Ewald Island

The Boat Ride

It was 4 am and Jack was up, he went on a jog while the others were still sleeping. At 5 am he returned to the hotel and took a nice, hot, long shower. Then, he got ready for breakfast where the rest were waiting for him. At the table all were talking to each other, there was no bad blood between them, they got past their first encounter. The conversation was about how they got into this situation. Madison and Leila were sitting together, it looked like they were getting along pretty well. Ethan was laughing at what Dean was saying and Amber was telling Jack what happened while he was out, he didn't miss much of the conversation.

It was almost 6 and the group went to their rooms to gather their stuff, once they did, they reunited in the lobby, then got in a cab that took them to the ferry. Divided into two different cars the car ride wasn't silent at all. Amber wanted to go with Jack, but Jack's plans were different from hers, so he went in the car with the other two boys and Amber had to go with Madison and Leila, she still talked a lot, apparently that was what she did best. After 20 minutes they were boarding the boat dropping their bags and suitcases next to their seats. The boat wasn't that big and it seemed to be quite old but it still did the job. Rust accumulated on the navigation but it didn't look like it would cause any kind of problem. The whole group sat together since they were the only ones in the boat.

'I can't believe we had to fly, then take a ferry to get to the fucking island, this is so annoying.' Amber sighed and the rest agreed to her statement.

'I know it sucks but I bet it'll be worth it' Ethan responded after a couple of seconds earning a smile from Leila who was looking at him while he talked. It all fell silent, Madison stood up and walked towards the back of the boat to look at the water and think about the journey ahead. The sun was starting to rise above the water making it sparkle, it looked like a sea full of diamonds surrounding them. Nothing like it had ever been seen in the eyes of Madison and instantly she got in a deep train of thought. She was deep in it when she felt a hand on her waist, she turned around to see Ethan stopping by her side.

'Why is it that everyone on this trip is scaring me and we haven't even gotten to the island yet?' She was annoyed but masked it with a shy smile.

'I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to' He laughed a little seeing her smile.

'It's okay. It's just that Dean did the same thing on the plane and I acted like a bitch. I feel bad for it, he was just being nice to me.' She looked sad and looked back down at the water.

'Why did you act like that? You should apologize.' He looked at her waiting for Madison to look back at him, but she never did, she gazed at the deep blue of the ocean while trying to come up with a decent answer.

'I don't know, I was nervous about the whole trip thing, and I was having a rough time home.' She let a low sigh. 'Just too many things going on,' They both said at the same time, which caused them to look at each other and laugh. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, but was definitely more than that, the rest of the group approached them, causing them to stop talking about their lives and what they expected the trip to be.

'Hey, you two' Jack said winking at them.

'What were you talking about?' Amber and Leila said walking next to them.

'Oh, um well, we-' Ethan got cut by Madison continuing his sentence. 'We were talking about what we expect this trip to be like.' Madison smiled at them, then looked at Dean who hadn't said a word. She then proceeded to say:

'Dean, I uh- I wanted to apologize about my reaction on the plane, I shouldn't have acted like a bitch, I'm really sorry.' This made Dean look at her wide-eyed.

'Don't worry about it, we all have bad or stressful days.' He smiled at her while the others just watched not knowing what was going on at first.

'Thanks for understanding, it's just, planes scare the hell out of me,' Madison said with a nervous look on her face, she knew it was a lie but she didn't want to explain her home situation to everyone like she just did with Ethan, somehow, he was easy to talk to.