanted glass windows of the lounge restaurant one deck below until it hit some guy on the head.
"Sorry!" Zack yelled as loud as he could
The guy nodded and looked to be dialing something on Zack's phone. Soon Carey's phone rang. The guy had looked up 'mom' in Zack's phone and called her. He told Carey he would take the phone into the lounge and leave it with the hostess.
"Smooth move Zack" Cody said.
"Well, did you hear that horn!? What am I saying; you had to have heard it!" Zack said.
Cody and Carey just laughed.
Something made Barbara turn her head and look up to where they were and all three waved at her to get her attention. Barbara saw them and got Max to look.
The girls waved for Zack and Cody to join them.
"Can we mom?" Cody asked.
"Sure go, don't forget your phone on the way Zack!" Carey yelled after them as they tore off.
Down one flight of stairs and into the Star Tropics lounge on deck 2 they went to get Zack's phone.
"Excuse me ma'am, did someone bring a cell phone in here?" Zack asked.
"Yes, are you the one who dropped it on the windows and nearly gave my busboy a heart attack?" the hostess asked.
"Yes ma'am, the horn freaked me out" Zack replied sheepishly.
"Here you go hon, let's be more careful eh?" she said handing Zack his phone.
"I will, thank you ma'am" Zack said as they began to leave the lounge headed for the well deck.
As they moved through the ship they suddenly heard a slight rumble noise.
"They must have started the engines Zack, let's hurry and get out there!" Cody said and they started jogging.
When they reached the railing by the girls, the ship was slowly inching away from the dock. All four of them watched the bubbles come up from the forward bow thrusters. Zack and Cody turned and looked up at Carey who waved. They were finally leaving!
The channel in Miami was large enough so that even the massive Poseidon could maneuver without the help of tug boats. Once the ship was in the middle of the channel they heard the main engines start and the ship began to move forward.
"Come on guys; let's go all the way to the front!" Zack said.
"Oh no, your not gonna do your 'I'm the king of the world!' impression like you did on dad's sail boat are you?" Cody asked.
"Well…I wasn't going to…" Zack replied.
"And your still not going to" Max said.
They moved to the very front point of the ship and found it surprisingly void of people. They looked over the side and down watching the water move around the bulbous nub that made up the very front of the ship down by the waterline.
They watched other boats sail alongside and ahead of Poseidon as she moved down the channel towards open water. The people on these boats waved and some blew their tiny horns.
As if in response Poseidon let loose again with one of her giant horn blasts. This time, being further away from it, Zack and Cody managed to keep their feet on the deck.
It seemed as if everyone in the Miami area that had a boat had come out to watch the huge ship leave. She was, after all, one of the biggest in the world. It made the kids feel proud, for Barbara and Max because it was their new school, for Zack and Cody because it was their new home.
Pretty soon Bob and Mark appeared next to them.
"Hey, you found us" Cody said.
"Yeah I found Carey and she told us where you guys were" Bob said.
"Isn't this amazing!?" Mark said.
"Sure is" Max replied.
Poseidon rounded a curve in the channel and suddenly there was the open ocean dead ahead with nothing but water as far as the eye could see.
Cody's stomach dropped again as he watched the aqua blue water of the channel change to the deep blue of the ocean ahead of them.
Zack, being his twin, noticed immediately.
"What's wrong Codes, your face just went white as a sheet" Zack said.
"Um, I…I don't know, I just got a funny feeling…it's happened a few times before since we got to the ship…it's probably just nerves…being all alone out there with no land around for days" Cody replied.
"But you said it yourself, this ship is so totally self-sufficient and safe, we won't need land to be nearby" Zack reassured him.
"Yeah, were gonna be fine Cody" Barbara said taking his hand.
"I know, like I said it's probably just nerves, like in the plane today…it'll pass" Cody said.
The four stood at the front of the ship until Poseidon had cleared the channel markers and committed herself to the open ocean. They felt the big ship accelerate in speed and the wind began to whip faster through their hair.
They decided to walk the length of the ship so they could watch the coast of Florida disappear behind them. They each updated the student system and began their nearly one mile long journey.
They climbed three decks up to the top boat deck and began walking past other passengers settling onto deck chairs to get some sun.
"I am really liking the smell of the air" Max said as she strode next to Zack, her hand in his.
"Yeah, smells like Cape Cod in the summer, only it's a lot warmer" Zack said.
"I didn't know you guys go to the Cape, I love it up there" Max replied.
"Yep, our dad has a cottage up there…and in the rare times he wasn't touring he used to take me and Cody up there" Zack said.
"He doesn't anymore?" Max asked.
"Not for a long time" Zack said quietly.
Max could see it was a touchy subject so she changed it.
"Have you and Cody got the same schedule?" she asked.
"We actually haven't even compared…hey Codes; you got your schedule with you still?" Zack said turning his head to look at his brother.
Cody and Barbara, with Bob and Mark on each end, were doing the cross-step walking thing like Zack, Cody, London, and Maddie had done at the beach in Hollywood.
"Yeah" he said getting it out.
"Max just reminded me, we all haven't compared schedules yet" Zack said.
They sat down in some deck chairs, having gone about halfway to the stern and began comparing class schedules.
Cody, of course, had a lot of AP classes but it looked like he would have literature, PE, and botany with Zack.
"Botany!? What the heck is that?" Zack asked.
"Where you learn how plants grow and things like that" Max replied.
"And check this out this list of sports electives, there's basketball, tennis, even fencing!" Cody said.
"Fencing? That seems like an odd choice for PE on a ship" Zack said.
"I think it could be fun, you can combine what you learn in fencing to more martial arts type sword fighting!" Cody said.
"So, you mean, instead of us whacking each other's fingers every time we play swords at home we'll actually know what were doing instead of just swinging!?" Zack asked excitedly.
"Yep!" Cody replied.
"Sweet! Doesn't sound so dumb after all" Zack said.
"You guys still play swords at home!?" Max asked with a small chuckle.
Zack and Cody quickly looked at each other, realizing they had let something out that they would have preferred their girlfriends not know.
"Uhum…" Zack began with a cough, lowering his voice to sound more manly "…well, not as much as we used to" he finished.
"Uh huh, do you also still play with rubber duckies in the tub?" Barbara joined in the teasing.
"Hey! Leave duckie out of this!" Cody said defensively.
"Relax guys, their just teasing you" Bob said.
"Thank you Bob, yes, we're just teasing" Barbara said.
Cody still looked hurt, but smiled soon enough.
It was discovered that Max and Zack had a few classes together with Bob and Mark. Cody and Barbara had Orchestra and a few AP classes together.
They got up and resumed their walk.
"It's okay that were not all in the exact same classes together, we'll be able to see each other during breaks, lunch, and of course, after school when we can crash that dance club!" Zack said.
"And that water park!" Bob said.
"And the astronomy dome!" Cody said.
Zack shook his head with an added "dork"
Max swatted him.
"You be nice to him, just cause he likes to do educational stuff, you'd do yourself some good if you paid a little more attention in school" Max said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever…we'll worry about that stuff later, right now let's just have fun!" Zack replied.
Max just rolled her eyes at him, smiled, and the two started a jog towards the stern.
"Hey, let's go check out that water park Mark, I bet we find some girls down there!" Bob said to Mark and the two peeled off and ran inside the ship leaving Cody and Barbara alone.
"But, I think educational stuff is fun" Cody said in the direction that Max and Zack had run.
"He's not always very nice to you is he?" Barbara said noticing how down Cody suddenly looked.
Cody didn't say anything; he just shrugged it off as he always did.
"Come on m'lady, we better push off if were going to catch up with the likes of them" Cody said with a British accent.
She accepted his arm and they jogged off after Max and Zack.
At the very back of the ship, by a short flagstaff that held a flag with a giant "P" on it, Zack and Max stood watching Florida recede from them. Fluff generated in the water in the wake of Poseidon's four isopod propellers lay like a carpet leading back towards the coast.
Cody and Barbara appeared at the rail next to them.
"What took you two so long, and where did Bob and Mark go?" Zack asked
"You weren't here that long before us…and they went to the water park to scope out some girls" Cody replied.
"You make it sound like were cows in a field and you guys are the farmers come to see which of us will make choice meat" Max said.
"Well…no, I mean…" Cody began.
"Uh…he didn't mean it like…hey, I don't think we…" Zack sputtered.
"I'm just teasing again Zack, chill" Max said smiling.
"Wow, the shore already looks distant" Cody said.
"Yeah" Zack said.
They all continued to stare out, talking amongst themselves, until the coast blended in with the water and vanished. The evening sun was lowering into their eyes.
"What time you got Codes?" Zack asked.
"6:30" Cody said.
"We'd better be heading back to deck 5 for dinner" Barbara said.
"I wonder if chef Paulo's staff makes our food too or if it will be just like normal school food" Zack said as they began walking.
Behind them, the sky began to turn a yellow color.
Noticing, Zack stopped and had Cody turn around.
"What is that old sailors saying about the sunset if its yellow?…yellow sky at night…" Zack began.
"…sailors take fright" Cody finished.
"Yeah that one" Zack said.
Cody shivered even though it was still quite warm out before he and his brother turned and followed the others inside.