The Burden of Proof

chapter 8

Making our way back towards the lounge that I so eagerly spotted earlier , I could hear the clatter of mindless chatter and loud words. Clifford makes an abrasive comment regarding the ocean, highly generalized and highly noisy , and a surprised chuckle springs from my mouth. Seeing his startled look towards the noise , I quickly stop, cough , then pat my chest awkwardly. Intelligent too ? It continues to surprise me. What a waste , I think dryly. Now if only I had said that out LOUD..

Now Inside the icy lounge , icy because of the powerful air con above us which almost drowned the roar of the ocean , but wasn't nearly loud enough to drown out the buzz of teenage hormones. We shuffle in , and with head lowered , I realize two things. One , the ship appeared to have a recurring pattern when it came to their carpets and two , I spent far too much time staring at the floor.

I jerked my head up abruptly. Subconciously , I searched for the mystery boy. Out of curiosity of course. A wave of exhaustion washed over me and I groaned loudly , and suddenly the thought of standing any longer was exhausting. I dropped to the floor , joined swiftly by the others , and arched my back off the floor. A crack resounded through me and I sighed in relief , stretching my arms out lazily above my head contently , until an unknown voice broke through my internal silence. "No problem getting comfortable I see ?". It sounded amused. I frown , eyes still closed as I tried in vain to identify the accent over the general murmurs. Reluctantly , I pulled my eyes open , stretched slowly and blinked at the owner of the snark voice.

He was sitting before me, well actually above me on the carpeted tiers.he looked just as relaxed as I felt , his words spoken in a highly sarcastic tone , mouth closed in a nonchalant smile , as if he didn't care if I had heard him or whether I liked what I heard. He was honest looking , with fluffy , dusty blonde hair that closely resembled that of a surprised duck. He was soft looking throughout as well , with a conical shirt paired with a comical hat. I couldn't help smiling. "Oh , you bet." I return in my equally sarcastic time , walking up the tiers to the people I know , which were few.

An outlier was now present in the room , which was evident by the quieting down at his arrival. He was about 21 , equipped with the ships merchandise and a cheerful-or-die attitude. He could have been the poster boy for supervised, safefunamongadolescents. His appearance failed him however , he was far too good looking for a job as soul sucking as this. I noticed the other girls noticing this too.

His speech was about as boring as his entrance , which was through the back door. I glanced around at the room full of apt teenagers , multicultural , bilingual and varied in every way possible. But , as an announcement was made for a new activity (of free rein much to our delight), whoops of joy were heard and a hurried exit seen and I knew that we all still understand one language. Now , who was ready to dance ?