by Linda Gerber
I had turned to Magus’s book of Greek philosophers’ quotes looking for an answer, but it only made me more confused. The only quote I could relate to was Socrates, when he said all he knew was that he knew nothing.
Still, another quote stuck in my head that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Plato said you could learn more about a person in one hour of play than in a whole year of conversation. So I was on the right track, trying to get Zoe and Nikos to play that video game together, but they didn’t cooperate. Maybe it was time to step it up a little. Like tomorrow, when we went wakeboarding.
Whatever it took, I resolved, I had to make sure Zoe went out on that boat with us.
Travel tip: The Greeks do not like people who are pretentious or standoffish.
CJ ate breakfast with us the next morning, mainly so she could go over the day’s itinerary and make sure both Nikos and I knew our lines.
“We can review Cassidy’s lines during lesson time this morning,” Victoria assured her.
“Nikos will practice as well,” Mr. Kouropoulos said.
“Very good.” CJ made a little note on her clipboard. “As you can see on the schedule, we will be filming the introduction to the Santorini segment at sundown. For the sake of capturing the moment, we’d like to get it in the can on the first take.” Then CJ looked directly at me. “I understand Magus will be taking you out on the boat this morning.”
I nodded, and she eyed me critically. “You’d better wear a hat, and plenty of sunscreen. We can’t disrupt the shoot for a sunburn. Jacqueline wouldn’t be happy about working with pink skin, either.”
Nikos didn’t get the sunscreen lecture, which was completely unfair. Maybe with his darker skin, CJ figured he never burned. Or if he did, that it wouldn’t show up quite as much as it would on me.
I promised CJ I would slather myself in sunscreen, and excused myself from the table. I hadn’t seen Zoe yet that morning, and I needed to talk to her.
“Not so fast,” Victoria said. “Lessons first.”
I groaned. Three hours would never pass so slowly.
Once Victoria finally set me free, I went searching for Zoe. I found her on the main deck, sitting in a lounge chair with a book on her lap. She wasn’t reading it, though; she was just staring out at the water.
The way her posture tensed up, I knew she heard me coming, even if she didn’t let on that she did.
“Where did you go last night?” I demanded.
She just shrugged and flipped through a couple pages in her book.
“I thought you could come show Nikos how good you are at that game and—”
“He rather see you play, I think,” she said sulkily.
“What? Me? No. That wasn’t what—”
“He does not see me,” she said.
“I thought you didn’t want him to see you.” I mean, wasn’t that why she was hiding? But then she looked up at me miserably and I understood. “Oh. You mean, you don’t think he notices you?”
She nodded.
“I’m not sure that’s true.” I scraped a chair up next to hers and sat down. “I saw the way he looked at you yesterday, when we were taking pictures. Zoe, I think he notices you plenty. He just needs to know you notice him.”
“But I … I cannot …”
“I’m not talking about going up to him and telling him flat out that you like him, but it wouldn’t hurt if you talked to him a little more.”
“But I—”
“Listen, Magus is taking us out on the boat later. Why don’t you come, too?”
Her dark eyes grew wide, and she shook her head. “Oh, no. I could not.”
“Sure you could,” I insisted. “You’re done with your jobs, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t be up here reading. Is there something else you have to do?”
“Well … no, but—”
“So come with us. It would be perfect.”
“But …” She started to protest again, but she hesitated. It was the hesitation that gave her away. She really wanted to go.
“We’ll ask your mom,” I said, standing. “I’m sure she’ll say yes. Come on.”
Zoe allowed me to drag her along to the galley (which is what a kitchen is called on a yacht, Nikos informed me). I figured it would be a pretty good bet that we’d find Theia Alexa there, and I was right. I was also right about her saying yes to Zoe going on the boat. Zoe’s eyes lit right up, but still, she hesitated.
“I must get my suit,” she said.
“I’ll come with you.” Not that I wanted to be smothering or anything, but after she took off on me last night, I wasn’t taking any chances that she would get cold feet again and not show up.
The cabin Zoe shared with her mother was on the lower deck. It didn’t look like mine at all. For one thing, there was no balcony—just a couple of round, brass-framed porthole windows. That right there made the room feel smaller. And then there was the fact that it was smaller. No king-size bed. No desk. No couch. No big-screen TV. Instead, it was simple and utilitarian, with built-in drawers and cupboards along one wall, and two bunk-size beds with a small, connecting nightstand against the other. That was it. Just this small room for two people. The door to their bathroom stood partially open, and I could see that it was less than a third the size of the one I had all to myself. It made me feel more than a little guilty.
Zoe opened one of the small drawers against the wall and dug through it for a moment before pulling out a blue-striped tankini top and a pair of board shorts. “Just one minute. I change.”
She slipped into the tiny bathroom and I waited. I wasn’t trying to be nosy. I really wasn’t. But as I was standing there, I couldn’t help but notice small things about the room. Like the pink, fuzzy pillow on one of the beds that reminded me of my own blue, fuzzy, travel pillow. Or the line of photos along the ledge above the drawers.
I stepped closer. Awww. Theia Alexa was sentimental. It looked like all the pictures were of Zoe, at various ages. There she was with long pigtails, wearing what looked like a school uniform. Here she was in a black tank swimsuit with a collection of medals hanging from striped ribbons around her neck. Another picture showed her surrounded by other girls in black tank suits. A team. Zoe must be a competitive swimmer. And … I stepped even closer. Was that Zoe as a baby? It was hard to tell.
The woman in the picture was definitely Theia Alexa, standing on a pier with a handsome, dark-haired man. Zoe’s father, I guessed. Theia Alexa was holding a curly-haired toddler on her hip. The toddler was wearing a sailor-collared romper and had Zoe’s expressive eyes. Behind them all … it was the Pandora. Wow. Theia Alexa must have worked on the yacht for a long time. No wonder Zoe seemed to have a connection to it. She must have been here a lot as she was growing up.
I don’t have body-image issues. At least, I didn’t think I did. But when Zoe came out of the bathroom, all I could think of was that I was going to look like I was about five next to her.
She’d always been wearing a uniform or an apron before, so it hadn’t been that noticeable, but now that I had pegged her as a competitive swimmer, I recognized the athlete’s build. Plus, she didn’t need any of my stupid push-up bras. She had such a perfect figure, she looked like she could be a model.
Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go out on the boat after all. But then, this outing wasn’t about me. And if I didn’t look quite as good as Zoe did, that worked out well for matchmaking, didn’t it? I decided I would go along, if only to prove to Nikos that he should be giving Zoe a second look.
Zoe came with me back to my room, where I slipped into my own bathroom to change into my swimsuit. For a cover-up, I pulled on my favorite pair of jean shorts, trying not to look in the mirror so I wouldn’t be tempted to compare myself to Zoe again. I gave myself a mini pep talk, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
To my surprise, Zoe looked at me with the same kind of self-conscious evaluation as I had given her in her room. When she saw that I recognized what she was doing, she gave a k
ind of half shrug and smiled her beautiful smile.
“I like your … shorts,” she said hesitantly, gesturing to her own board shorts, as if I wouldn’t know what she was talking about otherwise. “I cannot wear the jeans like you do,” she said wistfully. “My thighs are too-big big muscles.”
Now that she mentioned it, she really did have muscular thighs, but they weren’t too big. She had broad shoulders, too, I guess, which probably came from the swimming. But as far as I was concerned, she looked perfect.
“They’re not too big,” I said. “Really.”
She shuffled a little and adjusted the hem on one of the legs of her shorts. “They are big,” she said. “I like the skinny jeans, but all are for me too tight in the thighs. They are only straight from hip to the ankle.”
“I know!” I said. “Who are the manufacturers making those for anyway? Because, hello. Girls are not shaped straight up and down.”
She laughed. “You are true.”
We stood there still smiling after the laughter faded, but it didn’t feel awkward. I had never known what it was like to have a girlfriend because we never stayed in one place long enough for me to get to know anyone that way. But if I had, I imagined this was what it would be like. Feeling comfortable enough to talk about random stuff. Sharing a laugh. Talking about boys.
On impulse I said, “Hey, do you want to see a picture of Logan? I have one on my computer.”
“I would like that,” Zoe said.
I rushed to the desk and turned on the computer. “It’s only his chat icon, but at least you can see what he looks like.” I opened the chat connection and stood back. “He’s that one, right there.” I pointed toward the screen, but it wasn’t really necessary. She’d know that Logan’s icon was the one that was not a picture of my mom and dad.
“Very … handsome,” Zoe said. “He is nice boy?”
“He’s my best friend,” I told her.
“Where he is from?” she asked.
“He’s Irish. His dad works for the network that does my mom and dad’s show.”
“He travels with you?”
I nodded. No need to explain the whole mess to her.
“You are very lucky,” she said.
“I think so. I—”
Just then, the phone sound rang from my computer. I jumped and my heart started doing ninety. Logan must have been online and saw me sign in. Zoe could meet him!
But then it registered that Logan’s icon wasn’t lit up. “Oh,” I said, trying not to sound too disappointed. “It’s my mom and dad.”
“Do you want me to …” Zoe gestured toward the door.
“No. Stay here. We have to get out to the boat, so it will have to be quick.”
I clicked on my mom and dad’s icon, and my mom’s face popped up on my screen. “Oh! Hi, sweetie! We thought maybe you were out.”
“Hi, Mom.” I said.
“Davidson!” my mom yelled over her shoulder. “She’s on!” Then she turned back to me. “How are you doing? I see you’re in your swimsuit. Are you going swimming?”
I settled into the chair in front of the computer and adjusted the angle of the webcam so that I was centered in the little picture of myself I could see at the top left corner of the screen. “Yeah. We’re going out in the boat in just a few minutes.”
“Boat?” she asked. “Aren’t you already on the boat?”
“They have a speedboat that docks right into the yacht,” I said. “Isn’t that cool?”
“It certainly sounds … cool,” she said, but she sounded unsure. “A speedboat, you say? Is this for the show? I didn’t see anything about that in the outline for the special. …”
“We have some time off today, so We’re going out before the shoot to go wakeboarding and—”
“To go what?” She scooted closer to her computer and her eyes dropped to the keys. I could tell by the clack, clack, clack she was typing something. Probably googling wakeboarding. Her eyes got a little wider. Yup.
“It is very fun,” Zoe offered.
“Zoe says it’s fun,” I said.
“Oh? Who is Zoe?”
“She’s my friend who works here on the yacht.” I motioned for her. “Come here, Zoe. Say hi to my mom.”
Zoe came around to my side of the desk, and I scooted over so she could sit on the chair next to me, facing the webcam. “Yiasou,” she said, giving a little wave. “Hello.”
“Well, hello, Zoe,” my mom said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you,” Zoe replied.
“You’d like Zoe’s mom, Mom,” I said. “She’s the cook here on board and she’s fantastic. She could show you how to cook real Greek cuisine.”
“I hope I get the chance to meet her someday.”
“How was the pig?” I asked.
“The pig?”
“Logan said you were roasting a pig last night.”
“Oh, yes.” She nodded. “He said he spoke to you.”
I wanted to ask her what else he said, but I decided against it. At least I knew he was talking about me.
“You two have such complementary coloring,” Mom mused.
I blinked in surprise. Wow. Complementary coloring? Was that her way of saying Logan and I looked good together? Did she even know I liked him that way?
My mind drifted a little, imagining how the two of us would look as a couple. He had dark, nearly black hair and indescribable deep green eyes while I was blonde with what my dad called “baby blues.” So, yeah, I guess you could say we complemented each other. But it was still weird to hear my mom say so.
And then I noticed the webcam picture on my computer screen of Zoe and me sitting side-by-side, and I had to laugh. Her black, curly hair, dark eyes, and olive skin next to my blonde hair, blue eyes, and peachy-tan coloring was a complementary contrast. I was kind of relieved to realize my mom probably wasn’t talking about Logan and me because that would just be weird.
“Where is your appliance?” Mom asked.
I stopped laughing. “My palate expander?” I asked.
“Yes. Where is it?”
Oh. I still hadn’t put it back in. Oops. “It’s, um, in the bathroom.”
“Be sure to remember to wear it. Zoe, you can remind her so she doesn’t forget, okay?”
“Mom …” I couldn’t believe she asked Zoe to do that. “I have to go,” I said. “We’re supposed to be meeting at the boat.”
Mom turned from the screen again. “Davidson!” she yelled. “You’re going to miss her!”
I could hear Dad’s voice in the background. “Hold on!” Some stomping, some shuffling, and then Dad’s face appeared on the screen next to Mom’s. “Sorry, Cassie-bug.”
“Don’t call me that,” I grumbled.
He cheerfully ignored me. “How’s it going? Are you having a good time? We saw your blog posts. Very nice. When can we expect to see an update?”
“Tonight,” I assured him. “After the shoot.”
“And who is with you?” He asked.
“That’s Cassidy’s new friend, Zoe,” Mom said—as if I couldn’t answer for myself. “She works on the yacht.”
Zoe’s smile lost some of its sparkle when she said that, and suddenly I felt bad for having introduced Zoe that way, as if working on the yacht was her identity. Why couldn’t I have just said Zoe was my friend and leave it at that?
I quickly reminded my mom and dad that I had to go.
“You be careful,” Mom said.
“I will,” I promised. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, Cassie-bug,” Dad said.
“Palate expander!” Mom reminded me.
I signed off before they could embarrass me further.
“They are very nice,” Zoe said. “Do you miss them?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted.
“I miss my father sometimes, too,” she said. “He work in the city so he cannot sail often with us.”
Sail with them? Maybe Mr. Kouropoulos let Zoe’s
dad come with them when he wasn’t working. That was pretty cool, I supposed.
“What does your dad do?” I asked.
Zoe bit the edge of her lip. “It is past time,” she said. “We should go.”
Oh, the boat! “Just a minute.” I closed down the computer. “I have to put in my stupid expander.”
In the bathroom, I pulled it out of the case and tried to click it into place in my mouth, but it was too tight. I had to jiggle it to make it fit, which didn’t make my teeth happy.
Zoe glanced up when I stepped out of the bathroom, massaging my upper gums through my lips. “What is wrong?” she asked.
“It’s nothing. I forgot to wear this thing for a couple daysh and now it’sh tight.”
“It hurts you?” she asked.
I tried to shrug it off and ignore the discomfort. “It’sh fine,” I lied. “We better get going.”
Nikos was already on the boat with
Magus when Zoe and I got there. “About time!” he said. “Victoria went back to get you.”
“My mom and dad called,” I told him. “I couldn’t get away.”
Zoe was hanging back, so I took her hand and pulled her forward with me. Nikos lifted his dark glasses when he saw her, and watched us climb on board.
“Yiasou,” he said to Zoe.
“Yiasou,” she said softly in return.
They were both being shy. It was adorable. I wanted to smile at them, but my mouth was already aching from the palate expander. I kind of grimaced instead and sank down on one of the seats.
“There you are!” Victoria hurried across the deck to the boat. “I just went to your room to look for you.”
She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses. I remembered guiltily that I had promised CJ I would wear a hat, too. Oops. “Shorry,” I told Victoria. “Mom and Dad called.”
She climbed into the boat and sat next to me. “Do you need some of this?” She handed me a bottle of SPF 40 sunscreen. Of course she would be prepared.
I rubbed some over my arms and legs and some on my face. My mouth was full-on throbbing by then, so I had to wash off my hands so I could massage my gums again.
Victoria got that concerned big-sister look on her face. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
