Lyssa glared at Melissa's back as she walked out of the cabin and into the bathroom. Ugh. Who did that girl think she was? Lyssa tried to turn back to her book but she was too upset to read. Instead, she flopped over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. What she had said was true; that girl- Melissa was a freak! With her funeral clothes and dyed hair and- what was up with all those scars??? Lyssa rolled her eyes and prayed that the other girl would be at least halfway normal.

There was a flush from the direction of the head and Melissa walked back into the cabin and sat down on her bed. Lyssa glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and saw Melissa staring sadly at the wall. What was up with her?

"HEY! VERONICA'S! TIME TO SWAB THE DECKS!!!"

Lyssa sighed again and hopped down from her bed. Back home, she had almost never cleaned anything; that was what the cleaning ladies were for! But she highly doubted that The Phoenix had a cleaning crew.

Without checking to see if Melissa was coming, Lyssa strode quickly out the door, up the stairs, and onto the deck. Will and the other boy, Luke, she assumed, were already standing there. Will stared pointedly over her shoulder and then shot her a questioning look. She glanced back and saw Melissa walking onto the deck.

"Melissa Braque, everyone hates her," she hissed, just loud enough for Will to hear. Hey! I bet she'd get along with Will! They're both freaks! Lyssa thought, and giggled aloud. Everyone stared at her for a moment, but she merely grinned in response.

Captain Cascadden stood before them, a serious expression on his face, "None of you came to me because you wanted to learn the ways of the sea. Many of you are from troubled backgrounds, some including difficulties with the law. Aboard this ship, all that means nothing. The slate is clean. I don't care about who you are now. All that matters is who you will be - a crew. My crew. And together we will serve this vessel. Join me, and we'll sail off to adventure."

"Like I have a choice," Luke muttered, and Lyssa almost gasped. She had thought that the captain had given a good speech!

"Shut up, Archie!" Radford snapped, "When the captain talks, only the captain is talking." For once, Lyssa agreed with him.

"Now, let's get this boat in sparkling condition before our next crew members arrive!" Captain Cascadden finished with a clap of his hands.

"Here," Radford thrust a mop angrily into her hands before she could get a word in edgewise, "now swab."

Quickly, the four teenagers began mopping the wooden deck so as not to anger Radford. He didn't seem to be in a very happy mood today. Not really knowing what she was doing, Lyssa just followed Will until he whipped around to glare at her.

"Why are you mopping there? I already did that part!"

Embarrased by the fact that Will had caught her following him, Lyssa shot back, "Yeah? Well that's why it needs doing again!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luke smiling. Jerk, she thought to herself, he's probably best friends with Will. After thinking for a moment about how to wipe the grin off Luke's face, Lyssa smiled and chirped happily and loudly enough for everyone on the deck to hear, "I hear your a convicted felon!"

It worked like a charm. The smile on his face quickly morphed into a scowl, "It's a long story,"

Now that Lyssa had gotten him back, she was actually interested in what he had to say. But when he didn't elaborate, she continued on, "We almost get a criminal record once, but our lawyer got the charges dropped when we promised never to do it again!"

"Hey!" Mr. Radford called down from halfway up the mast, "Less talk, more work Archie! Same to you, Veronica!"

Will snickered and muttered, "Classic Lyss, can't keep her mouth shut for longer than 5 seconds without exploding,"

"Shut up," Lyssa snapped back.

"Less talk, more work!" Will mimicked Radford.

"Shut up!" Lyssa said again, her voice a bit sharper this time.

"Oh," Will began, "come on Veronica! Swab those decks!"

"Shut up!"

"I bet now you wish that you'd actually seen a mop before in your life. You're lucky you haven't been using it upside-down this whole time-"

Lyssa cocked her mop back, swung at Will's big, fat head, and only missed by an inch. Melissa gasped, Luke stopped mopping, Will rolled his eyes, and Radford jumped down off the mast and rushed to stand in-between them, "If you two want to kill each other, don't do it on my watch!"

The two siblings shrugged and continued