Once Upon a Cruise

by Anna Staniszewski

  Neil grimaces. “I gave up. Learning words is not my thing.”

  “Yeah, not fun to have to study over summer vacation,” I say, trying to be sympathetic.

  “Did you hear the captain wants us to start learning about all the fairy tale characters on this ship so we know stuff about them if people ask?” He rolls his eyes. “I don’t want to read fairy tales. Those things are for little girls.”

  He sounds so much like Jorman, I almost laugh. “Not all of them,” I say. “In the Grimms’ version of Snow White, the evil queen dances until she dies at the end. Not exactly little kid stuff.”

  But Neil doesn’t seem to be listening. Instead, he glances around as if to make sure we’re alone and says, “So listen, any chance you could do me a favor?”

  My breath freezes in my throat. “A favor?”

  “Yeah, I was hoping you could talk to your mom for me, see if she could get me a better job. Maybe working at the casino or something. I mean, being a dwarf is okay, but I’m really sick of picking up trash and stuff. And they asked me to do finger painting with kids next week.” He groans. “I know you do stuff with kids, but that’s really not my thing.”

  I take a step back. “You did see me that day at the activity center,” I say. “When the kids were crawling all over me, and I was desperate for help, I thought you just didn’t see me and that’s why you didn’t stop. But you did see me, and you just kept going.”

  He shrugs. “I’m terrible with kids. So anyway, will you help me?” He flashes his adorable smile. “Please? I’d super owe you.”

  “I don’t know,” I say slowly.

  “If I had a different job, I’d have more time to hang out. You know … with you,” he says.

  Oh my gosh! Is he saying he really does like me? For a second, I actually see stars. Neil likes me!!!

  But then reality starts to sink in.

  “Wait,” I say. “Are you only being nice to me because you want my mom to give you a better job?”

  He blinks. “What? No. Of course not.” But he doesn’t sound terribly convincing.

  “Um, sorry,” I say. “I, uh, have to go.”

  “Wait, so you’re not going to help me?” he says.

  “I wish I could, but …”

  He groans. “There’s no winning on this ship! I thought reporting you would get me some bonus points, but no one even cared.”

  “Wait. Reporting me?” I suck in a breath. It wasn’t Ian who turned me in for using my camera. It was Neil! How could I have been so stupid? All this time, I thought he might actually like me, but he was just using me. “You were trying to get me fired?”

  “You’re the cruise director’s daughter. They’re not going to fire you,” he says with a shrug.

  “I—I have to go,” I say, and I stumble blindly away.

  * * *

  After my disastrous conversation with Neil, I wander around the ship for what feels like hours. I know I have to go get ready for tonight’s show, but I can’t seem to stop moving.

  Finally, I wind up on the walking track, and I realize I’m standing where I was on that first day when I took the picture of the knitting mural. It’s completely covered up now, but I can still picture it in my mind. Was the ship such a mess when it was a knitting cruise? I guess the captain would know since he used to work here back then, at least according to Adelina.

  Something clicks in my brain, as if a picture is coming into focus.

  Wait. Adelina didn’t say he worked on the cruise before. She said he was here with the knitters. Does that mean … ?

  And suddenly, I know why the man’s face in the mural looked so familiar. Subtract a few years and a graying beard and a hook hand—and it’s Captain Thomas! He used to be one of the most important knitters in the world?

  The thought is so ridiculous that I laugh. It can’t be true, can it? But then I remember the look of surprise on the captain’s face when he was looking at the pictures on my camera. I thought he’d seen the ones I’d taken for Alyssa, but maybe it was because of the one I took of the mural. He thought his past had been all covered up, but there was a reminder staring him in the face. I wonder what Ian would say if he found out.

  Ian. I shake my head and start walking again. I can’t think about Ian right now.

  As I pass by Blended with Love, the first thing I see is a couple smooching. Gross. But they look happy and they’re holding smoothies, so that’s a good sign. Then I realize that the place is full of couples. All holding hands and canoodling. Maybe the paper hearts all over the place actually helped.

  “What’s going on in here?” I ask Matthieu.

  “I am not sure. They keep asking for some kind of license, but I don’t know what they are talking about!”

  I spot the old couple from the other day, the folks who were complaining about the heat, and ask them what they’re waiting for.

  “We’re renewing our wedding vows today,” the old woman says with a denture-filled smile.

  “Here?”

  “Yes, at the wedding chapel. I didn’t realize the ship had one until that Australian fellow announced it this morning and said it was the place to go for true love.”

  I glance around at the other couples. Is that why they’re all here? They think they’re getting married?

  At that moment, the door bursts open and Nathan’s sister, Edwina, waltzes in with none other than Smith in tow.

  “Come on!” she says to him. “Hurry up!”

  Meanwhile, Smith looks completely terrified of her. “Hold on a second. I never said—”

  “Yes, you did! You said I was cute. And I think you’re the hottest guy I’ve ever seen, like something out of a fairy tale! So we’re going to get married and live happily ever after!”

  Smith looks around, clearly desperate, and spots me across the room. “Ashley!” he cries, rushing over to me. “Ashley, help me! That girl’s crazy! She sent her mom on some made-up errand and then she dragged me here and said I have to marry her.”

  “Did you think about just saying no?” Yes, it’s pretty ironic, me telling someone to say no, but come on!

  “Smith!” Edwina calls, coming after him. “Where are you going?”

  His eyes widen in panic. “She said if I refuse, she’ll scream and say I was trying to kidnap her.”

  What a lovely girl. I’m tempted to laugh and walk away, leave Smith to deal with the mess on his own. But I guess this is somewhat my fault since I set him up on this weird date to begin with.

  “Well, the first thing we should do is find her mom,” I say, but then the door swings open, and Edwina’s mother runs in.

  The instant she sees Smith with Edwina, she starts screaming, “My daughter! He took my daughter!”

  Smith and I shake our heads wildly. No kidnapping! Promise!

  “Mom, relax!” Edwina says. “We’re getting married. We’re in love!”

  Her mom looks as if she might faint. “What are you talking about? You’re just a child. You can’t get married.”

  “Ugh,” Edwina says. “Why do you have to ruin everything?”

  Her mother’s mouth sags open, and then a look of determination sweeps over her face. “Edwina, this is the last straw. Your father kept telling me we were spoiling you, and I finally see he was right. Now leave that young man alone and come here.”

  “But, Mooom!”

  “Now,” she says. Then she takes Edwina by the arm and drags her out of the room. As they leave, I hear Edwina’s mom say, “I should have listened to your brother and taken us to that dinosaur park instead.”

  I barely have time to process what just happened because at that moment Mitch! comes running over to me, his face dripping with sweat as if he’s been sprinting all around the ship.

  “The pictures!” he says, panting. “The pictures I’ve been taking, they’re all blurry!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Mitch! shows me a bunch of photo proofs. Every single one is grainy and pixelated.
>
  “Did you do anything to the camera when you were using it the other day?” he asks.

  “No!” I say. “I was just shooting the family with the swords, and then we did the other ones, and everything was fine. I switched out the background so they wouldn’t clash with it, but that was it.” And then I remember. “Except … Oh no!” I explain to him that I changed the photo quality so the memory card wouldn’t run out of room and then forgot to tell him about it. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize it would make them blurry!”

  “It’s fine,” Mitch! says, but I can tell it isn’t. He works on commission, so the more pictures he sells, the more money he earns. And if he sells none, then he gets nothing for all the work he’s put in. And if that happens, it’s all my fault.

  “I’ll fix this,” I tell him. “Somehow I’ll fix it.”

  At the show that night, I’m a complete zombie. I barely even notice that I’m onstage. As I lie there, pretending to be asleep, all I can think about is what a mess I made out of everything. With my mom and Smith and Mitch! This was supposed to be a fresh start at sea, and instead it feels like an even bigger mess than back home.

  And it doesn’t help that every time I glance at Ian, a mess of emotions starts bubbling in my stomach.

  After the show, since I don’t have to go help my mom with anything for once, I go hang out with Katy and the other mermaids at Blended with Love.

  “I’m so glad you finally came out with us!” Katy says. “We’re going to have so much fun! You look great, by the way!”

  I self-consciously touch my face, which feels cemented with makeup thanks to Katy attacking me before we left our room. The girl is a fairy godmother with a hot curling iron—hard to say no to. Between the makeup and the curls she insisted on, I might as well be wearing a costume.

  The club is pretty much as deserted as it’s always been. Once people figured out it wasn’t a wedding chapel, they abandoned it. There was nothing else to keep them here. No wonder this place is always empty. Wanda the Spy is right: No matter how great the smoothies are, the atmosphere is terrible. Changing the name just confused people, as did all my little attempts to make my mom’s ideas work. Well, it doesn’t matter anyway, because after tomorrow, I’ll be gone.

  I try to have fun as Katy gossips about things going on around the ship, and Mai and Elaine giggle and smile at all the right places, but I’m too distracted to join in the conversation. Funny how annoyed I was that helping Mom kept me from having fun with kids my own age, and now that I can actually be out having fun, I can’t stop thinking about the problems Mom will be dealing with when I’m no longer around.

  “So what’s going on with you and Smith?” I finally ask.

  Katy sighs. “I still get so nervous around him! Maybe I should give up. I mean, there are plenty of other cute guys on this ship.” She glances toward Curt the Spy, who’s standing in the corner, looking like a secret service agent as usual.

  But when he glances at Katy, I’m shocked to see his usual uptight expression totally change. He actually smiles, and I realize that Katy’s right. He is cute. I was just so focused on all the bad stuff about him that I didn’t see any of the good.

  “What would make you come to hang out here more?” I ask her.

  Katy giggles. “Cute boys.”

  “How about you?” I ask, turning to the other girls.

  They seem stunned to actually have a chance to talk. Elaine thinks my question over for a second. “I always like free food,” she says with a soft giggle.

  “All the food here is free,” I point out.

  “Yes, but it takes too long.”

  She’s right about that. Matthieu might be great at whipping up creations, but he needs to speed it up somehow.

  “I like picture boxes,” Mai says.

  “Picture boxes?” I ask.

  She smiles, trying to find the right words in English. “You know, the box where you take pictures with you and friends? And you make silly faces and wear hats?”

  “Oh, a photo booth!” I cry.

  “Yes, a photo booth!”

  And then, for some reason, a snippet of one of my dad’s poems pops into my head.

  Is the idea the point or is the point the idea?

  If you prod with it, does it leave a mark?

  I never really understood the lines before, but now I wonder if my dad was saying that the whole point of coming up with ideas is to leave your mark.

  Well, I’m certainly going to leave my mark on this cruise ship before I go. And this time, the idea I’m saying yes to is all mine.

  * * *

  I find Mom surrounded by paperwork at her desk. Her hair is a mess and her shirt seems lopsided somehow.

  “Ains, come on in.” Her voice is strained, as if she’s worried I might start yelling at her again. But that’s not why I’m here.

  “I want you to let me take over the teen nightclub,” I say.

  “We’ve talked about this—”

  “No, you talked about it, and I listened and agreed with you because I was afraid of saying no to your ideas, of making you upset. But doing that didn’t help anything. I want to actually help you now. I have a great idea for the club, and I want you to let me do it.”

  Mom blinks, clearly surprised to hear me talking like this. “I know I depend on you too much,” she says. “I thought the club was finally something I could handle on my own.”

  “But you can’t,” I say. “Let me do it, Mom. I know I can help.”

  She nods slowly, and I can tell I’ve won. “We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?” she says softly.

  “Yeah, I guess we do,” I say. But I don’t have time for that now. And honestly, I’m not sure I’m ready for it yet.

  The final towel-folding class is surprisingly quiet, which is good since I was up late last night figuring things out for the club. I thought the kids would be jumping for joy about the fact that they won’t have to deal with me every morning anymore, but instead, Sophia comes over and wraps herself around my leg. (Thankfully, my ankle stays dry this time.)

  “Can I pick stuff from the book again?” Nathan asks.

  “Yes,” I tell him. “But this time, we’ll all be making different towel animals.”

  “Like what?” Jorman asks.

  “Anything you want! And, if you’re okay with it, I’ll display them around the ship so that other people can see them.”

  “Really?” Nathan says, clearly excited to show other people how amazing his work is.

  “Yup.”

  “But shouldn’t they be fairy tale-themed?” Jorman says. “It wouldn’t make sense if we made trucks or something.”

  I bite back a smile remembering how Jorman asked if we could make exactly that on the first day. “You’re right. They should be fairy tale things. So how about you go through the book and find ones you think would work?”

  Jorman nods and grabs a stack of towels. He doesn’t even seem to notice that they’re pink anymore.

  I grab some towels too, sit on the floor, and start making a dragon.

  “You’re doing that wrong,” Nathan points out, plopping down next to me. “Do you want some help?”

  My first instinct is to say no. I can figure it out on my own. But then I realize that that’s what got me into trouble over and over this week. I’ve been agreeing to help everyone else and rejecting help when anyone offered. The only person who saw through me was Ian. Maybe that’s a special pig talent or something.

  “Sure,” I say, scooting over so Nathan can reach the towels. “How’s your sister doing?”

  “She keeps complaining about how my mom is glued to her side all the time, but Mom says she’s going to be grounded for weeks when we get home.” He grins. “That means she won’t be able to go to my birthday party.”

  “At the dinosaur place you were telling me about?” I say.

  He nods, clearly excited. “And after that, my dad said we can get an ice-cream cake. We never have ice cream beca
use Edwina’s allergic, but he said it’s my birthday, and I can have what I want.”

  “That’s great!” I say. I still feel a little bad that I was the one who set up Edwina with Smith and caused the whole mess, but it sounds as if Edwina’s spoiled brat ways would have caught up with her sooner or later. At least this way, Nathan gets to actually have some fun for his birthday.

  When it’s time to say good-bye, the kids huddle around and give me a huge group hug. “Make sure to stop by the teen lounge this afternoon and check out your towel sculptures,” I tell them. “And if you have older brothers and sisters, tell them to come by tonight. It’s going to be a great time.”

  “What’s the lounge called?” Jorman asks.

  I smile. “It’s called Mirror,” I say.

  * * *

  Mirror is full of people before I’m even done setting up. A lot of them were drawn in by the free smoothie samples outside, handed out by the evil queen from Snow White—er, Schneewittchen—i.e. one of Katy’s mermaid friends with a few costume alterations. Instead of having Matthieu make smoothies one at a time, I asked him to whip up a huge batch of small samples that we could pass out. Now he’s working on a few more batches so that people won’t have to wait for their amazing drinks anymore.

  Katy’s gauzy scarves brighten up the place, and the mirrors I’ve hung on the walls (courtesy of Adelina) help give it some atmosphere. And the cute towel sculptures around the room add a little humor. Wanda will be happy to see that there’s even a shark one.

  I also made sure to put a suit of armor on Curt so that he looks like a knight from a fairy tale, and no one can see him judging and glaring. He was actually really nice about letting me dress him up.

  “Should we tell everyone the booth is open?” Mitch! asks, coming over to me. “There are folks waiting already.”

  This is the best part of my plan. We’ve set up a photo station in the club where people can put on sparkly wigs and witch hats and other fairy tale-themed accessories, and then have candid pictures taken. Fun things that kids my age will actually enjoy, instead of the stiff family portraits. There’s no way they won’t buy prints to take home as keepsakes, which will hopefully make up for all those photos Mitch! didn’t sell because of me.