"Wake up!" I woke with a start as Fay slapped my ear.
"What!?" I jumped into a sitting position and immediately regretted it. A throbbing headache forced me back down.
"No time for sleeping!" Fay scolded, hitting me again. He then pulled a flask from his belt. "Here, drink this. It'll help a bit." I took the flask and chugged the tasteless liquid all down.
"Thanks." I handed it back to him and swung off my bunk.
"What's going on?" Jasper lifted his head groggily in response to my loud landing.
We accidentally made eye contact and I stiffened, turning my attention back to Fay.
"I hear some of us are being promoted today!" He cheered.
"Oh cool." I forced a smile, focused on glancing back at Jasper. I noticed he was still blushing too and wasn't sure if that was cause for relief or worry.
"What do you mean 'oh cool', this is great! We might be guaranteed seats at the officer's table and not have to clean the deck anymore!" Fay grabbed my hands and shook them like horse reins. "This is big!"
I pushed a bigger smile and agreed, still having difficulty pushing the kiss out of my mind. However blurry the rest of my night was, I remembered one important fact: I kissed Jasper.
FFFffffffffuuuuuuuuuudge… I slapped my cheeks and pulled my sweater vest over my head, painfully aware of Jasper's eyes.
After getting on all my layers, hat included, I grabbed an on-verge-of-rotting pear and bolted out of the stuffy crew quarters into the open air.
Instead of ready with their mops and scrubbers, most boys stood huddled in jumbles chatting about the rumoured promotions.
I spotted Shiloh and Cliff in one blob and joined them.
"I hope I get to work with weapons! I bet I'll get to too! I saved Captain Gryphon's life with my shooter here!" Cliff patted his belt loop proudly, the wooden end of his slingshot sticking out slightly.
"I want to be in charge of the cannons!" Shiloh squealed and jumped.
Cliff turned to his little friend and narrowed his eyes.
"We may be competing for the same position old pal."
Shiloh initially flinched then hardened his expression playfully.
"You're on!" Shiloh shrieked then began jumping in excitement.
I watched Shiloh wondering where he got his energy as I laughed.
I glanced back as I heard Fay come out. I smiled and beckoned over before I noticed my first kiss behind him. I stopped waving and just waited for Fay with an awkward smile.
"You okay?" My gay best friend asked once close enough.
"Hm?" I looked up realizing I was staring at my rundown shoes. "Oh. Yeah! Great!" I cheered, an unnatural squeak in my voice.
"Sure." He nodded suspiciously. I forced my eyes to stay on Fay as Jasper stood beside him. "Where did you run off last night after I told you to stay put?"
My lungs skipped a breath as my brows shot up.
"What?"
"Don't you remember? You were super drunk off one bottle of beer. I told you to stay put while I left to break up a fight but when I glanced over you weren't there anymore."
I bit my lip while nodding simply taking it all in. I figured I was drunk- off one beer is a bit embarrassing though.
"Do you not remember anything?" Fay asked. My eyes slipped past him to some intensely curious eyes.
I reddened and looked down.
"I remember a bit." I felt silence waiting for more of an explanation, but I didn't provide.
"Orphans!" A voice rang across the deck. We all turned to see the tan, blond pirate-borne boy grinning from ear to ear, looking down on us from the quarter deck. "The day you've been looking forward to these past three nights- promotions!"
We all began cheering. I was happy for the distraction.
"But not all of you will be promoted into officer jobs, in fact, most of you'll continue swab jobs." The orphans went quiet. Captain Gryphon took over.
"Powder monkeys still work as swabs when there's no battle, but when there is an attack they run the gunpowder to the different cannons during battle and work with the explosives."
"Explosives!" Shiloh breathed jumping slightly.
"Those that'll become powder monkeys are-" Gryphon looked over at the sheet his First Mate held. Howler whispered into his ear.
"Blake, Chris, and Shiloh," Gryphon announced.
"Yes!" Shiloh shouted. He began punching Cliff's arm braggingly. I'd hate to break it to him that that was probably one of the worst jobs.
Gryphon had the powder monkeys join the senior powder monkeys. The captain then continued to announce a couple cabin boys, a couple able-bodied sailors, a rigger, and a pilot.
"The following are officers and will eat at the officer's hall regularly." He went on to announce Freddy as the carpenter and cooper.
"Now the navigator is someone who can find our position by the stars or sun or even wind. The navigator will be Fay."
I began cheering and slapping Fay on the back enthusiastically before he left to meet the current navigator.
"The master gunner is the man in charge of all ammunition and an expert in weapons. The master gunner will be Cliff." Again I cheered and whacked his back as he left. I laughed as Cliff stuck a tongue out at Shiloh while he walked.
"The boatswain is one of the bigger responsibilities. He is in charge of supervising the maintenance and storage of the Dragon Nest as well as all deck activity. He must be strong enough to help with the raising and lowering of the anchor. The boatswain is Jasper." I felt I had settled into a routine as I clapped enthusiastically, but the notion was forgotten as he turned to me with a smile. I smiled back, sharing his happiness before we both suddenly grew awkward and he jogged up to the current boatswain who waited with grumpy wrinkles.
I looked back to Gryphon momentarily worried I may be the only one to remain a swabbie, but I had more self-confidence than that. The Captain described a job that required the respect of the crew, a job that settled disputes and maintained order on board.
"And the quartermaster is Cal." For once, I noticed everyone else's applause as well. "You'll follow Howler here as he doubles as the First Mate and quartermaster."
I jogged up happy to work with my first pirate friend. However stoic he normally appeared, I saw a hint of a smile cross his cheeks.
I noticed Raven jog down from the stairs near me.
"As some of you may have noticed, I haven't assigned any First Mate, my left hand man, the pirate that becomes Captain should I become unfit to be one or die." I listened silently, slightly taken aback at how easily he spoke of death for a fourteen orso year old boy. "My best friend. Trust me, I have a couple people in mind."
Raven locked eyes with me for a moment before moving to look at Jasper.
"But my final decision will take some time." I thought about the position and smiled. He considered me a close friend it seemed, though I wasn't entirely sure why.
Great. One more person for me to lie to. A bitter voice tugged at my conscious. I shook it away.
"Congrats to everyone who moved up! And good luck in learning your new trade!"
*Author's Note*
Officially halfway finished! Hope you are interested so far! Please continue reading- look forward to what chapter tomorrow brings!