Living Not Dreaming [Suite Life on Deck]

01 - S.S Tipton

The S.S Tipton was huge. Jack Anderson didn't think that the cruise would be this big. His best friend, Matthew Taylor, or Matt, and his father and sister, Harrison and Rose Taylor, had dropped him off at the ship, knowing his parents weren't going to take him.

Jack hated saying goodbye to Matt. They've been best friends for as long as they could remember. They met when they were six years old. Jack had noticed quickly that Matt was playing on his own and no one wanted to play with him so he went over to him and began playing with him.

Since then, they were best of friends. They did everything together. Matt and Jack joined the basketball team together in their freshman year of high school. They had gone to every basketball game they could go to. They worked together at Matt's father mechanic store. 

Jack can't remember a single thing that he and Matt hadn't done together. 

Thinking of Matt and everything they did together hurt. He missed Matt. He missed his best friend. He missed home. He missed everything they did together before he got on the boat.

"You okay, buddy?" Jack's roommate and best friend on the ship, Evan Meyers, asked.

"Hm?" Jack said, looking up at Evan.

Jack was in their bedroom on the ship. Evan had just entered the room and was closing the door behind him.

"Oh, yeah," Jack said. "I just miss home, that's all."

"Yeah, me too," Evan said. "We'll be back home in a few months," Evan assured Jack. "You'll be able to see Matt and all of your other friends over Christmas."

"Yeah," Jack said, getting up from his desk.

"It's almost dinner time," Evan said. "C'mon, let's go. I told Zack and Cody that we'll meet them for dinner."

Jack nodded.

The two left their bedroom and went out on deck to meet up with their friends, twins, Zack and Cody Martin. The twins and Evan have been friends since before they got on the ship. Their mothers worked together at the hotel that the twins lived at with London Tipton, the Tipton Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jack had heard of the Tipton Hotel. He and his parents had stayed at the hotel or visited the hotel for some event his parents had to go to. He never saw the Tipton in their Boston location, but he has seen their New York location and Los Angeles location.

"Hey, guys," Jack and Evan greeted the twins.

"Hey," Zack greeted them, smiling.

"Ready for dinner?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, I'm starving," Jack said. "Where do you guys want to go?"

"We can go down," Cody suggested, "they're serving pizza."

"Ooh," Evan said, "pizza sounds good."

"I don't care what we get," Jack said, "as long as we eat."

Evan smiled.

The group of four went down, below deck, and got pizza.

As Jack took a bite from his pizza, his phone vibrated twice due to texts.

"Oh, it's Matt!" Jack said.

A smile instantly formed on his face seeing Matt Taylor's name on his phone.

Jack picked up his phone and opened the text.

His smile grew bigger at the sight of his best friends name and texts.

Matt had taken a picture of him and their friends in New York. They were hanging out at the Waverly Subway Station. 

Jack turned his phone around and extended his arm.

"Guys, get in the picture," Jack told the twins and Evan.

The three leaned closer to Jack so he can take of the four of them so he can send it to Matt.

"Man, Matt sounds like he's a great guy," Zack said.

"Oh, yeah, he's the best," Jack smiled. "Man, I miss him. I wish he was able to come."

"Why didn't he?" Cody asked.

"Oh, uh," Jack said, nervously.

For as long as Jack could remember, weird things often happened around Matt and his family. Jack never knew it was about the family, but he knew there was something different about that family. He didn't know what it was until he stumbled upon a room in their household that he has never seen before. 

He had discovered that his best friend and his family were wizards. It had explained all the things that didn't add up to their explanations to why weird things often happened around them. It made sense. It was all magic.

Not only Matt couldn't come because of his wizard training, but he couldn't come because he couldn't afford it. 

Unlike Jack, Matt grew up in a single parent household. Harrison Taylor had to raise Matt and Rose on his own. Harrison had to manage his mechanic store and take care of two kids on his own. 

Jack offered to help the family in the past, but they refused his help. 

"He couldn't afford it," Jack said. "He really wished he could come, but..."

He wasn't lying to his new friends. He was telling them the truth, but not the whole truth. He can't tell his friends of the wizard world. The Taylors were trusting him enough to not expose them and the wizard world. They already have to worry about the Wizard Counsel finding out that Jack, a mortal, someone who can't perform magic, knows of magic. He has no idea what would happen if Jack exposed the wizard world and they found out that Matt and his family told him about it.

"Oh, that sucks," Evan said. "It would've been cool if he came and we could to meet him."

"Yeah," Jack agreed as he sent the picture to Matt. "Maybe, one day, he could come on the ship for a few days to visit."

"That would be great if he came," Cody smiled. 

Authors Note

Hey guys! I hope you all enjoyed chapter one to Living Not Dreaming. If you're not coming here from Magic, Living Not Dreaming, I guess you can say, is a spin off to my Wizards of Waverly Place fanfic, Magic. Jack was is one of the characters from Magic. 

If you're coming here from Magic, welcome back!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Chapter two should come out soon!