Shipwrecked

Chapter 1 - Boarding & New Friends

"Bye mom, I am going to miss you. I love you" I told her before I got out of the car. I was not done yet, I had many more goodbyes to say to the rest of my family. 

“Bye Amy, have fun in your second year of uni.”

“Bye James, I’ll miss your teasing. Not.”

“Bye Lily. Be brave on your first day of school.”

“See ya Hanna!”

“See you in six weeks Brad I will miss you.”

“Bye Frank. Tell Susan good luck with the baby for me!”

“Bye dad.” I’m not really that close to my dad. I have six siblings, and I love them all. 

I got into the line by the ship and hugged everybody. I saw my family leave and walk back to the car. I walked up the entrance to the cruise ship staring up at the sky, too afraid to look down at the ocean beneath my feet. My family is rich. I won’t sugarcoat it. We have a lot of money, and I mean a lot. None of us are spoiled though and we are all happy with what we have already. My parents got me a suite, which did make me feel a bit more comfortable, not being in a small cramped room for six weeks. 

I walked to my room and sat on the queen sized bed. I am going to have to be here for a while, so I tried to set up all my things as if I was setting up a new room at home. I was making my bathroom feel more homey when my tummy grumbled. I stopped doing what I was doing and grabbed some money, my sunglasses, my iPod and earphones and walked out of my room. There was another boy walking out of his room right across from mine and with the small hallways we bumped into each other, I hit my nose on his chin and his nose hit my forehead and I fell onto the floor and he hit the wall. I groaned in pain and I felt my eyes beginning to water, I wasn’t crying, my nose is very sensitive. 

“Oh my god. I’m sorry I wasn’t looking please don’t cry!” He pleaded. Great, a cute boy meets me for the first time and thinks I am crying. Perfect.

“I’m not crying, I have a sensitive nose.” I looked up at the boy standing in front of me and I saw a full head of floppy, curly hair. I thought his hair was funny… So I started laughing. He just stood there without a clue as to what I was laughing at. Then I snorted. Oh god I snorted. I instantly covered my mouth and stopped laughing. Then, it was his turn to laugh. We ended up both laughing for a while. I was laughing because his hair flopped around when he laughed, he was laughing because I kept snorting. We finally sobered up.

“Hey, I’m Harry. What’s your name?” He asked me. He seems like a Harry

“Im Leah.” I said with a warm smile. At that moment the ship swayed a bit and I screamed and sat down on the floor against the wall. 

“Are you okay?” Harry asked me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Other than the fact that I have a huge fear of the ocean.” I told him starting to regret this trip.

“Not really a good idea to come on a six week cruise then.” He laughed and sat down next to me. My stomach grumbled again.

“Hey, I was just about to get get some food for me and some friends. Do you wanna come with me to get some and eat with me and the lads back at my room?” He asked with a hopeful smile.

“Ew. No.” I said over exaggerating quite a lot, of course being sarcastic. “Yea! Of course, that sounds great.” He breathed a sigh of relief and stood up holding his hand out for me, which I grabbed and he pulled me up.

After we got our food we started heading back to his room. 

“You’re gonna like the lads.” He told me. 

We walked into his room and I stood there, mouth open. Some boy with really short brown hair walked by calmly, and said, “Close your mouth or you’ll catch flies.” I closed my mouth and followed Harry into another room. Another boy with brown hair sat on a couch playing xBox. 

“GUYS… FOODS HERE!!!” The boy yelled. 

“Oh god, shut up.” I murmured and Harry just laughed at me. Thankfully, everybody heard it. Note the sarcasm.

“OH HOW DARE YOU!” the loud boy yelled at me playfully. I just smiled and we all laughed. Then the boat decided at that moment to start swaying ferociously. I lowered myself onto the ground quickly and spread my arms and legs out like I was hugging the floor. They all laughed at me except for Harry who sat on the floor next to me.

“Hey guys this is Leah. Leah this is Liam, Niall, Zayn and that loud boy is Louis. Guys she has a fear of the ocean and she came on this cruise ship to try to get over it as her thingy of independence or something.” He summed up, the end getting a bit confusing. They all just nodded their heads. When the swaying stopped Harry helped me up. 

“I like it how you aren’t acting all crazy around us right now.” Niall said.

“Why would I?” I asked him curiously.

“Because… You know. We’re One Direction.” Said Zayn.

“Is that some evil cult or something?” I asked them, they all started laughing at me. 

“No, we are the ‘famous boy band’ on this ship!” Harry said.

“Say what now.” I said. Again, they all laughed at me. I was surprised and then I realized that it was true. I saw their faces on seventeen once. 

“OOOHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAH.” I said in realization.

As we were all eating and talking about each other, the boat started swaying rapidly again. This time it was really scary. I started screaming a bit and Harry hugged me which was awkward because we only met like two hours ago, but I let him because it was comforting. Liam got up from his spot and walked out the door to go and ask some of the employees what is going on. When he came back he had a worried look on his face.

“Liam! What did they say?” Niall asked.

“They said that the boat has a gap in the hull… And to remain calm.” He said slowly looking up at us all.

“We are going to die. We are going to die.” I repeated over and over and started crying. Harry hugged me and told me it would all be okay, while Liam rubbed my back and Louis tried to make me laugh. 

“What if the boat sinks.” I whispered. 

“I promise it won’t.” Niall said.

“But if it does I will die. I don’t know how to swim, and I will probably start hyperventilating because of the ocean.” I said.

“Hey, It’ll be okay. First off, the boat won’t sink and second, I can’t swim either so you’re not alone at that.” Zayn told me. It did make me feel a bit better because he was so calm. 

At that second there was a loud crash and a lot of screaming. Louis ran and found three life jackets under the bed. He gave me and Zayn one each then gave Niall the other. This is real. This is happening. I am going to die before I am even 18. Before I get to have my first kiss. Before I get to be loved by another boy. Harry and Niall grabbed my hand and pulled me and the others outside, where a wave crashed onto us and sucked us out into the ocean. Goodbye world.