Jack

We had finally gotten out of Charybdis, a ship-eating whirlpool. Now we sailed the seas once more. I was showing how to tie knots to Lucy, trying to impress her. I loved the way her warm brown eyes would sparkle when she was excited and the way her reddish hair moved with the breeze and her tiny freckles. I'd never liked a girl before, so I'm completely new at this impressing thing. I don't think she likes me, though.

I looked up and saw Susan whispering to Selene on the other side of the ship. They were probably talking about Caspian. He's really nice, he deserves someone like Susan, I just wish Lucy would like me the way Susan loves Caspian. I looked to my side to look at Lucy, a confused expression on her face.

"Why did you stop?" She asked. I looked at my hands and realized I had indeed stopped.

"Sorry, just distracted." I said.

"Hey Lu!" Ariane called. She just ruined my chances at impressing Lucy! I can't even get Lucy to pay attention to me! I realized I needed help, and I knew just where to get it.

I need someone who knows about love, and knows Lucy, and knows the guy's side of the story.

Caspian.

I decided to go to his room below deck, for I knew he'd be free at this time. When I entered, he didn't look surprised to see me.

"I thought you might drop by." He said, putting down his painting pallet. He'd been painting the Dawn Treader, not that it matters. "Girl trouble?" he asked, though he looked like he already knew the answer. I nodded. "Please sit." He said and gestured to a spare chair. "What, specifically, do you need help with?"

"It's Lucy, Caspian. I try to get her attention because I like her a lot, but I don't think she likes me back." I explained. "What could I do?"

"Well-" He started "-first off, don't do anything she might disapprove of. Once, I almost brought back Susan's worst enemy and she got extremely mad, but what hurt the most was the look she gave me. It was filled with disappointment. So you don't want Lucy to give you The Look. Second, you need to find things she's interested in. For example, tying knots is probably not the best way to impress a Queen. Lucky for you, I'm on good terms with her sister; she can tell me what Lucy will like."

"Alright, Caspian, I'll try to remember. Thanks for that help, but I also have another problem with Lucy. I'm just a lowly pirate who came from a family that tried to kill her. She's an amazing Queen. She deserves someone better. I just don't think I'm good enough." I confessed. What he told me next surprised me a lot.

"Don't worry, everyone feels that way, I still do. Listen I'm going to tell you a secret that not many people know away from Narnia and I'm sure everyone in it has forgotten. I, too, came from a family of people who tried to kill my Queen. They were called the Telemarines. They conquered Narnia and killed the creatures that used to live in it. My uncle, Miraz, killed my father, like yours. I had to escape the castle so he wouldn't kill me, too. I, like you, thought I was not deserving of the most wonderful lady in the kingdom, but trust me, like Susan, Lucy will think otherwise."

"Another question, how did you know you loved her?"

"Well, I realized when I had to rescue her in a forest when she was being attacked by Telemarines, but little things that show you how much you love her are more important. It's when you pay attention to detail. The way her hair shines in the Sun, the way you can tell what she is thinking in her eyes, the way she makes you want to scream in terror when she is fighting. Now, I want to ask you a question. When did you know you wanted to be with Lucy?"

"I liked her a lot when I first saw her, in Calormen. She looked beautiful in her orange dress. But, I knew it was hopeless because we had never met. The second time I saw her, I didn't realize it was the beautiful Queen in Calormen. All I saw was a wonderfully skilled girl who was defeating my relatives, and they're hard to fight mind you, as easily as I could weave a net. It was then I really wanted her. When I realized she they were the same person, I knew I liked her."

"Two things. One: don't ever use the phrase "She's mine" or I want her for myself", or anything like that. She is her own girl, and she will never be yours to own. Respect her. Two: I noticed you never use the word love. Why is that?"

"I'm too young to love."

"No one is too young to love. Remember that." He said, and left me alone in his chambers.

I was thinking about what he'd told me, when I heard clapping and music upstairs. I went to see what was going on. Caspian was battling Peter, both laughing. Peter pulled a rope out from Caspian's feet, which caused him to fall. Peter won this time. Everyone applauded and cheered. Lucy was cheering along with them. I decided I'd ask Caspian to teach me some of his moves so I could show Lucy. My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden quieting in the crowd. I looked to see what the fuss was about and saw it was Susan. She had grown pale and her eyes were wide. Then she spoke:

"That's the island of the Sirens! Quick, Drinian, does this ship have wax?"

"Yes, Milady."

"Alright, everyone put wax in your ears, make sure you can't hear anything and row as fast as you can past that island!"

Someone brought up a bucket of wax. I quickly put some in my ears until I couldn't hear my own breathing. Since I couldn't really do much rowing, I decided to stay on deck, to see what Susan was so anxious about. Caspian, Susan, Selene, Edmund, and Lucy also decided to stay. As we got closer to the island Susan had shown us, I could make out the shapes of huge birds. When we got even closer, I saw that the birds had human heads, beautiful women who looked like they were saying something. I wanted to take off the wax. It was a sudden urge I almost couldn't resist, but Susan had told us not to and I didn't want Lucy to be disappointed in me. If "The Look" hurt half as much as Caspian said, it would kill me.

One of the bird ladies, Sirens, I think they were called, stopped Singing and came towards us, moving her lips differently from the other Sirens. It looked like she was saying: Ooh, this one's handsome. I realized too late that she was looking at Caspian.

Susan realized this before it was too late. At the last second, she threw herself in front of Caspian, having the Siren take her instead. The Siren looked annoyed at the change, but started going back to her island anyway. Susan was screaming in distress and we had been too preoccupied with the wax that we forgot our weapons. Lucy ran past me faster than I'd ever seen her. I don't know how her knife would help in this situation, though. The Siren was halfway across the water to her island when she fell, taking Susan with her. Something was poking out of her feathers and I realized it was an arrow. I turned to see Lucy holding her sister's bow, smiling, knowing she'd hit her target. Caspian was about to jump off when Selene stopped him.

"You underestimate her." She said, simply, not letting go of his wrist. He looked taken aback and was about to say something when Susan yelled:

"Rope please!" This took Selene and Caspian out of their argument as they hurried to fetch a ladder. When she was pulled out, she was soaking wet and probably cold, but all I could think about was Lucy.