It seemed to take hours to get there, but they finally reached the docks, the chatting of other excited teenagers, reaching their ears.
"Have fun!" Samisu's dad said to them.
"We will!" they all replied at the same time. Hiya and Sammy walked
in front carrying their averaged sized suitcases, while Hoshin laid back a bit dragging her oversized trunk.
After another hour, while the teachers did head counts and the ship got refueled, they waited outside, all sitting on Hoshin's trunk as if it were a chair, and like all perfect stories start out, it started to rain.
Finally, they started loading the ship. The three friends could barely stay still as they walked up the gangplank to the ship. They got a room, with three beds full of fluffy down, and a window with a little balcony to stand on over viewing the sea.
"This is so wicked!" exclaimed Hoshin.
"It's awesome!" replied Hiya and Samisu. Murakami poked her head in from the room next to theirs, which had a joining door.
"Hey all! Enjoying the room?" They all nodded brightly. "Look, Keiko, me and Kodaki are gonna play a game of scrabble. Wanna play?"
"Yeah!" shouted Samisu and Hoshin who were just about ready for anything now, considering they didn't have much school on the ship. But since it was only 4:30, Hiya was tired, so she just said, "I wanna have a brighter morning, so I'm going to sleep."
"Okay, See ya later," Samisu said and retreated to the other room.
But Hoshin stayed for a second.
"Whoa!" she gasped, looking outside, as the boat gently rocked on to the sea.
"What is it?" questioned Hiya.
"The sunrise! It's beautiful, don't cha' think?"
"I'm gonna get a better look," replied Hiya, walking out onto the small deck. Stepping on something squishy, she backed up. Confused, she looked down. It was a black glove, and it had a bit of dried red paint on it.
"Whad'ya find there?" asked Hoshin.
"Oh just an old glove." And with that, she through the glove into the ocean.
Hoshin retreated into the other room to join Samisu, and Hiya turned out the lights.
She got into the bed and pulled up the covers. Her eyes shut. She heard footsteps coming from outside.
"Well, we seem to be all set except we're missing one person... Yumi Shimo. He did hand in his permission slip on time but he's not here. "A women stated
Hiya sat up and listened to the teachers.
"Yes, well, we can't be late we'll have to go." The man replied.
Hiya jumped out of bed and scrambled outside on to the deck. She looked on the dock below her, almost as if she were expecting to see Yumi boarding. He wasn't there. Hiya sighed and turned around.
As she began to walk back into her room she heard a car approaching the dock. She turned around. There was Yumi and his father pulling up in a green suburban.
"Captain!" Hiya shouted. "Wait Yumi is here!"
The captain turned around and lowered the cargo bridge. Yumi ran up the ramp and waved to his father. Hiya looked at him with a proud grin.
"You so owe me." She stated, as Yumi caught his breath.
"Huh?" Yumi replied, stepping into his room.
Hiya followed. "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be here. I saw your car coming and I told the captain to stop." Hiya explained.
"So? It's not like I want to be here anyway."
"You could at least say thank you!"
"Well, I'm not thankful!"
They stood there facing each other with anger on their faces.
"Dammit Yumi! How can your parents put up with your snotty attitude? If I was your mother... I'd kill myself!" Hiya screamed.
Yumi's eyes narrowed. So, what if Hiya didn't know about Yumi's mother. She had committed suicide just a few years ago. He became enraged with grief, images of his mother's dead body... The insanity that fled through his veins. His mother, on the ground, blood pouring from her wrists and mouth. He said the first thing that popped into his head and came out his mouth. Whether it made sense or not.
"Yeah? Well, at least I know my own parents!" He yelled
He thought about what he said for a moment then remembered how petty, cruel, and immature that was to say. Her parents were killed in a plane crash. Oh what was it in the deep insults between them?
Expecting to be slapped he turned his head to the right and tensed his muscles. He then waited for the punch. And waited. And waited...
"Why isn't she retaliating?" He thought to himself and looked back at her.
Hiya's head was down. She make any movement, she just stood their silently.…
"Hiya..." He started. "I'm sor-... I uh didn't mean to say that." He stuttered.
"I don't care," Hiya replied and looked up at him. "I couldn't care less... Just leave me alone."
His eyes widened. He had never seen Hiya cry before. He looked into her eyes. They were full of tears and repeatedly streaming down her soft cheeks. Tears that he never thought would come. She had been beat up, beat on, picked on, tormented yet she never cried. Why was this so different? She turned around and began to run back to her room.
"Hiya! Wait up!" Yumi called after her. But it was no use, she had already slammed her cabin room door.
Yumi walked back into his cabin and waited for Ueki and Noriko return. He started to unpack some clothing when he ran across something hard. He pulled it out and looked at it for a moment. It was a photo in a frame of Hiya when she was very little, she was kissing him on the cheek. They both looked so happy. That's when they were friends at least.
Yumi then remembered his curse. Looking at someone kissing him just made him furious. When Yumi turned 13 a curse was put on him. Strange isn't it? We'll get deeper into this later on but the curse, in essence, was that if he was kissed by a girl he would instantly turn to a frog. It never made sense to him. Just the opposite of the fairy tales about princesses kissing frogs and turning them into princes. He remembered the old enchanter telling him that he was to search for a girl who had the "magic kiss" the kiss that would restore his frog stage if he was one. If she had kissed him, the curse would take no effect. If he was injured, the kiss would cure his illness, weakness, whatever aliment. He was to find her, and marry her. -Like that was very likely to happen.
Well, the day after he was cursed Yumi found his mother lying dead on the floor. A gun in her hand and blood scattered across the rug.
Yumi sighed. "How many times have I been turned into a frog?" He asked himself aloud. "Over 300 times at least. At least the frog stage is only temporary. A few minutes after the kiss, I return to my normal self."
He then thought how lucky he was, no one knew about his curse but he.
"Hey what are you up to?" Ueki asked as he entered the room.
"Uh... Nothing!" He quickly put the picture away.
"Um... Okay, do you know what's wrong with Hiya? She's not talking to anyone. Not even Sammy or Hoshin." Ueki asked.
"No clue." Yumi replied and put shirts away in his drawer.
Ueki walked over to the bunk bed and jumped onto the top mattress. Their room was already a mess and the ship had only been at sail for an hour or so.
"So, have you seen Noriko?" Ueki asked.
"Nope."
"Do you have any plans for the cruise?"
"Nope."
"Not very talkative are we, Yumi?"
"Nope."
Ueki laughed a bit then jumped back down off his bunk and walked outside.
"I'll be back later, I want to go check out the pool area."
"Okay, bye."
The door slammed and Yumi sighed with relief. He finished unpacking and shoved his trunk under the bed. Then he stood up and opened the window. There, he could view the bow of the ship and the pool. Hiya was out there next to Hoshin and Sammy. Yumi decided to join them.
"Hoshin, are you nervous?" Sammy asked.
"No, not at all. Why?" Hoshin replied.
"I don't know. I haven't been to America in so long... It's just..."
"I haven't even been to America." Hoshin interrupted
"I know. Hey I've got an idea. When I get there, I'm going to call my friend Jake. Better yet, I can call him now! He's rich! He can meet me at the dock in, a few weeks!" Samisu shouted and ran to a pay phone.
"Yeah okay. Ja ne." Hoshin said looking wide-eyed off the ship.
Hiya looked up as the rain trickled down her face. She smiled and walked over to a chair.
"Do you want to go swimming?" Hoshin offered.
"But... It's raining!" Hiya replied pointing upwards at the sky.
"I know! It's really fun!" Hoshin took her shoes off and jumped into the water.
"Um... No thanks." Hiya replied, her teeth chattering.
"Why not?" Hoshin asked pouting.
"It's um... Too cold." Hiya informed.
"Yeah, but the water is heated." Hoshin explained.
"I don't want to!" Hiya yelled.
"Okay girl. Chill out!" Hoshin went back under water.
Just then, Hiya heard people running towards her. She turned around but was instantly pulled of her chair and thrown into the water. Hiya flailed her arms in panic.
"It's only the shallow end." She reminded herself and stood up.
She looked up at who was there.
"Ueki! You moron!" Hiya screamed and jumped out of the water.
"It's only a joke!" Ueki smiled innocently.
Hiya climbed out of the pool, water spilling down from her drenched shirt and shorts. She punched him in his nose then walked back inside and dried off.
Chapter 7
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