ENG - My best friend's sister ᵐᶦᵏᵉʸ ˣ ᵒᶜ

25

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My gaze wanders back to the deck and there I notice a group of boys standing at the front of the ship's bow. They are warbling the theme song from Titanic, while two boys reenact the famous scene from the movie, bursting into laughter. The sight makes me smile wider and intensifies my excitement about the upcoming camp.
"You want to do that too?", Mikey asks me, pointing his finger at the group of boys. Immediately my eyes widen and I shake my head, "No way, that's way too embarrassing!"
"Oh come on, have some guts and screw the embarrassment. It's more important that it's fun, or do these guys look like they're embarrassed to you instead of having fun?" he laughs and asks me at the same time. I think for a moment as I watch the boys go on and other students join them. It looks really fun and I can see why Mikey wants me to join in.
"They're obviously having fun, but I'm not like that. I'm embarrassed and I have fun just watching too!", I say quickly and look away again.
"Now come on, what do I have to, do to get you to get on the bow with me?" he asks me, holding out his hand promptly as if expecting me to grab it, which I don't.
"That's childish, leave me alone," I say, crossing my arms in front of my chest so he doesn't get the idea of reaching for my hand.
"Say it. Do you want me to bribe you with ice cream or money? Or something else?" he just won't let up and thoughtfully I bite my lip. By now I know him well enough to know that he won't stop nagging until he gets an answer from me.
"Okay. If we make the top 3 of camp, I'll play Titanic with you on the way back," I finally say, and I'm sure it's unattainable, which is why it just sounds completely absurd.
"Deal, then at least I have a good reason to make an effort. If it means I can get you out of your comfort zone," he just says, grinning, while all I can do is roll my eyes and shake my head, it doesn't matter, it's unattainable anyway.

Suddenly, four strange guys approach Mikey. They look older than him and have a menacing air about them. Obviously, they recognize him.
"Well, if it isn't the invincible Mikey! Since when have you been interested in such childish school activities?" one of the boys asks rather dismissively, eyeing him up and down. The other three laugh mockingly and fix him with their gazes. Mikey, however, doesn't seem impressed and doesn't contort a face. Bored, he leans backwards against the railing and yawns wearily to himself.
"And aren't you too old for these childish school activities?" he counters, unimpressed. This doesn't seem to please the guys in front of him, because suddenly a vein of anger appears on his face.
"Hey boss, that little one seems to belong to him, I saw them talking to each other. She's pretty cute, isn't she?" another boy says and immediately the complete attention is focused on me. Immediately I feel uncomfortable and want to run away.
"Hey sweetie, why don't you come with us? You'll have a lot more fun with us than with that midget," says the guy who was called Boss before. Disgusted and looking for help, I look over at Mikey, who leans off the railing and gets right between the guys and me.
"Well, well, well, is the dwarf protecting his little girlfriend? " the big boy asks again and the others start laughing.

But Mikey remains eerily calm and speaks in a quiet voice, "You should get out of here before I get even more angry." The atmosphere becomes more and more tense and the other people slowly start to gather to see what is happening. It looks like it's going to come to a full-blown confrontation at any moment.
"What else dwarf? You know damn well we can give your little girlfriend more fun than you can," another guy provokes, leaning down to grin at Mikey. The more they say, the angrier Mikey's eyes get, though his expression doesn't change a bit.
"What? So speechless you can't even say anything?" the guys continue to laugh and an uneasy feeling spreads through me. The whispering of the people gathered around us is getting louder. Some say, "Isn't that Mikey?" while others wonder, "What's Mikey doing here?", "Are they fighting now?" or "I wonder if there are more of Toman here."
I can't shake the uneasy feeling that spreads through me as I look back and forth between the men in turn. At this moment, however, I have no head to worry about it. I look back and forth between them in turn.
"Come on sweetie, we're a lot more fun than this midget," another of the four guys next to me suddenly says, grabbing me roughly by the upper arm.
"Let go of me!", I yell almost in panic. I feel the pressure of his grip and try to pull away, but he doesn't let go. And that seems to have set something loose in Mikey. I blink for a second and can hardly believe it - the guy is on the ground while Mikey is standing even closer in front of me.

"This trip is very important to my girlfriend and you certainly won't ruin it. So if you don't want to swim with the sharks, you should get out of here right now," he says menacingly calm.
And me?
I blush.

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